PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT
John Adams Courthouse
One Pemberton Square
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
CONTACT:
Jennifer Donahue/Erika Gully-Santiago
PublicInfo@sjc.state.ma.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2024
Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission Announces New Director and Member Appointments
BOSTON, MA – The Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission announced today that it has named Attorney Deborah Silva as its new Director, effective December 9, 2024.
“We are so pleased to have Deb Silva joining us in this important role,” said Commission Co-Chair Valerie Yarashus, Associate Justice of the Superior Court. “She has extensive experience as a leader on access to justice issues that will serve the Commission well.”
“During her career, Deb has demonstrated a strong commitment to helping people who cannot afford counsel for their civil legal needs,” said Commission Co-Chair Marijane Benner Browne, Esq., of Ropes & Gray. “She is an innovative thinker who knows how to bring together different stakeholders to effect positive change, and I look forward to working with her.”
For the past eight years, Attorney Silva has served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. She has also previously held positions as Director of the Equal Justice Coalition; as Director of Public Policy for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts; and as Legislative Director for the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. She graduated summa cum laude in English from Suffolk University and earned her law degree from Boston College Law School.
Attorney Silva will succeed Attorney Carolyn Goodwin, who stepped down as Commission Director in July, after five years of service, to accept a new position as Director of Justice Initiatives and Court User Experience in the Trial Court.
The Commission also announced that the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court have appointed the following new members to the Commission.
- Hon. Dana Doyle, Associate Justice of the Probate and Family Court. Prior to her appointment to the bench by Governor Charlie Baker in 2021, Judge Doyle was a staff attorney at Community Legal Aid in Pittsfield, where she represented low-income domestic violence survivors in family law matters. She also served as president of the Berkshire County Bar Association. Previously, she worked as an attorney with AmeriCorps, with Western Massachusetts Legal Services, and then with two firms before starting her own private practice in family law. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Potsdam and Western New England School of Law.
- Ilana Gelfman, Advocacy Director, Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS). Attorney Gelfman was recently named as Chair of the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services and previously served as the Committee’s Vice Chair. After beginning her legal career as a Skadden Fellow at GBLS, she served as the Francis D. Murnaghan Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow at the Public Justice Center, clerked for three federal jurists, including Justice Stephen Breyer at the U.S. Supreme Court, and then joined Jones Day, where she became a partner, before returning to GBLS. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.
- Inês Kenney, Managing Attorney of the Fitchburg Office of Community Legal Aid (CLA). Before taking on her current position, Attorney Kenney served as an education law staff attorney at CLA, representing students with special needs and those facing suspension or expulsion; as an attorney at the Victim Rights Law Center representing survivors of rape, sexual assault, and stalking in related matters such as Title IX, eviction defense, and abuse/harassment prevention orders; and as an AmeriCorps member with Northeast Legal Aid’s Housing Unit. She is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and the University of Massachusetts (Amherst).
- Dr. Natoschia Scruggs, Chief Access, Diversity and Fairness Officer, Massachusetts Trial Court. Dr. Scruggs leads the Trial Court’s Office of Access, Diversity and Fairness, which comprises the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the Office for Language Access; the Office of Court Services; the Office of Access to Justice and the User Experience; the Office of Alternative and Online Dispute Resolution; and the Department of Court Records and Transcripts. She previously held a wide range of positions in government, academia, and non-profit organizations, including as principal research advisor to three U.S. ambassadors at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York. She earned a Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been a Ford Foundation Fellow, Rotary Ambassadorial Fellow, and Fulbright Scholar.
The Access to Justice Commission was established by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2005 to provide leadership and vision to, and coordination with, the many organizations and interested persons involved in providing and improving access to justice for those unable to afford counsel for their civil legal needs. More information about the Commission is available on its website, https://massa2j.org/, and in its 2024 Annual Report.
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