Summer 2012

LABOR, NO MORE?

A Look Back | Human Rights Crusaders | Playing Fair

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Labor, No More? No Labor, Reflections Just Cause Just issues. human global rights tackle graduates studentsEntrepreneurial and recent tenure.10-year back on her Emily Spieler looks Dean to survive. needs movement the may just lifeline be labor invigorated pro-worker A newly by Gary Alphonso/i2i Art Alphonso/i2i by Gary Cover illustration

By Jeri Zeder By Emily Spieler By Elaine McArdle

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Departments Columns

40 30 26 32 3 4

passion for journalism at for journalism passion A recent law graduate leaves to behind pursue a at last world. future — in our copy-and-link digital Fair tough — challenges and an uncertain faces use tren to all. the ofus detrimental health is insurance health from Excluding immigrants Faculty Deliberations By Wendy Parmet Health C (ButNot Liberty Keep theKeep Focus onPrint Are We Playing Fair?

class notes f N aculty ews brie d 3 s By Meghan ’98 Laska By Sohrab Ahmari ’12 NEWS S are) for All ummer 2012| f s The WallThe Journal Street . Vol. 11•No.2

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photos: (left-right) chris hartlove, michael manning, mark ostow illustration: edel rodriguez

photo: mark ostow 20 photos: (left-right) chris hartlove, michael manning, mark ostow chris hartlove, michael manning, mark ostow photos: (left-right) edel rodriguez illustration: photo: mark ostow

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 1

SM12_Contents-2pgs_FINAL.indd 1 6/11/12 3:52 PM www.neu.edu/law/magazine dean’s message

Summer 2012 | Vol. 11 • No. 2 A Fond Farewell Editor deborah feldman Associate Editor Maura King Scully Contributing Writers elaine Mcardle Jeri Zeder Class Notes Editor Siobhan fanning

am writing this column as the lovely Boston spring slides into Art Director Mark Gabrenya summer, and I prepare to step down as dean. At the end of May, I had the honor to preside over my 10th and final Please send editorial Icommencement. The Class of 2012 faces a challenging world. But, as correspondence to: always, these new graduates are better prepared than their peers from deborah feldman other law schools, and they head out into the world with strong profes- director of Communications Northeastern University sional identities and networks. In this, they are like every class since 1971, School of law when 12 adventurous souls graduated from the newly reopened 400 Huntington Ave. Northeastern University School of Law. Boston, Ma 02115 I am continuously struck by the extraordinary [email protected] vitality of this law school. The articles in this mag- Postmaster and readers: azine provide a perfect Northeastern snapshot, as Send address changes to we think broadly, deeply and eagerly about the Office of Development and pressing issues of the day: from the decline of alumni/ae relations organized labor, to intellectual property and fair Northeastern University School of law use, to the challenges posed by prosecutorial dis- 400 Huntington Ave. cretion and its effects on fairness in the criminal Boston, Ma 02115 justice system. [email protected] The “Just Cause” article demonstrates the © 2012 Northeastern entrepreneurial spirit and the values that pervade University School of Law. everything we do. While the focus here is on our Printed in USA. northeastern students and recent graduates who are founding Law magazine is published and heading nonprofit organizations worldwide, semiannually by Northeastern that same self-directed and dynamic boldness characterizes our graduates University School of Law. All publication rights reserved. in all spheres. Northeastern attracts and produces people who are cre- ative, fearless and innovative. Opinions expressed are Our faculty both share and inspire this spirit. For example, you can those of the authors or read Wendy Parmet’s account of the issues she tackled as lead counsel in their subjects and do not necessarily reflect the Finch v. Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the case views of Northeastern which successfully challenged the exclusion of documented immigrants University School of Law from the Massachusetts “universal” health care system. or Northeastern University. Using public records and transcripts, Mike Meltsner has written a play, northeastern Law magazine “In Our Name,” that exposes torture at Guantanamo Bay — performed in welcomes comments. Boston and New York and covered by National Public Radio and other media outlets. Following cold case stories in the deep South, Margaret Burnham and students are uncovering real history and leading efforts at reconciliation in Georgia and elsewhere through our Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. In June, our Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE), with joint sponsorship from the ABA’s Center for Human Rights and AIDS Coordination and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, held a web-streamed program, “UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights: What Lawyers Should Know.” Lawyers, in

Continued on page 29 photo: david leifer

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SM12_Dean_FINAL.indd 2 6/11/12 4:08 PM By Wendy Parmet Faculty Deliberations

Liberty (But Not Health Care) for All

Wilson’s cry illustrated, fear of coverage for undocumented immigrants helped arouse opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Although Democrats managed to enact the ACA in 2010, Republican state officials from 26 states challenged the Act’s constitutionality in federal court. (At n September 2009, as President Obama spoke before the time of this writing, the Supreme Court is considering a joint session of Congress, Representative Joe Wilson those challenges.) infamously shouted, “You lie!” Wilson’s outburst came in In 2010, the Massachusetts legislature excluded more Iresponse to the President’s promise that undocumented than 40,000 legal immigrants from Commonwealth Care, immigrants would not receive benefits under his health a state-subsidized health insurance program. By excluding reform proposal. Wilson’s breach of decorum exposed a tax-paying legal immigrants from Commonwealth Care, longstanding and deeply troubling relationship between Massachusetts undermined the fundamental goals of its own xenophobia and health policy. health reform: to move people from high-cost emergency In the early 20th century, for example, nativists claimed room care to lower-cost, outpatient care. Equally important, that immigrants brought disease, threatening the nation’s the state breached the promise of near universality it made health. In response, medical examin- when it passed health reform in 2006. ations at Ellis Island in New York and In January of this year, the Supreme Angel Island in San Francisco screened Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled immigrants, denying many the right to in Finch v. Commonwealth Health make a better life in the New World. Insurance Connector Authority that Fear of immigrants’ health has per- the exclusion of legal immigrants sisted. For example, early in the AIDS from Commonwealth Care violated epidemic, many HIV-positive Haitian the state constitution’s guarantee of immigrants were detained in prison- equal protection. But many legal like conditions at Guantanamo Bay immigrants remain barred from until a federal court ordered their Medicaid, and undocumented release. The federal government did immigrants remain ineligible for not lift its ban on immigration by HIV- Commonwealth Care. positive individuals until 2010. Nationally, the situation is even The fear of immigrants bearing and bleaker. If the ACA survives the spreading disease does not only infect constitutional challenges to it, legal immigration policy; it pervades health immigrants will become eligible in policy. Although immigrants as a class 2014 for tax subsidies to purchase are actually healthier than native-born insurance on the newly formed health Americans, myriad laws and policies insurance exchanges. But many will conspire to keep immigrants from accessing health care. continue to remain ineligible for Medicaid. And despite Most notable is the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Wilson’s rebuke, undocumented immigrants will be ineligible Opportunity Reconciliation Act, commonly known as the for the subsidies provided by the ACA. “Welfare Reform Law.” It denies federal funding for Medicaid These exclusions will undoubtedly harm the health of to most immigrants who have held a green card for less than our immigrant neighbors. They will also ensure our health five years. As a result, many states deny such immigrants insurance remains riddled with exceptions that are corrosive access to state-supported health insurance, forcing them to of universality and ultimately, detrimental to the health of all. seek medical care in the most expensive venue possible: emergency rooms. Matthews Distinguished University Professor Wendy Parmet The desire to keep immigrants, both undocumented and is a national health law and policy expert. In 2011, she legal, from accessing health insurance has undermined successfully argued for the Finch plaintiffs before the numerous attempts at health care reform. For example, as Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. photo: david leifer ; illustration: edel rogriguez edel rogriguez leifer ; illustration: photo: david

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Northeastern Grads Triumph in DOMA Challenge

In May, a federal appeals court in Boston declared unconstitutional the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union of only a man and a woman. Mary Bonauto ’87, who serves as civil rights project director for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), and Maura Healey ’98, chief of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau, argued the case. The team supporting GLAD included Amy Senier ’08, an associate with Foley Hoag in Boston. “Today’s landmark ruling makes clear once again that DOMA is a discrimin- atory law,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. “It is unconsti- tutional for the federal government to create a system of first-and second- class marriages, and it does harm to families in Massachusetts every day.” The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit came nine years after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court became the first court in the Western Hemisphere to approve same-sex marriages. The case will likely be argued before the US Supreme Court in early 2013. Enacted by Congress in 1996, DOMA applies to federal laws and regulations, consequently limiting federal benefits such as Social Security survivor benefits and the ability to file joint taxes to heterosexual couples. The appeals court unanimously ruled Mary Bonauto’87 (seated) with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (left) and Maura Healey ’98 in two related cases. In the first, argued by Bonauto, a lawsuit was brought by US Department of Health and Human “Under current Supreme Court seven same-sex couples married in Services claiming that section 3 of authority, Congress’ denial of federal Massachusetts and three surviving DOMA is unconstitutional on the benefits to same-sex couples lawfully spouses of those marriages, claiming grounds that the 10th amendment married in Massachusetts has not that they were subject to higher taxes reserves power not delegated to the fed- been adequately supported by any and a lack of health and survivor eral government by the Constitution to permissible federal interest,’’ benefits in comparison to married be the power of the states or the people. he wrote. heterosexual couples. Gill v. Office of A federal judge in Boston ruled in Boudin noted that if DOMA is left Personnel Management challenged that 2010 in favor of both Massachusetts and intact, then same-sex couples legally DOMA’s section 3 violates equal pro- the same-sex couple plaintiffs. The fed- married in Massachusetts are being n tection guaranteed by the Due Process eral government appealed. denied federal benefits routinely jami n

Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Appeals Court Judge Michael Boudin provided to heterosexual couples. be

On behalf of Massachusetts, Healey wrote the unanimous decision for a That, he said, cannot withstand joel argued a companion case against the three-judge panel. legal scrutiny. : photo photo : ( top ) y outube v ideo captu r e

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SM12_NewsBriefs_FINAL2.indd 4 6/13/12 12:27 PM MBA Report Hails NUSL Co-op Program as “Enviable” Model

In “beginning the conversation,” a massachusetts bar association (mba) report released on may 17, 2012, northeastern university School of law’s cooperative legal education program is singled out FPO for training students who are “maximizing … potential post-graduate employers unlike students at other law schools.” the intent of the report is to “explore the growing problem of underemployment among many of today’s law graduates in massachusetts.” “the profession is finally paying attention to the need for law students to have practical training,” said dean emily Spieler. “We’ve spent more than four decades educating students to enter the world of practice with the hands-on skills and real-world experience necessary to practice law effectively on the day they graduate. We’re delighted that the bar is recognizing that practical experience is key to ensuring success for new lawyers who must be prepared to provide clients with real value.” the mba report, which puts forth a variety of curricular and mentoring recommendations, with an “underlying assumption … that students with marketable real-world experience are more likely to be of greater value in a more competitive job market,” looks to the “enviable” northeastern law model, where, on average, 40 percent of students accept post- graduate positions with one of their former co-op employers. Don’t Drink That! media coverage of the report included a Wbur radio “all things In May, the law school’s public health advocacy considered” segment with eric parker, co-chair of the task force behind institute (phai) asked the uS government to yank the report. “the northeastern program is a fantastic model. in fact, it a Gatorade ad that it says deceptively implies that was probably the model that the task force was least critical of because basketball great michael jordan prevailed over the it delivers exactly what we’re talking about here,” said parker. flu during a memorable 1997 game because he “the advantages of a cooperative program such as northeastern’s fueled with Gatorade. are obvious in that it provides law students with practical experience “We’re targeting the ad by Gatorade owner in areas they choose for themselves as well as lasting connections that pepsico because it encourages teens to engage in enhance future employability,” stated the report. dangerous behavior,” said phai Staff attorney cara Wilking ’05. “the jordan ad openly promotes engaging in vigorous physical activity while suffering from a very high fever, in jordan’s case 103 degrees,” northeastern law phai said in a letter dated may 8, 2012, to the uS Federal trade commission. “it is a generally Student Wins on recognized safety principle that teens and even “jeopardy!” professional athletes suffering from severe fever and flu-like symptoms should not engage in Doug Lloyd ’12 bested the vigorous physical activity.” competition during an April among other requests, phai said pepsico episode of “Jeapordy!,” the should be ordered to create corrective advertising classic TV quiz show. “It’s consistent with government recommendations always been a dream of mine to be on the show, and it that people with the flu should stay home and not was an even bigger dream to win,” said Lloyd, who plans engage in vigorous physical activity. to split his $14,400 in winnings between loan payments “there is already enormous pressure on teen and his upcoming honeymoon. athletes to win at all costs by practicing during extreme heat and playing through injuries,”

photo: joel benjamin photo: (top) youtube video capture said Wilking.

