Who We Are
Hampden County Lawyers for Justice, Inc. delivers indigent legal services to adult and juvenile clients in Hampden County Massachusetts through assigned private attorneys in criminal defense cases in the juvenile, district and superior courts.
HCLJ, Inc. and its predecessor, Hampden County Bar Advocates, have been providing legal services for the indigent in Hampden County since 1977.
We are contracted with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), and share the mission to provide excellent legal services to each client by assuring all assigned attorneys possess the skills they need through experience or training and meet high-performance standards in their representation. We support private attorneys’ work by providing access to mentors, supervisors, resources, experts, and continued legal education.
Please explore our website to learn more about our organization!
Panel
Members of our panel of attorneys are commonly referred to as “Bar Advocates”. This panel consists of over 130 attorneys who provide court-appointed representation to indigent clients in Hampden County Superior Court, all five Hampden County district courts, and the juvenile courts. All panel members are vetted through an interview process and attend a training class offered several times per year by CPCS in how to best zealously advocate for their clients. Our panel is a diverse group of lawyers with a multitude of different experiences, backgrounds, and areas of private practice beyond just criminal defense.
Administrators
The HCLJ office is run by a program administrator and an administrative assistant. They handle all communication between panel attorneys, prospective attorneys, the Hampden County courts, and the public. They work tirelessly to ensure attorneys are in every courtroom every day ready to assist indigent defendants in their most dire time of need. Our administrative staff is here to assist you.
Sarah Pegus
Program Administrator
Sarah has been the Program Administrator since May 2010. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst graduating Summa Cum Laude and Departmental Honors, after gaining her Associates in Arts-Math/Science Transfer from Greenfield Community College. She is the recipient of the: Edwin C. Peck Mathematics Award from GCC in 2005, University Scholars Program Scholarship-GCC Recipient in 2008, The Legal Studies Award For Excellence from Umass-Amherst in 2010, and the Maura Mellen Administrative Professional Award from the Committee for Public Counsel Services in 2019.
Supervising Attorneys
HCLJ employs experienced, professional supervising attorneys to assist the HCLJ’s bar advocates with providing clients with the highest quality representation. The Supervisors are responsible for reviewing our panel member’s performance and investigating client complaints.
The Hampden County Lawyers for Justice has five supervisors that cover the following courts:
Maurice Powe, Juvenile Court.
Edward Fogarty, Chicopee and Holyoke District Court
Patrick Goodreau, Springfield District Court
Janet Glenn, Palmer and Westfield District Court
Don Frank, Superior Court
The Supervisors can be reached by both the Bar Advocates and the community to resolve issues and answer questions.
All of the supervisors, like our Bar Advocates themselves, are committed to maintaining the highest quality of advocacy for their constituents, those charged with criminal and other legal matters in the Superior, District, and Juvenile Courts in Hampden County.
Donald Frank
Supervising Attorney
Attorney Donald Frank has been supervising HCLJ attorneys since its inception in 2010. He has been a practicing criminal defense lawyer since 1985, with an emphasis on homicide cases since 2000. He was an adjunct professor at Western New England Law School for five years and he still participates in trainings and moot courts. He is responsible for bringing MCLE trainings to Hampden County from 2011-2020. He has served in various capacities including executive positions in nursing homes, the Northampton Cycle Club and other community based boards.
Edward Fogarty
Supervising Attorney
Ed has been a supervising attorney for HCLJ for the past nine years, currently assigned as Supervising attorney in Holyoke and Chicopee. A 1973 graduate of the University of Massachusetts. Ed began his professional career as a journalist first at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and then at the Springfield Daily News. Upon graduation from Western New England School of Law, he worked first as an Assistant Hampden County District Attorney, and then a commercial litigator at Cooley Shrair and Shatz, Schwartz & Fentin. Ed has an established criminal defense practice and has been a member of the local bar advocate program for many years, currently active in the Murder, Parole, Superior, and District Court Trial and Appellate Panels. Ed also has years of experience in SDP and SORB panels. Ed holds an LLM in Tax from Boston University and is a U.S. Navy Veteran.
