The Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on Expanding the Right to Counsel has been extremely active since it was launched by bar president Anthony Doniger in September 2007. Shortly thereafter, the task force became a joint effort of the Boston Bar Association and Massachusetts Bar Association.
The task force began by organizing its work around the substantive areas where lack of counsel is a particular concern: family, housing, juvenile, immigration, and health and sustenance.
The goal was to examine cases involving low-income parties in each substantive area, identifying the intersection of basic needs with cases in which lawyers would make a difference.
The task force then surveyed judges, court personnel, private attorneys, and legal aid advocates, soliciting opinions on the types of cases in which representation is most crucial for maintaining fundamental rights.
Based on this feedback, the task force developed proposals for pilot projects, examining various options for implementing right to counsel, considering delivery models, numbers of cases, cost estimates, cost savings, and stakeholder positions.
Other tasks the group has undertaken include research on updating its memoranda on civil cases in which current law requires legal counsel, a memorandum on costs of counsel from the public defender’s civil docket, and updating of a list of Massachusetts fee shifting statutes.
Task force members come from a variety of groups, including the state bar, women’s bar, legal aid, IOLTA, the courts, law schools, and private practice. For more information contact Jayne Tyrrell, Executive Director of the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee.
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