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The Massachusetts Bar Association's Access to Justice Awards will honor 10 attorneys for their exemplary legal skills and service to the community. The awards will be presented at the Access to Justice Awards Celebration at the Sheraton in Framingham on Thursday, June 6, with a keynote address by State Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough).

In the profiles that follow, meet the winners of the 2024 Access to Justice Awards.

RISING STAR AWARD

PAUL KOMINERS 
Anderson & Kreiger LLP, Boston

Paul Kominers of Anderson & Kreiger LLP is a recipient of the 2024 MBA Rising Star Award, which is given to an attorney employed by a legal services organization, a public defender organization, or a state or federal prosecutor’s office, or an attorney who has engaged in significant pro bono activities, who has been a practicing attorney for seven years or less, who has distinguished themself by a particular accomplishment or body of work that has made a significant and meaningful contribution to access to justice to an underserved population within Massachusetts.

Over the last three years alone, Kominers has invested more than 500 hours of pro bono work helping individuals with criminal convictions seal and expunge their records. He has represented individual clients, written amicus briefs in cases advocating structural improvements to Massachusetts’ criminal records law, served as litigation support for a legal aid organization, and recruited and supervised other Anderson & Kreiger attorneys. Citing a recent Harvard study that showed how racism permeates every stage of the criminal justice system, including longer sentences for people of color, one nominator said that Kominers’ pro bono efforts were “racial justice work” because they helped mitigate the negative after-effects from a criminal conviction. 

In addition to expungement cases, Kominers has also devoted many pro bono hours to litigation efforts in support of causes such as public health, including an amicus brief on behalf of leading public health organizations in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, and environmental justice. 

RISING STAR AWARD

LUIS VARGAS RIVERA 
Brown Rudnick LLP, Boston 

Luis Vargas Rivera of Brown Rudnick LLP is a recipient of the 2024 MBA Rising Star Award, which is given to an attorney employed by a legal services organization, a public defender organization, or a state or federal prosecutor’s office, or an attorney who has engaged in significant pro bono activities, who has been a practicing attorney for seven years or less, who has distinguished themself by a particular accomplishment or body of work that has made a significant and meaningful contribution to access to justice to an underserved population within Massachusetts.

An associate in Brown Rudnick’s Commercial Litigation practice group since graduating from Roger Williams School of Law in 2020, Vargas Rivera had already amassed an impressive resume of pro bono work in housing and criminal record-sealing cases by the time he played a key role in a case challenging a Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) policy that would ultimately benefit thousands of families across the commonwealth.

In that case, Vargas Rivera was the lead junior associate of the Brown Rudnick team that, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, successfully challenged a DCF policy that denied individuals the right to a fair hearing to contest DCF’s intervention when a report showed “substantiated concern” for children allegedly being abused or neglected. With Vargas Rivera serving as the primary drafter of the complaint and motion for judgment on the pleadings, a Superior Court judge found that DCF’s policy violated state and federal due process.

Following the ruling, DCF announced that it would provide fair hearings for all those challenging “substantiated concern” findings moving forward. 

PRO BONO PUBLICO AWARD

ELIZABETH A. RITVO
Brown Rudnick LLP, Boston 

Elizabeth A. Ritvo of Brown Rudnick LLP is the winner of the 2024 MBA Pro Bono Publico Award, which is given to an individual who has been instrumental in developing, implementing and supporting pro bono programs for the MBA, a local county bar association or a pro bono program of a law firm, or has developed a pro bono program sponsored or organized through an agency in the commonwealth, or has performed significant or meaningful pro bono activity.

Ritvo was Brown Rudnick’s first woman partner and remains a strong advocate for inclusion at Brown Rudnick. Throughout her 44 years at the firm as an accomplished First Amendment and media law attorney, Ritvo has mentored dozens of associates and partners, including in pro bono matters.

In one recent pro bono matter that Brown Rudnick handled in conjunction with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Ritvo provided administrative law and civil procedure expertise, strategic guidance, and associate mentorship on a lawsuit filed against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) by families who were not offered a hearing after a DCF finding that reports of abuse were a “substantiated concern.” The suit resulted in a Superior Court judge finding that DCF’s policy violated state and federal due process by not allowing a hearing to challenge DCF’s determination. Following this decision, DCF agreed to provide fair hearings going forward, affecting thousands of families across Massachusetts. 

Ritvo’s passion for representing clients in need, her expertise in administrative law and her commitment to mentoring young lawyers were essential to the overall strategy of the case and the ultimately successful outcome.

