Legal Services Corporation Honors Massachusetts Attorneys for Pro Bono Service

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Board of Directors will present Pro Bono Service Awards on Monday, October 16, to Massachusetts attorneys and a law firm in recognition of their extraordinary commitment to equal justice.

The LSC Pro Bono Service Award Reception will take place at 5 p.m. at Harvard Law School’s Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue. The awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with the LSC Board of Directors’ fourth quarterly meeting of the year.

Speakers at the event include Jonathan M. Albano, President-Elect of the Boston Bar Association, and Dean Andrew M. Perlman, Suffolk University Law School and Chair of the American Bar Association Center for Innovation’s Governing Council. They will be joined by LSC Board Chair John G. Levi.

Recipients of LSC’s Pro Bono Service Awards were nominated by LSC’s four grantees in Massachusetts: Community Legal Aid, Northeast Legal Aid, South Coastal Counties Legal Services, and the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association. The recipients are:

Michael A. Castner, an attorney who has volunteered with South Coastal Counties Legal Services for the past three years, taking on 47 urgent pro bono cases involving family, housing, consumer, and probate issues.
Susan Finegan, a pro bono partner with Mintz Levin P.C. who has supported Community Legal Aid staff and managed the law firm’s pro bono efforts over the years, including more than 300 cases across the firm’s eight offices.
Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, LLP, a law firm that has served as an important, longtime supporter of Community Legal Aid’s medical-legal partnership with UMass Memorial Health Care, accepting pro bono cases and advising Community Legal Aid on matters such as labor and employment and corporate law.
Norma T. Mercedes, an attorney who has taken on 34 pro bono cases as a volunteer with Northeast Legal Aid, contributing more than a thousand pro bono hours to helping low-income individuals facing urgent housing and family law issues.

Terry Iandiorio will receive a posthumous Pro Bono Service Award for his many pro bono contributions, including his work as lead counsel for Ropes & Gray LLP’s pro bono partnership with DotHouse Health, a community health center.

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974. For 50 years, LSC has provided financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 130 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.  