MA Access to Justice Commission

Judge Robert Foster: “It’s Our Obligation as Lawyers, and My Obligation as a Judge, to Try to Ensure That Everyone Has Equal Access to Justice”

Published by tippingthescales on April 10, 2014 | Leave a response

Judge Robert Foster is an associate justice on the Massachusetts Land Court. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was a litigation attorney at the firm of Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster, representing clients in a wide variety of real estate matters. He was a long-time member of the BBA’s Real Estate Section, serving as Co-Chair for its Public Service Committee and for the section at large at various times; he also co-chaired the Delivery of Legal Services Section. Judge Foster is a member of the Boston Bar Journal Board of Editors. He has served on the board of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation and as a member of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission.

1. What did you find the most valuable about being part of the Real Estate Public Service & Pro Bono Committees? Lawyer for the Day at Housing Court was also a project from this part of the Section – what was your involvement in that program?

The most valuable part of these committees was the chance to put in place and oversee the Lawyer for the Day in the Housing Court program – that was our main job when I was there. It was great working with so many to be able to get it done, and it’s wonderful to see how well it’s done…to have a small part in that process was a great privilege.

Lawyer for the Day was an idea bouncing around for a long time in the legal services and pro bono world that, back in 1998, folks at the BBA decided to try to bring to fruition again. A meeting was set up with Chief Justice Daher at Housing Court on December 24, 1998 – I still remember the date. I was there in my capacity as Co-Chair of the BBA’s Delivery of Legal Services (DLS) Section, but the main attendees were BBA President Mary Ryan, the then-head of the Volunteer Lawyers Project, Meg Connolly, Wiley Vaughan, and Sandy Moskowitz, who were there to propose this program that would have lawyers sitting at a table giving advice to both landlords and tenants. We presented it to then-Chief Justice Daher, who had resisted the plan years before. When we explained that it would serve both landlords and tenants, he said he didn’t have a problem with it. We almost fell off our chairs!

At that point, we brought on Harvey Chopp, Chief Justice Daher’s chief administrator, Barbara Zimbel of Greater Boston Legal Services, and Bruce Eisenhutt of the BBO and conducted meetings to work out how the program should look. It started running in 2000 and has been going ever since. All credit goes to the folks who are there every day and making sure the firms are on board, like Barbara and Joanna Allison, and also to Wiley Vaughan, who really set the project in motion. It’s a model program and works perfectly here because you have the combination of Housing Court’s hundreds of cases, and large law firms who can commit to send in attorneys every session. It’s ideal for transactional attorneys, which is why it’s great for the Real Estate Section. I’m just really proud to have been a part of this.

2. You have also been a member of the MA Access to Justice Commission during much of your involvement on these committees; what was the interplay between your work on the Commission, your time on the MLAC Board, and your work at the BBA?

I was appointed as MLAC’s representative to the Commission in 2009 when I was on the MLAC Board. All of these activities had the same goal – we all wanted to increase access to justice for low-income people and to promote civil justice for everyone in the Commonwealth. In MLAC, we dealt a lot with the existing system of legal services programs and how best to run those, raise money for them, support them, and give them ways to increase and maintain services. In the DLS Section, we spent time looking at that system from the BBA point of view, and in the Real Estate Section, created the Lawyer for the Day program. The Commission had people from all parts of the system – there were lawyers, judges, general counsel from business, and those you might call civilians – who tried to look at all aspects of the justice system and promote their mission…without having the power to spend anyone’s money. It was a great group run by Justice Gants and David Rosenberg that came up with ideas to help with issues like what state agencies could do to make it easier for people to work with them, how to get money into the system without using tax dollars, and ways to create new pro bono opportunities. After I went on the bench and had to step down from the Commission, I was on the Trial Court access to justice committee, and we were able to get a training manual for limited assistance representation available to view online.

I’ve been working on this issue almost all my career, and it’s very important to me. It’s our obligation as lawyers, and my obligation as a judge, to try to ensure that everyone has equal access to justice – it’s a fundamental right and principle for us as a Commonwealth, and everyone should be able to vindicate their rights in courts. The people facing barriers to the delivery of justice are our neighbors, friends, relatives, fellow citizens – their rights are just as important as ours.

