Mintz will receive a 2024 Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) for efforts to address to civil and human rights related issues. This is the fifth year in a row that Mintz has won this award.

“Over the past thirty years Mintz has fought to help and protect low income and vulnerable individuals, families, and communities in their civil and human rights,” said Susan Finegan, Member and chair of Mintz’s Pro Bono Committee. “We are honored to be recognized by the NLADA for our dedication to pro bono work and we look forward to continuing to bring our services to those in need.”

Examples of Mintz’s work to advance civil and human rights in 2023 include:

• Collaboration with several partners, including Lawyers for Civil Rights and Greater Boston Legal services, in a successful First Circuit appeal of a District Court decision upholding the admissions policy designed by the Boston Public Schools during COVID.
• Deep involvement in alleviating gender violence, including a successful Massachusetts Supreme Judicial appeal involving the victim’s privileged therapy treatment records in criminal cases in a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case. The resulting decision established important precedent about the privacy of treatment records and victims’ rights in criminal prosecutions.
• Assistance to the League of Women for Community Service (LWCS), one of the longest continuously running Black women's organizations in America, in matters related to renovations of its historic Boston headquarters enabling it to continue serving as a forum for informing the public about pertinent issues that affect the social, economic and general well-being of the Black community.
• Pro bono corporate support for the National GC Network, Canada’s largest organization of GCs from diverse backgrounds committed to advancing DEI in the legal market. Mintz guided the National GC Network through the legal work needed to set up as a nonprofit, as well as helping to raise funds so the organization could hire its first director. 
• Continued leadership of New England and national responses to the sustained humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, including the design of a referral system for congressional staff offices to match with peer firms for case intake as well as providing training and mentorship.
• Ongoing legal counsel for the University of San Diego Law School's Name and Gender-Marker Change Clinic, which has helped roughly 1,100 individuals whose lives have been affected by the lack of identity documents that didn’t match their gender.

The Beacon of Justice awardees will be celebrated at the 2024 NLADA Exemplar Awards Gala on June 6, 2024.  To learn more about Mintz’s pro bono program, please click here.

About The National Legal Aid & Defender Association

The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is America's oldest and largest nonprofit association devoted to excellence in the delivery of legal services to those who cannot afford counsel. NLADA has pioneered access to justice at the national, state, and local levels, playing a leadership role in the creation of public defender systems and other important institutions from The Sentencing Project to the Legal Services Corporation. A leader in the development of national standards for civil legal aid and public defense, NLADA also provides advocacy, training, and technical assistance for equal justice advocates across the country.