Mintz Member Susan Finegan will be honored for her long-standing commitment to pro bono legal services in Massachusetts by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) during the upcoming quarterly Board meeting held October 15-17 at Harvard Law School. Ms. Finegan’s dedication to the cause of expanding pro bono work was specifically highlighted in her nomination supported by the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association.

LSC is the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation. Established in 1974, LSC operates as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. LSC distributes more than 90% of its funding to 133 independent nonprofit legal aid programs with more than 800 offices.

Appointed Mintz first full-time Pro Bono partner in 2007, Ms. Finegan chairs the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, serves as lead counsel on numerous high profile pro bono litigation matters, and oversees the firm’s 300+ pro bono matters. She is an active member of the legal community, including serving as Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission and a member of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services.

Ms. Finegan has been a tireless and innovative advocate for low income people throughout Massachusetts. Over the past few years, she developed the statewide Civil Appeals Clinic with the Volunteer Lawyers Project, in which 150 pro bono attorneys from 20 law firms and in-house legal departments have assisted close to 300 self-represented litigants. She also co-founded the Massachusetts Access to Justice Fellows program, where 95 retired and retiring lawyers have devoted 70,000 pro bono hours at legal services organizations, nonprofits, and the courts during the last five years.