In 1989, Cathy Willard became a disability benefits paralegal at Neighborhood Legal Services after working for two years in a small law firm in Newburyport, and after eight years as a 5th and 6th grade teacher. In the meantime, she has expanded her area of practice to include the Elder Law Project representing elders in a wide range of substantive areas, such as housing, benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, and consumer issues. Cathy serves as a member of several advisory boards including the Paralegal Advisory Board at North Shore Community College, the Money Management Program of Massachusetts, and the Elder Service Plan of the North Shore.
Deborah Witkin has been with Connecticut Legal Services since 1986, including a one year stint "on loan" as a Visiting Professor of Law at the Poverty Law Clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She was a Visiting Professor of Law for three years, serving as the founder and director of the Health Law Clinic at Quinnipiac University School of Law, during which time she co-designed and taught "Introduction to Representing Clients." During the past twenty-two years Deborah has practiced in the areas of family, benefits, education, housing, disability, mental health, and elder law. She became the CLS director of Development in 1998, and the deputy director in 2007. In addition, she participated as a mentor in the CLAE Leadership Institute, and as a trainer in a variety of legal services settings. Deborah’s J.D. is from the University of Connecticut School of Law (1986), and she also has a B.S. in Behavioral Disabilities from the University of Wisconsin- Madison (1977). Before enrolling in law school, she taught special education middle and high school students for four years.
Marta Ramos was born, raised, and educated in Bogota, Colombia, before moving to the United States in 1979, where she began working at Greater Boston Legal Services a few years later. Marta received her Paralegal Certificate from Northeastern University in 1990, and practiced employment law until 1992. For the past 17 years, she have been practicing disability law and also representing non-English speaking clients with MassHealth eligibility issues. Marta specializes in representing the homeless and those with immigration related issues in both disability and MassHealth cases.