Attorney Joins Boston Bar Assn Public Interest Leadership Program

BALDWIN PARK, CA — The Boston Bar Association (BBA) is pleased to announce that Andrea Carrillo of Baldwin Park, California has been selected to participate in its 16th Public Interest Leadership Program (PILP) class. Carrillo is one of 23 outstanding attorneys chosen to participate in the program that runs from September 2019 through August 2020.

PILP promotes civic engagement and public service by advancing the leadership role of lawyers in
service to their community, their profession, and the Commonwealth. Open to attorneys in practice for ten years or fewer, PILP offers participants an opportunity to explore various topics and issues in legal public interest work and connect with other attorneys who are committed to using their legal skills to serve the community.

Throughout the 14-month-long program, the members of the class hear from attorney experts in several fields who are all engaged in working on a variety of social issues.

Each class finishes its year by planning a final project. For example, the most recent PILP class has been carrying out a community outreach project in collaboration with Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), making presentations regarding students’ rights with regards to school discipline, and informing the public about a recent settlement agreement between GBLS and Boston Public Schools.

The class undertook this project as part of the BBA’s ongoing work to engage attorneys in efforts to dismantle the cradle-to-prison pipeline. We are excited to see what innovative project the members of the upcoming class will plan.

Andrea Carrillo is a Staff Attorney in the Family Law Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), a non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance and representation on civil matters to hundreds of the neediest residents in the city of Boston and 31 surrounding cities and towns. Andrea represents survivors of domestic violence in highly contested custody and divorce
cases, with the aim of empowering them so that they can take back a sense of control and agency in their lives.

Prior to joining GBLS, Andrea was a Staff Attorney at Community Legal Aid, serving Central and Western Central Massachusetts, where she represented low-income individuals in family, consumer, bankruptcy, and housing matters. As a pro bono attorney for De Novo, Andrea began her legal career by representing a Spanish-speaking Salvadoran woman in a removal hearing and
won asylum for the client within four months. Prior to practicing law, Andrea worked at CoachArt in Los Angeles and served as a Planning Commissioner Vice Chair in her hometown, Baldwin Park, California.

Andrea is a graduate of Boston University School of Law, where she served as the Fundraising Co-Chair of the Public Interest project, a non-profit dedicated to help law students fund summer internships in public interest, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Andrea currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Women of Color Committee for the Women’s Bar Association, a member of the legal services subcommittee of the Supreme Judicial Court Steering Committee on Lawyer Well-Being, and a Clerk for the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys.