Shelter Legal Services Hosts Annual Gala to Celebrate 23 Years of Providing Legal Services

BOSTON - Dec. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Shelter Legal Services, the primary provider of free legal services to low-income and homeless military veterans in the Greater Boston area, announces its annual gala on Friday, January 10, 2014 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston.

The goal of the gala is to raise additional awareness and funding for Shelter Legal Services, and to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of its staff and board of directors throughout the previous year. In 2013 alone, Shelter Legal Services and its volunteers provided free legal services valued at over $1 million to nearly five hundred clients who would otherwise have not been able to afford it. The event will feature a silent auction, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages, as well as live entertainment provided by the Jazzabelles.

“Shelter Legal Services has made great strides this past year. We have taken on higher impact cases, added key members to our team, and we were chosen by Root Cause as one of its five 2014 Social Innovators,” said Tim McLaughlin, President of Shelter Legal Services. “While overall rates of veterans homelessness have decreased slightly, the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless has more than doubled since 2010. These veterans need help now and legal services are one of their top unmet needs. Shelter Legal Services has also begun ‘doing business as’ Veterans Legal Services to better align with our mission as we remain committed to the organization’s sustainability and growth, which will allow us to increase levels of services for veterans in need throughout 2014 and beyond.”

For over twenty-three years, the mission of Shelter Legal Services and its team of Massachusetts-based lawyers has been to promote self-sufficiency, financial security and stability through comprehensive legal services. By delivering legal services on-site at veteran and homeless shelters, Shelter Legal Services personnel is able to collaborate with shelter staff, social workers and other professionals to provide clients with comprehensive services tailored to their individual needs. To better reflect its focus on serving military veterans, it recently began doing business as Veterans Legal Services.

Shelter Legal Services will also honor Scott Harshbarger with the Distinguished Service Award at its gala. The Distinguished Service Award is presented to an individual in recognition of his or her significant public service. The award recognizes the recipient’s dedication of time, expertise or resources to making a difference.

“I am honored to receive the Shelter Legal Services Distinguished Service Award,” said Scott Harshbarger. “This excellent organization provides exceptional and vitally needed legal services to veterans who, sadly, without SLS staff and volunteers have no one to advocate for them. I deeply value this recognition and am proud to partner with SLS to try and ensure fair and equal justice for the men and women who served our country. May we all pledge to do more.”

Scott is a senior counsel at Proskauer’s Boston office. His practice focuses on strategic counsel and litigation, corporate investigations and defense, corporate and not-for-profit governance and government regulation. Scott’s distinguished career has included major public office, not-for-profit executive management, numerous board directorships and private legal counsel. Highlights include serving two terms as Massachusetts Attorney General (1991 – 1999) and being elected President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). Scott also taught professional responsibility and legal ethics at Boston University of Law for twenty years, was a Visiting Professor (government lawyer and public policy) at Harvard Law School for three years and was a Hadley Distinguished Professor at Northeastern Law School and College of Criminal Justice.

For more information about event tickets and sponsorship opportunities, please call 617-552-0623 or visit www.shelterlegalservices.org.

About Shelter Legal Services:

Shelter Legal Services (SLS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering free legal advice and representation to low-income veterans and the homeless in the Boston area. SLS promotes self-sufficiency, financial security and stability for this population by providing comprehensive and accessible legal services. By locating legal clinics at homeless shelters and service centers, SLS reaches those who would likely otherwise go without the help they need.  SLS serves over 400 clients per year at facilities including the New England Center for Homeless Veterans, the Cambridge Multi-Service Center and the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home.  For more information, please visit www.shelterlegalservices.org or call 617-552-0623.