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Some self-represented litigants don’t know how to use a computer, don’t have one, or try unsuccessfully to use their children’s school-issued tablet. Some don’t have a car or a printer, or English-language skills. Most don’t know their way around the court system’s complicated legal processes and procedures. Still others are facing mental health issues or cognitive impairments.
One approach to the tragedy of such self-represented litigants—whose legal arguments often go unspoken and unheard—is to look away. Sheriece M. Perry, JD ’08, refuses to do so. She grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Roslindale, Massachusetts. After a stint as a staff attorney with the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association, she became manager of the Boston Court Service Center, spearheading the creation of the city’s first self-help space for self-represented litigants in 2014. There was no blueprint for how such a center would come into being—so she built one.
Now, a decade later, the Massachusetts Trial Court has eight Court Service Centers, one Virtual Court Service Center, three regional circuits, and 60 staff members serving about 50,000 visitors a year. Walk into such a space, and you find computers and telephones to provide language interpretation access, child-friendly spaces with toys and books, and staff to answer questions about court forms and procedures.
During the height of the COVID pandemic, the centers and many courts closed their doors for several months. Perry and her team faced the situation on a shoestring budget, using free messaging apps like Slack, their personal cell phones and computers, and software staff bought with their own money. Now director of court services and law libraries, Perry navigated the situation with her typical intensity and humble resilience. She told her story at the All Rise event in September, where the Law School celebrated the achievements of its alumnae.
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Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
winter 2025
