from each other’s resources and expertise, and leave a greater lasting impact in the lives of children growing up in urban areas across the Northeast. CHELSEA’S LIGHT FOUNDATION In 2010, San Diego high school senior Chelsea King went for a run in broad daylight and didn’t return. Five days later, her remains were discovered in a shallow grave. Chelsea had been raped and strangled by a known sexual predator. Following Chelsea’s death, her parents, Brent and Kelly King, established a nonprofit charitable foundation in her name and helped pass a California law that increases penalties, parole provisions, and oversight for violent sexual predators convicted of attacking children. Since the passage of that legislation, Chelsea’s Law, the Kings have pushed for similar legal reforms across the nation. Chelsea’s Light Foundation empowers individuals to help safeguard children, sponsors youth programs, and provides scholarships to high school seniors who share Chelsea’s commitment to positive change. Attorney Andrew Skale started working with Chelsea’s Light shortly after it was founded, and is now a board member. Along with attorneys Jacqulyn Lewis, Lance Kurata, and Tali Tuchin, and legal specialist Jacobo Dib, he worked on a variety of matters for the organization. With Mintz Levin’s help, the foundation has funded more than $100,000 in scholarships and has fought to change the law in a number of states, with the goal of enacting legislation that will protect children across the country. Mintz Levin has helped protect the foundation’s trade- marks, continued to handle further agreements related to the annual Finish Chelsea’s Run 5K, and reviewed employment agreements. The team has also continued to review agreements related to a documentary created by Chelsea’s brother, Tyler King.“Chelsea’s Light: A Brother’s Journey,” which premiered at the San Diego Film Festival, tells Chelsea’s story from Tyler’s perspective while raising awareness about sexual violence against children and looking at how the criminal justice system often fails to protect them. The full documentary can be viewed online at: https://chelseaslight.org/about-us/ CIVIL APPELLATE PRO BONO PROGRAM The right to appeal is fundamental to our judicial system. However, exercising that right can be a daunting task for those who can’t afford a lawyer or don’t know how to appeal on their own. In Massachusetts, a relatively new pro bono program is working to balance the scales of justice by helping low-income, self-represented individuals navigate the state appellate court system. The push to establish the new program began in 2013 when Associate Justice Ralph D. Gants, now Chief Justice, tasked a committee of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission with assessing the state’s need for pro bono services in the appellate courts. Attorney Sue Finegan, chair of Mintz Levin’s Pro Bono Committee and now the co-chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, led the new initiative with Supreme Justice Court Clerk Fran Kenneally, and they were joined on the committee by former Mintz Levin attorney Kim Parr, among others. Through its research, the committee learned that 14 other states around the country were already running various types of pro bono programs to help close the gap for unrepresented litigants involved in appeals. Closer to home, the committee learned that the Appeals Court in Massachusetts was fielding questions from at least 40 to 50 self-represented litigants each day, and that, as of January 2014, its docket was loaded with pending appeals involving at least one self-represented litigant. 35 (continued)