Celebrate Pro Bono Week 2025 - Wednesday Oct. 22 Recognition

The Youth Advocacy Foundation (YAF) is celebrating pro bono week 2025!

Each day, throughout this week, we will be highlighting firms and people volunteering their time to ensure Massachusetts' children and emerging adults are able to receive access to an equitable education, by sharing some of the incredible work they're doing or have done this 12 months.

Please join us in reading their stories in the comments and thanking these incredible attorneys for volunteering their time and expertise! #celebrateprobono

We'd like to start by thanking Carolyn Rosenthal for acting as Pro Bono Director at Goodwin Procter.

We'd like to thank the team of Gregg Katz and Daniela Sanchez of Goodwin Procter for representing a 20 year old student with autism and emotional disabilities who attends a private therapeutic school. This student has struggled with her anxiety and has been unable to attend school regularly. Goodwin is working with the student and the therapeutic school on a plan for an alternative schedule augmented with online credit recovery.

We'd also like to thank Maria Smith, Laura Wood and Gregg Katz of Goodwin for securing an extended evaluation in an in-district program for their 12 year-old client.  Depending on how that works out, they may need to advocate for an out-of-district placement for this student.

Thank you Gregg Katz and Laura Wood of Goodwin for getting the student they were representing into a private special education school after the student being out of school for more than two years.  When problems developed in that placement, the pro bono team was able to secure a new and more appropriate placement.

We'd like to doubly thank the team of Gregg Katz and Gabriella DeLisle of Goodwin for their work together on two different pro bono cases.  First, this team secured an out-of-district placement for an 11 year-old student to support his medical and social/emotional needs.  He is now thriving at his new school.  They also helped the parent of another student (the student's sister!) in responding to IEPs and advocating for a more appropriate placement for their child.

Last but certainly not least, we'd like to thank the team of Shannyn Henke of Goodwin and Melissa Waite from MassMutual for supporting a student in moving to two different out-of-district placements to support the student's needs.  After the first placement did not work out, they have continued their support to find a second private therapeutic school, which so far seems to be a good fit for the student.

Please join us again in thanking these wonderful attorneys and check back tomorrow for more stories of attorneys and the incredible pro bono work they've done in the past year and continue to do. #supportingcommunities #probonoweek2025