On Feb. 6, the current Public Interest Leadership Program
(PILP) class discussed the importance of diversity and inclusion (D&I) for
organizations and how to support successful D&I programs in the workplace
with two guest experts, Audrey Grace (Northeastern University) and Patricia
Hennessy (Burns & Levinson).
Effective D&I strategies start at the individual level,
Attorney Grace and Attorney Hennessy told the PILP class. To help propel
D&I strategies, you have to “walk the walk.”
During the session, the experts and PILP class engaged in a
meaningful discussion about the importance of D&I (“when individuals are
lifted up and celebrated, their workplace is also elevated”) and how to
operationalize an effective D&I strategy (“buy-in from leadership is key”).
Although the scope and substance of what organizations
consider to be included in D&I efforts has evolved over time, Attorney
Grace and Attorney Hennessy agreed that institutional change takes time, and
being intentional and thoughtful about D&I strategies is a must from the
start.
When implementing a D&I strategy, you must consider your
communities, your stakeholders, and of course your own biases, Attorney Grace
said.
It’s also important to remember your positions of power and
privilege in your own organization and your community, Attorney Hennessy said.
These insights greatly resonated with the PILP class, as
class members asked thoughtful and engaging questions about how to implement
effective D&I strategies in their own organizations and with their own
stakeholders.
Meeting recap provided by PILP members Cory Lamz (Buoy
Health) and Jessica Powell (The Davis Companies).
In 2002, Chief Judge Mark Wolf and then-BBA President
Michael Keating began discussing the need for younger lawyers to become more
engaged as community leaders earlier in their careers. One year later, PILP was
launched to help new lawyers understand the meaning of community leadership and
develop lasting connections beyond their existing legal networks.
This selective program attracts a diverse group of talented,
motivated attorneys who have:
Graduated law school within the last 10 years
Demonstrated a commitment to pro bono and public service
Have a history of organizing bar action
The 2020-21 PILP class will meet roughly twice per month, typically
on the first Thursday and third Wednesday of each month. PILP participants
connect with prominent community leaders at meetings and events, learn about
the challenges confronting local organizations and take part in efforts to
address specific community needs. PILP participants work together to create
and execute a public service project focused on advancing the BBA’s goals
related to access to justice, diversity & inclusion, and serving the
community at large.
If you have any questions about PILP, please contact Doug
Newton at dnewton@bostonbar.org or
617-778-1918. To apply for the PILP 2020-2021 program, please download
the application here and return it to Doug Newton by Friday, March 27,
2020.
On
January 15th, the Public Interest Leadership Program (PILP) learned
from experts about the housing crisis in Massachusetts. As part of this
program, PILP heard from Eric Shupin, the Director of Public Policy for the
Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), and Brad Kramer, the
Director of Public Policy for One Family. CHAPA is a public policy oriented
organization whose goal is to encourage the production and preservation of
housing that is affordable to low and moderate income families and individuals
and to foster diverse and sustainable communities through planning and
community development. One Family is a service provider aiming to prevent
family homelessness by promoting pathways to economic independence through
advocacy, education, and innovation.
Eric
gave an overview of the state of the housing crisis in Massachusetts and
explained the dire need for action to counteract it. CHAPA focuses on solving
the housing crisis through production of more homes that are affordable,
preserving existing affordable housing and the ability of residents to stay in
their communities, planning for more diversity in the state’s housing stock,
and policies that provide everyone with opportunities to prosper. Eric also
discussed emerging housing policy issues in the state, including zoning reform,
new revenue for housing, and anti-displacement and tenant protections.
Brad
discussed One Family’s approach to preventing family homelessness, which
includes the One Family Scholars program as well as career coaching. One Family
Scholars receive coaching and financial assistance to help them earn a higher
education degree, which in turn makes it possible for them to become financially
independent and more likely to be able to afford housing. 91% of the program’s
alumni are stably housed. One Family also engages in public policy work to
further the goal of preventing family homelessness through economic
opportunity.
For
more information on CHAPA’s public policy work, please click here. For more information on One Family’s
programs, please click here.
Meeting recap provided by PILP member Charlie Ahern (Massachusetts State Senate)
Eric Shupin and Brad Kramer present to the 2019-20 PILP Class
On Thursday, November 7th, the Public Interest
Leadership Committee heard from two distinguished speakers on the topic of
reproductive justice. First, Jamie Sabino, attorney at the Massachusetts Law
Reform Institute and the co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Judicial
Consent for Minors Lawyer Referral Panel spoke about women’s reproductive
health in Massachusetts with a focus on the current landscape nationwide and in
Massachusetts.