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Assessing the Path Less Taken Almost 45 years have passed since Northeastern University To answer, Northeastern is undertaking an Outcomes School of Law committed itself to an alternative path — Assessment Project — combining rigorous social science one built upon experiential education and iterative learning. research with principles of change management. Combining classroom theory with real-world practice, all “The Outcomes Assessment Project will provide critical Northeastern law students participate in the school’s signa- insights on how to better integrate experiential education ture Cooperative Legal Education Program, graduating with into the law school curriculum,” said Bierman, who is spear- almost a year of full-time legal experience. heading the effort. “Equally important, it will give the legal According to Associate Dean for Experiential Education academy and profession a more realistic, evidence-based Luke Bierman, “The question is whether the NUSL legal edu- analysis of what works and what doesn’t, resulting in models cation model accelerates the preparation of graduates who for how to best allocate resources in the years ahead.” are ready to join the profession and to serve clients.” For more information, visit www.neu.edu/law/oap.

Collaborating with Chinese Colleagues Documentary Speaks for Silenced Refugees

In a new documentary by Jawaid Stationwala ’12, the subjects are unimaginably poor. But the film isn’t about their poverty, says Stationwala. “That may be the backdrop of this film, but it’s not the focus,” he explained. Instead, the documentary “Ma Ki Zaban” — or “Mother Tongue” — highlights the art, language and cultural identity of some 250,000 Urdu-speaking​​ refugees who were stranded in camps the size of prison cells in Dhaka, Bangladesh, The School of Law and Wuhan University School of Law signed an shortly after the 1971 Bangladeshi Liberation War. agreement at Northeastern this spring to form a partnership to promote international cooperation through shared co-ops, student The goal, Stationwala said, was to raise awareness of a and faculty exchange programs, and collaborative research. population with a distinct, but unheard, voice. “The people I worked with are indigent, poor and have no access to even the most basic rights,” said Stationwala, Rockefeller Foundation adding that the Dhaka refugees have only recently been granted Funds iSERP Conference citizenship in their own country. An international network of lawyers, legal academics and “The idea was to produce a activists will gather next March for a conference, “A Critical documentary that was some- Assessment of Social and Economic Rights in Theory and thing near and dear to their Practice,” funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and hosted hearts — their language and tationwala at its Bellagio Center in northern Italy. Convened by the law the beauty that comes out of it S school’s International Social and Economic Rights Project — and draw some attention to (iSERP) — under the auspices of the Program on Human their culture as a whole.” Rights and the Global Economy — participants will focus on The seeds of the documen- drafting chapters for a forthcoming book on the enforcement tary were planted more than of social and economic rights guaranteed by nation-state three years ago. As a 2008 constitutions and international instruments. Fulbright scholar, Stationwala “The goal of iSERP is to promote generous governmental visited Bangladesh to collect Stationwala (center) joins the implementation of constitutional social and economic rights, data on the Urdu-​​speaking staff of the Legal Aid Society in a legal form of vital importance to poor people and excluded refugees in order to build a New York this summer. groups in a growing number of jurisdictions,” said Professor community-​​health profile. Lucy Williams, one of the iSERP faculty directors. “We hope One of the film’s subjects is a young poet whose plight our book will make a contribution by developing and widely helps tell a story of poverty, rife with health and educational disseminating approaches that combine critical analysis with disparities. “He had every excuse in the world to not turn practice-based experience around the world. We are particu- out well, and somehow he came out to be this phenomenal

larly grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation for its support.” person,” Stationwala noted. — Matt Collette leifer; (right) courtesy of Jawaid photos: (left) david photo: E ric S piegel/greenpeace

6 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_NewsBriefs_FINAL2.indd 6 6/13/12 12:27 PM Emily Rochon ’13 in front of solar panels on the roof of the Washington, DC, office of Greenpeace.

co-op matters Keeping it Clean Emily Rochon ’13 Champions Renewable Energy Technologies

Emily Rochon ’13 likes a clean fight, but she isn’t afraid to get Her findings put Greenpeace at the leading edge of the her hands dirty for a good cause. As a climate and energy debate and earned Rochon, who holds a master’s degree in campaigner for Greenpeace International for three years environmental toxicology, a global reputation as one of only a before coming to Northeastern, she took on the global coal handful of environmentalists voicing credible opposition to industry. In 2008, she authored the first comprehensive CCS. But as she proceeded with her advocacy work, which critique of carbon capture and storage (CCS) — the industry’s included drafting text for legislation and international treaties, proposed technique for cleaning up polluting coal plants and Rochon realized that without formal legal education, she slowing climate change. couldn’t be effective. “I always like taking on the big guys,” says Rochon, a Rhode “You always need someone to go out there first and say ‘no,’” Island native who earned two undergraduate degrees — in she says. “Now I want to determine if there are existing laws biology and environmental studies. “I like causing trouble, but we can use to shut these plants down.” this time we have the truth and facts on our side.” Like many Northeastern Law students, Rochon wasn’t Using CCS, coal industry scientists say they can take carbon interested in putting her career and professional passion on dioxide out of a smoke stack once it’s been burned, turn it into hold for three years of classroom discussions. With co-ops at a fluid, then pump it into underground storage tanks where the National Environmental Law Center in Boston and it will safely stay for thousands, if not millions, of years. Greenpeace in Boston and Washington, DC, she has been able Rochon’s research suggests that “clean coal” is nothing more to both hone her legal skills and actively contribute to the than a slogan aimed at greenwashing a dirty energy source. environmental causes she believes in. To date, no “clean-coal” plant that buries carbon has success- “My plan for my next co-op is to work in state-level energy fully been constructed. policy, then return to the international environmental policy “And to make it work, they’d have to build a massive pipeline arena,” she explains. In these front-line positions, she’ll piegel/greenpeace

S system, pass all sorts of new laws, and figure out how to deal continue the fight against dirty energy sources. With a law ric

E with the long-term liability,” says Rochon, a recipient of the law degree in hand, she knows she has a better chance of helping school’s prestigious, full-tuition Public Interest Law countries and industries come clean and adopt more viable, photos: (left) david leifer; (right) courtesy of Jawaid S tationwala leifer; (right) courtesy of Jawaid photos: (left) david photo: Scholarship. “The technology isn’t going anywhere right now.” renewable technologies. — Tracey Palmer

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Words of Wisdom Spring 2012 Lectures and Conferences at NUSL

CRRJ: Gordon Lecture 2012: Illuminating the What Are the Human Rights of African-​​American Experience Women Living with HIV?

3.23.12 Terry McGovern, founder of the HIV Law Project in New York and currently senior program officer in the Ford Foundation’s Human Rights Division, delivered the Gordon Human Rights Lecture.

Alumni/ae Speaker Series: The Top of the Pyramid: How Corporate Boards 1.13.12 In January, Pulitzer Prize-​​winning author Isabel Wilkerson delivered an address to the Have Changed in Northeastern law community based on her best- Response to selling book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. The event was sponsored by Shareholder Activism the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice (CRRJ) Project as part of a day of programming in which Northeastern 2.1.12 William Mostyn ’74, senior vice University celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin president and corporate secretary at Luther King Jr. TIAA-CREF, launched the 2012 series. anning; anning; M Daynard Lecture: ichael Mexicans Seeking Political Asylum M

1.9.12 Carlos Spector, an internationally recognized immigration lawyer, visited the law school for three days in January as a Daynard Distinguished Visiting Fellow. In 1991, Spector became one of the first US attorneys to win an asylum claim, representing a Mexican political leader. abrenya; david leifer (2) david abrenya;

He is also a founder of Mexicans in Exile, a nonprofit that G

raises funds for trauma counseling, housing and other ark photos: (clockwise from top left) M leifer photos: david refugee needs, and educates US residents about the realities of the Mexican drug war. 8

SM12_NewsBriefs_FINAL2.indd 8 6/15/12 2:37 PM Health Law Systems in Reform 3.16.12 Speakers explored the ways that health reform efforts impact law, policy and health law practice on a national and global level.

< Professor John McDonough of the Harvard School of Public Health talked about “The Fate of the Affordable Care Act.”

Externships 6: Pushed Too Far Preparing Lawyers: 3.30.12 In March, the Northeastern University The Role of Field Placement Law Journal hosted a symposium focused on the evolving legal implications of school bullying. Panels included “Criminalizing School Bullying,” “Hazing in Higher Education” and “Cyberbullying and the First Amendment.”

Angela Reddock, a legal commentator who is also head of her own Los Angeles-based employment and labor 3.1.12 – 3.4.12 With co-sponsor Harvard Law School, Northeastern law firm, spoke about hazing. welcomed more than 200 legal clinicians from around the world to a four-day conference including more than 40 sessions and discussions. vi d lei f er (2) er f Massachusetts Northwestern District Attorney David lei a ; da d Sullivan ’86 (standing) talked about his office’s role in vi da

: The many panels and discussions included representatives from four countries the high-profile 2010 case involving Phoebe Prince, the s o

t who talked about “The Development of Externship Clinics Worldwide: Two teenager who took her own life after being bullied by o

nning; ph o t s : ( c lo kwi e f ro m p le ft ) Mi cha el M a nning; M a rk Ga breny ph Emerging Models.” class­mates.

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SM12_Feature-LaborLaw_FINAL.indd 10 6/11/12 9:01 PM For years, the labor movement has been struggling to survive. A newly invigorated pro-worker| By Elaine movement McArdle may be just the lifeline labor needs. LABOR, NO MORE?

hen Tea Party-backed candidate Scott Walker swept into the Wisconsin governor’s office in 2010, his election was trumpeted as a clear rebuke to President Barack Obama and cherished Democratic Party ideals, including support for labor unions. But Walker stepped into an unexpected firestorm when he tried to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights — and faced an astonishing recall effort in early June, though he successfully remained in office. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of labor unions are greatly exaggerated. Unions have been gasping for breath for years, their survival seriously in question. Yet, to the surprise of many, Wisconsin became a rallying point for a newly invigorated pro-worker movement that’s tied to larger issues, including growing wealth disparity in the United States. As much as any other political issue, the battle over workers’ rights has emerged as a key factor in the upcoming presidential election. Over the past 60 years, private industry labor union mem- bership has declined precipitously. In the 1950s, one-third of private sector workers were unionized; today, the number is just 6.9 percent. Although public sector unions have had the opposite trajectory in that same period, from near non- existence to today, when 37 percent of federal, state and local government employees are organized, they are under ferocious attack in a number of states. “For the first time in my career, basic assumptions about what rights labor should have in a democratic society are being IS

B challenged. Questions we thought were settled in 1935 are now OR being reopened as though they were brand-new,” laments Karl Klare, a Matthews Distinguished University Professor and internationally recognized labor law expert. “In terms of economic strength and political clout, labor is in great decline. photo: Bettman/C illustration: illustration: illustration: Striking workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, circa 1912. I would use the word ‘crisis.’”

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 11

SM12_Feature-LaborLaw_FINAL2.indd 11 6/13/12 12:32 PM The reasons for organized labor’s decline are many and complex. Some are related to larger economic forces, including the decline of US manufacturing and the challenges of the global economy, which pits American workers against low- wage international competitors. Some are peculiar to American culture. “There’s an ethos that people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that it’s through their own hard work that they are going to advance themselves. That sometimes In terms of economic undercuts the idea they should bind together and demand strength and political something for themselves,” says Ingrid Nava ’03, chief counsel clout, labor is in great of the Service Employees “ International Union (SEIU) decline. I would use Local 615 in Boston. Still, in the eyes of Klare and the word ‘crisis.’ other labor activists, the current political attack against US labor unions is an opportunistic effort — Karl Klare to increase the rapidly growing wealth disparity between the haves and have-nots. “The values to which we labor lawyers have devoted our lives” are now at risk of being abandoned by society — not because they are obsolete, but precisely because they do what they are supposed to do,” Klare insists. Not true, counter management-side attorneys. Workers today realize that in this challenging economy, private employers don’t have much to give, and cities and towns can’t afford to pay wages or benefits that unionized employees once enjoyed. Instead of creating more conflict, this reality is forging collaborations among workers and employers, they say. “What’s breaking down is this idea of us versus them,” says Joseph McConnell ’93, a partner with New England’s largest and oldest management-side firm, Boston-based Morgan Brown & Joy. “Now it’s, ‘How can we collectively help this group of employees when the company is facing hard economic times?’”

