Monday, February 9, 2009

Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates seeks new volunteer advocates

It is that time of year again. Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates seeks new law student advocates to join our legal team.

Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates is a small group of law students and lawyers committed to addressing the needs of low income transgender people in Massachusetts. MTLA recognizes that a lack of public awareness about trans people can make it difficult to navigate the legal system. Our legal team is composed of trans folks and their significant others, family, and friends.

Once each year, MTLA seeks applications from candidates who want to become volunteer law student advocates. Advocates have opportunities to work on a variety of types of cases. Some advocates choose to focus on areas of the law with which they are most familiar, while others use their commitment to MTLA to try something new under the experienced supervision of Denise McWilliams and our specialist volunteer legal consultants. Our advocates have won our clients settlements, represented clients in court, and in administrative hearings.

One of MTLA's strengths is a flexibility and willingness to address clients' needs where they are. This also translates into flexibility for advocates to take on the kinds of legal work in which they are most interested. We are also happy to work with you to obtain any fellowship, grant, or academic credit that would help to meet your needs as a student.

We seek a one-year commitment from our advocates, but are able to accomodate students who study abroad or who work outside of the Boston area for part of the year.

Please complete our application and return it by March 1st. We will make every effort to contact you quickly after that date to arrange an interview.

You may view the Advocate Agreement here.