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Dear Commissioners and Friends of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission,
I hope you had a chance to enjoy New England’s brief “false spring” earlier this month! As we look ahead to the real signs of spring, the Commission is preparing for our May meeting and for an April conference on consumer debt, organized by the Commission’s Consumer Debt and Racial Equity and Justice Committees in partnership with the Flaschner Judicial Institute. The conference will focus on consumer debt—an issue that continues to affect many Massachusetts residents and the legal aid organizations that serve them.
Be sure to check out our What We’re Reading section as well, which features an essay by Quinten Steenhuis exploring a “harm reduction” approach to the use of generative AI to expand access to justice. If you come across articles you think the Massachusetts access to justice community would find interesting, please feel free to send them my way.
As always, thank you for being part of this community working to make our justice system more accessible for all.
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SAVE THE DATE: Next Full Commission Meeting May 20, 2026
I’m excited to share that the May Commission meeting will be in-person on May 20th from 3:00 pm until 4:30 pm at the John Adams Courthouse Conference Suite. The May meeting will feature former Commissioner and retired Massachusetts Housing Court judge, Dina Fein, who will give a presentation on “tangled titles.” This issue— which often arises when property passes informally from one generation to the next without clear legal documentation— can create significant barriers for families seeking to maintain or transfer ownership of their homes. Judge Fein will share insights on the challenges tangled titles present and discuss efforts to address this issue and improve access to clear homeownership pathways. Click here to RSVP!
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Debt’s Grip book talk on April 8th
The first of two upcoming consumer debt-focused events will take place on Wednesday, April 8th from 4:00-5:00 pm, the Flaschner Judicial Institute will be presenting a “book talk” via zoom and open to the public. The presentation will focus on the book, Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy, by Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, and Deborah Thorne
Debt’s Grip tells the story of financial struggle in the United States. Drawing on original data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a landmark long-term study, the authors use the words of bankruptcy filers themselves to shed light on their battles to keep their homes and their cars, pay for healthcare and higher education, care for their children, find adequate employment, retire, negotiate with debt collectors, and confront discrimination in lending. Laying bare the consequences of risk privatization, this book makes a powerful case for why the United States must confront the structural inequities that cause so many—especially Black families, women, and the elderly—to struggle in today’s economy.
Pamela Foohey is the Allen Post Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. Robert M. Lawless is the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at the University of Illinois. Deborah Thorne is Professor of Sociology at the University of Idaho.
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The Rise in Debt Collection Cases in the Trial Court: Race, Equity, and Access to Justice
We’re also excited to invite you to an MCLE conference organized by the Racial Equity and Justice Committee and the Consumer Debt Committee of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission and the Flaschner Judicial Institute. The conference, which will take place on April 28th from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm, will highlight the rapid increase in consumer debt cases in Massachusetts and its impact on court users and our courts. The program will document the demographic disparities that have been reported in consumer debt cases, and best practices that have been developed to increase equity and access to justice in consumer debt cases. Attendees will learn the history of small claims proceedings in Massachusetts, how consumer debt cases are treated in these courts, and some of the special challenges and court rules in consumer debt cases.
The program will feature a keynote address from Professor Frederick Wherry. Professor Wherry serves as Princeton University’s Townsend Martin Class of 1917 Professor of Sociology and Vice Dean for Development and Inclusion. He founded the Debt Collection Lab (debtcollectionlab.org) and the Dignity + Debt Network (dignityanddebt.org) where he works on issues of economic justice. He is also writing a book, “What Debtors Deserve” (under contract at Crown Publishing), that examines the rise of mass debt, which now rivals mass incarceration in scale, and exposes predatory tactics. The program will be held in-person, with virtual access as well. For those who attend in person, we will also have the option to continue the conversation and network offsite after the program concludes. For more information and to register, click here.
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What We’re Reading
In this essay published in the Suffolk University Law School LIT Lab Blog, Quinten Steenhuis argues that “it is morally wrong to withhold carefully tested AI tools from unrepresented litigants when the alternative is ChatGPT or nothing at all.” Steenhuis is a practitioner in residence and adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School‘s Legal Innovation and Technology Lab. He spent 12 years as a housing attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services. His work focuses on closing the access to justice gap with technology, especially interactive tools that help people who cannot afford an attorney. In his essay he acknowledges the risks currently posed by the use of AI by self-represented litigants (such as “embedded biases”), but argues in favor of a “harm-reduction” approach. He explains that “the question is not whether potential harms exist: it is whether they outweigh the cost of doing nothing.” Examples of a “harm reduction” approach that he offers include offering trainings for litigants or launching safer alternatives to unfiltered ChatGPT, even if they do not reach perfection. I encourage you to read the full essay and consider whether you believe the benefits of using AI as a tool to expand access to justice outweigh the risks and let us know what you think! Later this year we hope to have our own thoughts to share with you when our Generative AI Task Force (of which Steenhuis is a member!) wraps up its research and releases its report on this issue, as requested by the Supreme Judicial Court.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and hope to see you on April 28th!
Warm regards,
Deb Silva
Director, Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission
617-391-5659 | massa2j.org
dsilva@massa2j.org
Pronouns: she/her/hers