2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases › Title I - Courts and Judicial Officers › Chapter 221a - The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation Act › Section 3 - Board of Directors

Section 3. The corporation shall be governed and its corporate powers exercised by a board of directors consisting of eleven persons, one of whom shall be the chief justice of the trial court, or his or her designee, and ten of whom shall be appointed by the justices of the supreme judicial court. The appointees of the justices of the supreme judicial court shall be as follows: three members shall be persons who at the time of their appointment are currently serving, or have served within the previous five years, as unpaid directors of qualified legal services programs, two members shall be eligible clients, two members shall be from nominations submitted by the president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, one member shall be from nominations submitted by the president of the Boston Bar Association, and two members shall be from nominations submitted by the County Bar Associations for the counties of Barnstable, Berkshire, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth and Worcester, acting through their presidents and by a majority of those County Bar Association presidents, present and voting at a meeting called for that purpose by the president of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Appointees shall serve for a term of five years, provided that in making the initial appointments the court shall appoint the three persons who are current or former directors of qualified legal services programs to terms of one, two, and three years, respectively; the two persons who are nominated by the president of the Massachusetts Bar Association to terms of one and two years, respectively; the person who is nominated by the president of the Boston Bar Association to a term of three years; and the two persons who are nominated by the presidents of the County Bar Associations to terms of one and two years, respectively. Each member shall be supportive of the purposes of this chapter and have an interest in the delivery of quality legal services to the indigent. Any person appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of a member of the board shall be appointed in a like manner to the unexpired term of such member and shall be eligible for reappointment. Any member may be removed from his appointment by the court for cause. The members shall annually elect a member of the board to serve as chairman. Six members of the board shall constitute a quorum. The members shall not receive a salary but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary travel expenses. The provisions of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A shall apply to all directors, officers and employees of the corporation, except that the corporation may provide financial assistance to a qualifying legal service program in which a director may have an interest or involvement; provided, however, that such interest and involvement is disclosed in advance to the other members of the board and contemporaneously recorded in the minutes of the board; and provided, further, that no director having such an interest or involvement may participate in any particular matter, as defined in section one of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A, relating to such organization.