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FrançaisCongratulations to the Class of 2020!
On behalf of our client community, the Legal Services Center offers its thanks and congratulations to the Class of 2020! Our students have done remarkable work in trying times. We wish them the best as …
LSC Student Sejal Singh wins the 2020 David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award
Singh was recognized for her work on the Project on Predatory Student Lending, as well as her exemplary contributions to public-interest endeavors Sejal Singh ’20 is the 2020 recipient of the David Grossman Exemplary …
LSC Student Sejal Singh wins the 2020 David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award Read More »
LSC Student Argues Tax Case Via Phone During Pandemic
Due to restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, Oliver Roberts, a second-year student at Harvard Law School, recently argued a case by phone before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. In this case, …
LSC Student Argues Tax Case Via Phone During Pandemic Read More »
LSC Clinics Work Creatively to Assist Client Communities Affected by COVID-19
The attorneys and student advocates at the Legal Services Center continue to work tirelessly for our clients as they face unprecedented challenges and financial distress. Below is a brief update on just some of our …
LSC Clinics Work Creatively to Assist Client Communities Affected by COVID-19 Read More »
Legislators Encourage Massachusetts Veterans to Apply for Available State Financial Assistance
Monthly Cash Assistance and Emergency Benefits Provided by Local Veterans Services Officers in Every City and Town Across Massachusetts Massachusetts is home to 380,000 of the nation’s 21 million veterans. More than half are aged …
Criminal Record Sealing Self-Help Materials Developed; A Law Student Reflects on Work and Learning During the Pandemic
Safety Net Project Director Julie McCormack and the students working with her on criminal record sealing (a mostly administrative process before the Massachusetts Probation Service) have taken advantage of the enforced slow-down brought about by …
Safety Net Project Successfully Argues Three Social Security Disability and SNAP/Food Stamp Cases
The three victories result in more than $137,000 in back payments plus significant ongoing monthly benefits moving forward; fourth case decision pending; others in pipeline In the two short weeks of March before LSC moved …
Harvard Law School Clinics Focus on Coronavirus Legal Aid
This article, by Kelsey J. Griffin, appeared in the Harvard Crimson on April 15, 2020. Several Harvard Law School clinics are shifting their focus to provide legal aid to vulnerable populations affected by the ongoing …
Harvard Law School Clinics Focus on Coronavirus Legal Aid Read More »
LSC Responds to COVID-19: An Update from Our Clinics
The Legal Services Center’s staff and students hope you are staying safe and healthy. We are all doing the best we can as we take on new challenges in advocating for client communities made ever …
LSC Responds to COVID-19: An Update from Our Clinics Read More »
NEW: Financial Assistance for Veterans
In this time of great economic uncertainty, financial assistance is available for eligible Massachusetts residents who have served in the military. Chapter 115 provides financial assistance to low-income veterans and their dependents, including survivors, across Massachusetts. …
Remembering John D. Hamilton Jr., Law Firm Leader and Legal Services Champion
We mourn the passing of John D. Hamilton, a longtime champion of legal services, who was instrumental in the establishment of a permanent home for LSC in Jamaica Plain. The post below was originally published by WilmerHale …
Remembering John D. Hamilton Jr., Law Firm Leader and Legal Services Champion Read More »
Veterans Legal Clinic Releases Report Documenting VA’s Systemic Denial of Health Care to Veterans with Bad Paper
More than 400,000 veterans currently at risk of being unlawfully turned away from treatment for service-related mental health conditions and other disabilities without due process Thousands of veterans with less-than-honorable “bad paper” discharges have been …
The Legacy of John F. Cogan, Leader in Boston Legal & Philanthropic Communities
LSC mourns the loss of John F. “Jack” Cogan ‘52, longtime champion of the Legal Services Center, who passed away in late January at age 93. Cogan, a Harvard Law graduate and former managing partner …
The Legacy of John F. Cogan, Leader in Boston Legal & Philanthropic Communities Read More »
LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic Launches at Harvard Law School
The Legal Services Center will be home to a new LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic headed by Alex Chen ’15, an HLS lecturer on law and clinical instructor. The following was published by Harvard Law Today on …
LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic Launches at Harvard Law School Read More »
Dear Presidential Candidates: Yes, You Can Cancel All Student Debt on Day One
With the presidential primaries now in full swing, the issue of the nation’s whopping $1.5 trillion in student loan debt – and whether to cancel it – has become a popular topic, highlighting a growing …
Dear Presidential Candidates: Yes, You Can Cancel All Student Debt on Day One Read More »
Remembering Dale Kensinger
The Legal Services Center staff mourns the loss of our colleague, Dale Kensinger, longtime volunteer attorney in LSC’s Tax Clinic. This post celebrating Dale’s life and work was written by Tax Clinic Director Keith Fogg …
My Student Loan Truth: Jared’s South University Story
One year ago, the Dream Center chain of for-profit colleges collapsed, closing schools across the country – including the Art Institutes, Argosy University, and South University -and leaving tens thousands of students stranded and scammed …
My Student Loan Truth: Jared’s South University Story Read More »
My Student Loan Truth: Andrea’s Story
When the Department of Education seized Andrea’s tax refunds to pay for bogus student loan debt from Corinthian Colleges, there were devastating effects for her entire family. Andrea Smith is a single mother living in …
LSC’s Toby Merrill ’11 named to the TIME 100 Next list
The founder of the Project on Predatory Student Lending is recognized for leading the fight against predatory for-profit colleges and fighting for the rights of over one million student borrowers. Toby Merrill ’11, founder and …
LSC’s Toby Merrill ’11 named to the TIME 100 Next list Read More »
SAVE THE DATE: Lieutenant Colonel Shannon McLaughlin To Give DAV Lecture Thursday, Nov. 21
Lieutenant Colonel Shannon McLaughlin of the Massachusetts Army National Guard will deliver this year’s Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, November 21 at noon at Harvard Law School. McLaughlin, who deployed to Afghanistan …
New Veterans Initiative Launched To Connect Low-Income Veterans With Underutilized Benefits
For Immediate Release November 5, 2019 Contact: Katie Ward 603-689-8170 New Veterans Initiative Launched To Connect Low-Income Veterans With Underutilized Benefits New Online Tool Aims to Help Thousands of Low-Income Massachusetts Veterans Access Financial Assistance …
UPDATE: Judge Grants Class Certification to 200,000 Student Borrowers in Sweet v. DeVos
96% of the 900 class members who submitted affidavits in support of this motion said their lives are worse today than before they went to school On Wednesday, October 30, a judge certified the class …
UPDATE: Judge Grants Class Certification to 200,000 Student Borrowers in Sweet v. DeVos Read More »
LSC Student Argues Tax Case in Federal Court
Through Harvard Law School’s Federal Tax Clinic, students have the unique opportunity represent low-income taxpayers in disputes with the IRS, both before the IRS and in federal court. Working individually and in teams, they represent …
Amanda’s Everest Institute Story
Amanda Wilson went to Everest College in Chelsea, Massachusetts to get a degree in medical assisting. When the Corinthian-owned school collapsed and was found to have misled students, the Massachusetts Attorney General filed an application …
Major Victory for Defrauded Students as Education Department Is Held in Contempt, Fined
“Secretary DeVos has repeatedly and brazenly violated the law to collect for-profit college students’ debts and deny their rights, and today she has been held accountable.” Toby Merrill, Director Project on Predatory Student Lending …
Major Victory for Defrauded Students as Education Department Is Held in Contempt, Fined Read More »
Sharing Insights To Protect Low-income Taxpayers, Tenants, and Victims of Predatory For-Profit Schools
Attorneys at the Legal Services Center represent thousands of low-income clients every year to protect their rights. Our attorneys also bring their expertise and passion to bear through publications that raise awareness of critical issues …
Alum Brings Innovative Consumer Protection Project to LSC
Emily Wilkinson, JD ’17 shares how her time as a student in LSC’s Predatory Lending and Consumer Protection Clinic influences her work as an attorney and motivated her to return to LSC as a Skadden …
