Mary Philbrook Annual Public Interest Awards Celebration
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28 TH MARY PHILBROOK ANNUAL PUBLIC INTEREST AWARDS CELEBRATION Thursday, October 3, 2013 28 TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION The Women’s Law Caucus The Association for Public Interest Law Rutgers School of Law–Camden and The Camden County Bar Association proudly present the 2013 MARY PHILBROOK PUBLIC INTEREST AWARDS to The Honorable Virginia Long Former Associate Justice, New Jersey Supreme Court And honor Eve Biskind Klothen Former Assistant Dean, Pro Bono and Public Interest Program at Rutgers Law–Camden October 3, 2013 PROGRAM Welcome Kathryn Somerset, Class of 2015 President Women’s Law Caucus Maura Burk, Class of 2014 President Association for Public Interest Law Dean Rayman Solomon Rutgers School of Law–Camden Meredith Olearchik ‘05 Chancellor, Law Alumni Association Gary W. Boguski President Camden County Bar Association Introduction of the Dean Jill Friedman and Marshall-Brennan Fellows and Professor William McLaughlin ‘04 Michael Young Scholars Co-Directors Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project Presentation of Jill Friedman Student Awards and Acting Assistant Dean Acknowledgment of Pro Bono and Public Interest Program Past Student Honorees Amy Sobotka, Class of 2015 Chair, Student Public Interest Honoree Selection Committee Introductions of Honoree The Honorable Barry Albin and Presentation of Award Associate Justice New Jersey Supreme Court Lauren Alfaro, Class of 2014 Women’s Law Caucus Philbrook Co-Chair Honoree’s Remarks The Honorable Virginia Long Associate Justice (ret.) New Jersey Supreme Court Introduction to the Louis S. Rulli, ’74 Movement for Civil Right Past Philbrook Honoree to Counsel Practice Professor of Law and Clinical Director University of Pennsylvania Law School Recognition of Wali Rushdan II ‘12 Distinguished Service Past Philbrook Student Honoree Associate, Fox-Rothschild LLP Eve Biskind Klothen Founding Assistant Dean Pro Bono and Public Interest Program 2002-2013 Samantha Gross, Class of 2013 APIL Philbrook Chair Closing Professor Ann E. Freedman Philbrook Advisor and Co-Founder VIRGINIA LONG Virginia Long served as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1999 to March 1, 2012, when she reached the age of mandatory retirement. Justice Long has been a voice of wisdom and humanity throughout her distinguished legal career, bringing intellect, integrity and commitment to everything she undertakes. While on the Supreme Court bench, she authored many opinions, but is perhaps most known for her stance on the death penalty, which she believed was impossible to apply ra- tionally and consistently. After leaving the Court, Long joined Fox Rothschild, where she spearheads the firm’s pro bono efforts in New Jersey. Long’s judicial opinions impacted the lives of people throughout New Jer- sey and addressed such topics as establishing standards for defining who constitutes a “psychological parent;” determining that the refusal to renew the employment contract of an employee over the age of 70 violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination; first recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a basis for workers compensation and disability retirement benefits; and noting that any physician who performs a physi- cal examination on behalf of a third party, as in the case of a pre-employ- ment exam, has a duty to advise the examinee of any negative findings. “New Jersey’s state Supreme Court has long been viewed by many as a national model for its handling of legal issues, and Justice Long’s uncom- mon wisdom and profound humanity have greatly influenced many of the decisions issued by the court on some of today’s most controversial issues,” according to Phillip E. Griffin, co-chair of Fox Rothschild, the firm where Justice Long now heads pro bono activities out of the Princeton office. A 1963 graduate of Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross, Justice Long was one of only four women to earn a law degree from Rutgers School of Law- Newark in the 125-member Class of 1966. Justice Long served as a Deputy Attorney General in New Jersey, as Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs and as Commissioner of the former New Jersey Depart- ment of Banking. In 1978, Governor Brendan T. Byrne appointed her to the New Jersey Superior Court, where she presided over civil, criminal and family law cases. From 1983 to 1984, she was the General Equity judge for Mercer, Somerset and Hunterdon counties. In 1984, then-Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz elevated her to the Appellate Division, where she penned—literally, since she reportedly shuns the computer in favor of legal pads and a pen--more than 2,000 opinions during her 15-year tenure and became a presiding judge in 1995. Justice Long was nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman on June 17, 1999 to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court. Her position was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate on June 21, 1999, and