Legal Food Hub year in review 2018

By supporting those who grow, produce, and sell our local food, we're helping to foster a sustainable, resilient, and just food system. And a healthy and thriving local food system means a healthy environment, climate, and economy for all New Englanders.

Our focus

The Legal Food Hub provides pro bono legal assistance by matching qualified attorneys in our network with…
Farmers

Food Entrepreneurs

& the Organizations that Support Them

Our Work

Since our launch in June 2014, we've placed 375 cases and leveraged more than $2.5 million in pro bono legal services. Here are just a few highlights of the farmers, food entrepreneurs, and organizations who have been helped by the Legal Food Hub. Hover over each photo and then click to read more.
Go Back

We're Growing!

As we enter our fifth year, we have many successes to celebrate.

The Legal Food Hub passed a number of milestones in 2018, including 375 cases placed and over $2.5 million leveraged in pro bono legal services.

We also launched a Legal Food Hub in Connecticut and expanded our educational opportunities for farmers, food businesses, and attorneys alike. Workshops ranged in topic from community kitchens to agricultural employment law to intellectual property law.

This year, we're continuing our educational offerings with a winter webinar series and a new online portal with legal resources and guides.

None of these successes would have been possible without the vision and leadership of Jenny Rushlow, who created the Legal Food Hub five years ago. While Jenny has moved from Conservation Law Foundation to Vermont Law School, we will continue to benefit from her many talents as she oversees the Hub's expansion to the Green Mountain State.

OUR HAPPY CLIENTS
FIRMS in our network in four states

NEW ENGLAND STATES SERVED BY LEGAL FOOD HUB

CASES placed since June 2014

MILLION dollars leveraged

Latest News

We’ve been working to expand our educational offerings for farmers, food entreprenuers, and attorneys. Throughout the past year we’ve been providing key legal information to farmers at conferences large and small. In addition to informative presentations, we’ve been working to increase our output of written educational materials.

distinguished service award

The Legal Food Hub Team

Amy Laura Cahn
Amy Laura Cahn
Interim Vice President, Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice
Amy Laura Cahn is a Senior Attorney for CLF Massachusetts and the Interim Director of the Healthy Communities & Environmental Justice Program. Amy Laura joins CLF after six years advocating on environmental, land, and food justice at the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia.
Sara Dewey
Sara Dewey
Director of Farm & Food
Sara Dewey is Director of Farm and Food within CLF’s Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice program. Sara has worked on environmental, agricultural, and energy issues as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate and as policy director of an environmental governance initiative at Yale University.
Phelps Turner
Phelps Turner
Staff Attorney
Phelps Turner is a Staff Attorney for CLF Maine, where he works in the Clean Energy & Climate Change and Healthy Communities & Environmental Justice programs. Before joining CLF, Phelps was an environmental litigation associate at Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen in Boston.
Alex Schluntz
Alex Schluntz
Legal Fellow and Legal Food Hub Regional Coordinator
Alex Schluntz is a Yale Public Interest Fellow at CLF. She works in the Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice program and is the regional coordinator of the Legal Food Hub.
Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, Esq.
Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, Esq.
Senior Fellow
Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, Esq. is a public interest attorney with a background in economic justice and consumer protection issues. Most recently, she was a staff attorney for the Project on Predatory Student Lending at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, where she represented individuals who were defrauded by for-profit schools.
Mary Rose Scozzafava, Esq.
Mary Rose Scozzafava, Esq.
Senior Fellow
Mary Rose Scozzafava, Esq. comes to CLF via the Access to Justice Fellows Program, a collaboration of the Lawyers Clearinghouse and the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission. Mary Rose was previously a partner at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr.
Hoai Thuong Tran
Hoai Thuong Tran
Program Assistant
As Program Assistant, Hoai supports all aspects of the Legal Food Hub and CLF’s Farm and Food program.