Black in Boston and Beyond

Race, Class, and Legal Services

October 01, 2023 Trotter Institute Season 1 Episode 4
Race, Class, and Legal Services
Black in Boston and Beyond
More Info
Black in Boston and Beyond
Race, Class, and Legal Services
Oct 01, 2023 Season 1 Episode 4
Trotter Institute


In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Joy Springfield, Esq. about race and legal services. Williams is the Director of the Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Springfield is the current Pro Bono Director at Kansas Legal Services. Springfield attended an HBCU (Howard University) where she earned a B.B.A in finance and earned her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law with a concentration in Business Law. She has extensive experience in legal services and a long record of giving back to her community having devoted “hours” to pro bono work before she joined Kansas Legal Services. In her work as an attorney, she has represented numerous low-income clients in divorce cases, criminal, guardianship and on expungements. Joy shares her knowledge with us about the legal services available to poor and working-class communities as well as how to go about securing an expungement in this episode. For more information about Joy click here: Joy Springfield and for the resources she mentions in the show click here: Kansas Legal Services Website and click here for information on expungement and for information on legal services in the Boston region click here: Massachusetts and for a list of services nationwide click on this: list of legal services in the U.S. 

Show Notes


In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Joy Springfield, Esq. about race and legal services. Williams is the Director of the Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Springfield is the current Pro Bono Director at Kansas Legal Services. Springfield attended an HBCU (Howard University) where she earned a B.B.A in finance and earned her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law with a concentration in Business Law. She has extensive experience in legal services and a long record of giving back to her community having devoted “hours” to pro bono work before she joined Kansas Legal Services. In her work as an attorney, she has represented numerous low-income clients in divorce cases, criminal, guardianship and on expungements. Joy shares her knowledge with us about the legal services available to poor and working-class communities as well as how to go about securing an expungement in this episode. For more information about Joy click here: Joy Springfield and for the resources she mentions in the show click here: Kansas Legal Services Website and click here for information on expungement and for information on legal services in the Boston region click here: Massachusetts and for a list of services nationwide click on this: list of legal services in the U.S.