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Haverhill Arranges for Free Legal Aid for Residents; Program Aims to Address Housing Issues

Free legal help is now available to low-income and other vulnerable Haverhill residents with housing and other issues.

Mayor James J. Fiorentini said Tuesday the city developed and is paying for the program staffed at the Haverhill Citizen’s Center by local lawyers from Northeast Legal Aid. The program kicks off today, March 8, and will run Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from noon to 4 p.m., at the Citizen’s Center, 10 Welcome St., room 13 on the lower level.

The mayor said he has been working on getting the program up and running for several months as part of a package of proposals to address the need for more affordable housing and support residents struggling with rising rental prices.

“When a landlord dramatically increases the rent or is threatening eviction, many times low-income individuals and families don’t have the means for legal advice or help,” Fiorentini said. “There are a lot of heartbreaking stories out there right now, and this is a program where people can go to get help.”

Northeast Legal Aid has been providing free legal services to the poor, indigent and underrepresented for 50 years. The organization offers free legal services for civil cases including housing matters, especially tenant/landlord issues, as well as elder law, family law, consumer protection, disability benefits and education advocacy.

Residents may reach Northeast Legal Aid by calling 978-458-1465 or visiting northeastlegalaid.org.

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March 20, 2023 by LEGAL

City introduces free legal aid for low-income residents | News

HAVERHILL — The city has launched a free legal assistance program to help low-income and other vulnerable residents with housing and other issues.

Mayor James Fiorentini said the program, which is located at the Citizen’s Center and is staffed by local lawyers from Northeast Legal Aid, is available from noon to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The legal assistance program debuted, March 8, in the Citizen’s Center, Room 13 (lower level), 10 Welcome St.

Fiorentini said free legal aid, funded with federal American Rescue Plan Act money, is part of a package of proposals to address the need for more affordable housing and support residents struggling with rising rental prices.

Free pro bono legal services for civil cases include housing matters, especially tenant/landlord issues, as well as elder law, family law, consumer protection, disability benefits and education advocacy.

“When a landlord dramatically increases the rent or is threatening eviction, many times low-income individuals and families don’t have the means for legal advice or help,” the mayor said. “There are a lot of heartbreaking stories out there right now, and this is a program people can go to for help.”

Northeast Legal Aid is an organization that for 50 years been dedicated to providing free legal services to the poor, indigent and underrepresented.

You can reach Northeast Legal Aid at 978-458-1465 or online at northeastlegalaid.org.

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March 12, 2023 by LEGAL

How ChatGPT Could Impact Law and Legal Services Delivery | News

Limitations

Illustrating ChatGPT’s limitations, Hammond described how he prompted ChatGPT to generate a description of the MSAI program. The bot response skewed toward the norm by incorrectly stating that MSAI is a two-year degree program — the program is 15 months. This error is an example of bias, or an erroneous assumption, based on ChatGPT’s training data. The bot also omitted unique information about the program, namely MSAI’s industry partnerships.

“When you are looking for an answer that is best practice or conventional wisdom, those are marvelous places for statistical methods,” Hammond said. “But if you start wandering into the realm of the bespoke, or the unique, you’ll run into problems.”

Hammond stressed the importance of understanding the nature of a task and confining technologies to the tasks they were built to solve. He suggested a language model like ChatGPT might not, for example, be suitable for the task of determining how changing a clause in a contract will impact the document.

“You have to understand the length and breadth of the technology and where it collapses, and make sure the task is not one that demands something beyond its limits,” Hammond said. “ChatGPT might be good at taking a test. But, because of the nature of the underlying mechanism, it may never be capable of genuine reasoning, being imaginative, or thinking beyond the moment.”

Implications for law and legal services

McGinnis discussed his expectations regarding howal technologies like ChatGPT may affect legal services and law, including increasing computational efficiency, improving accuracy, and reducing costs.

He suggested that certain areas of law are more conservative and stable over time, like trust laws, might be more easily impacted by technology than edge cases and laws that are rapidly changing, like cybersecurity.

“I don’t think, at least in the foreseeable future, that

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February 2, 2023 by LEGAL

Report: Connecticut legal aid saved state millions | Connecticut

(The Center Square) — Connecticut saved taxpayers millions of dollars through a pandemic-related program that provided legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction, according to a new report.

The report on the state’s right-to-counsel program, prepared by the independent consulting firm Stout, found that by preventing evictions or helping tenants find new housing before they’re evicted likely saved Connecticut taxpayers between $5.8 and $6.3 million from the end of January to the end of November 2022.

The report’s authors wrote that the program helped save the state money it would have otherwise spent to provide emergency shelter services for families and individuals, child welfare, health care and education services.

Those costs included $2.5 million to $2.7 million in savings related to Medicaid spending; while another $1.1 million to $1.2 million came from housing safety net savings. Other savings come from the economic value of residency and prevent foster care placements, according to the report.