The American labor movement was born of often-violent conflict between workers and employers. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Great Lawrence Strike of 1912, better known as the Bread and Roses Strike, when textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, walked off the job for two months, sparking national outrage over child labor and police brutality toward strikers. Over the next decades, struggles between labor and management continued. But by 1935, certain basic rights ynn L

were enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act, which m o established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and T encouraged collective bargaining between labor and management to avoid strikes and keep the economy healthy. l Sentinel, Today, however, the NLRB is facing unprecedented a challenges, from controversy over recess appointments —

including Dick Griffin Jr. ’81 — to vigorous efforts to ukee Journ decommission the agency entirely. a “I had approximately two-and-a-half days plus a weekend to Protesters rally inside the Wisconsin State

wrap up 28 years of legal practice and make a transition,” recalls hoto/Milw P

P Capitol in Madison Griffin, who got a phone call from the White House in January, in 2011. informing him that President Obama was appointing him to the NLRB, effective immediately. photo: A

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SM12_Feature-LaborLaw_FINAL.indd 13 6/11/12 9:07 PM Griffin had worked as an NLRB staff attorney for two years “I’m beginning to wonder if even employees themselves after law school, and before joining the International Union of believe that,” says Rachel Muñoz ’06, who practiced at a union- Operating Engineers (IUOE), where he spent the next three side firm before joining Morgan Brown & Joy in 2009. Union decades, including serving as general counsel. Although he’d members today are voting for smaller wage increases and other nominated Griffin several weeks earlier, the president, in a move concessions that surprise their own union representatives, she largely seen as an end-run around conservative efforts to neuter says. And taxpayers resent public sector union members getting the NLRB, formally appointed three new members (including benefits that cash-strapped towns and cities can’t afford. a Republican) while the Senate was in recess, thus avoiding the “It’s a bad environment for unions out there, and I don’t say need for its approval. Obama’s earlier appointments through that from a political perspective but from the reality of what the usual process were either stymied or outright rejected by they are facing,” agrees McConnell. the Senate. Many viewed this as a maneuver by Republicans to Financially strapped companies simply don’t have leeway to kill the agency’s ability to operate by preventing a three-member give into union requests for higher wages or better benefits packages, McConnell says, spurring unprecedented coop- Dick Griffin Jr. ’81 eration between labor and management. Over the past three years, he’s been involved in eight separate collective bargaining negotiations where the two sides have worked together to craft resolutions; for example, with employers willing to offer — and employees willing to accept — non-pecuniary concessions such as more vacation time. But union belt-tightening to help employers survive tough times is nothing new, Klare counters. “The flexibility and adaptability of collective bargaining are among its most notable features, and mature employers have always known this,” he says. He and others insist that the current economic downturn is providing convenient cover for powerful ideological forces long hostile to workers’ rights. They believe the newly invigo- rated attacks provide evidence that unions play an essential role in a democratic society. “Unions are the one private sector vehicle for assuring that workers have a say in the distribution of the wealth they produce,” says Judy Scott ’74, general counsel for the SEIU. “Collective bargaining is that vehicle for adequate wages, pensions, health care. And what we’ve seen is that with fewer in unions, there’s been a growing level of income disparity between the wealthy and working families.”

quorum. As expected, Senate Republicans joined a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the appointments, claiming The implications of that disparity reach far beyond workers the Senate wasn’t technically in recess. themselves, Klare says; the declining buying power of con- It’s a contentious battle, and Griffin is staying out of the fray. sumers is one reason the recent economic crisis is so severe. Controversy is an inextricable part of the landscape for anyone Even in prosperous times, he adds, “There would be a need for immersed in labor law, including many Northeastern law unions to protect the respect and integrity and decent graduates, from those in the trenches on both the labor and treatment of workers” by ensuring due process before someone management sides, to those in top leadership roles, such as is fired, for example. Carol Waller Pope ’78, chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Claims by companies — not to mention the Wisconsin Authority; Erica Crystal ’88, newly appointed director of the governor — that unions are too expensive are disingenuous, Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations; Joseph he insists. In the private sector, multinational corporations Frankl ’79, regional director in the NLRB’s San Francisco office; operating in countries where labor rights are more entrenched and Mark Irvings ’75, a nationally known labor arbitrator. In incorporate basic workers’ rights, including collective bar- Massachusetts, four of the five labor representatives on the gaining, as part of their corporate philosophy, then turn around governor’s Labor Relations Advisory Council are Northeastern and fight unions in the US — with powerful allies on their side. graduates: Amy Davidson ’80, Ira Fader ’85, Katherine Shea ’87 “If conservatives were saying labor law is out of date, we and Ira Sills ’77. need to modernize, that would be one thing, and I might agree that they have a point on some issues,” says Klare. “But what they’re saying is that the basic assumptions from 1935 were wrong to start with, that our society should no longer respect On the management side, Northeastern graduates and others basic worker rights.” Unlike the economic elite in other artlove strongly argue that unions are unpopular because they’re seen advanced industrial democracies, the wealthy in America H hris

as an expensive relic from a different era and economy. If never really accepted the value of collective bargaining but C they’ve fallen into such decline and widespread disfavor, the lived with it only grudgingly, he explains. And now, that frail

question must be asked: Are labor unions necessary in 2012? compact has unraveled. photo: photo: Michael Manning

14 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_Feature-LaborLaw_FINAL.indd 14 6/11/12 9:08 PM “Attitudes about the social contract have changed in certain try to ask questions unless the employer opens the floor. They aspects of society,” Griffin agrees. “One area where that’s most can also be fired for refusing to attend or acting disruptively, true is retirement security. The approach of society has changed say, by chanting union slogans. Studies show that every “captive considerably, and the percentage of people who receive defined audience” speech results in a significant drop in union support. benefit pensions is rapidly shrinking. I worry myself about what “So if you give five of these in the months before an election [on that’s going to mean for an aging workforce.” whether to unionize], you’ve poisoned the atmosphere but not Meanwhile, workers’ legal protections also have been on broken the law,” Klare notes. Employees can be required to read the decline. “Unfair Advantage,” a 2000 report by Human a written anti-union statement and parrot it back. “Supervisors Rights Watch (HRW), found that US laws are largely ineffective interrogating employees on their ‘understanding of the in protecting workers. A more recent study by HRW, “Strange employer’s position’ amounts to intimidation,” Klare says. Case,” confirmed that multinationals operate with great Meanwhile, penalties for breaking the law are too weak to deference to workers’ rights in Europe yet are anti-union in deter anyone, resulting in a “humongous growth in illegal the United States, contradicting what they describe as their actions by employers” over own core values. And a 2007 Congressional report found a the past few decades, adds direct link between the dramatically disappearing American Klare, who has examined It’s a bad environment middle class and the decline in unions with collective patterns of NLRB decisions, bargaining power. At the same time, the global integration of including those in which for unions out there, and trade and finance, and the increasing ease with which high- employees claimed they were productivity technology can be diffused, means that low-wage, fired for supporting unions. I don’t say that from a Third World economies, some with atrocious labor conditions, “It is strikingly clear to every- “ have become very competitive. one who has investigated this political perspective but “For roughly the past 40 years, American management has that it’s extremely risky for gone on an increasingly aggressive attempt to break labor, to workers to exercise most from the reality of what get rid of unions where they exist, and the problem is, US labor basic rights,” he says. laws make it very easy for management to do that within the Since union workers are they are facing. rules,” says Klare. paid 20 percent more than For example, companies can hold “captive audience” similar non-union workers, — Joseph McConnell ’93, meetings, requiring employees to listen to management with much better fringe Morgan Brown & Joy speeches opposing unions, but employees can be fired if they benefits, “the average worker, if they have an unfettered choice, will always choose to have a union representing them,” Rachel Muñoz ’06 ” insists Ira Sills, who has represented unions at Boston’s Segal Roitman for more than 30 years and teaches labor law at Northeastern. “The problem is, their choices are not unfettered. They are subject to very aggressive behavior-modification campaigns that are very scary and intimidating.” Muñoz sees it differently. “I don’t entirely agree with the notion that employees are so frightened that they aren’t choosing unions for that reason. I think much more plays into it because employees also very aware of what’s going on in the world politically and economically.” Rather than scare tactics, it may be something less dramatic, she believes. “Employees are questioning, ‘Can the union get for me things I can’t get for myself?’”

Whatever the reasons, it’s clear change is afoot, including decrees from the top. In 2009, Obama signed an executive order that urges unions and federal agencies to work collaboratively to resolve workplace issues, and it’s already made a significant difference, says Carol Waller Pope, who, after 30 years with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) was named by Obama to head the agency in 2009. The FLRA oversees labor and management issues for 1.6 million federal employees. Without such an order, trust between the two sides had eroded, says Pope; now, workplace relationships are improving noticeably, which is important in tight fiscal times. “We’ve made tremendous strides,” she notes. “We want to be poised to help the government because a lot of agencies are facing budget cuts and reorganizations.” photo: C hris H artlove photo: Michael Manning Continued on page 39

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 15

SM12_Feature-LaborLaw_FINAL.indd 15 6/11/12 9:09 PM Reflections By Emily Spieler

“In truth, the result is greater than the sum these of even complex parts. There is something spe here.” | c Northeastern Law Summer 2012 i 16 al

SM12_Feature-Reflections_FINAL.indd 16 6/11/12 9:13 PM Reflections

these of even complex parts. There is something spe here.” c | i Northeastern Law Summer 2012 al 17

SM12_Feature-Reflections_FINAL.indd 17 6/11/12 9:14 PM And we act on our view that collaboration is better than atomistic individualism, that all voices matter, and that we all share a responsibility for the common good, whether we are focusing on the social fabric of the internal NUSL community or the larger, more complex world outside. In truth, the result is greater than the sum of even these complex parts. There is something special here. The reopening of this law school in 1968 was a revolutionary experiment in legal education. Recently a candidate for a faculty position The founding faculty — some of whom still teach who had just met with our students told me she found here today — were determined to create a radically our students to be “empowered, but not entitled.” different model of legal education: embracing expe- Graduate after graduate has told me that four riential education through immersion in the world co-ops matter. That they enjoyed law school and were of legal practice; nurturing a broad understanding of astonished to learn from lawyers who earned their the law as a vehicle for the pursuit of justice; and JDs elsewhere that this was unusual, or perhaps dismantling hierarchy in favor of a collaborative and unique to Northeastern. That the lessons they supportive environment. learned when they combined co-ops with academic As I reflect on my 10 years as dean, I am most experiences have stayed with them through their struck by the resilience of the values that underlie lives. That they continue to believe in the capacity of this experiment. As I see it, and as I have said repeat- law to do good — and in the capacity of lawyers to edly over the last decade, there is one essential love the law. challenge for this law school — and therefore for the One graduate, a federal judge, told me, “I can dean of this school: to carry forward and build upon always tell when a Northeastern graduate is in my the fundamental values of this institution, while courtroom.” Another said, “A court reporter asked simultaneously adapting and responding to the world me if I had gone to Northeastern. When I asked her of today and tomorrow. ‘Why?’ she said, ‘Northeastern graduates do things It is this challenge that I have kept in mind at every differently.’” In both cases, the explanation of diff- moment since I arrived at Northeastern in 2002. erence meant better — more humanist, more TOur founding values and principles remain at the thorough, more tuned in. core of what we do. We educate lawyers by com- These are the voices that define Northeastern. bining demanding academic courses and clinics with It was not my job to create this magic. But it has multiple full-time immersion legal experiences, been my job to work with others to try to preserve creating a completely different law school experience the very best of Northeastern while acknowledging than exists elsewhere. We fully engage with the world the changes and pressures of the world of the outside the academy: we view integration with the 21st century. profession and the courts as central to studying When I announced that I would be stepping down, the law and educating our students to become one member of the faculty wrote to me, “We’ve outstanding practitioners. increased our potential in more ways than we thought possible.” Note that she wrote “we” — not “you” or We have a genuine commitment to diver- “I.” Pronouns matter. sity, building a community that is reflective of the As this colleague suggests, deans serve to empower world we hope to see, not the world that exists. others. There is nothing she could have written to We look out at the world and ask: can we make it me that would have touched me more deeply. better? Certainly, we believe in the power of the rule In the past decade, we have built aggressively on of law to serve as societal glue. But we understand the foundational principles that made Northeastern that law both reflects and can change reality, and thus law unique in the 1970s. We have amplified our expe- it can also be a tool for positive change. This idea has riential education program in every way. We are now been described in many ways at different times over positioning the school to take this work into new and the past 44 years: as a commitment to public interest innovative areas: evaluating the program through law, to social (or social and economic) justice, to law a scientific Outcomes Assessment Project, expanding that advances the public good, to progressive law- our focus on professional development through the yering. But all of these descriptors entail a view that three years of law school, and asserting a leadership rejects acceptance of injustice, questions the per- position in the discussions of innovation in legal sistence or growth of disparities in human societies, education for both the bar and the legal academy. and challenges policies that lead to social and envi- We have continually experimented with different ronmental degradation. Wherever they ultimately ways to group and educate first-year students, in choose to work, all of our graduates have grappled order to teach them not only the mechanics and the with critical ways of thinking about justice in our rules of law, but also the soul of the law. We have society — and almost all of them have experienced, embraced the world beyond our borders by adding first hand, what it means to deliver legal services to expertise on the faculty, global co-op opportunities marginalized populations. for our students, welcoming foreign scholars and

