On March 5, 2019, Mintz attorney Susan M. Finegan received the Massachusetts Bar Foundation’s (MBF) Great Friend of Justice Award. MBF President Harvey Weiner praised Ms. Finegan for her dedication and commitment to equal justice. The MBF’s Great Friend of Justice Award is presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated an extraordinary passion for justice, consistent with the MBF’s values and mission of increasing access to justice throughout Massachusetts.

Ms. Finegan is a nationally recognized pro bono pioneer with a passion for helping underserved populations. As chair of Mintz’s Pro Bono Committee, she leads groundbreaking cases and manages pro bono matters for the firm. She helped to defeat President Trump’s first immigration travel ban in early 2017, to engineer the passage of a Massachusetts restraining order law for sexual assault survivors, and to create several innovative statewide model pro bono programs in Massachusetts.

As a member and current co-chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission for several years, Ms. Finegan has been a tireless and innovative advocate for low-income people in Massachusetts and beyond. She has spearheaded creative funding mechanisms to support legal aid organizations and developed the statewide civil appellate pro bono program for self-represented litigants. Five years ago, she co-founded the Access to Justice Fellows program, in which over 110 retired and retiring lawyers have devoted over 85,000 pro bono hours at legal services organizations, nonprofits, and the courts.