Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources

Welcome to the MassNAELA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee’s (DEI Committee) Research and Resources webpage! The DEI Committee was created in July of 2020 in support of MassNAELA’s commitment to “more tightly align our advocacy with what this country should be doing to put a stop to all healthcare, educational and societal inequities and disparities.” The DEI Committee established three principles/goals:

  1. Increase and diversify our community outreach to diverse audiences and communities;
  2. Expand membership representation to reflect diverse audiences and communities; and
  3. Develop programs and training reflective of the chapter’s commitment to supporting and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

If you would like to become more involved in these efforts please contact Co-Chairs Matthew Albanese (matthew@albaneselawllc.com) and Paula Needer (paula@nedderlawllc.com). Below are links to several resources, trainings, articles, and other information to help you and your practice to be more inclusive and equitable.

Featured Links and Upcoming Events

PROGRAM: Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal and Business Environment:

 

ABA information on October as National Disability Empowerment Month

ABA toolkit on planning accessible meetings and events

MassNAELA’s Special Needs Toolkit, First Edition

NAELA News Journal Article on the importance of incorporating special needs considerations in your legal practice

Let NAELA help you spread the word on Special Needs Law Month

Articles

“When Medicaid Takes Everything You Own,” The Atlantic, by Rachel Corbett, 10/2019

For most Americans, entering and staying in the Middle Class was made possible through a combination of tax and social policies that allowed poor and lower income people to gain an economic foothold through home ownership and savings.  However, longevity, ill health and the need for publicly supported health insurance – Medicaid – have wiped out that opportunity, driving Americans deeper into poverty and depriving generations from acquiring the “American Dream” through gradual asset accumulation.  This article describes the Rhodes family’s medical crisis which forced its ill, aging matriarch into applying for Medicaid insurance.  With Medicaid’s onerous income and asset limitations, coupled by Medicaid’s reimbursement laws, millions of Americans and their families are being stripped of their meager finances and, over time, denied access to upward economic mobility.

 

“White, white, white.  And then there’s me,” The Boston Globe, by Katie Johnston, 7/27/2020 (Subscription to Boston Globe needed to view)

 Is the struggle for equal treatment and acceptance over once a Black lawyer is working in her chosen profession?  Not necessarily.  For Greater Boston Legal Services housing attorney Danielle Johnson, she faces discrimination on a daily basis in the subtle and often upspoken ways.  Court security giving her bar credentials greater scrutiny, her white and minority clients questioning whether she is up to the job, and often being the only minority attorney in the court room.  This eye opening article provides you with Attorney Johnson’s first hand experience as to what it is like to be a Black attorney in one of the busiest courts in Boston.

 

“Kicked Off the Land – Why so many black families are losing their property,” The New Yorker, by Lizzie Presser, 7/15/2019

In an eye opening article, the story of the Reels family highlights the dangers of not having an estate plan—namely, a will—to establish and protect property rights for securing wealth and stability for future generations.  For over a 100 years, the Reels family struggled to hold onto their 65 acres of rich North Carolina marsh land where the remaining two brothers lived and worked.  After being jailed for eight years for civil contempt for refusing a Court order to move off their property, the two brothers lose their fight.  The Reels family saga exemplifies the plight of thousands of southern Black Americans  who, distrustful of the law, incorrectly thought that having no will would result in protecting their family members’ land rights.  Little did most families understand that the lack of an estate plan created unclear property titles, subjecting future heirs to systemic legal attacks by not only other heirs but land speculators, onerous tax takings, exclusion from capital and insurance markets, and blatant trickery that ultimately deprived generations of Black families of their property.   

 

Trainings

TRAINING FOR STAFF/ORGANIZATION:

TRAINING FOR INDIVIDUAL:

Affinity Bar Associations

Below are links to Affinity Bar Associations in Massachusetts. In keeping with our objectives the MassNAELA DEI Committee hopes to be able to join hands with these bar associations to help identify the needs, interests, and goals of their members and to increase access to Elder Law and Special Needs services for diverse and underserved populations and individuals.

Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
c/o The Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108-3774
www.aalam.wildapricot.org
aalam.info@gmail.com

Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 742-0615
www.mahaweb.org
mahawebmail@gmail.com

Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA)
16 Beacon St
Boston, MA 02108
www.mablacklawyers.org
info@mablacklawyers.org

Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys
16 Beacon Street
Boston MA 02108
(617) 778-2046
www.massblackwomenattys.org

Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association
c/o Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA   02108
www.masslgbtqbar.org
Administrator@masslgbtqbar.org

South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston
c/o Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
www.sabagb.org
sabagreaterboston@gmail.com

Women’s Bar Association
105 Chauncey Street, 8th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 973-6666
www.wbawbf.org
https://wbawbf.org/wbf-projects/elder-law-project