Issue Watch #18 – What’s Hot in the Courts, Legislature and Policy World

We are closing the year with a flurry of activity on legislation and amicus cases, plus several meetings with chief justices and [checks notes] two new judicial confirmations. This is going to have to do it for you until 2026, so feel free to set this e-mail aside now and save it to read aloud to family and friends over the holidays.

Legislative Update

BBA Endorses Bills on Trusts and I-9 Audits

This week, the BBA Council voted to endorse two pieces of legislation, each backed not only by BBA sections but by a broad coalition of other groups.

The BBA Council has endorsed legislation designed to protect workers from unwarranted ICE detentions by ensuring transparency and due process. The bill would require employers to notify employees when they learn that ICE plans to conduct a workplace inspection to verify work authorization.

Too often, immigrant workers have been wrongly arrested—even deported—despite being legally authorized to work. Without warning, these workers can be swept into detention, transferred out of state, and separated from their families with little opportunity to assert their rights. This bill, which is already law in three states, provides immigrants with a pocket of due process before ICE becomes involved so that they can gather documents demonstrating their status to have on their person, prepare their families and their paperwork for the possibility of wrongful arrest, and learn their Constitutional rights before being caught up in the deportation machine.

Advance notice can make the difference. By giving workers time to gather paperwork and seek legal guidance, the bill helps prevent lawful employees from being unjustly caught up in the immigration enforcement system.

The legislation is backed by a broad coalition of advocates led by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and was advanced to the Council by the BBA’s Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Section.

At that same meeting, the Council voted to support an amendment to the Uniform Trust Code clarifying that agents acting under a durable general power of attorney may create a trust, if expressly authorized by the settlor. This had been the general understanding of practitioners until a 2022 SJC decision cast doubt on the practice, prompting the Massachusetts branch of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys to mount a legislative response. With assistance from the BBA’s Trusts & Estates section, MassNAELA, the MBA, and the Boston Estate Planning Council reached consensus on adding a sentence to the relevant statute.

Matt Lichtman, who worked on that language and presented it to BBA leadership, said, “If passed, this would not only restore clarity to the law regarding powers of attorney, but would also validate the collective efforts of all of the involved organizations in bringing about desired legislative changes.”

Action at the State House on Other BBA Priorities

BBF President-Elect David Ferrera testified in support of a key BBA access-to-justice priority: legislation that would codify a permanent right to counsel in eviction cases, rather than relying on annual legislative action (Watch his testimony, starting at 2:37:40). Meanwhile, another BBA-supported bill took a step forward, as the language-access bill—imposing stronger requirements for state agencies in their outreach to residents with limited English proficiency—was favorably reported out of committee.

Amicus Update

One case decided (spoiler: to our satisfaction!), one case argued, one case covered in the Globe, and one new filing…

• In Commonwealth v. Donovan, we filed an amicus letter this week urging the SJC to recognize a right to counsel for defendants at “72A hearings” in Juvenile Court, where a judge decides whether to transfer the case to Superior Court. This arises when an adult faces charges for juvenile offenses, and the Amicus Committee’s Christina Miller, who authored the letter, said, “The BBA’s amicus position underscores that the effective assistance of counsel is essential to the rule of law and indispensable in providing zealous advocacy and informed justice.” This case will be argued on January 7.
   
• Last month, the SJC heard arguments in Commonwealth v. Tanner, in which we submitted a letter asking the Court to give broad interpretation to the law on post-conviction forensic testing (which the BBA helped draft), after a defendant died before ordered testing was completed. The case caught the attention of the Boston Globe, which published an article this week citing our involvement and highlighting the tireless work of the New England Innocence Project, with the assistance of a team from Ropes & Gray, to secure justice on behalf of their deceased client.
   
• Arguments were held earlier this month in Matthew Ortins et al. v. Lincoln Property Company et al.—a case in which the BBA filed an amicus brief on behalf of nine other groups, arguing that the court rule requiring notice to the IOLTA Committee before any class-action settlement must be observed for the benefit of legal services statewide and the goal of improving access to justice for low-income residents.
   
• Finally, ICYMI (and not to bury the lede), the SJC held in Commonwealth v. Gravito that a defendant must have full access to the trial record when appealing a conviction, even when parts of that record are sealed to prevent collateral consequences from acquittals. The Boston Bar Association joined CPCS and MACDL in urging this outcome in an amicus brief, emphasizing that sealing laws were never meant to hinder a defendant’s ability to challenge a conviction.
  

News from the Courts

Just two new judicial nominations since we last spoke here, and they’ve both been confirmed already…

Probate & Family Court

Toiya Taylor was first assistant register in Suffolk County Probate & Family Court from 2018 to 2022, and then first assistant clerk magistrate for the Dorchester Division of the BMC since 2022. She was previously a law clerk in the Probate & Family Court in 2000, an associate at Jason & Fischer, an adjunct professor in the Roger Williams University Paralegal Program, and a part-time staff attorney at Aid to Incarcerated Mothers in Boston. Between 2002 and 2018, Taylor worked as a solo practitioner in her own law office. For almost two years, Taylor was a legal aid instructor at Harvard Law School. She holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst. 

District Court

Frances Dallmeyer was, for nearly the past 20 years, a bar advocate for Middlesex Defense Attorneys, Inc., where she accepted appointments in Lowell and Ayer District Courts while maintaining a solo practice. Starting in 2020, she was chair of the Greater Lowell Bar Association Criminal Practice Sub-Committee.  A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UMass Lowell—where she also worked as an adjunct faculty member—she served early in her career as a social worker for the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. and an administrative assistant for the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department and the Worcester County DA’s Office. 

I have reports from five (!) BBA meetings with chief justices in Massachusetts, as well as a couple of opportunities for members suggested by one of them…

• Chief Judge Denise Casper of the US District Court was concerned about the budget for federal courts in the wake of the recent government shutdown and with another one on the horizon. But her concern extends over the longer term, too, because of chronic under-funding. We pledged that we would amplify that message in our meetings with the Massachusetts delegation in Congress at ABA Day.
• Among the top concerns for the two leaders of the Trial Court, Chief Justice Heidi Brieger and Court Administrator Tom Ambrosino, is the state appropriation for the judiciary, which has been stretched thin under the current budget. We promised that this will continue to be a priority for the BBA. The Chief Justice also urged attorneys to take the lead in asking for hearings to be held virtually, where possible—for the sake of convenience and efficiency.
• Superior Court Chief Justice Michael Ricciuti wanted to convey his distress over a loss of civility, even among attorneys in that court. This—along with the concomitant threats to judicial security—led him to ask us to remain vocal about educating the public on the judicial process and countering misinformation.
• Chief Justice Tracy-Lee Lyons of the BMC lamented a drop in pro-bono participation and urged us to encourage members to take on cases in that court. She also noted that the caseload there has fallen sharply on the civil side.
• When we met with a panel of Land Court judges, led by Chief Justice Gordon Piper, we learned they are seeking attorneys for fee-generating appointments, especially as guardians ad litem, and for a program to help homeowners avoid foreclosure over municipal debts, taking advantage of a recent change that reformed the law in that area with the BBA’s support. No specialized experience is required for either.

I hope you’re able to find some time off over the coming holidays and return refreshed and recharged for 2026. We’ll be back with another edition next month, and then I hope to see you on January 28th for Walk to the Hill—and the BBA’s pre-Walk breakfast!