The Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association
Board of Directors is pleased to announce the establishment of the
Meg Connolly Leadership Opportunities Fund

The Fund will honor VLP's retiring Executive Director, Mary M. (Meg) Connolly, who has served VLP for 24 years. Meg has been a determined advocate of justice for low income persons in Greater Boston and on the state and national levels. She has been a leader in involving attorneys in serving their communities, through programs that support volunteers in delivering high-quality service to those most in need of access to justice.

Under Meg's leadership, Volunteer Lawyers Project has brought the skill and energy of pro bono attorneys to address the many problems facing the client community. VLP along with its partners has a well established history of responding with flexibility and determination to the crises that its client face. In the past, these efforts have included responding to the elimination of the General Relief Program and rent control. VLP was instrumental in working with others in responding to the needs of veterans. More recently VLP has responded to the deteriorating economic climate affecting its clients. VLP has partnered with many community and governmental agencies, as well as the Courts, to respond to the foreclosure crisis. VLP has also maximized resources to assist clients seeking unemployment benefits by partnering with under- and unemployed lawyers. VLP is working with several area law schools to match law students and recent graduates with local alumni to increase our representation of unemployed persons.

The Meg Connolly Leadership Opportunities Fund will provide VLP with increased flexibility as it continues to respond in a timely fashion to the challenges and opportunities of the future. It will provide for increased staff time, materials or other expenses to launch new projects or design rapid responses to new challenges its clients face. With VLP providing support and expertise, volunteer lawyers will expand access to justice and respond to the needs of those who cannot afford to pay for high quality representation.

The goal of the Meg Connolly Leadership Opportunities Fund is $50,000. The Fund has already been launched with generous building block gifts pledged by a number of prominent Boston firms and corporate law offices. We invite you to join them in celebrating celebrate Meg's legacy and helping to build VLP's future by making a donation. Thank you.

Kathleen McGrath, Chair
Katherine McHugh, former Chair
William B. Tyler, former Chair
Stephen Oleskey, former Chair
Stuart Rossman, former Chair
Albert W. Wallis, former Chair
Lisa Wood, former Chair
James W. Prendergast, former Chair

Current members of the VLP Board of Directors

To Donate to the Meg Connolly Leadership Opportunities Fund:

Click the button below to make a secure online donation using your credit card:

You may also donate by sending a check, payable to the Volunteer Lawyers Project, to:

VLP

99 Chauncy Street, Suite 400

Boston, MA 02111

Please note "Connolly Fund" on the memo line.

Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law.