3. You served as Co-Chair of both the Delivery of Legal Services Section and later the Real Estate Section – how did your experience differ from one to the next?

When I was asked to be co-chair of the DLS Section, I hadn’t been in practice very long – I was sort of shocked to be asked, although I was glad to do it. At first I stumbled along – I hope I learned how to run a meeting, at least! I really did learn how to do things like chair a meeting, put together programs, and form committees from the experience. Otherwise, the Sections have different roles – DLS focuses on access to justice issues, and but also cuts across all the subject matter lines that most other Sections are organized along. In the Real Estate Section, we focused on that particular practice area, but in focusing on that I had a range of things to think about: the different committees, programs, what the Section does, and legislative issues of interest to the real estate bar. I’ll add that it was helpful to have good Co-Chairs, that’s for sure.

4. Can you share a favorite story you like to tell from your time on the bench as a Land Court judge thus far?

I remember a hearing very early on, probably one of the first times I was on the bench, we were discussing a particular property. There was a site plan that the litigants were referring to that I couldn’t see from where I was on the bench, so I said, “Why don’t I just come down and look at it?” I thought the court officer was going to have a heart attack – afterwards she told me, “Please don’t do that, please don’t step off the bench.”

But it reminds me of something I said in my BBJ article reflecting on my rookie year, which was along the lines of, “Lawyers: I see everything you do.” Well, the flip side holds true: they see everything I do. As a judge I have to remember that – you are a public figure from the bench, and you’re in this role where everyone is looking at what you’re going to do and listening to what you say. You have a responsibility to the court and the people before you to take that seriously and fulfill your goal and job as best you can. All the judges I know are aware of this and do that, but I don’t think I realized when I came on what an important responsibility it was. Being a judge is about fulfilling that responsibility to take litigants seriously, listen to them, and treat them fairly; that requires you to show that in your demeanor and hold on to it in everything you do and every gesture you make…and that includes not just waltzing off the bench!

5. Is there anything else you would like to add that we haven’t asked yet?

By virtue of my position as one of seven judges in the Land Court, I’m a leader of the Court, and that means that I have to remember to recognize all the people here and their hard work, and appreciate the enormous amount of support we get. I try to do that, and not take their help for granted.

Susan Finegan: “Now, More than Ever, We Can Make A Difference Through Pro Bono Work”

Published by tippingthescales on October 10, 2013 | Leave a response

Susan Finegan is a Litigation Partner at Mintz Levin. She currently serves as Chair of the Pro Bono Committee and Chair of the Hiring Committee, and as the firm’s full-time Pro Bono Partner. Susan is a member of the BBA Council; she previously served as Co-Chair of the BBA’s Delivery of Legal Services Section and was a member of the BBA’s Task Force on Expanding the Civil Right to Counsel. Susan is Chair of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services and is a member of the Access to Justice Commission and Commission on Judicial Conduct, as well as a former member of the Judicial Nominating Commission.

1. How have you been shaping and developing the role of Pro Bono Partner as the first full-time Pro Bono Partner in Mintz Levin’s history? What legacy do you aim to leave?

The firm created the role of Pro Bono Partner in 2007 upon my return to the firm after three years as Legal Director of the Victim Rights Law Center. At the time, the firm believed that it could benefit from devoting the resources of a partner to manage the more than 400 ongoing pro bono matters in our eight offices. While the firm had always focused on giving back to the community since its founding in 1933, pro bono management started with the adoption of a pro bono policy and a pro bono committee in the late 1980s. Hiring a partner-level attorney dedicated full-time to this important firm effort was a natural extension of that legacy.

My initial focus was getting up to speed on the clients and staffing, and to providing more organizational oversight. After that, the pro bono committee and I were able to look more strategically at what pro bono work the firm was doing and analyze the participation and focus of each section and office of the firm. While a significant percentage of our pro bono work continues to be focused on domestic violence and sexual assault, we are always looking for new ways to address the legal needs of the communities we serve. We also started working with some of our in-house counsel on joint pro bono projects. Another positive aspect of my job at this time was to start working closely with the other pro bono professionals in the city; our pro bono community is a very welcoming and collaborative one.