“People experiencing homelessness, including those experiencing homelessness because of eviction or disruptive displacement, often utilize in-patient and emergency room care more frequently than people who are stably housed,” the report’s authors wrote.

The report’s authors say the estimated savings is likely “understated” because it doesn’t include an offset to costs for providing public benefits to people who lose their jobs after an eviction, among other expenses.

Connecticut created the right-to-counsel program last year with about $20 million in pandemic relief money, which is expected to keep it fully funded through 2024.

The program, which is open to low-income residents in specific ZIP codes and veterans, seeks to close a gap between the number of tenants and landlords who have legal representation in crime cases.

The Connecticut Bar Foundation, which is overseeing the initiative, said the number of tenants with legal representation

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January 14, 2023 by LEGAL

New life insurance program for disabled vets to launch in January

Disabled veterans will be guaranteed access to life insurance policies under a new Veterans Affairs program set to launch early next year, department officials announced Tuesday.

The move opens up basic coverage for a population of roughly 4 million individuals who in the past have struggled to qualify for life insurance plans because of their injuries and illnesses. VA officials said the new program would be open to any disabled veterans age 80 and under with no disqualifications for medical reasons.

“This is going to create more access to life insurance than ever before,” said Dan Keenaghan, executive director of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Insurance Service. “And we are really, really excited about getting our veterans all the benefits that they’ve earned.”

Here’s why you need to think about military life insurance

VA currently operates the Service-Disabled Veterans Life Insurance program for individuals whose military injuries make eligibility for other life insurance offers difficult. But veterans must apply for that program within two years of receiving a disability rating and cannot enroll later on.

The new Veterans Affairs Life Insurance (VALife) program will eliminate that timeline and sunset the S-DVI program. Officials will close enrollment into the S-DVI program on Jan. 1, 2023.

The changes were mandated by Congress in legislation passed last year. Veterans will be able to buy up to $40,000 in coverage at “competitive” rates, according to Keenaghan. The program will not earn a profit, but the costs are designed to ensure the program doesn’t create new deficits for the depart

Officials do not have a target goal for enrollment in the first year, or an estimate as to how many veterans may be unable to obtain life insurance currently.

However, veterans advocates for years have pushed for the change in programs because of concerns about limited

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December 2, 2022 by INSURANCE

Free legal helpline launched for New Mexicans in need

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — A telephone service has been launched to provide free legal assistance for low-to-moderate-income New Mexicans dealing with civil matters.

Residents with incomes 200-500% of the federal poverty level may qualify for legal assistance through the Modest Means Helpline. The helpline is open from 8 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday at 505-797-6013 or 888-856-9935.

According to a release issued Monday, two staff attorneys provide legal advice over the phone. If more extensive legal help is needed, the attorney(s) can also refer people to private attorneys in the state who have volunteered to provide free legal services for those in need.

The program is believed to fill in to represent people who, because of a conflict of interest, can’t be assisted by the New Mexico Legal Aid Volunteer Attorney Program – as that program can’t represent both parties in a lawsuit.

Anyone over 55 years old and needing legal assistance should call the Legal Resources for the Elderly Program at 505-707-6005 or 800-876-6657, instead. That program has no income restrictions and is specifically geared toward older New Mexicans.

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November 15, 2022 by LEGAL

Jail Brakers and Prairie State Legal Services offer cannabis expungement event Sept. 3

On Saturday, Sept. 3, Jail Brakers and the experts at Prairie State Legal Services are offering a special presentation on the sealing and expungement of cannabis records and convictions. Find out if you qualify to get your records sealed or expunged.

Jail Brakers, which offers support and services to the families of incarcerated individuals, is hosting this event from 2 to 5 pm at the McHenry County Board of Health office, 620 Dakota St. in Crystal Lake. Use the main entrance at the rear of the building.

After the state of Illinois legalized recreational use of cannabis — marijuana — the Legislature passed an automatic expungement of the records of those convicted of simple possession of small amounts of the drug. Many others, however, convicted of possession of larger quantities and/or sale and distribution are required to actively petition to have their records removed. The standing convictions can have drastic consequences for seeking employment and housing, passing background checks, obtaining certain licenses and business permits, obtaining insurance, and even child custody.

Prairie State Legal Services, 400 Russel Court in Woodstock, has developed a special program to guide and instruct individuals on how to make their appeals. The program is free to the public. To register for the event by Friday, Sept. 2, find the event on EventBrite.com.

James Carpenter, a certified recovery support specialist, expedited the program for Jail Brakers and in his broader role coordinating criminal justice system initiatives for Tree of Life.

The program is produced in cooperation with New Leaf Illinois, a statewide, state-funded initiative made up of 20 nonprofit organizations throughout Illinois who provide free legal representation or legal information to people who want their cannabis convictions off their record.

Jail Breakers is an independent ministry of Tree of Life serving the entire McHenry County

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August 31, 2022 by LEGAL
May 2024
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