she was sworn in as only the third woman ever to serve on the Court on September 1, 1999. On June 21, 2006 the state Senate granted her tenure following the initial seven years. “Because of you, individual rights are more secure. Because of you, our system of justice is fairer,” Justice Barry Albin told her on the last day she sat for oral arguments. “I have no doubt that you will be regarded as one of the greatest jurists of your generation and perhaps of any generation.” At Fox Rothschild, Justice Long assists clients with ethics and appellate matters; advises on corporate governance and governmental integrity in- vestigations; and serves as a mediator and arbitrator. As a director of Centurion Ministries, Long works with her law firm colleagues to provide pro bono services to unjustly prisoned and factu- ally innocent individuals. Justice Long has been recognized with many prestigious awards including the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Civil Practice Committee’s 2013 James J. McLaughlin Award for Civility, Legal Competence and Professionalism; the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Women in the Profession Section’s 2012 Marie L. Garibaldi Award for Distinguished Service and Excellence; New Jersey Psychiatric Association’s Citizen of the Year Award, 2012; the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Serpentelli Award in 2012; designation in the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2001; Douglass College’s New Jersey Women of Achievement Award in 2001 and Rutgers School of Law–Newark’s Fannie Bear Besser Award for Public Service in 1999. She has also chaired and served as a member of numerous Supreme Court committees, including Extra-judicial Activities and Judicial Performance. She served on the working group that in 2013 recommended a pro bono service requirement for prospective New Jersey bar applicants. Justice Long’s commitment to the people of New Jersey and her unas- suming public spirit came to the fore when she was invited to deliver the keynote speech at Rutgers University’s May 2013 commencement. Long, who was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony, was offered a $35,000 honorarium to deliver the speech. According to a reporter who called her for comment, Justice Long said, “I am not going to accept it. I’m happy to do this for Rutgers.” The only child of a deputy police chief and a city hall secretary in Eliza- beth, Long was a voracious reader, a trait that helped her become a contes- tant on the TV game show Jeopardy! a few years after law school. Justice Long is married to Jonathan D. Weiner, also a partner at Fox Rothschild of Philadelphia and Lawrenceville, and has three children, Bernardita, John, and Jane. EVE BISKIND KLOTHEN As its inaugural assistant dean, Eve Biskind Klothen built the Pro Bono and Public Inter- est Program at Rutgers Law School in Camden, transforming it from a small collection of proj- ects when she arrived, into the national model it is today. Klothen joined the law school in 2002 and served as Assistant Dean from 2004 until she decided to devote more time to teaching and consulting as of July 2013. Dean Klothen increased pro bono program and public interest activities from four to 15 programs, providing thousands of hours of pro bono legal assistance to those with nowhere else to turn, and inculcating scores of law students with the pro bono ethic. Under her tenure, the law school adopted a pub- lic interest loan repayment program and inaugurated an alternative spring break program, and saw several students placed in prestigious post-gradu- ate public interest fellowships. Dean Klothen has been recognized for her work with the Father Robert Drinan Award for Outstanding Public Service from the AALS in 2009; the Pro Bono Coordinator of the Year Award from the National Association of Pro Bono Coordinators; the Equal Justice Award from Community Legal Services in Philadelphia; the Outstanding Service Award from the Pennsyl- vania Bar Association; and the Excellence Award from Pennsylvania Legal Services. After receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1972 and graduating from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1975, Klothen worked as a staff attorney and subsequently managing attorney for Legal Services in Georgia and as a federal agency fraud litigator in Washington, D.C. Later, she served as the founding director of Philadel- phia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP) and as director of the Phil- adelphia Bar Foundation, both of which have been honored with national and state awards. In these capacities, Klothen also facilitated the estab- lishment of several specialty legal services organizations in Philadelphia, such as the Homeless Advocacy Project and the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project, to serve unique client populations and tap the unique abilities and energies of members of specialty bars. These “boutique” or- ganizations have flourished and have, in large part due to Dean Klothen’s leadership, developed into interdependent and mutually supportive agencies.