Over the last several years, in addition to these firm roles, I’ve been fortunate to work outside the firm on statewide pro bono efforts through my work on the Access to Justice Commission and, later, as chair of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services. From those perspectives, I’ve worked with others to make a statewide impact by encouraging more attorneys to do pro bono work, particularly those who haven’t traditionally participated, such as in-house counsel and retired lawyers. To be able to leverage the resources of a place like Mintz to assist with these more global efforts has been extremely useful.

In terms of legacy, the statewide efforts have been very energizing – new programs have been developed, such as the Access to Justice Fellows Program that I’ve helped develop with other colleagues; rule changes have been adopted; and new pro bono recognition programs for attorneys have been created. Hopefully the legacy of these statewide efforts will be to encourage more attorneys to engage in pro bono work, and ultimately to help more people in need. From a firm standpoint, I could point to a number of clients I’ve assisted, or different initiatives that I’m proud of, but the most impactful legacy would be to have nurtured a generation of Mintz Levin attorneys who continue to do pro bono work throughout their careers because they started practicing at a firm where that was not only encouraged and supported, but expected.

2. What lessons have you learned from your extensive experience working with the judiciary and judicial committees? How has it informed your leadership style?

Being involved in the Access to Justice Commission and SJC’s Pro Bono Committee has reinforced what an important role the judiciary can play in ensuring that low- and moderate-income people in the Commonwealth can access the justice system. There are so many self-represented litigants in the courts today – up to 80 or 90 percent in some courts – and there is a lack of funding for civil legal services and for the courts. With that in mind, it’s incredibly important to have members of the judiciary, as well as other bar leaders, focus on these important issues. I’ve seen firsthand how having a judge dedicated at least part-time to such issues at both the Trial Court – Advisor for Access to Justice Initiatives First Justice Dina Fein – and at the appellate level – Co-Chair of the Access to Justice Commission Justice Ralph Gants – can have a significant and positive impact.

As for other committees, such as the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Judicial Nominating Commission, it has been an honor to work with other dedicated volunteers on behalf of the judiciary. These appointments have allowed me to think about the role of the judiciary and the impact a judge can have on litigants that come before him or her, both negative and positive. From my perspective, leadership in the judiciary is primarily about temperament and respect – how to be a strong leader in a courtroom while at the same time exhibiting patience for those who may not understand what is going on. That has helped my own practice in representing pro bono clients, many of whom do not understand the court system, and most of whom have never experienced having someone actually listen to them and explain what is going to happen.

3. What are some challenges of working on pro bono cases? How do you train attorneys to handle cases, i.e. sensitive pro bono cases, that are outside their practice area?

Most of our pro bono referral agencies provide training on substantive legal issues, and many provide mentoring as well. In addition, attorneys at the firm have developed expertise on many areas of pro bono practice, so there is often an internal mentor for attorneys who need one. And, on each pro bono case we undertake, there is a partner assigned to the matter. That being said, the most difficult challenges tend to arise from the non-legal aspects of working with low income clients. These run the gamut from understanding cultural differences, overcoming language barriers, or recognizing signs of trauma or mental illness. And often attorneys will develop a close bond with their clients, and won’t know how to establish appropriate boundaries when clients call at all hours of the day and night for non-legal advice or with questions that are outside the scope of the representation. Last, it’s important to let attorneys know that they may not have all the answers, but that they need to know what questions to ask, and to whom, so they can best advise their client. Some of these aspects of practice just take time to develop, so is it important to know that you have resources throughout the legal community – within your firm, at another firm, or at a legal services organization – to ask questions in a safe environment.

4. How does choosing to engage in pro bono and legal services work exhibit leadership as a lawyer?

We are fortunate to practice law in Massachusetts, which has a rich tradition of pro bono legal service. With civil legal services funding decreasing precipitously, and with courts flooded with self-represented litigants, now, more than ever, we can make a difference through this important work. As lawyers, we have special skills that can, for example, save a person from homelessness, help a client gain access to benefits to make ends meet, assist a nonprofit with legal needs so it can continue to provide critical services, or save someone’s life by helping them obtain asylum. Engaging in pro bono work demonstrates leadership because, in doing so, we as lawyers are giving back to members of our community who desperately need our help.