She shared that currently in Massachusetts, under the
judicial bypass process, minors must petition the court to obtain an abortion if
a parent or guardian is not present to grant permission. A concern with the requirement of the
judicial bypass process is that physicians are mandated reporters, but judges
are not. Such a requirement creates an
additional hurdle for minors, including a fear of loss of confidentiality. The judicial bypass law disproportionately
impacts young people of color and young people with low incomes.
Attorney Sabino also discussed the history of reproductive
health laws and the changing landscape that has resulted from changes in the makeup
of the United States Supreme Court.
Since 1981, Jamie has chaired or co-chaired the Judicial
Consent For Minor Lawyer Referral Panel, a group of attorneys who represent
minors seeking judicial authorization for abortion. Working with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom
Project and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Jamie has also trained
lawyers in a number of states facing implementation of a parental
involvement/judicial bypass statute, testified in many state legislatures on
the burdens brought by such laws and served as an expert witness on the
implementation of such laws in court challenges.
Mehreen Butt, Associate Director of Policy and Government
Affairs at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, discussed her current
focus on lobbying for the passage of The Roe Act, S. 1209, H. 3320. Amongst several other components, the bill
would eliminate the judicial bypass process, expand access to abortion after 24
weeks of pregnancy in cases of fatal fetal anomalies, and abolish medically
unnecessary abortion restrictions. In
June 2019, the bill went to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in the
Massachusetts Legislature.
Ms. Butt has over 15 years of experience working in the
social justice and public policy fields and on local, state, and federal
campaigns. She has worked at Rosie’s
Place, Tufts Health Plan and Health Care for All. In each of these positions, Ms. Butt was
responsible for overseeing the organization’s policy and legislative agenda.
On
Wednesday, October 16th, the
Public Interest Leadership Program (PILP) class heard from the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) about
the intersection of environmental justice and climate change. The presentations focused on how to use the
traditional tools of environmental law, like the Clean Air Act and planning and
zoning laws, to address climate change while meeting the needs of
underrepresented groups.
The first speaker, Staci
Rubin, is a senior staff attorney at CLF where she
focuses on transportation issues. Rubin
informed the class that in Massachusetts, transportation is the single largest
source of greenhouse gas emissions—the key driver of climate change. The Commonwealth
is one of the leading states in adopting policies to curb emissions, including
a pending bill to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. However, it is crucial that the transition to
cleaner transportation is equitable and just.
Latinx and Black Americans are exposed at least 50% more pollution than
they produce, compared to non-Hispanic white Americans, who are exposed to 17%
less pollution than they produce. Rubin also
noted that public transit service tends to be less available and reliable in
communities of color. For example, the
Fairmont commuter-rail line used to pass through Dorchester, a predominantly
Black neighborhood, to Hyde Park, a mainly white neighborhood. The Dorchester community absorbed the
pollution from the train but did not have access to the transportation benefits
until recently, when the Blue Hills Avenue station opened. Through examples like these, Rubin
illustrated that equitable access to transportation is not just an economic
issue—it is also a climate change issue.
Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal (Executive
Director) and Lauren Sampson (Civil Rights Fellow) from LCR then discussed their
organization’s launch of a new practice area focused on climate resilience and
environmental justice in low-income communities of color. The new initiative was sparked in part by the
realization that much of the organization’s current work, such as immigration
advocacy, overlaps with climate change.
For example, many immigrants arrive in the United States due to natural
disasters and food shortages aggravated by climate change, but asylum law does
not recognize claims based on environmental conditions. LCR also has litigated successfully against
the Trump administration’s attempts to rollback Temporary Protected Status
(TPS), which might protect these climate migrants. LCR also already advocates for increasing
transportation equity for low-income communities of color and immigrant
communities, opposing the MBTA’s cancellation of late-night service and
cashless fares. As it develops this new
practice area, LCR plans to partner with other organizations like CLF and
community groups to further its civil rights mission.
The meeting ended with a conversation about the
importance of viewing our clients’ challenges through a climate change lens.
