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MBA volunteers assist callers during WBZ Ask A Lawyer event

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018
Article Picture
Top: MBA President Christopher A. Kenney (right) with WBZ NightSide host Dan Rea.

Middle: MBA volunteers answer legal calls during the Ask A Lawyer event.

Bottom: MBA President Christopher A. Kenney appears as a guest on NightSide with Dan Rea.

Massachusetts Bar Association volunteers provided pro bono legal advice to 157 Massachusetts residents as part of the annual Ask A Lawyer call-in program on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at the WBZ-TV studios. Ask A Lawyer is presented jointly by the MBA, WBZ Call for Action, WBZ NewsRadio 1030 and WBZ-TV, and offers a unique forum for the public to obtain free and confidential assistance from qualified attorneys.

With the phone lines open from 7-9 p.m., seven MBA members fielded questions relating to consumer law, real estate law, probate law, family law, tort law, employment law and landlord-tenant law. Individuals who called outside of the two-hour window were given the phone number for this week’s monthly Dial-A-Lawyer program, which follows a similar format to Ask A Lawyer.

During the program’s final hour, MBA President Christopher A. Kenney appeared on WBZ NewsRadio’s “NightSide with Dan Rea,” where he discussed the focus of his trial practice and laid out his goals for the 2018-19 association year. Kenney specifically touched on his initiatives to promote civic engagement and lawyer well-being, while explaining how the MBA Trial Academy will benefit pro se litigants, the young attorneys representing them on a limited-assistance basis, and the Boston Municipal Court and district courts.

The segment also served to highlight the MBA’s long-standing commitment to advancing the professional interests of legal professionals and enhancing access to justice for the general public. When Rea characterized the judiciary as the least understood branch of government, Kenney touted the MBA’s efforts to expand collective knowledge and state support of the court system, and to increase funding for civil legal aid.

The full NightSide segment is available here.

For the remainder of his time on air, Kenney answered legal questions posed by NightSide listeners and encouraged those without an attorney to contact the MBA’s Lawyer Referral Service.

Thank you to the following MBA members who generously donated their time and expertise to ensure the success of this year’s Ask A Lawyer event:

  • Marie Grandoit, Sullivan & Young LLP, Boston

  • Andrea Hickey-Rosenberg, Freedman & Lee LLP, Newtonville

  • Michael Katin, Scheier, Katin & Epstein PC, Acton

  • Alexis McLachlan, Wayland

  • Samuel Segal, Law Offices of Samuel A. Segal, Boston

  • Stephen Smith, Millis

  • Paul Zerola, Zerola & Associates PC, Weston

The Ask A Lawyer program initially ran from 1978 through 2005, before its revival in 2012 by the MBA and WBZ Call for Action. In existence for 46 years, WBZ Call for Action is a non-profit telephone information, referral and action service dedicated to resolving people’s problems. A free service, it is a member of the national organization, Call for Action Inc.