18 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 Photos by Webb Chappell

SM12_Feature-Reflections_FINAL.indd 18 6/11/12 9:14 PM ding Our foun values “ and principles remain at the core of what we do.”

developing institutional relationships with employers health), Vermont Law School (environmental law and universities around the globe. and policy) and Brandeis’ Heller School (sustainable international development). We have reached outside Our students pursue transformative the law school to work on interdisciplinary projects opportunities under the guidance of individual faculty within Northeastern — with economists, sociol- members who engage students in projects about ogists, philosophers, epidemiologists, biologists, which they themselves are passionate. Two examples: engineers and business professors — building joint Professor Peter Enrich enlisted students to work with degrees in business, health and social sciences, and him on Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler Corp. — the whole the humanities. group accompanied him when he argued issues of For Northeastern law, there will continue to be interstate commerce and tax-giveaways before the US challenges in the coming years. Our endowment and Supreme Court. Under the auspices of our Civil Rights financial support are limited. We face ranking and Restorative Justice Project, headed by Professor systems that do not consider the things we do best Margaret Burnham, students traveled to Georgia to — immersion education, teaching and reinforcing investigate lynchings that occurred in the 1940s. The values, the commitment to ethical and skilled students emerged transformed — and went on to win lawyering, building diversity. Beyond our community, a university-wide research competition this spring. both legal education and the legal profession are And our students reflect these values as their own. struggling over fundamental issues of how to best There are myriad examples. Here’s one: when educate lawyers and meet needs for legal services. students proposed and restarted a law journal, they Over the past 10 years, so much has happened successfully launched a plan for an annual sympo- — from the opening of the renovated Dockser Hall sium that brings together leading academic and to the development of global and interdisciplinary practitioners to talk about critical issues — from projects to the addition of new faculty. But two things detainees at Guantanamo to Second Amendment are striking to me: first, that the themes are con- controversies to the subprime fall out. Now in its fifth sistent; and second, that Northeastern law is uniquely year, the reimagined Northeastern University Law positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive Journal has become a permanent part of the legal environment. Northeastern culture. I have no doubt that the dynamism of this At the same time, we have focused on strategic school will continue as we adapt and change. alliances — within the university but also beyond. Personally, I look forward to continuing to be a part We have built relationships with Tufts (in public of a community that cares about the world.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 19

SM12_Feature-Reflections_FINAL.indd 19 6/11/12 9:15 PM Just CRause Entrepreneurial students and recent graduates tackle global human Sarah Gogel ’13 Empowering Youth Around the Globe rights issues | By Jeri Zeder When Paris, France-native Sarah Gogel ’13 was 18, she took a gap year after high school to do community service in Nicaragua and India. Years later, that experience led her to co-found Global Potential (GP), a nonprofit that involves marginalized youth in community service in countries like the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua. “We have this structure and veryone wants to change the world. One of ability to provide transformative experiences for youth who might not otherwise have the oppor- the astonishing things about Northeastern tunity,” she explains. Gogel’s pre-law school experience as a social worker serving immigrant University School of Law is the significant and refugee populations has helped shape GP’s number of students and graduates who are doing youth-empowerment programs. E Since its founding in 2007, GP has engaged exactly that — leading advocacy and policy organi- almost 400 youth. An impressive number have gone on to higher education. They have zations around the globe. They are driven by their produced award-winning documentaries, passions, championed by their professors, fostered obtained scholarships for college and earned grants for their own community initiatives. by the co-op program, and propelled by their own Many have become GP staffers. “I could tell stories forever about the youth who have been skills, smarts and creativity. As founders and involved with GP,” Gogel gushes. entrepreneurial contributors to advocacy and non- While running GP and pursuing her JD, Gogel is taking advantage of Northeastern’s governmental organizations (NGOs), they are saving dual-degree master’s program in sustainable international development at the Heller School lives and transforming communities around the at Brandeis. “Hopefully, in the next five years, world. We’re proud to spotlight a handful of our I’ll have a legal department at Global Potential where we can advocate for reforms in education up-and-coming leaders in this issue. and movement of youth around the world,” she says. Gogel has focused her co-ops on interna- tional human and refugee rights, most recently returning to France for a co-op with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Meanwhile, she’s found time to reach a Photos by Mark Ostow yearned-for goal: opening the first GP office in her native country. “It’s very close to my heart,” she says. 20 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

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SM12_Feature-ActivistLeaders_FINAL.indd 21 6/11/12 9:22 PM Gavin Myers ’14 Preventing the Spread of HIV

The good news: there’s a course of medication known as PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) that can dramatically reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who have been exposed. The bad news: hardly anyone knows about it. Gavin Myers ’14 plans to change that. In 2009, he co-founded Partners in Learning about AIDS (PL-AIDS), a Rhode Island-based nonprofit that raises awareness of biomedical prevention of HIV through media. “We have an activist bent,” says Myers, “and on the other hand, we’re interested in education and providing objective information.” Two documentaries are currently in production, one looking at why PEP treatment is hard to access, the other at Rhode Island’s male sex work industry. PL-AIDS also has a PEP hotline, likely the first of its kind in the Ocean State. Callers can avoid the emergency room and speak with a physician at Providence’s Miriam Hospital about whether PEP makes sense for them. Biomedical prevention is not without controversy. Some advocates and doctors believe that reducing risky behaviors is the better way to prevent HIV infection. “We were finding that the barriers are so significant because a lot of providers don’t know about PEP. And, with the ones that do, there’s a stigma associated with giving it,” Myers says. He believes that PL-AIDS is filling an important gap in HIV prevention. Northeastern is helping Myers gather names of HIV law and policy organizations for him to contact for his first co-op. And he’s looking forward to tapping his public service-minded classmates for help with PL-AIDS.

Sukti Dhital ’06 Securing Basic Rights in South Asia

As police barricaded 500 families in an Indian slum and bulldozers began demolishing houses, human rights lawyer Sutki Dhital ’06 obtained a legal stay and managed to save most of the homes. Even so, the place looked like a bomb site. This is what happens when a government violates its own laws. Dhital wants governments in South Asia to be accountable for meeting their own, legally recognized social and economic obligations. Enter Nazdeek: a women-led NGO co-founded by Dhital to advance the rights of South Asia’s poor and marginalized communities to health, housing and food. This fall, Nazdeek, which means “to be close” in Urdu, launches its first campaign, advancing the right to food in Nepal. “Our legal strategies are about making the state accountable for what they have already said they’d provide,” she says. She envisions strengthening South Asia’s human rights infrastructure by bolstering and sharing strategic and tactical legal resources among lawyers-activists, and by marshaling teams of community activists and journalists to monitor the implementation of court orders. Beginning with her second Northeastern co-op, at a women’s legal services organization in Nepal, Dhital’s career path to international human rights work proceeded one co-op and one course at a time. She still enjoys the support of her mentors, professors Hope Lewis, Lucy Williams and Karl Klare, whose connections advanced her work in India and, now, at Nazdeek. “Students should really take advantage of the type of professors we have at Northeastern,” she says. “There’s something really

important about the support you can get from faculty who care.” illustration:

22 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_Feature-ActivistLeaders_FINAL2.indd 22 6/13/12 12:39 PM illustration: illustration:

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 23

SM12_Feature-ActivistLeaders_FINAL.indd 23 6/11/12 9:23 PM SM12_Feature-ActivistLeaders_FINAL.indd 24 E lizabeth T ully ’12(left)andJillian T uck ’12 6/11/12 9:23 PM

photo: swoan parker Regine Theodat ’09 Creating Business Opportunities in Haiti

As the Boston-born daughter of Haitians living in the United States, Regine Theodat ’09 grew up hearing stories about life in a country plagued by violent, lawless leadership. She always thought that some day she’d head to Haiti to help in some way. Then, the 2010 earthquake happened. Within a few short months, Theodat left a promising position with a Boston law firm and began a one-year stint with Lamp for Haiti as a human rights attorney. But, for her, something didn’t fit. “The work seemed limited because it felt like what the country really needed was economic development,” says Theodat, whose background is primarily in corporate law. When her contract with Lamp ended, Theodat joined the Vincentian Family Worldwide’s Haiti project, and proceeded to train a practical eye on their programs. Theodat credits Northeastern’s Legal Skills in Social Context course, and professors Susan Maze- Rothstein, Peter Enrich and Steve Subrin, with giving her the analytic framework that helped her to reshape the organization’s approach. Now, the focus is on community development through investing in businesses while training people to be successful income earners. A sea-side restaurant, for example, that has received a $6,000 loan and assistance with basic budgeting and accounting, is expected to create nine full-time jobs and net $25,000 in income per year. Theodat is next zeroing-in on how Haiti’s economy is hampered by business-unfriendly practices and policies, and what her organization can do to make the legal landscape more conducive to development. Theodat has hope for the struggling land her family calls home. There are really dynamic, creative people working here, people from the diaspora who really love Haiti, she says. “It feels like there’s a change coming.”