Janet Glenn
Supervising Attorney
Attorney Glenn is the supervising attorney for Palmer District Court. She has been a bar advocate since 2009 and practices in the Superior Court, and also practices in Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts on the CJA panel. Attorney Glenn's first career was as a computer programmer. She graduated from Western New England College of Law in 2008 and worked as a law clerk to the Justices of the Superior Court. She was invited to attend the National Criminal Defense College in 2015. She was selected to Massachusetts Super Lawyers in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Maurice C. Powe
Supervising Attorney, Juvenile Court
Mr. Powe was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received his B.A. Degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1997, where he majored simultaneously in Political Science and Social Thought and Political Economy. As an undergraduate student, Mr. Powe served as President of the UMASS Student Government Association from 1996 to 1997. He also received the Shirley Graham DuBois Community Service Award by the Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black and other Minority Students (CCEBMS) in 1997 and the UMASS Black Student Union’s Unsung Hero Award in 1996. He has received the Massachusetts Bar Association Community Service Award, The Business West 40 under 40 Award, the St. Thomas More Society Award, NAACP Community Builder Award, and the Spirit of Springfield Golden Spatula Award. Currently Mr. Powe is Chairperson of the Board of the Urban League Springfield Massachusetts, an Assistant Governor for Rotary District 7890, Jurisdictional Secretary of the Greater Massachusetts Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ, Secretary of the Brethren Community Foundation, Chairperson of the Springfield NAACP Legal redress committee, and a Director for Martin Luther King Family Services. Mr. Powe has served as Director of the Western New England College Law Alumni Board, Residential Director of the A Better Chance Program in Longmeadow, MA., Interim Treasurer of the Urban League of Springfield Young Professionals, and a Member of the New England Black Chamber of Commerce, Board Member of the Children International Summer Village Chapter of Greater Springfield, Director for the Hampden County Lawyers for Justice.
Patrick Goodreau
Supervising Attorney
Patrick is the supervising attorney for the Westfield District Court. A Springfield native and 2010 graduate of the University of Massachusetts. He attended law school locally at Western New England University. He opened the Law Office of Patrick Goodreau in 2013 where he specializes in criminal defense and civil litigation. He is the current chair of the criminal law section of the Hampden County Bar Association and has served on their board of Directors for the past three years.
Officers
The leadership of HCLJ, Inc. consists of a volunteer board of directors and officers who meet monthly to review operations and discuss any issues of significance that may affect our mission. The Board does not “work” for CPCS or the Panel but rather is tasked with the mission of exploring opportunities to best serve our in-need population.
All members of HCLJ are encouraged to attend and participate in these meetings.
Christopher S. Todd
President
Attorney Todd has been a Bar Advocate since 2003 and on the Board of Directors of HCLJ, Inc. Since its inception in 2010. He served on the Hampden County Lawyers for Justice, Inc.; Board of Directors as Treasurer and Vice President before becoming President in 2022. He is active in the Hampden County Bar Association where he was President of New Lawyers Section in 2005-2006, the recipient of the On Call Award, 2022 and recipient John M. Greaney Award 2023. He was selected to attend the National Criminal Defense College in 2007. He also has coached local high school mock trial teams and has appeared as a volunteer instructor at Western New England University School of Law on numerous occasions, including the Introduction to Legal Profession from 2013-2023. He also served on the board of directors of several conservation and veterans organizations.
Ellie Rosenbaum
Treasurer
Attorney Performance Committee
Panel Membership/Resource Attorney/Assignment Committee
Ellie Rosenbaum received her bachelor’s degree from Rowan University in 2000 and her juris doctor degree from Western New England University School of Law in 2004. She became a Bar Advocate in 2005 and currently accepts appointed cases in both District and Superior Court. She became a member of the Board of Directors of the Hampden County Lawyers for Justice in 2019 and was appointed Treasurer in 2022. Ms. Rosenbaum is currently a partner at Allen Law, P.C. where she focuses on criminal defense and business litigation. She is an active member of the Hampden County Bar Association where she serves on the golf committee and previously served as Treasurer of the New Lawyers Section. She is also active in the Chicopee Bar Association where she served as Secretary for several years. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Ms. Rosenbaum also volunteers for a mock trial program, coaching middle school students.
