Ronald B. Eskin, B.A. University of Pittsburgh, with high honors (1974), J.D. University of Buffalo (1977). Bar memberships: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States Courts of Appeal for the 1st, 3rd and 6th Circuits, U.S. District Courts: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Western District of Michigan, Central District of Illinois, District of Colorado, and Northern District of Florida.
Mr. Eskin has practiced for over 30 years, primarily in the areas of public disability benefits and private disability benefits. His practice includes representation of workers who suffered illegal discrimination and students with special needs who have not been properly served. He has been recognized by his peers and others, by being awarded:
-the New Hampshire Bar Association annual award to an attorney who is recognized for distinguished service, in 1989;
-the 2001 Central New England Multiple Sclerosis Society citizen's award, recognizing his contributions to its mission through his legal work;
-the Lowell Bar Association award in 2005 to an attorney who has been outstanding in performing pro bono legal work;
-the designation as a "Super Lawyer" by Boston Magazine, in 2006, 2007 and 2011
-the Norman D'Amour Attorney of the Year Award in 2010,
by the Greater Lowell Bar Association.
He regularly presents cases through the various U.S. District Courts across the country, representing Social Security disability claimants in thirty states. He has won significant victories there and in the U.S. Courts of Appeal.
Over his legal career, Mr. Eskin has successfully brought numerous class actions, including those on behalf of:
-tens of thousands of disabled applicants and recipients of general relief in Massachusetts General Relief whose benefits were unfairly and illegally cut off or denied;
-hundreds of food stamps households whose benefits were illegally reduced;
-inmates in a large county jail who were confined in inhumane conditions which constituted cruel and unusual punishment;
-dozens of students in a school district in Michigan who were denied class credit and the right to graduate;
-thousands of Medicaid recipients in New Hampshire whose services were severely limited; and
Mr. Eskin often is selected to train other lawyers in the practice of social disability law, and has also presented trainings regarding special education, school exclusion and practice in federal courts. He has written articles published in bar journals, which concern social security, child welfare legislation, and how to handle a "high volume" legal practice.
Anita M. Coll received her J.D. from the Massachusetts School of Law in 2006. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. After achieving her law degree and entry to the Massachusetts Bar, Ms. Coll opened a law office in Springfield Massachusetts. She operated her practice from August 2006 to October 2007. In her practice she concentrated in the areas of juvenile criminal defense, child guardianship and custody matters through the Probate and Juvenile courts. She joined the Law Office of Ronald B. Eskin in October of 2007.
Prior to the practice of law, Ms. Coll served in leadership positions within community non-profit agencies and health service organizations. She worked as an advocate for battered women, legislative liaison and later as the Executive Director of the Women’s Resource Center, in Lawrence, Massachusetts from 1984 to 1989. She led the Massachusetts Public Health Department’s Office of Women and HIV from 1989-1990. In this position Ms. Coll developed health services and strategies to address the unique needs of women in prevention, testing and treatment of HIV. She has held executive positions designing and managing health services throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. From 1990 to 1996, Ms. Coll worked as the Director of the Southeast Asian Birthing and Infancy Project in Lowell, Massachusetts. From 1996 to 2002, she held the position of executive director in a large health services agency in southern New Hampshire. In this position Ms. Coll designed health services for rural elderly and adults with disabilities. She also served as an administrator in the Maternal and Child Health Division of the State of New Hampshire, Department of Public Health developing state policy related to the design and delivery of health care services from 2002 to 2006.
Ms. Coll’s background has long focused on ensuring health care and social services are available to those most in need yet least likely to have access to health, education and social service systems. Her desire to use her law degree to represent persons with disabilities is a continuation of her long standing commitment to the right of individual’s to have equal access to all the health resources and support for which they are entitled.
Jasmin Ramos has been the Administrative Assistant in this office since February, 2007. She brings not only a bilingual ability and bi-cultural knowledge to her position, but also has extraordinary sensitivity and intelligence. In addition to this full-time job, she spends her spare time finishing her law degree at Suffolk University Law School. She is a graduate of University of Massachusetts/Lowell, where she was awarded her bachelors degree with honors.
Sorat Chan Ly has been the paralegal in this office since 2001, with a broad knowledge of Social Security Administration operations and routines. He speaks Khmer and Vietnamese, and has deep roots in the Asian Community in Lowell and Boston. In recognition of his valuable background, Mr. Ly was asked to serve a term on the Governors' Asian American Commission. His knowledge of the circumstances of low income people has been formed not just from his own experience as a refugee from Cambodia, but also from his past employment as a:
In his spare time, Mr. Ly teaches martial arts and traditional lion dancing at the Shaolin Hung Gar Fu School in Boston. Under his leadership, it has become internationally recognized, and has performed widely, including before several universities in the Boston/Cambridge area, the Democratic Convention and the Taiwanese Embassy. He also runs a successful business with his wife in Boston's Chinatown.