Alum Brings Innovative Consumer Protection Project to LSC Read More »
My Student Loan Truth: Lyndsie’s Art Institute Story
“It’s wrong and I’m not going to sit down and shut up about it.” Lyndsie Ross attended the Art Institute of California, where she was pressured into signing up for a design program and …
My Student Loan Truth: Lyndsie’s Art Institute Story Read More »
The Latest Reports on Betsy DeVos Scamming For-Profit College Students
ITT and Corinthian Borrowers Continue to Fight for Relief as the Department of Education Skirts the Law Every Step of the Way At the end of last week, there was a great deal of news …
The Latest Reports on Betsy DeVos Scamming For-Profit College Students Read More »
Student Loan Truth: Jessica’s Art Institute Story
Jessica is a plaintiff in the lawsuit Sweet v DeVos, in which she and six other former for-profit college students are suing the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos, seeking to force the …
Student Loan Truth: Jessica’s Art Institute Story Read More »
My Student Loan Truth: Theresa’s Brooks Institute Story
When Theresa graduated from the Brooks Institute in 2006, she never imagined that she would find herself suing the U.S. Department of Education years later over her student loan debt. But after being cheated by …
My Student Loan Truth: Theresa’s Brooks Institute Story Read More »
Servicers Are Wrongly Denying Closed School Discharges to Art Institute of Phoenix Students. Why?
In December 2018, scores of Art Institute campuses closed their doors. Before the closure, students got three options: (1) transfer to another Art Institute campus to complete their degree, (2) participate in a teach-out at …
A Simple Online Legal Tool Designed to Help Reduce Poverty for Military Veterans
The Veterans Legal Clinic at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (LSC) is piloting a new technology tool to help fight poverty among the state’s most financially vulnerable military veterans and their …
A Simple Online Legal Tool Designed to Help Reduce Poverty for Military Veterans Read More »
Reform Meets Response: LSC Launches Criminal Record Sealing Initiative in Wake of Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform
The Legal Services Center strives to place the voices of Boston’s communities at the heart of its practice. While Julie McCormack, Director of the Safety Net Project, facilitated People’s Law School community workshops around the …
ITT Trustee, CFPB, and States Settle with Private Lender to Eliminate Millions in Debt
Settlements Do More for Cheated ITT Students Than DeVos As Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education continue to sit idly, indifferent to massive fraud committed by ITT against more than 750,000 former students, the …
ITT Trustee, CFPB, and States Settle with Private Lender to Eliminate Millions in Debt Read More »
Legal Services Center Housing Clinic wins precedent setting case for domestic violence survivors facing eviction
Ruling has implications for domestic violence survivors nationwide Survivors of domestic violence in Massachusetts and nationwide facing eviction have won a major victory in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC)* with a new ruling …
Project on Predatory Student Lending Director Toby Merrill Honored By American Constitution Society
At the American Constitution Society’s National Convention in Washington, D.C. this week, Project on Predatory Student Lending director and founder Toby Merrill was honored as a finalist for the prestigious David Carliner Public Interest Award. …
In the Fight for Student Loan Relief
By: Drew Henderson, J.D. ’19 Drew Henderson, J.D. ’19 For years, Corinthian Colleges, a network of over one hundred for-profit schools, defrauded students to rake in profits from taxpayer-funded federal student aid. Tens of thousands …
Mayor Pete Answers My Question About Predatory For-Profit Colleges
Last Saturday, I went to a town hall in New Hampshire hoping for the opportunity to ask Pete Buttigieg one question: Would he encourage his education department to cancel federal student debt from predatory for-profit colleges? I …
Mayor Pete Answers My Question About Predatory For-Profit Colleges Read More »
Harvard Gazette: LSC puts compassion into action
By Clea Simon. Published by the Harvard Gazette on April 11, 2019. Photos by Heratch Ekmekjian. “Reaching out to others is how you find out who you really are,” said Daniel Nagin, vice dean of …
Harvard Gazette: LSC puts compassion into action Read More »