The Berkshire Center for Justice has been awarded a $12,000 Title 111 grant to help fund our Justice for Elders program! Read the press release here.
Click Here to View the Recording of the Virtual Event on Labor Violations Against Immigrant Workers!
Click Here to Fill Out BCJ’s CONFIDENTIAL FREE LEGAL CLINIC Intake Form
Watch Executive Director Eve Schatz Being Honored at the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2021 Access to Justice Awards!
Executive Director Eve Schatz discusses BCJ’s mission and asks for your help:
Click Here to Fill Out BCJ’s CONFIDENTIAL FREE LEGAL CLINIC Intake Form
Click Here to Fill Out BCJ’s CONFIDENTIAL FREE LEGAL CLINIC Intake Form
BJC’s mission is to:
- provide legal support for persons who otherwise would not have access to representation
- educate and empower clients to self-advocate within the system where appropriate
- promote justice and the public interest by building strong community relationships
- engage in educational and civic programs that build community and empower the disenfranchised and under-represented
BCJ’s Programs:
- Justice for Elders
- Weekly Free Legal Clinics
- Community-Based Free Legal Clinics
- Sliding Scale Fee for Legal Services (among only 27 nonprofit sliding scale fee providers in the country)
- Know Your Rights
- Legal Empowerment – Learn to Self-Advocate Where Appropriate
- Environmental Justice Initiative
- Public Health Initiative
- Free Legal, Social and Community Referrals
Recent Pro Bono Achievements:
- African American man who was sexually assaulted came to us in desperation. As advocates for this young man BCJ collaborated with the DA’s office. We are grateful for the DA’s cooperation and justice will be served.
- We represented an elderly widow in the short sale of her home. Multiple agencies and private parties collaborated to find her alternative affordable housing on short notice, negotiate the short sale with her reluctant mortgage company, empty her home of 40 years of personal possessions and move her to her new location.
Recent Reduced Fee Achievements:
- Negotiated an agreement on behalf of our client who is a cancer patient that prevented his eviction.
We are proud to partner with The Guthrie Center to offer a Free Legal Clinic every Wednesday from 12-1 pm during Free Community Lunch at 4 Van Deusenville Rd. Great Barrington, MA.
No appointment necessary! Just drop in!
BCJ has been providing Free Legal Clinics at the Guthrie Center’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner since 2008 and weekly Free Legal Clinics at Community Lunch since 2014.
We are also proud to offer a free weekly legal clinic on Thursdays from 11:30-12:30 at The Claire Teague Senior Center. No appointments required; simply drop in. We offer our services for prospective clients who are 60 or older. A Community Lunch is also offered for a suggested $2 donation.
A Letter From Our Founder
What would happen if the Berkshire Center for Justice didn’t exist? What would happen to the middle-age cancer patient threatened with eviction in a trailer park? Or to the to the widow whose home was being foreclosed? Or the grandparent who cosigned a student loan but can no longer afford the payments? The storiesContinue reading “A Letter From Our Founder”
A Letter From Our Founder
What would happen if the Berkshire Center for Justice didn’t exist? What would happen to the middle-age cancer patient threatened with eviction in a trailer park? Or to the to the widow whose home was being foreclosed? Or the grandparent who cosigned a student loan but can no longer afford the payments? The storiesContinue reading “A Letter From Our Founder”