LEGAL SERVICES AWARD 

CHRISTINA (TINA) PARADISO
Community Legal Services, Worcester

Christina (Tina) Paradiso of Community Legal Aid (CLA) is a 2024 recipient of the MBA’s Legal Services Award, which is given to an attorney employed by a public or nonprofit agency to provide civil legal services to low-income clients, and who has made a particularly significant or meaningful contribution to the provision of low-income legal services, above and beyond the requirements of their position.

Paradiso has practiced public interest law for more than 25 years, most recently as the Senior Supervising Attorney for CLA’s Family Law Unit, where she handles complex divorce, custody, support, visitation, and abuse prevention matters, and supervises all family law work at CLA. Under her leadership, CLA’s Family Law Unit has successfully obtained many significant systemic improvements for low-income litigants. This work includes appellate decisions, which, among other positive outcomes, have expanded parents’ ability to seek modification of child support, expanded low-income parents’ right to counsel, and enforced the importance of economic security as an element of abuse prevention orders. 

Paradiso currently co-chairs the Supreme Judicial Court’s Access to Justice Commission’s Family Law Committee. She previously served on several court and executive branch working groups aiming to update and improve the law. 

Admired as much for her energy, compassion and collaborative approach as she is for her expertise, Paradiso is grateful to spend each working day using the law as a tool to strive for a fair and just society.

LEGAL SERVICES AWARD

AUDREY RICHARDSON
Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston 

Audrey Richardson of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) is a recipient of the 2024 MBA Legal Services Award, which is given to an attorney employed by a public or nonprofit agency to provide civil legal services to low-income clients, and who has made a particularly significant or meaningful contribution to the provision of low-income legal services, above and beyond the requirements of their position. 

As managing attorney of GBLS’ Employment Law Unit, Richardson and her team advance the workplace rights and economic well-being of low-wage workers through direct representation, litigation, amicus briefs, and systemic legislative and administrative advocacy, with much of this work in partnership with worker centers and other community-based organizations. 

Reflective of her own work, Richardson recently developed her unit’s labor-related immigration practice, which involves representing undocumented immigrants who, due to the existence of a government investigation into workplace rights violations, are eligible for deferred action and work authorization to protect them from retaliation. She also has expanded her unit’s representation of immigrants who are eligible for U and T visas as survivors of workplace-related crimes or labor trafficking. 

Since joining GBLS in 1997, Richardson has supervised and mentored dozens of law students and attorneys who have pursued careers in workers’ rights and other public interest advocacy. 

DEFENDER AWARD

CARLOS BRITO
Committee for Public Counsel Services, Public Defender Division, Fall River

Carlos Brito of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is the 2024 recipient of the MBA’s Defender Award. The award is given to an attorney who is employed or retained by a public or nonprofit agency to provide criminal legal services to low-income clients, and who has made a particularly significant or meaningful contribution to the provision of low-income legal services, above and beyond the requirements of their position.

Brito is in his 32nd year with CPCS and has served since 2007 as attorney-in-charge of the Fall River office. Described by colleagues as a natural public defender, he provides a steady presence and a zealous voice for his clients, many of whom come from underserved populations. Brito’s dedication to indigent defense mirrors the diligence he exhibited in working a variety of jobs to put himself through college and law school, which he attended after migrating from Angola at age 17.

Thanks in part to his fluency in four languages — Spanish, English, Portuguese and Kriolu — Brito has a reputation for building genuine connections with CPCS’ diverse base of clients, whom he says contribute to his own personal growth. Brito is also known for handling some of the more challenging cases in Bristol County, including that of an 80-year-old Khmer man who spoke no English and was recently charged with rape.

PROSECUTOR AWARD

DONALD XENOS
Worcester County District Attorney’s Office, Worcester
Donald Xenos of the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office is the winner of the 2024 MBA’s Prosecutor Award. The award is given to a state or federal prosecutor who has distinguished themselves in public service, and whose commitment to justice and serving the communities where they live or work is particularly praiseworthy.

As first assistant district attorney and head of his office’s Juvenile Unit, Xenos has balanced the need for accountability in juvenile justice with a concern for the future prospects of young offenders. In leading a department focused on diversion, prevention and intervention, he has helped limit rates of youth incarceration by working to address problem behaviors rather than imposing the lifetime burden of a criminal record. Under Xenos’ direction, the Worcester DA’s diversion programs have yielded a 78% reduction in juvenile delinquency over the past 16 years.

As part of his efforts to keep youth in school and out of the detention system, Xenos has also helped fulfill the educational mission of the DA’s Office through his leadership of the Community Outreach Team. To date, participants in the crime-prevention initiative have delivered presentations to more than 685,000 youth and seniors in Worcester County.

Xenos serves on the board of the Worcester Community Action Council as the public sector representative for District Attorney Joseph Early. During his board membership for the past 13 years, he has served in a number of leadership positions and advocated for increasing services and opportunities to help break the cycle of poverty “one neighbor at a time.”