Donna Patalano, General Counsel for Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s Office, recently spoke to the Public Interest Leadership Program (PILP) about what criminal justice reform looks like on the ground in Suffolk County. Specifically, Ms. Patalano discussed recent steps the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office has taken to implement reform-minded policies and procedures that aim to protect the community, while simultaneously addressing the underlying issues that often lead to recidivism.
Ms. Patalano explained that many of these policies have been codified in The Rollins Memo. The memo, released in March 2019, outlines the office-wide goals of minimizing the impact of the criminal justice system and reducing racial and socioeconomic disparities. Additionally, the memo presents specific guidelines for the prosecution of some of the most common- but least serious- criminal offenses in Suffolk County’s district and municipal courts. One of the guidelines contained within the memo is “The List of 15,” which is a list of low-level offenses where the presumption is that those charges should be declined or dismissed by prosecutors pre-arraignment and without conditions. The declination and diversion guidelines also provide for prosecutors to exercise their discretion and continue arraignment of charges for diversion or conditional dismissal. Furthermore, prosecutors may still arraign a defendant for a charge on “The List of 15” due to an aggravating factor or an identifiable exception to the presumption of dismissal.
With respect to cash bail, Ms. Patalano explained that the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office has adopted a presumptive recommendation of release on personal recognizance for all individuals who are not charged with an offense that is eligible for detention under M.G.L. c. 276, §58A. For those defendants who are charged with Section 58A eligible offenses, there is still a presumption of release on personal recognizance unless prosecutors feel there are no conditions of release that would ensure the safety of an individual or the community.
Finally, Ms. Patalano discussed upcoming initiatives within District Attorney Rollins’s office. The first of those initiatives is the Project for Unsolved Suffolk Homicides. This was created to offer a fresh set of eyes and renewed interest on unsolved homicide cases in Suffolk County, as well as to express the office’s deep commitment to residents who have lost a loved one to violence. Additionally, Ms. Patalano passionately described the creation of a new Conviction Integrity Bureau within the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. This bureau is designed to review the integrity of prior convictions, pending criminal cases, sentencing, and law enforcement involvement.
To learn more about District Attorney Rollins’s office, visit https://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/
Meeting Recap provided by PILP Member Julianne Campbell.
At
its first meeting on September 5th, the 2019-2020 PILP Class heard
from two sets of speakers on the topic of criminal justice reform.
First,
the class heard from Emily Fish on behalf of Roca, which is a Boston-based
organization, founded in 1988 with a unique crime-intervention program that
focuses on the riskiest of at-risk residents, the community’s most troubled
young men ages 17-24 who won’t take part in other programs and are the most
resistant to change. Roca’s Intervention Model serves approximately 850 young
men annually out of five hubs statewide – Chelsea, Lynn, Boston, Holyoke, and
Springfield. Emily is the director of the Roca site in Lynn.
Emily
explained in vivid detail Roca’s program of relentless outreach to at-risk
youth, and the transformational relationships that Roca’s youth workers form to
encourage behavioral change. She described how Roca partners with other
institutional actors – courts, probation departments, police, employers, and
others – to support young people who might be resistant to change or subject to
relapse. She showed detailed data demonstrating the history of trauma,
substance use disorder, and behavioral health problems that many Roca clients
have experienced, and explained how an investment in successful programs like
Roca can avoid greater costs and crime down the road by disrupting the cycle of
incarceration and poverty. Finally, she explained what reforms Roca would like
to see to the criminal justice system, including: raising the age of juvenile
court jurisdiction, reducing the number of probation conditions, creating specialized
“young adult courts,” and requiring specialized trainings for police officers
and prosecutors.
Second,
Stephanie Friends Holt and Meagen Monahan presented on behalf of Victim Rights
Law Center, which is a bi-coastal organization providing free, comprehensive
legal services for sexual assault survivors in Massachusetts and Oregon.
Both Stephanie and Meagen serve as staff attorneys at VRLC, providing a wide
spectrum of legal services throughout Massachusetts.
Stephanie
and Meagen emphasized the wide-ranging nature of the services needed by sexual
assault survivors. Many survivors require assistance in obtaining
protection orders under M.G.L. c. 209A and c. 258E and on protecting personal
privacy as part of the criminal process, but also assistance on a broad range
of other matters. Stephanie and Meagen explained that sexual assault
frequently impacts survivors’ housing and employment, and requires survivors to
walk a fine line between protecting their own privacy but also obtaining
necessary accommodations. Survivors in various stages of the immigration
process also face a wide range of ramifications that call for VRLC’s expert
guidance.
