MBA President Joseph P.J. Vrabel on Wednesday, March 5 will lead a contingent of MBA members on the fourth annual Walk to the Hill for Legal Aid. Members will meet with legislators to urge them to protect civil legal aid funding in the state budget.
Massachusetts' civil legal aid programs provide advice and representation to low-income residents with issues including domestic violence, child custody, health care, public benefits and consumer law. To be eligible a family of four must earn no more than $422 per week. Because of a shortage of resources, legal aid programs turn away a majority of eligible callers.
During last year's Walk to the Hill 200 private sector attorneys from Boston to the Berkshires lobbied legislators on this crucial issue. For more information, contact Pattye Comfort of the Equal Justice Coalition at (617) 338-2299, Ext. 115 or via e-mail at [e-mail pcomfort].
Vrabel recently was among a large group of corporate counsel from 36 major corporations who signed a letter calling on Gov. Mitt Romney to protect funding for legal aid for the poor as Romney grapples with his first state budget. Corporate counsel, or chief attorneys, of major Massachusetts corporations have stepped forward to champion legal aid for the poor in each of the past three years.