Arlene Bernstein

Arlene Bernstein maintained an office in Wellesley as a solo practitioner specializing in family law for over thirty years. A graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School, Arlene began her professional career as a staff attorney at the Boston Legal Aid Society and in 1966, she became an associate at the Baltimore law firm of Venable, Baetjer and Howard (now Venable), the first woman to be hired by a major law firm in that city. After returning to Boston to raise her family and start her law practice, she chaired the Education Committee of the BBA and served on the BBA Council.

Since her retirement from private practice in 2007, Arlene has been an active participant in various programs of the Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) and Senior Partners for Justice. Her activities include representing litigants in family law cases, reviewing Guardianship Care Plans in Norfolk County, and conciliating family law cases in Suffolk Probate and Family Court as part of the Settlement and Early Resolution Volunteer (SERV) program. Above all she values the time she spends in her role as a mentor to new attorneys who volunteer to represent clients in family law cases through VLP.

Over the past several years, Arlene has been instrumental in the launching and governance of three small nonprofit organizations in the greater Boston area that serve distinct populations in need: Gateways: Access to Jewish Education (for children with disabilities); Yad Chessed (assisting individuals and families in need of basic necessities); and Mothers Milkbank Northeast (providing hospitals and families with human donor milk for premature and ill infants).

As an Access to Justice Fellow, Arlene will be working with the staff at Volunteers Lawyers Project to build and expand an integrated case-based lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program. This will include providing opportunities, through workshops and educational programs, for new practitioners who take VLP cases to understand the process and value of working with a mentor, as well as to give experienced lawyers the opportunity to share their knowledge, expertise, and wisdom with those new to the law. The mission of VLP is to increase access to justice by delivering high quality pro bono civil legal services to eligible clients in the Greater Boston area.