MLRI’s 50th Anniversary Celebration - Mass Law Reform Institute

MLRI is turning 50…. and we’re still reforming after all these years!

Wednesday, September 26

5:30-7:30pm
Omni Parker House
60 School Street, Boston MA

Please join us as we celebrate our 50th anniversary & honor the following:

2018 Catalyst for Change Award: Jayne B. Tyrrell

JAYNE B. TYRRELL is Executive Director of Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Program (IOLTA), a position she has held for almost 28 years. The program provides funds for legal services to the poor and for improving the administration of justice. Under her leadership, MA IOLTA has been among the top state IOLTA programs in the nation. Jayne’s lifelong commitment has focused on addressing the plight of low income people without counsel. She was involved in the groundbreaking legal needs study “Action Plan for Legal Services,” served as Executive Director of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Volunteer Legal Services Program, worked on the Boston Bar Association’s 1998 study on pro se litigants, and actively participated in the MA Supreme Judicial Court’s Special Committee on Self-Represented Litigants. In recent years she has worked on expanding the right to counsel in civil cases, co-chairing the Boston Bar Association Task Force on Expanding the Right to Counsel and serving on the steering committee of the National Coalition on Civil Right to Counsel. Jayne has also been a mentor to countless women. She brought together leading women lawyers to create the Women’s Bar Association Women Leadership Initiative, which has encouraged and supported emerging women leaders in the bar. Among her many recognitions, the Massachusetts Bar Foundation named Jayne its “Great Friend of Justice” in 2004 and bestowed its President’s Award on her in 2009 and the Women’s Bar Association recognized her efforts with the prestigious Leila J. Robinson Award in 2012.

Lifetime Service to Justice Award: Allan G. Rodgers

ALLAN G. RODGERS’ legal work has touched countless people and impacted many different areas of poverty law. From 1969 to 2010, Allan served as Executive Director of MLRI and established it as one of the premier legal services advocacy and support centers in the country. His accomplishments during his remarkable 41-year career are countless. He helped draft the state’s Chapter 40B zoning law, which has created over 58,000 units of affordable housing. He was instrumental in the passage of the Massachusetts Abuse Prevention Act, which has helped more than 40,000 abused women and children each year secure restraining orders. He has filed or co-counseled class action lawsuits challenging harmful rules and policies affecting public benefits, unemployment insurance, child support collection and custody, and has championed numerous court reform efforts to ensure that our justice system remains fair and accessible for thousands of low-income individuals. Since his retirement, Allan has written several books, including Rap-Ups of a Retired Reformer: How Legal Services Advocates Transformed the Laws for Poor People in Massachusetts.

Lifetime Service to Justice Award: Ernest “Tony” Winsor (posthumously)

ERNEST “TONY” WINSOR was a Staff Attorney at MLRI from 1970 to 2009. Over the course of his distinguished career, he left an indelible imprint on the legal and social justice communities. He inspired and mentored hundreds of legal services lawyers and public interest advocates who carry on the anti-poverty and social justice work so important to him. In the 1970s, Tony organized court-watching which had significant impact on improving practices in those courts and gained national attention. He drafted a bill providing for an affidavit of indigency to cover court costs for low-income litigants, the first of its kind in the nation. One of Tony’s landmark accomplishments was CORI reform; he worked with the Union of Minority Neighborhoods, Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston Workers Alliance, EPOCA, and other allies to develop a campaign that led to the passage of comprehensive CORI reform in 2010. He also led groundbreaking efforts to expand language access to the courts and to medical facilities in the state. Tony Winsor passed away peacefully in November 2013 and is deeply missed.