A window into a week at the Legal Services Center

Explore the collective work completed at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center (LSC) during just a single week in November!

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Consumer Protection Clinic secures victory for client who was victimized by predatory solar panel company

A homeowner in Boston signed up for a 25-year contract for solar panels for their home, in a “power purchase agreement,” where they agreed to pay an ever-escalating rate for the electricity they used. The panels often malfunctioned, and when the client fell behind on payment, the company sued for $98,000 and offered to settle for $88,000. That’s when the homeowner reached out to LSC’s Consumer Protection Clinic. “These companies are locking people in, preying mostly on poor people and communities of color with contracts where people don’t own the panels but only rent them, and thereby don’t get any tax benefits from using solar power,” says Alexa Rosenbloom, clinical instructor at the Consumer Protection Clinic. After students filed an answer to the lawsuit and counterclaims, the company agreed to settle the case for a mutual release of claims: the client not only didn’t have to pay anything, they got to keep the panels, Rosenbloom says.  

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Housing Law Clinic student gets eviction case thrown out 

Eric Zhao ‘25, a student in the Housing Law Clinic, was acting as Lawyer for the Day in Boston Housing Court when he met a man whose landlord—the estate of a deceased person—had filed a petition against him for no-fault eviction. The Clinic took the case, and shortly thereafter the landlord filed another notice to quit, claiming the client owed back rent, effectively nullifying the first petition. Two weeks later, Zhao argued in court that the pending case should be dismissed. “The judge questioned the landlord’s attorney pretty extensively about the arguments the students was making, and then took it under advisement,” recalled Maureen E. McDonagh, LSC managing attorney and director of the Housing Law Clinic. A few weeks later, when clinical students met for their weekly class, Zhao shared his experience, noting that he didn’t yet know the result. “Then in class, in a very dramatic moment, he opened his laptop, and the judge had made the decision—and he won. Case dismissed!” said McDonagh. “The whole room erupted in celebration,” added Julia Devanthéry, director of the Housing Justice for Survivors Project at the Housing Law Clinic. 

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Estate Planning Project succeeds in protecting veteran from financial abuse

A veteran receiving hospice care at the VA in Brockton, Mass., thought he was being “helped” by a friend. But social workers became suspicious when they learned that the friend had him sign papers he didn’t review, including a Power of Attorney (POA) and a Will that left her everything.  Destini Agüero, deputy director of LSC and director of the Estate Planning Project, helped the veteran sign a revocation of the POA, helped put a hold on his bank account so the friend couldn’t access his money, and sent the friend a cease and desist. “He really advocated for himself to make sure things stopped going awry,” said Agüero, who, along with a student, True Merritt ‘26, spent four hours at the VA with the client. There, True created the veteran’s estate plan including a new Will and POA. When his new documents were signed and the veteran was expressing his appreciation, “He said, ‘I can’t believe the people who helped me are named True and Destini,’” Agüero recalled. “We showed him our IDs so he knew we weren’t pulling one over on him.” The LSC Tax Litigation Clinic is also helping the veteran by looking into whether he has any lingering tax issues caused by the friend’s malfeasance. 

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Family Justice Clinic continues to obtain successful results for clients wrongfully accused of abuse/neglect

The Family Justice Clinic won another fair hearing case, arguing that a support finding of abuse or neglect against a caretaker by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) was unfounded and should be overturned.  In this case, their client was a father who worked with youth in the Boston Public School system, for whom a “support” determination regarding his own children would preclude future employment in his chosen field. “We’ve had a 100% success rate in these fair hearings,” said Marianna Yang, clinical instructor at the Family Justice Clinic. “We’ve taken on DCF fair hearing with a wide variety of case profiles that present diverse factual and legal questions, which speaks to how prevalent wrongful decision are and how people suffer through the consequences of these unfair decisions.”

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Veterans Legal Clinic secures another victory in a ‘Bad Paper’ discharge case

A student in the Veterans Law Clinic called his veteran client to let him know that, after decades of denials, he had been granted eligibility for VA benefits and health care. The veteran, who had served in the 1980s and experienced severe racial discrimination and harassment in service, had previously been denied access to VA because his in-service experiences led to a less-than-honorable discharge. Student attorneys in prior semesters had developed supporting evidence and an expert medical opinion and submitted briefing to VA arguing for the veteran’s eligibility. In the fall 2024 semester, as the student attorney was preparing to go to an administrative hearing on eligibility, VA issued a fully favorable decision. The veteran now has access to health care and housing benefits that will help him move out of a transitional shelter program, and the student attorney is moving on to representing the veteran in the next stage of his benefits claims. “The student attorneys forced VA to confront and redress the harm of racial trauma that this veteran experienced in service,” said Veterans Legal Clinic Associate Director Dana Montalto. “The deep connection that they built with their client, combined with their creativity and legal skill, helped achieve a truly meaningful victory for this veteran.” 

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Thanks to Tax Litigation Clinic, wife not liable for ex-husband’s tax debt from gambling 

A client of the Tax Litigation Clinic was living in housing for victims of intimate partner violence after escaping her abusive husband. The husband had saddled her with a lot of debt, and the IRS was pursuing her for income tax her husband failed to pay. Because of the Clinic’s unyielding advocacy, the IRS finally agreed that under the innocent spouse rule, the client was not responsible for her husband’s tax debts—except with regards to money he made from gambling. Audrey Patten, clinical instructor with the Clinic, filed an appeal, and Hufsa Husain, a Clinic fellow, handled a telephone hearing with the IRS Office of Appeals, arguing the woman should not be liable for tax liability from his gambling activities, either. Elizabeth Segovis, an attorney with the Clinic, also worked on the case. “Today we learned she’ll get a refund of all Earned Income Tax Credit, about $3,000—and she needs that because she’s living in a shelter,” said Patten.