Access to Justice Commission Leadership

Honorable Valerie Yarashus, Co-Chair

Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court

Hon. Valerie A. Yarashus was appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court by Governor Baker in 2018.  She is the current Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, which is a position appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court.  She served on the Supreme Judicial Court’s Committee on Judicial Guidelines Concerning Self-Represented Litigants (2021-2025).  She is a frequent speaker at MCLE and serves on their Civil Litigation Curriculum Advisory Committee.  Judge Yarashus is a Judicial Trustee for the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.  She has written and edited numerous legal articles and books, including “Approaching 50 Years of Modern Day Wrongful Death Litigation in Massachusetts,” Massachusetts Law Review, vol. 103, p. 1 – 11 (2022) and MCLE’s Massachusetts Personal Injury Law Sourcebook & Citator (published annually 2004 – present).  She has served in many active roles in the MBA Tiered Community Mentoring program since its inception in 2009.  Judge Yarashus also enjoys occasional teaching as guest faculty on trial advocacy and access to justice, among other things, at multiple law schools.  She also enjoys judging mock trial competitions at all levels from high school to law school.  Most recently, Judge Yarashus was the presiding judge for the final championship round of Harvard Law School’s mock trial team competition (Crimson Cup) in 2025. 

Prior to her appointment as a judge, Judge Yarashus was a principal at the Boston law firm of Meehan, Boyle, Black & Bogdanow, P.C. and Sugarman and Sugarman, P.C., for a combined total of 28 years in various roles.  In both firms, she concentrated in wrongful death and serious personal injury cases. She is a past president of the Massachusetts Bar Association (2009 – 2010) and of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (2002 – 2003).  While serving as a bar association leader, one of her continual themes was access to justice.  Judge Yarashus graduated from George Washington University (summa cum laude, 1987) and Harvard Law School (cum laude, 1990), where she served as executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review.

Lisa C. Goodheart, Esq., Co-Chair

Partner, Fitch Law Partners LLP

Lisa C. Goodheart is a partner at Fitch Law Partners LLP. Throughout her career, she has been deeply engaged in bar association activities and efforts to support the judiciary, including service as President of the Boston Bar Association; President of the Boston Bar Foundation; Chair of the Court Management Advisory Board; and Chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission. She has been a member of the Access to Justice Commission since 2020 and for the past several years has served as Co-Chair of its Racial Equity and Justice Committee. Over the past year, she has also served as co-chair of the Commission’s 20th Anniversary Task Force.  Lisa is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  

Deborah Silva, Esq.

Director, Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission

Deborah M. Silva, Esq., brings to this work more than 20 years of experience in law and public policy advocacy related to access to justice. She served as Executive Director of the MA Appleseed Center for Law and Justice from 2016 to 2024, and as the Director of the Equal Justice Coalition from 2012 to 2016, leading efforts to expand access to civil legal aid for those unable to afford legal representation. Previously she served as the Director of Public Policy for the AIDS Action Committee, Legislative Director for the Mass. Law Reform Institute, and Legislative Aide to former state Rep. Carl Sciortino. Prior to that she had her own private law practice where she specialized in employment law.  She holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Suffolk University.

Chip Phinney, Esq.

Chief Counsel for Judicial Policy at the Supreme Judicial Court

As part of his responsibilities for the Supreme Judicial Court, Chip Phinney has served as the SJC’s staff liaison to the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission since 2016.  Before joining the SJC staff, Chip was a litigation partner at Mintz, where he co-chaired the Appellate Practice Group. He has also served as a law clerk to the Honorable John M. Ferren at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources; and as a Special Assistant District Attorney with the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. Prior to his legal career, Chip was an Assistant Professor of English at Harvard University.