Pierce Atwood Receives Lawyers Clearinghouse 2025 Pro Bono Excellence Award

Pierce Atwood, along with law firms Dain Torpy and Phillips & Angley, has received the Lawyers Clearinghouse 2025 Pro Bono Excellence Award for its efforts in founding and operating the Tax Lien Foreclosure Clinic, and its ongoing commitment to helping clients avoid foreclosure and the loss of their homes.

For the past three years, the clinic has provided homeowners with pro bono legal advice and representation from volunteer lawyers from several law firms in Massachusetts.

Seeing the number of unrepresented taxpayers appearing in the tax lien session, the Massachusetts Land Court tried several times to launch a similar program, but without success. The court wanted to find a way for those people to find representation to try to keep them in their homes and stabilize their housing.

Looking for a partner to get the program off the ground, the court approached Lawyers Clearinghouse. With the assistance of law firms Pierce Atwood, Dain Torpy, and Phillips & Angley, a pilot of the program was launched in January 2023. Since then, the Clearinghouse has established the program as a full clinic, serving the community with help from 13 law firms and several Access to Justice Fellows.

Pierce Atwood commercial real estate attorney Kathleen Heyer noted that the clinic is, “a good way for us to give back and also to get younger attorneys into court and to be able to handle cases and get more courtroom experience in a way that they might not otherwise have the option,” adding, “We could not have done it without Lawyers Clearinghouse…it really was a group effort on the part of many people to form it, get it planned, get it off the ground, get the funding, [and] bring in the clients.” 

Click here for more information about the Tax Lien Foreclosure Clinic, and click here for more information about Pierce Atwood's commitment to pro bono and community service. 

Lawyers Clearinghouse was founded in 1988 by the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association to connect nonprofit organizations working to promote affordable housing and alleviate homelessness with pro bono legal assistance provided by volunteer attorneys.