Below is the full text of a Massachusetts Bar Association eJournal publication from 05/15/2025.
The Massachusetts Bar Association is excited to host the Access to Justice Awards Celebration on Thursday, June 5, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Sheraton Framingham. The event will feature a keynote address by Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Serge Georges Jr.
Visit the Access to Justice Awards web page to register for the event or select from one of three sponsorship opportunities.
This week, we are proud to highlight three of the nine award winners who will be honored on June 5. Look for information on the remaining honorees in the next two weeks.
Legal Services Award
Daniel Daley, MetroWest Legal Services
Dan Daley is a senior staff attorney in the housing unit at MetroWest Legal Services, where he has worked since 1994. He is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School.
Daley has devoted his legal career to representing over 1,600 low-income tenants facing eviction, homeowners facing foreclosure, disabled tenants seeking reasonable accommodations, tenants fighting to have bad housing conditions corrected, and a variety of other housing-related issues. Daley has worked on a variety of special projects, including the HomeCorps Project, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and legal aid, which worked with homeowners facing foreclosure to provide legal representation to challenge predatory loans, assist in obtaining loan modifications, and represent tenants living in foreclosed properties; and on the Access to Counsel Project, a newly funded project through the state legislature that provides increased access to low-income tenants and owner-occupants facing eviction through full representation in their eviction or subsidy termination matters.
Daley has served as a mentor for many law students, AmeriCorps members and new attorneys and receives accolades for his inclusive approach to teaching about housing law and how to be a good and compassionate attorney for those who could not otherwise afford one. Daley has served on several nonprofit boards, including Baypath Elder Services, the Alliance for Metrowest Unity and the Walpole Housing Partnership. Daley lives in Walpole with his wife and two children.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Margaret Drew, UMass School of Law
Prior to entering academia full time in 2005, Professor Margaret Drew practiced law in Massachusetts for 25 years. She represented clients in the District, Probate and Family, and appellate courts of Massachusetts. Drew’s practice focused on family, probate and residential real estate. She handled numerous appeals in family law and probate matters.
Drew is a member of several bar associations, including the American Bar Association (ABA), having served with its Commission of Domestic and Sexual Violence since its founding. Drew is a past chair of the commission, from whom she recently received a 20/20 Vision Award for her work in implementing the Violence Against Women Act and mobilizing attorneys to represent survivors of domestic violence. She is a member of the ABA AIDS Coordinating Committee. Drew is a member and past chair of the amicus committee of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Drew is a member of the state bars of Massachusetts, Alabama and Ohio and continues to represent survivors of intimate partner abuse.
Prior to coming to the University of Massachusetts School of Law, Drew taught domestic violence clinics at the University of Alabama Law School, Northeastern University School of Law and the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where she was director of clinics and experiential learning.
Drew is co-founder and editor of Human Rights at Home Blog.
Rising Star Award
Karen Bobadilla, De Novo Center for Justice and Healing
Karen B. Bobadilla is a dual licensed attorney in Peru and in Massachusetts. She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with a concentration in human rights from Northeastern University and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in January 2021.
Bobadilla is a staff attorney in the immigration unit at De Novo, where she represents low-income individuals in humanitarian immigration cases who have been persecuted in their home countries or have been victims of abuse or crimes in their home countries or the United States (asylum, Violence Against Women Act, U-visa, and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status). Bobadilla started working at De Novo in 2005 as the intake person, then became the immigration unit paralegal and eventually a Department of Justice fully accredited representative. Since 2021, her focus has been on Special Immigrant Juvenile cases, and in that context, she provides representation in the Probate and Family Court, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Immigration Court.
Bobadilla is integrally involved in the local community. She sits on the immigration committees at the Boston and Massachusetts bar associations and on the new lawyers’ network at the BBA, and she is a member of the Immigration Coalition of Massachusetts. She was a 2024-2025 member of the MBA Leadership Academy and has been a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Latino Empowerment since January 2025.
The other honorees are:
Court-Employed Attorney Award
Connie Mortara, Massachusetts Trial Court
Defender Award
Ivonne Vidal, Committee for Public Counsel Services
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award
Caitlin Glass, Boston University School of Law
Law School Clinician Award
Julie Dahlstrom, Boston University School of Law
Pro Bono Publico Award
Michele Scavongelli, Committee for Public Counsel Services Youth Advocacy Foundation and EdLaw Project
Prosecutor Award
Samuel Jones, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office
Space is limited. Register by 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, to participate.
Questions? Email MBA Communications and Digital Marketing Manager Nicole Dowd at NDowd@massbar.org.