Jillian Tuck ’12 and Elizabeth Tully ’12 Assisting Iraqi Refugees in Search of New Homes

Mid-March of 2012, as Syrian forces massacred scores of civilians and refugees flooded the border into Lebanon, Jillian Tuck ’12 and Elizabeth Tully ’12 were riding in a Beirut taxicab. All eyes had turned to the crisis in Syria. But Tuck and Tully had a different priority. They were meeting their client, a refugee of the Iraq war who was seeking to resettle with his family in the United States. Thanks to Tully and Tuck, Northeastern has taken up the cause of the little-known and readily eclipsed plight of Iraqi refugees. Tully is the founder, and Tuck a founding student coordinator, of the Northeastern chapter of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), a national student organization providing legal representation to Iraqi refugees seeking resettlement. “I felt that it was something concrete that I could do to mitigate the impact of the war in Iraq,” says Tully. She started the group last summer and lined up supervising attorneys from law firms Mintz Levin, Bingham, and Goulston & Storrs. The group took on their first four clients in late fall, with 12 students serving on case teams. Tuck and Tully, who graduated in May, are grooming student leadership to ensure the chapter’s future. Tuck, a self-described “immigration groupie,” says that IRAP keeps her close to the reasons she came to law school. Tully, in turn, has high hopes for IRAP’s impact. “There is a tremendous amount of interest in immigration and refugee work at

PHOTO: SWOAN PARKER our school,” she says.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 25 faculty News

faculty profile Breaking the Prosecution Complex A Conversation with professor Daniel Medwed

Professor Daniel Medwed, a nationally recognized criminal Q: What is the “prosecution complex” referred to in law expert, joins the School of Law faculty this summer. His your book title? recent book, Prosecution Complex: America’s Race to Convict A: The term refers to the institutional and psychological and Its Impact on the Innocent (New York University Press, emphasis on obtaining convictions within American prose- 2012), explores how prosecutors may occasionally and inad- cutors’ offices. Conviction rates have become the coin of the vertently contribute to wrongful convictions because of realm in many places — a way to tout the organization’s success cognitive biases and an overly deferential regime of legal and to the public and to legislators who hold the purse strings as ethical rules. well as a means for individual attorneys to make a play for Prior to joining the Northeastern faculty, Medwed was a career advancement. In 2010, at least one office even gave cash professor of law at the University of Utah. He previously served bonuses to line prosecutors based on conviction rates. I argue as an instructor at Brooklyn Law School and as assistant in the book that this prosecution complex is at odds with our director of the school’s Second Look Program. conception of the American prosecutor, a person who is Medwed has earned numerous teaching prizes, supposed to be a “minister of justice,” a person who never including the University of Utah College of Law’s loses a case — conviction, acquittal or mistrial — as long Peter W. Billings Excellence in Teaching Award, a as the outcome is fair. University of Utah Early Career Teaching Award, a Student Choice Teaching Award from the Associated Q: Your book has been hailed as a “must read” by Students of the University of Utah, and two Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. Best-selling author John Grisham of the Year awards at Brooklyn Law School. He has says it “shows us how to fix the problems.” So, what’s also worked in private practice and as an associate the solution? appellate counsel at the Legal Aid Society in New A: As far as fixing the problems, it was York. He earned his BA from Yale University quite charitable of John Grisham to say and his JD from Harvard University. that the book offers solutions! I do float a number of potential reforms Q: Your research interests and that could, in theory, minimize the pro bono activities focus on problems. I believe that better wrongful convictions. How external regulation could help did you become interested in — greater oversight of prosecu- this area? torial activities by courts, A: In the late 1990s, I worked disciplinary agencies and the as a public defender handling public at large — but I also criminal appeals for the Legal press for enhanced internal Aid Society in New York. That regulation. It’s clear that the experience gave me a sense of overwhelming majority of pros- the inequities in our criminal ecutors want to do justice. We justice system in general, but my could implement structural and cultural passion for wrongful convictions changes to assist them in achieving that emerged in 2001, when Will Hellerstein, my goal. Prosecutorial offices could set up friend and colleague at Brooklyn Law School, internal review committees to asked me to help set up an innocence project evaluate major decisions that might to focus on cases that lacked biological lead to a wrongful conviction. For evidence suitable for DNA testing. Over the instance, having an outside panel next three years we ran the Second Look review every “single eyewitness” l Program, a clinic in which we worked with case before charges are filed or umenta our students to investigate and litigate post- scrutinize the credibility of a jail- l conviction innocence claims by New York house informant before he or she State inmates. After that hands-on is put on the stand.

experience, I was hooked for the long haul. —Deborah Feldman photo: josh b Leifer photos: (bottom-2) david

26 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_FacultyNews_FINAL.indd 26 6/11/12 4:19 PM Parmet Triumphs Putting Torture on Trial in Health Care A new play by Matthews Distinguished University Professor Michael Meltsner has Coverage Case hit the stage, raising consciousness of the torture inflicted by US military personnel on In a precedent-setting decision, suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo the Massachusetts Supreme Bay detention camp. Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in “If torture is not wrong in both the legal January that a state law and moral sense then it’s hard to imagine excluding legal immigrants from what is,” said Meltsner, a legendary civil subsidized health coverage rights lawyer who has argued six times violated the state constitution. before the US Supreme Court. Meltsner wrote the play using public The SJC unanimously ruled that A dramatic reading of the play, “In Our records and often-redacted transcripts of prohibiting 40,000 legal immi- Name,” was performed for a sold-​out Guantanamo Bay prisoner interrogations, grants in the state from obtaining audience at the Boston Playwrights’ which were obtained by the American Civil coverage “violates their rights Theatre in March. Students at the City Liberties Union through the Freedom of to equal protection under the University of New York performed the play Information Act. state constitution.” at the off-Broadway Black Box Theater this “The Bush administration kept many of past May. the documents secret, but they were even- Brendan Shea, a dramatics associate tually released,” Meltsner explained. at the American Repertory Theater in “Some of the legal memos have been with- Cambridge, Mass., praised “In Our Name,” drawn because the government no longer calling it a “living essay in which the United stands by their reasoning.” States’ actions at Guantanamo Bay are put Meltsner criticized the Obama adminis- on trial.” tration in turn for following many of the Meltsner, who read the part of a same national security policies employed Guantanamo Bay official in the Boston by the Bush administration. production, didn’t expect his play to Meltsner hopes his play will contribute receive so much attention — including an to making major changes in the way sus- interview on WBUR/National Public pected terrorists are treated, but he’s not Radio’s “All Things Considered.” betting on it. “There’s always the hope that The suit, filed by Health Law “So far it’s been a serendipitous your ideas will contribute, but my goal is Advocates (HLA) on behalf of tens journey,” he said. “My goal was to present merely to make people confront what’s of thousands of low-income the issues to people in such a way that they been done — and may be done again — in Massachusetts legal immigrants, could reach their own conclusions based on their name.” sought to strike down a law their hearts and minds.” — Jason Kornwitz passed in 2009 eliminating access to Commonwealth Care for legal immigrants who had been in the US for less than five years. Lewis Honored by ABA Massachusetts’ historic health reform law, passed in 2006, Human rights scholar and advocate Professor Hope Lewis was honored in April allowed legal immigrants who with the American Bar Association’s prestigious Mayre Rasmussen Award for met eligibility requirements to the Advancement of Women in International Law. The ABA’s Section of obtain health insurance through International Law gives the award annually “to someone who has demon- Commonwealth Care. strated sustained, outstanding service … in mentoring women … in the Associate Dean and Matthews practice of international law.” Letters by those who nominated Lewis, Distinguished University including many from graduates and students, were read at the award ceremony Professor Wendy Parmet, who held in Washington, DC. argued the case on behalf of the Lewis, co-founder of the law school’s Program on Human Rights and the Global immigrants, said, “Our consti­ Economy, specializes in public international law. She is co-author of Human Rights and tution prohibits the government the Global Marketplace: Economic, Social and Cultural Dimensions (Transnational from trying to solve its financial Publishers). She is a past recipient of the US Human Rights Network Notable problems on the backs of a vul- Contributions to Scholarship Award and is active in a number of international and

photos: (bottom-2) david Leifer photos: (bottom-2) david nerable class of people.” domestic human rights and social justice non-governmental organizations.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 27

SM12_FacultyNews_FINAL.indd 27 6/11/12 4:20 PM Faculty news

FACULTY What They Really Think

The Five Percent smoking, such as graphic warnings lengthen patent monopolies and “ Oral argument only makes a that break through the clutter of prevent the use of hard-fought flexi- difference in the outcome of legally required information on con- bilities that ensure that poor people 5 percent of the cases sumer products that few consumers will not be left to die.” before the court.” read, will save many lives,” Daynard Professor Brook Baker ’76 Frontline (India) Professor Martha adds. “With more than 400,000 Volume 29, Issue 08 Davis blogging on Americans dying of cigarette-caused April 21 – May 4, 2012 the Supreme Court diseases each year, smoking remains health care hearings The Guardian by far the leading preventable cause March 27, 2012 of death and disease.” Professor Richard Daynard Too Young? “A Smokin’ Body: Cancer Images Are “ In 2005, the Supreme Court out- Lighting up a First Amendment Blaze” Obama Care lawed the death penalty for juveniles ABA Journal (Roper v. Simmons), which was a April 2012 “ Were the court to strike down the huge step in this direction. I suspect entire act, the current Congress, in that the oral the middle of an election, would arguments Tortured Play suddenly find itself having to revisit starting this some of the most popular parts of Pfeiffer: For people who believe that week will the act: Should we close the torture is permissible in certain have the Medicare donut hole? Should circumstances and dismiss you as a same tenor Medicare beneficiaries have free Boston academic, do you believe that as those that wellness visits? Should 24-year-olds in your play you’ve presented the proved suc- be able to stay on their parents’ other side of this argument fairly? cessful in the health insurance plans? ” Meltsner: Well, that’s why we have 2005 case.” Professor Wendy Parmet, blogging for theater critics and audiences. I’ve 3Qs with Professor Mary O’Connell ’75 The Boston Globe’s “White Coat Notes” on oral arguments before the US Supreme March 29, 2012 tried to do that. But I’m not going to deny my own point of view. I think Court regarding two murder cases in which 14 year olds were sentenced to life art is one way in which you convey without parole. Unsafe Sex what happened and, I hope, get news@Northeastern under people’s skin enough so that March 20, 2012 “ Not being able to do business in the they think about things that they open means that sex workers are haven’t come to terms with. driven to dark and hidden places to Sacha Pfeiffer interviews Professor Into the Mainstream conduct business. This makes sex Michael Meltsner about his play, work unsafe. Kristof has become the “In Our Name” “ Many butch women and femme pied piper of anti-sex trafficking “All Things Considered” men might well have struggled to WBUR/National Public Radio establish social and work lives in efforts for many well-meaning March 22, 2012 people and organizations in North which they could relax, only to America and beyond. To follow be thrust back into the heteronor­ without question is dangerous. mative mainstream when they ” IP Boundaries Professor Aziza Ahmed blogging in The have children. I can tell you from Guardian on the unintended consequences “ Novartis’ experience, even in a progressive of Nick Kristof’s anti-sex trafficking crusade and tolerant community, it is overzealous a March 26, 2012 stressful being the butch at the i

defense of cad kindergarten parents’ breakfast.” A intellectual eo property Professor Libby Adler ’94 responds online L ons: Prevention Worth a Pound ... rights knows no to Darren Rosenblum’s “Unsex Mothering: i Toward a New Culture of Parenting” “Anything that discourages them bounds. It seeks to Harvard Journal of Law and Gender photo: mark gabrenya [children and teenagers] from strengthen and February 6, 2012 Illustrat

28 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

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Photo: mark gabrenya innovative innovative — and relevant — approaches to legal education. alliance of schools with which we are working to build truly The National Law Journal, announcing the launch of an piece, “Experiential Legal Education,” on June 4, 2012, in cation. Dean Associate Luke Bierman published an opinion the now hugely competitive world of experiential legal edu- thereafter. Articles by faculty also abound. be out this summer, and others are toscheduled follow will and Hackney James by Givelber Dan Innocent . Books America’sComplex: Race to Convict and Its Impact on the at Development and the Daniel WTO, Medwed’s Sonia Elise Rolland’s new on book trade and the WTO, bringing together human rights and the private sector. PHRGE principles; ABA-endorsed is taking the lead in their capacity toas need business advisors, understand these 2 page from Continued Dean’s Message sentatives andotherstakeholders.” crucially byregularexchangeswithWTOofficials,diplomaticrepre- research isinformednotonlybytheoreticalanalysis,butalsomost law andhowtoreinterprettheWTOagreementsforthatpurpose.My perspectives tonegotiatorsandlitigatorsonhowuseinternational mybook,Iwantedtoofferpragmatic law andtradeexpert.“In needs ofdevelopingcountries,” saidRolland,apublicinternational trade liberalizationanddevelopmentthatismorecognizantofthe at theWTO(OxfordUniversityPress,2012). regime’s heritageanditspresentdynamicsinanewbook,Development Professor SoniaEliseRollandcarefullyconsidersboththetrade relationship attheWorld Trade Organization(WTO),Associate Seeking toopenpathsforreconsideringthetradeanddevelopment trade anddevelopment a Worldly Perspectiveon And, of course, we continue to build our leadership in Faculty are books rolling off the These presses. include “There aremanyopportunitiestoarticulatearelationshipbetween “There “This book is a clear, cogent, succinct and persuasive persuasive is aclear, and book succinct cogent, “This In PraiseofDevelopmentattheWTO Rice Distinguished Professor, ofLaw School Rice University Distinguished ofKansas forInternational and Comparativeand Dean Law Associate Bhala Raj importance.”on atopicofglobal andpractical, scholarly both contribution, marvelous —veritably, promotedevelopment helps a WTO account ofwhether, andtheextent how towhichthe Prosecution Prosecution Best regards, Best joining the NUSL faculty. I can’t imagine a better place to be. School of Management at MIT — I am tolooking forward Institute for Work and Employment Research at the Sloan — which I will spend in part as a visiting scholar at the think about my next adventures. After a sabbatical next year column. I am excited as I turn to my personal transition and building on the past. lawNortheastern educational model. investigating Project, — scientifically — the value of the We have embarked in earnest on our Outcomes Assessment In the meantime, I am packing up my office as I write this This is a law school firmly turned to face the future, while “Congratulations to Sonia Rolland who, who, Rolland toSonia “Congratulations Professor, University ofGeneva School, Law and Secretariat, WTO Counsellor, Affairs, Legal Marceau Gabrielle theWTO.” in operationalized actually is ofexploring development how challenges the meets successfully book, this with Dean Dean and Hadley of Professor Law Northeastern Law Law Northeastern Emily A. Spieler | Summer 2012 6/15/12 3:49 PM 29 TRENDS By Meghan Laska ’98

