The Lawyers Clearinghouse was founded in 1988 by the Boston Bar Association and Massachusetts Bar Association. The organization grew out of a common belief that the pro bono resources of the private bar could be organized and coordinated to fight homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in the Greater Boston area. Over thirty years later, even as we have expanded the scope of our services, this belief remains our central model in assisting approximately 250 homeless and low-income clients and 500 nonprofit organizations each year. 

Our programs include the Massachusetts Legal Clinic for the Homeless & Low-Income Residents, which provides full representation legal services to the homeless and very low-income individuals on a variety of basic subsistence needs issues including securing subsidized housing, applying for disability and SSI benefits, resolving immigration problems, and sealing criminal records; the Nonprofit Assistance Program, which matches volunteer lawyers with nonprofit organizations in need of legal assistance; and the Access to Justice Fellows Program, which pairs retired lawyers and judges with legal services offices and nonprofit organizations for one year fellowships. 

Low-income, very low-income, and homeless people in Boston are all people the Clearinghouse serves through our Legal Clinic and Nonprofit Assistance Program. The Legal Clinic is designed to reduce barriers to self-sufficiency endured by homeless and low-income individuals by providing direct, free, one-on-one legal assistance. We are the only organization providing no-cost legal services to non-Veteran homeless individuals in Boston and we are the only statewide organization that provides pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations.

The Clearinghouse is governed by a 23 member board and has 4 full-time and 1 part-time (4.5 FTE) staff members. Our small staff recruit, train, coordinate, and mentor hundreds of volunteers each year.

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