Member Experience

ALA-Massachusetts is one of two opportunities nationwide that offers an AmeriCorps experience in a legal setting. AmeriCorps Legal Advocates are placed at different organizations across the state. Advocates connect at an orientation, and throughout the year to attend trainings and events. Advocates leave the service year with a core set of legal skills and a deep understanding of how legal advocacy can help low-income families in crisis.

Each year the program places service members in legal services organizations throughout Massachusetts.

ALA-Massachusetts advocates serve at civil legal aid partner organizations throughout Massachusetts which provide civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families. Each placement with ALA-Massachusetts is unique. Depending on the partner site's needs, an ALA-MA advocate may engage in some, but not all, of the following legal activities: initial screening for eligibility, client communications, case development, legal research, legal writing, hearings, and community outreach. Practice areas vary as well. Some members are generalists and learn multiple areas of law, and some specialize with a single focus. The range of practice areas are: 

• Housing;
• Economic Justice;
• Consumer Law;
• Employment;
• Family Law;
• Mental Health and Health Law;
• Legal Problems of Elders; and
• Legal Problems of Victims of Crime.

Advocates are supervised by legal professionals and receive training on client-centered communications, cultural competency, and trauma-informed advocacy. Under federal law, AmeriCorps members cannot engage in political, union or religious activities during service hours. ALA-Massachusetts has a strong network of alumni who maintain connections long past the service year. 

 Here’s what alumni say about their experience with ALA-Massachusetts: 

"AmeriCorps gave me the path to the career I wanted."

“A life-changing experience that I will always carry with me.”

“I leave the program with the commitment and burden of continuing the fight against poverty through legal advocacy.”

"I have contributed to an organization that has an important impact on its community, learned so much about the legal profession, and found I have skills I would not have been able to identify last May."

“It’s been such a reward to have clients appreciate the work that I’ve done and to know that I’ve made a meaningful impact in their lives.”

"My peers understand the sacrifices of a service year and the challenges of being thrown head first into a new area of law. It was nice to both commiserate the losses and celebrate our wins together. It was nice to remember that there are many other people in the same boat as me."