Provide legal support to those most vulnerable

By Margaret H. Marshall

ACCESS TO justice is best secured by — and perhaps requires — a lawyer. In Massachusetts, we provide lawyers free of charge to those accused of a crime if they cannot afford one, through the state-funded public defender system. As a retired Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, I know that this system — while not perfect — protects the basic rights of those accused of a crime by ensuring that they have access to a competent lawyer. Read full article