Dina Fein was appointed to the Massachusetts Housing Court in 1999. After retiring from the bench in 2021, Judge Fein developed the City of Homes project in Springfield, Massachusetts, which seeks to transfer vacant distressed properties in receivership to nonprofits for rehabilitation and affordable sale to first-time homebuyers. Judge Fein assisted in obtaining more than $3M in seed funding for the project. A member of MassINC’s inaugural 2024-2025 class of Greg Torres Senior Fellows, Judge Fein has focused her fellowship on scaling the City of Homes model across Massachusetts.

In 2009 Judge Fein was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to lead Access to Justice initiatives across the Massachusetts court system, helping to launch initiatives that simplified court processes, expanded legal assistance programs, and better accommodated the public. A recipient of judicial excellence awards from the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Massachusetts Judges Conference, Judge Fein served on a number of judicial and professional committees, including the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission (Executive Committee), the Trial Court’s Strategic Leadership Team (Domain Lead), and the Statewide Steering Committee for the Tenancy Preservation Program (Chair).

A graduate of Emory College and the Emory University School of Law, Judge Fein began her career with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and was a partner in Fein, Pearson, Emond & Fein in Springfield for 14 years. She serves currently as the Interim Director of the Center for Social Justice at Western New England University School of Law, has guest lectured at Harvard Law School, Suffolk University Law School and New England School of Law, and is a frequent speaker around the county on the topics of access to justice and housing stability.