The State of the Guild

(December 2001)

By Jane Alper, Chapter Co-Chair and a senior attorney at the Disability Law Center in Boston

Dear Guild Members,

The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild had a busy year.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, we joined forces with the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to assist Moslem, Arabic, and South Asian communities with legal issues arising from the aftermath of the attacks. We are providing training for hotline workers at the Islamic Society of Boston on the rights of community members. We are also participating in "know your rights" workshops for members of the community on topics including immigration, discrimination, and civil liberties. These workshops are offered at mosques, schools and community organizations. In addition, chapter members are providing representation to people who were harassed, arrested, or detained after the attacks.
The Chapter drafted and distributed a Statement of Concern in response to the September 11 attacks expressing deep sympathy for the victims and their families while urging a restrained response to the tragedy and the protection of the civil rights and liberties of people of Islamic and Arabic origin. The Statement of Concern can be found on our BRAND NEW WEB SITE along with a great deal of news and information about our chapter. Check it out at www.nlgmass.org.
Chapter members participated in forums with international law specialists and members of Veterans for Peace advocating options other than a military response to the crisis. On Sep. 25, the Chapter held an in-house forum on the Guild’s fact-finding trip to the West Bank and Gaza last January which chapter member Ellen Shachter participated in. Ellen discussed the findings of the group and distributed its report. A lively, sometimes heated, but always respectful discussion followed.
Chapter members participated in the National Convention in Tucson last month. Bonnie Tenneriello conducted a workshop on voting rights and Danny Burnstein participated in a workshop on the Middle East. At the convention, Chapter Board member David Nathanson was unanimously elected Regional Vice President. Way to go Dave!
On the local front, the Chapter received a grant from the Massachusetts Bar Foundation to hire a part-time community organizer to locate groups interested in hosting street law clinics and to develop a system for maintaining community relations in the future. The Chapter hired Therese Vanaria, who has done an outstanding job of lining up new venues (I hate that word) for the clinics and recruiting chapter members (including this author) to participate.
Our annual dinner was held on May 11 at the Park Plaza. We honored long-term civil rights activist Nadine Cohen, acting Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the Boston Bar Association; labor law guru Ira Sills, a partner at the union firm of Segal, Roitman & Coleman; Jerry Tisme, an immigration paralegal at Greater Boston Legal Services, and law student activists Michelle Abellera and Wendy Zimny. Max Stern (Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin) was an inspired MC. Despite a few glitches near the beginning (the hotel didn’t seem to remember that we were coming), the evening was a resounding success.
The Chapter trained anti-war demonstrators, Harvard students preparing for their weeks-long sit-in at Harvard University in a struggle for a living wage for the lowest-paid Harvard employees, and we made sure that there were legal observers at these actions and that there were lawyers ready to defend those arrested during these struggles. Chapter members defended people arrested last summer at the Italian consulate after the death in Genoa of an anti-globalization activist.
Chapter members from Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services stopped by the Guild to recruit members to participate in a new project they are organizing aimed at stopping guards from brutalizing prisoners by filing damage actions in district court against offending guards.
The Chapter signed onto an amicus curiae brief filed by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of the Guild firm of Messing, Rudavsky & Weliky in a case pending in the Supreme Judicial Court. That case arose from an order of the Superior Court ordering the firm to pay sanctions amounting to more than $94,000 because they obtained affidavits from the plaintiff’s co-workers in a sex discrimination case against Harvard University. Most of us who practice in the employment field used to talk to co-workers routinely as a way of investigating the merits of a case. Besides, we don’t think Harvard needs the money.
In September, Joanna Dubinsky left the referral service to pursue a master’s degree at UMass Amherst, and we are happy to report that Michele Malchisky was hired as the new referral coordinator. Michele is a freelance graphic designer and Simmons College graduate. She is thinking about attending law school in 2002
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Last but certainly not least, some female Chapter members, under the instigation of our Director, Urszula Masny-Latos, held a surprise wedding shower for the Chapter’s co-chair Susan Church to celebrate her recent marriage to Guilder-wanna-be Derege Demissie. A special guest impersonating a police officer provided the entertainment. The event was a huge success and it renewed our belief that the Guild can be fun (big time!).


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