RACE, EQUITY AND INCLUSION AWARD

IRIS COLOMA-GAINES
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Boston 

Iris Eileen Coloma-Gaines of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) is the 2024 recipient of the MBA’s Race, Equity and Inclusion Award, which is given to an attorney or law firm that has pursued zealous advocacy framed with a race, equity and inclusion lens, which includes a strategy that advances critical race theory, including the impact of individual and structural racism. 

Coloma-Gaines has practiced law on behalf of low-income or disadvantaged people for more than 30 years in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, she launched and led a migrant farmworker practice where she fought for workers’ rights. There, she litigated individual and multi-plaintiff cases in federal agencies and courts. Currently, as MLRI’s statewide language access attorney, she is working on numerous fronts to make crucial state services available to residents who are best served in a language other than English — the majority of whom are immigrants or people of color. She is also on the Steering Committee for the MassSpeaks Coalition in advocating for a state language access statute. 

Coloma-Gaines’ work on language access in the courts, in particular, exemplifies her commitment to access to justice. She leads the statewide Language Access Coalition, which identified the large divide between the services English and non-English speakers receive in court, and formed a working group to strategize improvements. She is also a strong proponent of legislation that will improve the lives of those better served in a language other than English. Such legislation includes An Act to Create Access to Justice (H1677/S953), which will allow for disparate-impact discrimination claims in court, creating an expanded avenue for restitution for racial discrimination; and An Act relative to the training, assessment, and assignment of qualified school interpreters in educational settings (H4416/S2587), which will allow parents who do not speak English to meaningfully engage with school districts and make informed decisions about their children’s education. 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

JULIA K. LANDAU
Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Boston

Julia K. Landau of Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) is a recipient of the 2024 MBA Access to Justice Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given to an MBA member who has committed almost their entire career to advancing access to justice issues. 

For 40 years, Landau has worked at MAC as an attorney pursuing justice in the name of education equity. She founded MAC’s Disability Education Justice Initiative and Autism Center and currently serves as its senior project director. Her autism-related work and successful efforts to pass numerous pieces of legislation have secured millions of dollars in funding for education of marginalized youth. Described by one colleague as “the definition of a zealous advocate,” Landau’s ultimate goal has been to use the law to achieve her vision of a state where every child, regardless of race, disability or immigration status, has equitable access to education. 

Regarded as a national expert on special education law, Landau has mentored hundreds of law students, legal aid lawyers and private attorneys throughout her career. Her most recent accomplishment is leading a successful 10-year effort to pass the first inclusive higher education access bill in the entire country. This landmark legislation means youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism will have access to higher education in inclusive settings with their peers. The MAC community is grateful that Landau’s work at the organization will continue for many years to come. 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

ANTONE “GERRY” SINGSEN 
Posthumous 

Antone “Gerry” Singsen is a recipient of the 2024 MBA Access to Justice Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given to an MBA member at the end of their career (or posthumously) who has committed almost their entire career to advancing access to justice issues. 

After graduating magna cum laude from Columbia Law School and clerking for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Singsen began working as staff attorney and Reginal Heber Smith Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of Westchester County. There, among other achievements, he litigated New York’s welfare residency case, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, and won a seminal voting rights case. It was just the beginning of a career where Singsen would emerge as a leader and visionary in managing and funding legal services for the poor. 

As deputy director of Community Action for Legal Services in New York City, he became nationally known for establishing innovative, effective management and performance systems. On the national level, Singsen was called upon four separate times to serve the federal legal services at critical junctions, including in 1975 when he helped start the federal Legal Service Corporation and in 1978 during the largest-ever expansion of federal civil legal services. 

Later, at Harvard Law School, Singsen became the director of the Program on the Legal Profession. He also wrote more than 28 articles on all aspects of legal services for the poor, including his most influential work, “High Quality Legal Representation: The Fundamental Goal for Legal Services for the Poor,” in which he set the national standard that the goal of legal services was not just to provide legal representation but to do so in a manner that improved the lives of low-income people.

Here in Massachusetts, Singsen was best known for his work with the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, from leading the state planning effort that culminated in its creation in 2005 to serving as a consultant to the commission until his retirement in 2017. With Singsen’s guidance and hard work, the commission increased funding for Massachusetts programs and identified best practices at every level, including for expanding the civil right to counsel. 
 
Singsen passed away in March 2024, still working on his memoir about a lifetime of legal aid learning and teaching.

Register

Space is limited. Register by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 1, to attend.

Questions? Email MBA Communications and Digital Marketing Manager Nicole Dowd at NDowd@massbar.org.