Are We Playing Fair? Fair use faces tough challenges — and an uncertain future — in our copy-and-link digital world

this is “the backbone of the World Wide Web,” says Professor Michael Bennett, an intellectual property expert. “Copying things is probably so instinctive at this point that it’s as natural as breathing.” But when does this behavior infringe on fair use, the pillar friend sends you a link to an interesting of our US copyright law that says we can make limited use of column about parenting. You like it so much that you decide material without asking permission of the right’s holder? to post the link on your Facebook page. Did you just break More to the point, how do we define “limited” in an age of Athe law? Internet excess? If you did, you’re in good company. The number of Indeed, the fair use debate is heating up and it’s not just people using social media sites today is staggering. limited to social media sites. It’s also a hot topic in areas such According to Time Techland, Facebook had one trillion as “appropriation art,” which uses elements from other work page views and 870 million unique visitors in June 2011 to create new work, and music sampling. alone. In that same month, YouTube matched 90 percent of Lucy Lovrien ’89, a solo practitioner in Boston who Facebook’s unique visitors. As for linking and hyperlinking, concentrates on copyright and trademark, points to the francesco bongiorni illustration:

30 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_Trends_FINAL.indd 30 6/11/12 4:31 PM Number of people using social media sites — June 2011 1,000,000,000,000 page views 870,000,000 783,000,000 unique visitors unique visitors

Source: Time Techland

widespread — and erroneous — perception that everything appellate review). Since appropriation art is considered an on the Internet is free to take and use. “But the Internet is acceptable form of creation, the case raised alarm bells for more like a public library,” says Lovrien, who is also an many artists and museums, several of whom filed amicus adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School. “Even briefs supporting Prince. if you have access, everything there isn’t available for any Another federal case, Lenz v. Universal Music Group Inc. et public use, and plenty of regular people are being sued for al., involved a different Prince. This time, a California copyright infringement.” woman sued a music company after it issued a takedown Bennett agrees that the line is crossed more often than not. notice to YouTube for a video of her kids dancing to the song “I imagine that in most instances, people have not attempted “Let’s Go Crazy” by the singer Prince. The court denied the to determine if an image or song they’ve used is copyright music company’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a protected, and I bet they haven’t asked the copyright holder claim, allowing Stephanie Lenz the chance to prove fair use. for permission to use that work. In many cases, those unau- Not surprisingly, the case drew a lot of attention. After all, thorized users probably won’t be protected by the law.” how many dancing kids — and pets — are there on YouTube? Given this tension between many people’s “instinctive” Another noteworthy case involved a company called tendencies to copy and link to other work and creators’ Righthaven, which attempted to make money for newspapers copyrights, the future of fair use seems like an open question. by suing people who shared articles online. Last March, a federal court in Nevada essentially shut down the firm by Trolling for Answers ordering it to surrender for auction its copyrighted news While there are plenty of copyright cases in the courts these articles. Often called “copyright trolls,” Lovrien explains that days, the decisions are based on so many factors that it’s these groups look for ways to make money by threatening tough to argue that we’re headed in a specific direction other users of content with lawsuits if they don’t settle. than more litigation. “Trying to turn that into an industry causes a lot of For starters, explains Bennett, courts consider whether concern,” she says. “The courts are now onto them and they the use falls under a cate- can’t expect to just shake everyone down for a few thousand gory of activities that have dollars and not have the case examined. But I also don’t think “ Even if you have been deemed fair uses of the trolls will all go away.” access, everything work, like commentary, reporting, criticism and Looking Ahead there isn’t available education. So, for example, So what do these cases that involve everything from high- when a blog links to a culture art to dancing kids to trolls mean for the future of fair for any public use, related article on another use? Will copying and sharing digital content continue to be and plenty of site, that could arguably be as natural as breathing? What impact will these types of cases protected behavior if it’s have on everyday web users? It’s hard to imagine people not regular people considered commentary, posting links, snippets of text and images on their social criticism or has some educa- media sites — or not setting their videos to music. are being sued tional value. “It will be interesting to see how all of this develops, for copyright In addition to those safe especially as new social media platforms continue to emerge,” harbors, courts look at sev- says Bennett, pointing to the example of Pinterest, a infringement.” eral factors under the Fair pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users — Lucy Lovrien ’89 Use Doctrine to test for to create and manage theme-based image collections such copyright infringement, as events, interests, hobbies and more. “The costs of such as the purpose and grabbing a URL and plugging it onto your page are so low character of the use. “But they are nonexclusive factors and that it naturally doesn’t concern most people right now.” But are not considered to be determinative. Courts can’t just will this change? apply the factors and add them up to get an answer. They can Lovrien concludes that while it’s difficult to predict future be supplemented by other information or evidence,” he says. trends, it’s clear that content owners will continue to battle One of the most well-known decisions is Cariou v. Prince over large and small uses of their work. “Everyone seems to et al. in which a federal court in New York held in 2011 that be jostling for a place in the digital marketplace.” appropriation artist Richard Prince violated photographer Patrick Cariou’s copyrights by using one of Cariou’s photo- Meghan Laska ’98 is a freelance writer based near illustration: francesco bongiorni illustration: graphs within his own art (the case is currently under Philadelphia.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 31

SM12_Trends_FINAL.indd 31 6/11/12 4:32 PM (l-r) Candace Cain ’83, linda Cohn ’97 class notes and tara allen ’98 near the historic location of homestead steel works

profile CandaCe Cain ’83, linda Cohn ’97 and tara allen ’98 Women of Steel

There are a lot of jokes about the sorry state of Pennsylvania’s “There’s not a trial that goes by that I don’t think back to highways, but for Tara I. Allen ’98, Candace Cain ’83 and Wally and his cross-examination techniques,” echoes Cohn. Linda (Jarrett) Cohn ’97, all roads lead to Pittsburgh, where “That was the best training I ever had.” the three have formed a Northeastern law triumvirate at the For Allen, it was the Criminal Advocacy Clinic that “shaped Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District my desire to do this work,” she says. “That was the first time of Pennsylvania. I had to go to court, to learn how to talk with clients, and not “When I was a student, I don’t think there were any co-op in legalese.” employers in Pittsburgh,” recalls Cohn. Yet, the three were The training apparently paid off. In fall 2011, Cain, with seemingly drawn, like magnets, to the Steel City. Cain and Allen as her second chair and Cohn cheering from the side- Cohn are both originally from the area; Allen moved to lines, argued Reynolds v. United States before the US Supreme Pittsburgh from the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Court, securing a victory for her client. The case, which Eastern District of California in Sacramento, in a quest to get grappled with the question of whether or not SORNA (Sex closer to her native Boston while staying on track with her Offender Registration and Notification Act) applied to those

career as a federal criminal defense attorney. convicted before 2006, has now been remanded to the US bebeto matthews/ap All three credit Northeastern’s clinics with inspiring their Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. And so, like these three public interest careers. “I blame Wally Holohan and the Northeastern alumnae, the battle over SORNA will hit the Prisoners’ Rights Clinic,” says Cain. “That absolutely cemented road back to the Keystone State.

my love of criminal defense work.” — Maura King Scully photo: martha rial photo: (bottom)

32 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 32 6/15/12 3:06 PM Send Us Your News! Don’t let your accomplishments and life changes go unnoticed. Write to us at [email protected].

Carolina, office as counsel on the real 1953 estate finance and capital markets team. 1996 Burton Pike spent much of his early retire- Phoebe Brown has been named secretary ment as a guest lecturer on cruise ships 1994 of the board for the Public Company around the world, speaking about “Famous Alida Bográn-Acosta is Accounting Oversight Board, a nonprofit Trials,” “Gangsters of the ’30s and ’40s,” and now of counsel with corporation established by Congress to “Hollywood Suicides and Murders.” Boston-based Sugarman, oversee the audits of public companies in th Following his 75 birthday, he decided to Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, order to protect investors and the public take a rest and for the past eight years has where she represents interest by promoting informative, conducted wedding ceremonies in Palm clients in labor and accurate and independent audit reports. Beach County, Florida. If any Northeastern employment matters. law grad wishes to be married in his part of In November 2011, Jane Morrison was 1998 the world, he says it’s “on the house.” He sworn in as assistant solicitor for the city of Lennox Chase has been appointed to the th plans to attend his 59 reunion this fall. Sandy Springs, Georgia. Jane has practiced board of directors of Casa Myrna, New in the Peach State throughout her career, England’s leading provider of shelter 1975 including heading her own firm, and as a and services to victims and survivors of In March, Joseph Feaster Jr. took over as prosecutor and criminal court judge in domestic violence. interim town manager of Stoughton, Fulton County. Danielle Mason Anderson has been Massachusetts, where he resides. The elected a principal in the Kalamazoo, peripatetic Feaster has also served as the 1995 Michigan, office of Miller Canfield. Her chairman of the City of Boston’s Zoning Dylan Sanders is now a practice includes commercial litigation and Board of Appeal; as interim president and shareholder with Boston- creditor’s rights resolution. CEO of Dimock Community Health based Sugarman, Rogers, In February, Massachusetts Attorney Center; as acting director of real estate for Barshak & Cohen in the General Martha Coakley named Maura the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority; as firm’s environmental, Healey as chief of the Public Protection interim administrator of the Boston real estate and business and Advocacy Bureau. Maura previously Housing Authority; and, as president of litigation practice groups. served as chief of the AG’s Civil Rights the Massachusetts Community and Banking Council. 1981 Richard Griffin was sworn in as a member of the National Labor Relations Board on January 9, 2012. He previously served as general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers (see page 10). 1986 At Western New England University School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts, Myra Orlen has been appointed assistant dean for academic success and also promoted to associate professor of legal research and writing. 1988 In March, Elinor Merberg was promoted to assistant general counsel in the National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice, Elizabeth OuYang ’86 (center), speaks while flanked by Pvt. Danny Chen’s father, Yan Tao Chen Injunction Litigation Branch, which she (left), and his mother, Su Zhen Chen (right). joined in 1988 as a staff attorney.

AP 1990 Taking on the Army Michael Iapoce has been appointed commissioner of social services for Ulster Elizabeth OuYang ’86, president of the New York chapter of the civil rights group County, New York. Michael has worked Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), is leading the charge in the case of Danny atthews/

M with the county’s Department of Social Chen, an Army private who committed suicide in Afghanistan last fall, allegedly as a Services for 18 years, and had served as result of hazing. Eight soldiers have been charged with crimes in connection with Chen’s ebeto

B supervising social services attorney and death, including involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide, and a military investi- counsel to the commissioner since 2004. gator has recommended courts-martial for all of the men. Working with the Chen family, 1992 OuYang has kept the matter public and vowed to continue pressing military officials on Susan Tarnower has joined Kilpatrick the case. She organized a prayer vigil and a march and met with Army officials at the

photo: (bottom) Townsend & Stockton’s Charlotte, North Pentagon to demand measures to improve the treatment of Asians in the military.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 33

SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 33 6/11/12 4:35 PM class notes

Sowing Seeds of Change Laura Mahr ’05, who launched the first project in the country for indigenous farm workers who had been sexually harassed in the workplace, has been named an “Up and Coming Lawyer” by Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce. As an attorney and project coordinator at the Oregon Law Center, Mahr educated farmworkers and service providers locally and nationally regarding sexual harassment and assault in agricultural labor. Now an attorney with the Victim Rights Law Center in Portland, Oregon, she provides training and technical assistance regarding civil legal remedies for victims of sexual violence to Office on Violence Against Women programs around the country.

