Member Trainings
AmeriCorps Training Program
The Massachusetts Legal Assistance for Self-Sufficiency Program (MLASSP) has created a monthly training program covering a wide-range of legal skills and AmeriCorps ideals for the twenty-eight members serving in seventeen legal aid programs throughout the Commonwealth. Five attorneys, representing different focus areas, serve as a training advisory team and collaborate with the Program Director and partner sites. Together they develop and implement basic legal advocacy, community outreach, and career development in public service law. The 2010-11 training team includes Attorneys Janet Donovan, Deborrah Dorman, Susan Love, Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, and Brian O'Connor. Additionally, all partner organizations provide site-specific training directly related to the member placement.
AmeriCorps Training Team
Janet Donovan, Attorney
Legal Program Coordinator
Casa Myrna Vazquez, Inc.
Janet Donovan manages the Legal Advocacy Program at Casa Myrna Vazquez, Inc., a multi-service agency for battered women and their children in Boston, Massachusetts. Before assuming this position, Janet had a private law practice with a concentration in domestic relations and special education law. A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Janet spent two years as a judicial clerk. She is a trustee and past president of the Women’s Bar Foundation and a recipient of the Women’s Bar Association Leila J. Robinson Award and the Pro Bono Publico Award. Janet is currently president of the board of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. In the late 1970’s and early 80’s, Janet worked as an advocate for battered women at Transition House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later taught school in Puerto Rico.
Deborrah Dorman, Attorney
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
New Bedford Law Office
Attorney Deborrah Dorman, a native of Washington, D.C., is a graduate of Harvard University and the Georgetown University Law Center. Exposed to advocacy at a young age while working in Washington, D.C., as an intern, and then employee for the Peace Corps, Attorney Dorman has continued to be involved in issues affecting equality and justice, especially involving children and their families. She has held positions in higher education as well as in the law, and after running her own legal practice for over 10 years, joined South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc. in 2008.
Susan Love, Attorney
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Brockton Law Office
Attorney Susan Love has been a staff attorney at South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc. in Brockton for the past nine years, focusing on domestic violence/family law and education law. Before joining SCCLS Susan was in individual private practice for four years doing general civil practice and before that at the Children's Law Center in Lynn, MA focusing on special education cases. She graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1993 and from Barnard College in 1986 having majored in psychology. Susan worked as a real estate paralegal for three years before attending law school. This is Susan’s second year serving as a MLASSP Supervisor.
Kathy Marx, AmeriCorps Program Director
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Kathy Marx joined Massachusetts Legal Assistance for Self-Sufficiency as the AmeriCorps Program Director in May 2007. Prior to joining legal services, Kathy spent ten years actively involved with Learn and Serve America and the Corporation for National and Community Service as the community service learning coordinator for a local school district. In that position she worked with students, staff, and community members to teach students the importance of civic engagement by giving them opportunities to serve both in and out of the classroom. Kathy never ceases to be amazed by the caliber of young people with whom she is privileged to serve and the dedicated attorneys who have made legal services their life’s work.
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, Attorney
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Fall River Law Office
Attorney Weayonnoh Nelson practices at South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc. in Fall River, with a specific interest in immigration law, child advocacy and domestic relations. She recently received her juris doctorate degree from the Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. As a law student, Weayonnoh served as a legal immigration fellow with the U.S. Human Rights Network advocating for the recognition of the human rights of undocumented immigrants. She also served as a student attorney with the Roger Williams University Community Justice Clinic, representing low-income clients with family law and immigration matters. She has coordinated two immigration workshops addressing the immigration debate, the detention process and the rights of detainees. She has been recognized as an excellent oral advocate and has received several best oralist awards in two National Environmental Moot Court competitions and the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Trial Advocacy, International Law and the Community Justice Clinic.
Brian O’Connor, Attorney
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Fall River Law Office
Attorney Brian O’Connor received his juris doctorate degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire and his undergraduate degree, majoring in History, from the University of Connecticut. He worked for New Hampshire Legal Services and then for ten years as New Hampshire Public Defender before starting his own practice in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Before joining South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc. in 2005, Attorney O’Connor’s practice was limited to criminal defense. As Senior Attorney at SCCLS, O’Connor works primarily on housing cases. He represents individuals in housing court and has two class action lawsuits against the Fall River Housing Authority pending in Federal Court, when not assisting with the AmeriCorps Program and other organizational responsibilities. This is Attorney O’Connor’s fourth year as a MLASSP supervisor and his second year as facilitator of the Statewide Advocacy Project.