We offer six sponsorship packages. For more information and to become a sponsor for this event, please reach out to Ilana Zeltzer at [email protected].   

Join us for an upcoming clinic whether in-person or remote, VLP remains flexible for our clients and volunteers. Sign up below:   

We can confidently declare our interns must be natural-born superstars. They demonstrated the ability to learn and absorb so much in such a short period, then immediately put those skills to use to profoundly impact our clients' lives. Read more about a few whose work sizzled this summer. 

Joshua Lee was dedicated, focused, and proactive in addressing challenges and engaging with legal issues that arise in our cases. He was helpful in many ways, such as taking direct calls with clients or drafting referral memos with little supervision. Grace Brockmeyer calls him an "asset" to the Bankruptcy unit. "There is no doubt he will make an amazing attorney someday," she adds. 

Julianne Marder is a team player and an asset, helping increase access to justice by allowing ERLI to take more calls daily and stabilizing overall wait times. She quickly gained knowledge in diverse legal areas, allowing her to work in the queue alongside our Intake Specialists seamlessly. After finishing her internship, she offered to continue contributing to the ERLI call center by staying on until August. "We are forever grateful!" Natasha Lewis said. "Her abilities and skills shone through as her casework was equally impressive." 

During a transitional period in the Family Law unit, Caroline Kody stepped up and took on many tasks while keeping her caseload. She demonstrated superb writing and research skills, attention to detail, and thoroughness. Her work with clients and volunteers has been diplomatic, empathetic, and professional. “She has been an amazing asset this summer,” Geraldine Gruvis-Pizzaro said, “I know she will shine wherever she goes next.” 

Not only was 

Bingning Zhang thoughtful and readily made herself available to assist everyone on her team, but she also proved she already had the skills of an attorney. She did an incredible job preparing for and arguing at an informal conference with a housing authority regarding a client's rental increase. "Her argument was clear and concise," Rochelle Jones said. "It has been a pleasure working with her this summer."  

Our talented pool of interns is thanks to our diligent recruiter, Bilingual Pro Bono Assistant Danelia Ramirez-Aguilar. Here’s a look into what Danelia does and how her day-to-day tasks helped develop an internship program that supports and fuels the candidates. 

During Internship crunch time, Danelia meets with law schools, manages intern postings, and reviews the Internship inbox frequently to screen for new applicants. Danelia performs many seemingly minor duties with multiple moving parts, ultimately leading to a robust internship program for VLP. "It's all so touching to see our interns at the clinics and hear their stories about client interactions," Danelia said. "The reward is knowing all the work behind getting them trained, onboarded, and ready for staff attorneys who benefit from their support." Since the pandemic our internship program has doubled in size, thanks to all Danelia’s work.  

Join us in welcoming the newest additions to the VLP family!  



Kenji Yacsavilca graduated from UMass Boston in 2012, majoring in Political Science. He's worked in the technology and legal industry for nine years, most recently at a large health care IT company. Drawing on his background in IT management, Kenji provides technology and administrative support to VLP's staff. He enjoys music composition, reading, and painting in his leisure time. Kenji is a native Spanish speaker and a first-generation American and is passionate about helping under-represented communities. 

Makayla Connor graduated from Brandeis University in 2021, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and International and Global Studies. She went on to do a service year with Americorps Legal Advocates of Massachusetts in the Elder Law Unit at Metrowest Legal Services in Framingham, MA. Makayla previously worked at VLP in the spring of 2021 as a Bankruptcy intern and rejoined the team in the summer of 2022 as the Consumer and Employment Paralegal. 

Lurenne Velazquez Carrasquillo graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in Political Science and joins the VLP as a Bilingual Intake Specialist, where she seeks to gain experience in different areas of law to aid underserved communities. Before joining VLP, Lurenne worked at the Boston Court Service Center, where she helped self-represented litigants complete documents for their cases and navigate the court system. Lurenne is passionate about teaching, previously working as a Tutor for Ringle and currently working part-time as a Course Teacher for Elite Open School. Lurenne enjoys reading in quiet cafés and traveling with family and close friends in her spare time.