Division, where she oversaw the investiga- he was named to the New York Metro tion and prosecution of civil rights cases “Super Lawyers – Rising Stars” list. 2008 in the areas of mortgage lending, housing, Ryan Mingo and Caitriona Fitzgerald education, public accommodation, health 2003 married on Sept. 4, 2011, in Wells, Maine. care and hate crimes. She also spear- Nancy Cremins was selected for the inau- Ryan is an assistant district attorney on headed the state lawsuit to invalidate the gural Boston class of the 2011 Pipeline the Gun Prosecution Task Force in the Defense of Marriage Act (see page 4). Fellowship, which trains women philan- Suffolk (Massachusetts) County District thropists as angel investors. Nancy is a Attorney’s Office, and Caitriona is chief of 2001 litigator and employment lawyer with staff and general counsel to Massachusetts Last summer, Erin Alarcon traveled to the Gesmer Updegrove, where she works with State Senator Barry Finegold. southeastern African country of Malawi entrepreneurs and startups. for a 16-day mission trip sponsored by the While searching for a great fit with a 2009 Women of Grace Widows’ Fund, a joint company as an in-house attorney, Debra Benjamin Snitkoff has joined the Boston mission of two churches in Northern New Feldman has been building on her seven office of Pepper Hamilton as an associate York. Erin’s late father played an integral years of corporate transactional experience handling intellectual property. role in developing the initial relationships by working with Furr & Cohen in Boca Jennifer Love Stringfellow and her with the people of Malawi in the late Raton, Florida, on bankruptcy matters. husband, John, welcomed their second son, 1990s; a community center in the small Debra also volunteers as a job mentor with Jackson William, on Feb. 20, 2012. The village of Mzenga was dedicated to his Boca Helping Hands. family, including Jefferson Davis, 2, lives in memory during Erin’s trip. Kailua, Hawaii. Brian Birke has been elevated to counsel 2004 at Pollock & Sheehan in Boston. He joined Adam Kessel, a principal in Fish & 2010 the firm following graduation and is a Richardson’s Boston office, has been Mike Birch published an article, “Take member of the litigation, appellate and selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Some Land for the Ball Game: Sports intellectual property practice groups. as a 2012 “Up & Coming Lawyer.” Adam Stadiums, Eminent Domain, and the Public focuses on litigation involving Internet and Use Debate,” in The Sports Lawyers Journal 2002 software-related matters. He has also edited at Tulane University School of Law. Roy Karp has been appointed director worked on several groundbreaking pro His piece was originally written for of the Alternative Diploma Program at bono cases for the Electronic Frontier Professor Roger Abrams’ Sports Law class. United Teen Equality Center in Lowell, Foundation that have established legal Massachusetts, fulfilling his long-standing principles at the intersection of criminal 2011 dream of running an alternative high school law and computer technology. Dan Klein received the Boston Patent Law ournal y j l

for at-risk youth. Association’s 2011 writing award. Dan’s i a

In January, Michael Pikiel Jr. was named paper, “The Integrity of Section 101: A d Sarah2006 London an

a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski’s New , former assistant attorney ‘New and Useful’ Test for Patentable eg or

York office. Michael has significant general in Vermont’s Public Protection Subject Matter,” was published in the fall : o experience in public-private partnerships, Division, is now legal counsel to Vermont 2011 edition of the Journal of the Patent t o h project finance and public finance. In 2011, Governor Peter Shumlin. and Trademark Office Society. p

34 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 34 6/11/12 3:39 PM Making a Run for It Veteran New Hampshire State Senator Maggie Hassan ’85 has set her sights on the Granite State’s top office. With a commitment to public service that goes back more than a decade, Hassan is running for governor as a “forward-thinking leader who fights for what matters,” according to an endorsement from Kathy Sullivan, a Democratic National Convention Maggie Hassan ’85, Mike Barrett ’77, Mary-Ellen Manning ’91 and Frank Lombardi ’88 Committee member. Hassan began her public service career in 1999 when Governor Jeanne Shaheen heads his own consulting firm, focusing on technology to help asked her to serve as an advocate on the Advisory Committee people cope with chronic health conditions. to the Adequacy in Education and Finance Commission. In 2004, Hassan was first elected to the New After more than a decade on the Massachusetts Hampshire Senate. During her six years in office, Governor’s Council, Mary-Ellen Manning ’91 has she was selected by her colleagues to serve as thrown her hat into the ring for the 2nd Essex President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader District State Senate seat, which includes Salem, of the State Senate; she also served on a Beverly, Peabody, Danvers and Topsfield. number of committees and chaired both the Manning is head of her own civil litigation firm in Commerce and the Public and Municipal Salem. As a member of the Governor’s Council, Affairs committees. she ruled on judicial nominees and appointments by the governor. Mike Barrett ’77 is running for the 3rd Middlesex (Massachusetts) State Senate seat, In Rhode Island, Frank Lombardi ’88, who heads his representing Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, own practice and is vice chairman of the Cranston Concord, Lincoln, Waltham, Weston and parts of School Committee, is running for the District 2 State Senate Lexington and Sudbury. Barrett is no political newcomer: After seat. Lombardi has received many awards for his commitment three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to community service, including the Pro Bono Publico Award for and four terms in the State Senate in the 1980s and 1990s, he Equal Justice from the Rhode Island Bar Association for his ran for governor of Massachusetts in the 1994 Democratic work with indigent clients. He is also a past vice president of the primary. On a break from politics since 1995, he currently Rhode Island Probate Judge Association.

New Hampshire’s Finest Five Grads Tapped for Paul Moore ’88, a former Army Ranger who suffered partial Prestigious BBA Program paralysis as a result of a spinal injury in Korea 30 years ago, was named New Hampshire Citizen of the Year for 2011 by the New Staci Rubin ’10, Julia Devanthéry ’09, Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. In 2004, Moore and Chris Saccardi ’08, Anjali Waikar ’05 and his sister founded MooreMart in honor of their brother, then Raquel Webster ’03 have been selected stationed in Iraq. MooreMart sends 1,800 care packages to New for the Boston Bar Association’s Public Hampshire troops every 10 weeks. To date, 44,000 care packages Interest Leadership Program, designed and more than 4 tons of relief supplies have been shipped to the Middle East to help to identify and develop the next schools, clinics and orphanages. Moore, who also volunteers with a wide range of generation of lawyer leaders. Only organizations, has received many awards, including the William A. Grimes award for 14 attorneys were invited to attend the judicial professionalism, the Spirit of New Hampshire Award and a commendation from yearlong program. The Northeastern the state governor for his commitment to veterans. graduates come from diverse back- Susan Duprey ’76 is a 2012 “Outstanding Woman in Business,” grounds: Rubin is a staff attorney with according to the New Hampshire Business Review. A shareholder Alternatives for Community and with the state’s largest law firm, Devine Millimet and Branch, Environment; Devanthéry is manager of Duprey works full time while also moonlighting as a sought-after legal advocacy at HomeStart, Inc.; political consultant. This primary season, she is serving as chief of Saccardi is a solo practitioner special- staff to Ann Romney, wife of Republican Presidential candidate izing in landlord-tenant law; Waikar is an Mitt Romney. Duprey currently sits on the board of Harvard associate with Krokidas & Bluestein; and Pilgrim Health Care and has chaired the boards of Heritage United Way and the Greater Webster is assistant corporation counsel

photo: oregan daily journal photo: oregan daily Manchester Chamber of Commerce. with the City of Boston Law Department.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 35

SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 35 6/11/12 3:45 PM class notes

Crystal Shines at MDLR in January, Erica Crystal ’88 was sworn in by Governor deval patrick as director of the massachusetts department of labor relations (mdlr), succeeding mike byrnes ’96. crystal had served as chief counsel at mdlr since 2010, and as a hearing officer prior to that. previously, she spent many years as a field attorney with the national labor relations board.

Steinberg Honored by Guild in may, the massachusetts chapter of the national lawyers Guild honored the out- FPO standing achievements of Carol Steinberg ’80, longtime plaintiff’s attorney and president-elect of the disability law center’s board of directors. steinberg has been a civil trial attorney, handling plaintiff’s personal injury, toxic tort cases and disability- related cases for more than 30 years. she is a member of the massachusetts architectural access board, the state agency responsible for making buildings across Benched massachusetts accessible to people with disabilities. as vice chair of the board of in february, Mary Thomas Sullivan ’81 directors of the oak square ymca, she helped make that facility a model of inclusion was sworn in as an associate justice of and accessibility. steinberg is also a member of the Government relations committee the massachusetts appeals court. she of the multiple sclerosis (ms) society, which advocates for legislation on behalf of was previously a partner with the boston people with ms and other chronic disabling conditions. firm segal roitman, where she focused on labor law. in april, Megan Christopher ’89 New York Chapter Chairs: was confirmed as a circuit justice for Coleen Chin ’99 Maia Spilman ’96 the massachusetts probate and family The NUSL New York court. christopher practiced law for 22 years at metroWest legal services in Regional Chapter framingham, representing low-income is developing programming designed and elder clients in administrative and to build connections and networking court proceedings, with a focus on opportunities to serve a range of family law. students and graduates in the New York Debra Shopteese ’86 became the first native american justice to sit on the area. Visit the chapter’s LinkedIn page, massachusetts district court after being which includes connections to area sworn in last fall. prior to joining the alumni/ae who are actively soliciting bench, shopteese spent 24 years with referrals, networking and listing the committee for public counsel services, where she served as attorney- regional events. in-charge for the roxbury defenders AD division. she also teaches criminal trial advocacy at the school of law. Janice Ellis ’87 is now a superior court judge for snohomish county in We ❤ NUSL Washington state. ellis has practiced in 5 x 5 Washington since graduating from law school, serving most recently as a Contact your local alumni/ae chapter and get connected! prosecutor and legal advisor for the tulalip tribes. Anchorage ♥ Boston ♥ Chicago ♥ Greater Connecticut ♥ Denver in January, Raheem Mullins ’04 was Los Angeles ♥ inches Greater New Hampshire ♥ New York ♥ Philadelphia appointed to the connecticut superior ♥ ♥ ♥ San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC Western Massachusetts court bench. he had previously served www.northeastern.edu/law/regional-chapters as an assistant state’s attorney in the appellate division of the office of the

chief state’s attorney. illustration: prism/corbis photo: aynsley floyd

36 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 36 6/11/12 3:47 PM David Kaplan ’52 with Jacquelyn Kaplan ’13

profile david kaplan ’52 Smooth Sailing at the Supreme Court He may not have sailed the seven seas, but David Kaplan ’52 in underwater mining, was indeed a vessel. “The company did pilot his expertise in admiralty and maritime law to the tried to assert that because a dredge has no motor and is US Supreme Court not once, not twice, but four times. moved by a tug, that it’s an extension of land. I argued that Kaplan’s first trip was in 1960, when he prevailed in a dredge is a vessel because it’s in navigable waters, and Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc., a case that clearly established work aboard is done by seamen, who are subject to the the difference between unseaworthiness and negligence. ‘perils of the sea.’” All nine justices apparently agreed. “Negligence requires that the vessel’s owner knew or should A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, Kaplan has spent have known about a hazard that caused injury,” he observes, his 60-year legal career in the Boston area. He also whereas unseaworthiness requires no prior knowledge. chaired the admiralty and maritime sections of the “This continues to be the law of the land.” Association of Trial Lawyers of America as well as the Mitchell was an admiralty law case, concerned with Boston Bar Association. vessels, as opposed to maritime law, which involves Kaplan took leave from his last firm, The Kaplan/Bond personnel employed aboard a vessel. Group, in 2009, and recently set his own course, this time His most recent high court appearance was in 2005 in as a solo practitioner. He reports that he’s enjoying Stewart v. Dutra Construction Co., Inc. Again, Kaplan the slower pace — and arguing cases with his youngest prevailed, with a unanimous decision that a dredge, a piece daughter, Jacquelyn, who will graduate from the School of illustration: prism/corbis illustration: floyd photo: aynsley of equipment used to deepen harbors and waterways and Law in 2013. — Maura King Scully

