| |  | | Hello: Thank you for your support of the Equal Justice Coalition (EJC)! You have done so much to strengthen our campaign for increased civil legal aid funding: joining us for Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid, writing letters to elected officials, sharing EJC updates on social media, and more. We know you have a busy schedule, so we are grateful for every moment you lend to the campaign.
With this new Equal Justice Newsletter, we want to keep you in the loop and let you know how you can continue to help the campaign. Please reach out with any questions.
Warmly,
 Louis Tompros
Chair, Equal Justice Coalition
Partner, WilmerHale |
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| | | What can you do right now? Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid, the EJC’s annual lobby day, is the kick-off to our state budget campaign every year. This year, it will be hosted on Thursday, January 23, 2025, at the State House. Though we are in the early stages of the campaign, right now you can: Register for the Walk: Hundreds of private attorneys and law students will attend the Walk to advocate for increased civil legal aid funding. Find the event registration portal here. Volunteer for the Walk: Our 'captains' encourage their peers to register for and attend the event, sharing info with their law firms and law schools! If you are interested in being a captain for your firm or school this year, email Annie Donovan, Legislative Campaign Associate, at adonovan@mlac.org. |
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| | Where are we in the state budget process? Right now, we are at the very start of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget process. Governor Maura Healey is collecting input about what to include in her budget recommendations—which she will release in late January. From there, the budget will generally follow the flow chart below. For more on the state budget, visit the EJC’s website. |
| |  | | Throughout the budget process, you can get involved and inform your elected officials about your budget priorities. You may have seen our Action Alerts in your inbox before: At critical moments in the campaign, the EJC team will send out a form you can use to easily email your legislators to show your support for civil legal aid. Every message you send benefits the campaign! |
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| EJC Supporter Spotlight Susan Finegan is a litigation partner at Mintz Levin, and Chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. Sue served as co-chair of the Access to Justice Commission and has been a tireless advocate for people with low incomes and a supporter of funding for legal aid organizations. In 2020, she co-authored, with MLAC Executive Director Lynne Parker, a Commonwealth Magazine op-ed on the need for additional legal aid funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sue volunteered as Mintz’s Walk to the Hill captain for years. Her contributions to the EJC’s legislative budget campaign have been invaluable:
“Given the vast unmet need for legal services for low-income people in Massachusetts, increased funding for civil legal aid is critically important. I participate in the Walk to the Hill every year – with hundreds of private bar attorneys across the state - to ensure that those at the State House continue to understand the importance of such funding. In my role as Chair of Pro Bono Committee at Mintz, I see every |
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| day that our attorneys try to help fill the access gap by providing pro bono services. But even though private bar attorneys do our part, we know that the primary provider of legal services for low-income people are full-time attorneys at legal aid programs across the state. Their important work helps prevent evictions for families, keeps survivors of domestic violence safe, and helps clients obtain immigration relief. I walk to the Hill so that more worthy clients can be served by legal aid lawyers. I encourage you all to join me!” |
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| | | Equal Justice Coalition
18 Tremont Street, Suite 1010 | Boston, Massachusetts 02108
617-391-5633 | lbooth@equaljusticecoalition.org |
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