Erin O'Connor
Secretary
Atty. Erin O’Connor has been practicing with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) for 10 years. She has experience in both staff offices and as a bar advocate with The Hampden County Lawyers for Justice (HCLJ). She currently practices in a local law firm in Springfield; Hare, Stamm, Harris & O’Connor L.L.C. Atty. O’Connor has a background in local politics and has spent close to two decades working with the State Legislature in various capacities that currently include campaigning with a State Senator. Prior to her legal experience, she was a newspaper reporter. Today, she enjoys the practice of criminal defense, primarily for our indigent population, as well as her position as secretary on The Hampden County Lawyers for Justice Board.
Meredith L. Ryan
Vice President
Panel Membership/Resource Attorney/Assignment Committee
Meredith has been a panel member since 2014 and a board member since 2021. She serves as Vice President and as head of the Panel Recruitment, Resource, and Assignment committee. She is a bar advocate on the District and Superior Court panels. She graduated from Western Washington University in 2009, the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in 2012 and was selected to attend the National Criminal Defense College in 2018. She is an adjunct professor at Western New England School of Law where she teaches a trial skills class which gives students the certification they need to become bar advocates upon bar passage. She regularly hosts criminal defense practicum and externship students from the law school at her solo practice. She has served on the board of the Junior League of Greater Springfield, a civic and volunteer organization.
Board of Directors
The Hampden County Lawyers for Justice Board is a vital asset to the HCLJ Panel and the administrative body of Committee for Public Counsel Services. The Board serves voluntarily as an intercessor for this unique program that the Commonwealth created to allow all indigent defendants in Massachusetts to receive their constitutional right to counsel in criminal cases. The Board does not “work” for CPCS or the Panel but rather is tasked with the mission of exploring opportunities to best serve our in-need population.
Barry M. Ryan
Director
Barry is a Springfield, Massachusetts native. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1980, and received his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University in 1985. He has been actively practicing with the law firm of Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury and Murphy, P.C., since 1985, where he is a Partner and Shareholder. His professional affiliations include The Hampden County Bar Association, The Massachusetts Bar Association, The Defense Research Institute, and The Massachusetts Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is also a member and Past Co-Chair of the Community Legal Aid Access To Justice Campaign Committee. Barry is the Past President of the Hampden County Bar Association, having served for the 2013-2014 term, and is active in Ex Officio capacity, as well as the Fee Arbitration Committee. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Hampden County Lawyers for Justice.
Bridgette Baldwin
Director
Bridgette Baldwin is a Professor of Law at Western New England University School of Law. She has been a member of the Hampden County Lawyers for Justice since its inception in 2010. She teaches in the area of criminal law and procedure, international criminal justice, cybercrime, evidence, critical race theory, and race and the law. Her scholarly work has examined the intersection of the Ninth Amendment and social movements, and topics which discuss the convergence of race, class and gender on welfare reform legislation. Dr. Baldwin is also a certified DEI facilitator. She has conducted numerous trainings on microaggressions, unconscious bias and culturally responsive teaching for both public and private companies. Dr. Baldwin also worked as a Staff Attorney for the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society in New York City. She later became a Staff Attorney for the Bronx Defenders in the Bronx, NY. worked as an in-house Counsel for a major insurance company and with the law firm of James P. Nunemaker & Associates. She earned her J.D from the University of Wisconsin Law School and her Ph.D. from Northeastern University Law, Policy, and Society program in 2010. Her dissertation was entitled "Wisconsin Works? Race, Gender and Accountability in the Workfare Era."
Harris Freeman
Director
Harris is a professor at Western New England University School of Law. He was an associate at the Northampton firm Lesser, Newman, Souweine and Nasser where he practiced personal injury, civil rights and employment law. He was criminal appellate lawyer and of-counsel to Attorney Wendy Sibbison’s law firm and an appellate bar advocate for CPCS. Harris clerked for U.S. federal district court Judge Michael Ponsor after graduating from WNEU School of Law in 1993. In 2009, Governor Deval Patrick appointed him to serve on the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, overseeing public sector labor relations in Massachusetts for seven years. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the Government Department at Smith College and an affiliated faculty at the UMass Labor Center. He serves on the boards of directors of the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, Temp Worker Justice and the Center for Social Justice at WNEU School of Law.