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SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 37 6/11/12 3:48 PM class notes

Women in the Law Conference, May 2012: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going In Memoriam Andrea Taylor ’95

Andrea Taylor ’95, wife of Vince Haskell ’95, passed away peacefully on March 11, 2012, after a courageous battle with long-term illnesses. Andrea served as the assistant branch chief in the US Court’s Office of Defender Services Training Branch, a position she held for a number of years in Washington, DC. Andrea was a fellow of the American Bar Association and served on its Criminal Professor Emerita Judith Olans Justice Council. Brown, a member of the conference steering committee, Andrea was passionate about giving a voice to, was featured in a video and advocating for, the indigent through her Gloria Cordes Larson, president of Bentley presentation, “Transformative training of federal defenders. According to her University, delivered the keynote address. Trailblazers.” former boss, “Andrea was able to see dignity in every person and felt very passionately that if our legal system is truly just — then it must, too.” Beyond her commitment to justice, Andrea loved nurturing her children, staying in touch with friends, traveling and photographing the world. Andrea and Vince met at NUSL and fell in love during their first year, possibly on one of their many weekend jaunts in Vince’s little white car. They arranged their co-ops together in Boston, California, DC and Chicago. After graduation they moved to Chicago, where Andrea repre- From left: Lauren Stiller Rikleen, author of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to sented clients charged with federal crimes. Many Women’s Success in the Law; Marguerite Fletcher, head of her own consulting firm; and of Andrea’s clients received unusually favorable Nancy Cremins ’03, president of the Women’s Bar Association for Massachusetts, sentences based on her holistic advocacy. After spoke about “Measuring Success — And Helping Other Women Along the Way.” their son Imani, 12, was born, the family moved to DC, where they welcomed Jakobi, now 9. In 2007, Andrea underwent a successful liver transplant. The family then went to Spain for a In Memoriam year of adventure, all while she continued to train federal defenders. This is just one example of how 1930s 1940s 1950s Andrea lived life to its fullest and sought the most Robert F. Day ’34 James E. Milano ’40 Francis Leone ’50 of each day, each personal interaction, each Louis H. Beigbeder ’36 Saul Freedman ’42 Irving Goldberg ’54 adventure. Words alone can’t capture the Peter B. Meo ’36 George J. Leger ’42 John P. Linehan ’55 magnitude of her strength, warmth and spirit — F. Winslow Stetson ’38 Daniel J. Debenedictis ’56 a spirit that lives on in the family she and Vince John J. Wickham ’38 created and the friendships she nurtured. Leon Kline ’39 Accounts have been set up for Imani and Jakobi to support their future education. Classmates are welcome to contact Bob Burke at 1980s 1990s 2010s [email protected] for details. Vince can ) DAVID LEIFER ) DAVID

George Dargo ’81 Lisa M. Hartman ’95 Kevin P. Mulligan ’10 be reached at [email protected]. T Andrea P. Taylor ’95 — Chris Alibrandi O’Connor ’95 Richard B. Kearsley ’96 photoS: (LEF

38 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_ClassNotes_FINAL.indd 38 6/11/12 3:49 PM Karl Klare benefits almost everyone. “We have decided, within the union, that we must do more to create a movement of working families and poor people to change the environment, so there is much more political demand and ability to win gains for the 99 percent,” says Scott. “We are working around the country to make this a fight over income inequality.” While the attacks on public sector unions by the Republican governor in Wisconsin — and similarly in Ohio — initially took labor supporters by surprise, Scott says they were more taken aback, and heartened, by the public response. “We were surprised — and got hope — from the outpouring of support from people beyond traditional labor circles.”

With so much at stake, it’s clear the upcoming presidential election is critical. “We think this election cycle in November will be one of the playing fields where this debate will be waged,” says Scott. “I think the future is going to be very interesting depending Labor, No More? on whether Obama is re-elected,” agrees Muñoz. “If we Continued from page 15 continue to have a pro-labor NLRB, I think we’ll have new regulations to make union certification easier, and I think that Meanwhile, there are other signs that things are changing. may increase membership to a certain extent in the private “I do think it’s a particularly interesting moment” in the history sector.” But, she adds, “I still think unions will look different.” of the labor movement, Griffin says. “Unions are redoubling While the current NLRB is seen by many conservatives as their efforts and many of those efforts are creative and different “pro-union,” Klare takes issue with that label, saying, “The and new,” he says. statute creates and protects employee rights, not union rights, “As the middle class struggles to emerge from this recession, so the current NLRB is simply many are gathering around a common cause: to restore carrying out the intentions and the balance of wealth and power in our society,” says Emma purposes of the law. It is a sad Unions are Leheny ’97, chief counsel for the 325,000-member California commentary on our times that this Teachers Association. “It’s now, when resources are scarce, is so unusual that it is insultingly redoubling their that support for public services and workers is most vital — labeled a ‘pro-union’ position, and most under attack. It’s the task of unions to ensure that suggesting bias.” efforts and many of the fundamental rights of hard-working men and women are Griffin won’t predict the future “ not lost.” of the labor movement, nor those efforts are Adapting to survive, some unions are reinventing themselves respond to Republican hopes to by appealing to new audiences. There’s tremendous growth in defund or dismantle the NLRB, creative and different union membership among immigrant workers in low-wage except to say, “I think the NLRB service industries, including hotel and restaurant workers, serves an important function and and new. janitors and security guards. SEIU Local 615 in Boston I think the statute that we enforce represents janitors that clean offices, most of them Hispanic serves a very important function.” women. It has grown to 18,000 members, all of whom receive And, with a chuckle, he adds, “also, — Dick Griffin Jr. ’81, a pension, health plan, the right not to be arbitrarily fired and I want to keep my job.” National Labor wages more than $10 over what non-union janitors make, notes “I think that the way workers Relations Board Sills. Membership in the SEIU has also exploded nationally, organize is going to evolve, and I ” with more than 1 million members. think the best unions will be part of that evolution, and the ones Granted, service workers don’t face offshore competition that do not seek to be open minded and to organize creatively since their tasks can’t be outsourced. But that alone doesn’t and partner with community organizations and others who are explain the success. “At SEIU, our union has continued to trying to create good jobs, that those will die off,” says Nava. organize workers despite setbacks” faced by other unions, says “That’s why the SEIU locally and nationally is trying to be part Scott, through aggressive organizing campaigns and by devel- of bigger efforts to improve workplace standards.” oping models to organize workers not protected by the And Nava, a labor organizer before attending law school, also National Labor Relations Act, primarily homecare and child- feels today is a unique moment in the labor movement. “I’ve care workers. been around this a long time now, and I do feel that people are And there are new forms of workers’ rights groups, such as worse off than they were before. On the other hand, I feel it is Workers Centers, which provide low-income immigrant an exciting moment, where a lot of labor unions, particularly Leifer

d workers with information about their rights. Klare calls these SEIU, are really open to new ways of organizing and looking at developments “exciting,” although he worries they aren’t enough. solutions. And for that reason I’m very excited to be here.” That’s why the SEIU and some other unions are partnering

photo: Davi with community organizations to frame the battle as one that Elaine McArdle is a contributing writer based in Albuquerque.

Northeastern Law | Summer 2012 39

SM12_Feature-LaborLaw_FINAL.indd 39 6/11/12 9:11 PM at last By Sohrab Ahmari ’12

Keep the Focus on Print

Last fall, I visited the New York offices of Commentary — yes, that Commentary — seeking career advice from the magazine’s editor, John Podhoretz. “We need some of our young writers to become litigators so they can eventually donate to the magazine,” John said, with a characteristically oody Allen wrote the famous “Annie Hall” big laugh. “But it sounds like you really need to enter the quip about the magazines Commentary and Dissent merging writerly life.” The pay cut from attorney to writer would of to form Dysentery, expecting most of his audience to get the course be painful. But it was refreshing to have a mentor Wjoke. The year was 1977, and the two journals were urge me away from the cautious path. I had finally found my immensely popular with educated Americans. The personal crusade: making it as a full-time journo and, maybe, helping rivalries among the editors of these and other influential revive print culture. “small magazines” were highly publicized. So too were the “So was the time you spent at Northeastern law wasted?” passionate debates that raged between their covers. Many of friends now ask me. In response, I mumble something about those debates were bedrocks of 20th-century intellectual life, how legal and journalistic skill sets complement each other. testifying to the power of a uniquely American journalistic Outwardly, I may sound half-convinced. That’s because the form to shape public opinion and public policy. Back then, real answer lies elsewhere. This place, after all, taught me a ideas mattered. thing or two about picking — and sometimes winning — They still do. But the forms we use to convey uphill battles. Yet some them have changed radically — and for the worse, if you ask me. These days, lamenting the demise Sohrab Ahmari ’12 is co-editor of Arab Spring Dreams, an stories simply of print outlets at the hands of the Internet is anthology of essays by young Mideast dissidents (Palgrave don’t fit into something of a journalistic cliché. That doesn’t Macmillan, 2012). He joins The Wall Street Journal as a make the underlying reality any less tragic. Most Robert L. Bartley editorial fellow this summer. 300-word newspapers and magazines have seen their circu- blog posts lations plummet to depressing lows; some have stopped publishing altogether. With the advent of — let alone Google Reader and content aggregators, it has 140-character become extremely difficult to monetize journalism. Yet some stories simply don’t fit into 300-word tweets. blog posts — let alone 140-character tweets. Without access to the details and nuances of sophisticated thought, the life of the American mind will be even more impoverished than it already is. And the reader in search of big ideas will be forced to choose between obscure academic journals and a vapid info-journalism that mimics the worst aspects of Wiki-culture. (“What Does Neuroscience Tell Us About The Iliad?” Who cares, that’s what!) If I sound like I’m hyperventilating, it’s because I am. At some early point in my law school tenure, I got the journa- lism bug. I began by publishing about my native Iran and gradually expanded my range to include the rise of the European far right, the challenge of radical Islamism, literary criticism, domestic education policy and beyond. All along, I was convinced I would still enter the legal profession after graduation. Each new clip, however, worsened my addiction to print. The employees of Out of Town News, the iconic

Harvard Square newsstand, became my new best friends. michael cho illustration:

40 Northeastern Law | Summer 2012

SM12_AtLast_FINAL.indd 40 6/11/12 3:10 PM Northeastern University School of Law classes of ’52, ’72 , ’77, ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97, ’02, ’07 and surrounding class years are invited to attend. Check the website for event details. www.northeastern.edu/law/alumni

Save the date! Catch up with friends, colleagues and faculty. • Mix and mingle at the faculty reception • Panels and discussions led by faculty and graduates • Reunion class dinner and cocktail reception at the Colonnade Hotel, Boston • Special events for all alumni/ae and their families

Spread the word and share the excitement. Get involved with your class reunion this year — contact Eileen Hommel at [email protected] for more information.

Reunionand Alumni/ae Weekend Oct 19-20 L

US

2012 2012 N

Check the website for event details. www.northeastern.edu/law/alumni

SM12_covers3-4_FINAL.indd 3 6/11/12 8:55 PM Nonprofit U.S. Postage 400 Huntington Avenue PAID Boston, MA 02115 Burlington, Vt. 05401 Address Service Requested Permit No. 371

Northeastern trains students “to be thoughtful, skilled lawyers and to heal and repair the world—in part through cooperative legal education and a commitment to public interest law. This is why I have named the law school as a beneficiary of my estate. —Amy Stephson” ’77 Building Better Futures Amy Stephson ’77 enrolled in Northeastern’s School of Law with a passion to positively impact society. She has generously named the school as a for helping others and making the world a better place. Believing deeply beneficiary of her estate, affording future students the same opportunity in the law’s ability to generate change, she built a successful career as to influence the world through the study and practice of law. a licensed attorney and certified employment coach. Amy embodies the law school’s distinctive mission of combining skill and integrity in service 617.373.2030 · [email protected] to others—and she views philanthropy as an extension of her obligation northeastern.edu/giftplanning

To read more about why Amy is inspired to support the law school, scan the QR code or visit northeastern.edu/giftplanning/profiles.

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