NLA was created in 2014 by the merger of Neighborhood Legal Services and Merrimack Valley Legal Services, two organizations whose history dates back to 1967, when a small group of socially conscious lawyers and paralegals came together to provide civil legal assistance to seniors and low-income people in northeastern Massachusetts. Given the increased demand from customers and the increasing scarcity of resources since those early days, NLA should be commended for effectively adapting to the needs of the communities it seeks to serve. In the early days of President Johnson`s war on poverty in the 1960s, lawyers at the Office of Economic Opportunity, which oversaw much of the initiative, funded programs that filed lawsuits to address systemic economic problems. For example, a class action lawsuit filed in 1970 (Goldberg v. Kelly) illegals the practice of terminating public support services without first granting applicants a fair hearing. However, a closer look reveals that the NLA follows the original philosophy of legal aid to address systemic economic issues that lead to legal problems. One such effort, the Practice of Community Development and Entrepreneurship, was launched in the fall of 2014 by NLA attorney Jared Nicholson. The idea is to help low-income entrepreneurs and small business owners in Lynn and Lawrence with free legal advice before legal problems arise, thus avoiding common legal pitfalls and business problems. As George Weber, Executive Director of the NLA, described, “This program is forward-thinking – it`s about how to avoid legal problems, not just how to overcome them. Nicholson has since moved on to other work, but two of the program`s lawyers — Sumbul Siddiqui and Carson Wheet — picked up where he left off and expanded the program to other towns and villages to support more budding entrepreneurs. NLA`s community development practice continues to be a great program that can make a difference by providing unbiased legal advice to those who are willing to open businesses, create jobs and thus strengthen their community. Nicholson, the creator, worked for three years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York and Mexico City. It was there that he realized the importance of legal aid for businesses.
As a Harvard law student, Nicholson applied for a scholarship from the Skadden Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, which provides funding to graduates who wish to dedicate part of their professional lives to supporting the poor, the elderly, people with disabilities, and others who typically don`t have access to quality legal services. NLA agreed to accept the grant. The practice of community development and entrepreneurship has quickly become one of the few in the region dedicated exclusively to providing free legal advice to low-income entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping them solve common problems when starting a business: incorporation, regulatory compliance, licenses, permits, leases and labour law. These early proponents of poverty eradication recognized that the legal problems faced by low-income citizens were symptoms of poverty rather than its cause. In 1974, Congress passed the Legal Services Corporation Act, and the following year, the Legal Services Corporation took over the administration of poverty reduction efforts rooted in legal services. In 1996, Congress amended federal law to prohibit organizations funded by the Legal Services Corporation from engaging in class actions. As a result, civil legal assistance programmes have moved from system change to assistance to people in crisis. Northeast Legal Aid (NLA) has programs based on both approaches to poverty reduction through legal advocacy. Based on the usual measures used to measure today`s civil legal aid programs, NLA looks typical. It serves 56 towns and villages in Essex and North Middlesex counties.
In some areas, there is a disproportionate number of people eligible for free legal services (annual income equal to or less than 125% of the federal poverty line, or $31,375 for a family of four). The NLA`s areas of activity are also typical of a legal aid program: housing, family law, foreclosure prevention, elderly and veteran issues, consumer debt, and public benefits. Jennifer Keegan, Senior Development Attorney jkeegan@nla-ma.org Nicholson has helped many people who would have failed not because they were willing to work hard to get a business off the ground, but because they didn`t understand the complex rules and regulations involved in starting and running a business. Room A is Anthony Seaforth, a Lynn resident who struggled to navigate the regulatory system as he sought charitable status for his young No Ceilings Youth Group, an organization that helps local student-athletes succeed academically. The non-profit designation better placed No Ceilings to seek funding and work directly in Lynn Schools.