Jeffrey S. Brown
Director
Attorney Jeffrey S. Brown has served on the Board of Directors of Hampden County Lawyers for Justice, Inc. since its inception in 2010. He began serving on the District Court Bar Advocate panel in 1991 and is a member of the Murder, Superior Court, Delinquency and Youthful Offender panels. His practice includes criminal defense, divorce litigation and civil litigation. He is a graduate of Westfield State College, Western New England College School of Law, and the National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute. He was the 2020 recipient of the CPCS Edward J. Duggan Award for zealous advocacy and outstanding legal service to the poor. He currently serves as the Juvenile Supervising Attorney for Franklin and Hampshire Counties and serves as a mentor to other attorneys. He has lectured on various aspects of trial practice. He has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations and currently is the First Vice President of Massachusetts Hockey, Inc.
Lauren F. Olanoff
Director
Lauren F. Olanoff, Esq., was appointed to the Board in 2017. She is a partner at Egan, Flanagan and Cohen, P.C. located in Springfield, where her primary area of practice is civil litigation. Ms. Olanoff is a member of the Massachusetts Clients’ Security Board; the Hampden County Bar Association; and the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Pro Bono Panel. She was selected by her peers in 2021 and 2022 as a Super Lawyers’ “Ones to Watch” in commercial litigation. Ms. Olanoff received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2003 and her juris doctorate from Tulane University Law School in 2007.
Mary-Lou Rup
Director
Mary-Lou Rup has been on the HCLJ Board of Directors since 2021. Presently senior counsel with Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP in Springfield, she concentrates her practice in alternative dispute resolution and litigation. From 1992 until 2018, she served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court. Before appointment to the court, she practiced civil and criminal litigation with the Northampton office of Grohowski, Callahan, Miles and Kundl. From 1980 to 1990, she was with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (then known as the Massachusetts Defenders Committee) as a staff attorney in Berkshire County and, later, as a staff attorney and attorney-in-charge In Hampden County. From 1979 to 1980, she served as a District Court prosecutor with the Office of the District Attorney for the Northwestern District. Attorney Rup is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Western New England University School of Law, where she served as a Law Review editor. She is legal coach for the mock trial team at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, which in 2022 and 2023, placed second in the MBA state-wide competition. She serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Judges’ Conference, the Northampton Jazz Festival, and the Institute for Training and Development (an Amherst-based non-profit organization specializing in international academic, professional and youth exchange programs). She is a member of the Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Bar Associations, the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association and the National Association of Women Judges.
Patrick Nicoletti
Director
Attorney Nicoletti is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Western New England University School of Law. He has been in practice in the Springfield area since 2013. He focuses his practice on criminal defense and landlord/tenant law. He is a Senior Partner at Nicoletti & Brown, LLP. in Springfield. In addition to his legal practice, he also teaches the Zealous Advocacy in the District Court class at Western New England University School of Law.
Terry Nagel
Director
Attorney Performance Committee
Operations Committee
Terry Nagel was admitted to the bar in 1981, and became a board member of HCLJ at its inception in 2010. He has represented dozens of citizens charged with murder, and successfully litigated civil rights police brutality claims at all levels of the state and federal system. After 27 years in private practice, he joined the CPCS Appeals Unit in Boston, retiring in 2017. He received the Edward J. Duggan Award for Zealous Advocacy in 1999, and the William “Gerry” Whitlock award from the Town of Belchertown upon his retirement from his 15 year service as Town Moderator.
Tony LaCasse
Director
Attorney Tony J. LaCasse became a Bar Advocate for Hampden County Lawyers for Justice, Inc., in 2015. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce School of Law. Before pursuing law, Tony worked in biology at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Attorney LaCasse is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Additionally, he serves as a Judge Advocate for the United States Army, having graduated from the United States Army Legal Center and School with superior academic achievement and the award for distinguished accomplishment in National Security Law. Currently, he is the Senior Counsel of Trial Defense Services in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, where he represents the rights of Soldiers and is certified to defend the accused in United States Military Courts Martial.