Over the summer, the BBA’s most recent Public Interest Leadership Program class and other dedicated volunteers were busy making presentations on school discipline rights to a number of community organizations as part of the Service Innovation Project on Dismantling the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline. These presentations covered due process rights that Boston Public Schools students are entitled to when faced with a suspension or expulsion, and focused particularly on new rights established under a 2018 settlement agreement between Greater Boston Legal Services and Boston Public Schools.
Volunteers made presentations at the following organizations, reaching over 150 service providers and middle and high school students.
Bird Street Community Center Boston Children’s Hospital Boston Youth Sanctuary Bridge Over Troubled Waters Brookview House DotHouse Health Italian Home for Children Justice Resource Institute North End Waterfront Health South Boston Community Health Center
Volunteers will be doing another round
of outreach presentations as the new school year kicks off! If you are aware of any organizations or
groups that might benefit from hearing a Know Your Rights presentation on
school discipline, or if you are interested in volunteering with the project,
please reach out to Hannah Poor at hpoor@bostonbar.org.
Attorneys Vaishali Goyal and Leah Segal (Goulston & Storrs) presented on school discipline rights at the Italian Home for Children in August.
Thank you to the volunteers who made presentations this summer:
Genevieve Aguilar, Harvard University Office of the General Counsel Paula Bagger, Law Office of Paula M. Bagger LLC Erin Brummer, Fragomen Courtney Caruso, Hogan Lovells Caroline Donovan, Foley Hoag LLP Vaishali Goyal, Goulston & Storrs Hillary Harnett, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Susanna Jones, Foundation Medicine, Inc. Matthew Kane, Laredo & Smith Elizabeth Levitan, The EdLaw Project Natasha Lewis, Volunteer Lawyers Project Micah Miller, Nutter Safa Osmani, Hogan Lovells Rebekah Provost, Justice Resource Institute Payal Salsburg, Laredo & Smith Leah Segal, Goulston & Storrs Cecilia Vega, GE
The
BBA’s Service Innovation Project on Dismantling the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline
is made possible by the Boston Bar Foundation’s Burnes Innovation in Service
Fund.
The BBA is
pleased to welcome 23 attorneys to the 2019-2020 Public Interest Leadership
Program (PILP). PILP promotes civic
engagement and public service by advancing the leadership role of lawyers in
service to their community, their profession, and the Commonwealth. This impressive group of new lawyers, all in
practice for 10 years or less, will join a growing network of PILP participants
past and present, and will spend the next year developing leadership skills and
pursuing public service initiatives. You
can read about this year’s class below.
Charlie Ahern is Assistant Counsel in the Office of the Senate
Counsel to the Massachusetts State Senate.
After graduating from Boston College with a double major in political
science and Slavic studies, he began his career as a legislative aide to State
Representative Kevin Honan, who is the chair of the Legislature’s Committee on
Housing and represents the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Shortly
before entering Suffolk University Law School’s night program in the fall of
2013, Charlie started a job as an assistant at the government relations firm
Murphy Donoghue Partners, where he advised clients from a variety of industries
on navigating the legislative and regulatory processes in Massachusetts.
Upon graduating law school, he was promoted to an associate position at
Murphy Donoghue Partners; however, he wanted to use his law degree to go back
to the State House and continue his career in public service. In January 2019 he accepted the job of Assistant
Counsel in the Office of the Senate Counsel. In his current role, he works with the offices
of all 40 state senators and advises them on issues such as legislative
drafting, constitutional law, and compliance with the state’s ethics laws. He
hopes that his participation in PILP will open the door to further
opportunities to get involved in pro bono and public service work.
Julianne Campbell is an Assistant District Attorney in the
Appellate Division of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. In this
capacity, she represents the Commonwealth in a wide variety of post-conviction
criminal litigation and interlocutory matters in the Supreme Judicial Court,
Appeals Court, and trial courts.
Julianne also works closely in support of the Homicide Unit and other
felony trial units, providing legal and strategic assistance to trial Assistant
District Attorneys prior to and during the trial phase of prosecutions.
Before joining the Appellate Division, Julianne served as the
supervising Assistant District Attorney in the South Boston Division of the
Boston Municipal Court. As a prosecutor
in the district and municipal courts, she represented the Commonwealth in
pending criminal cases from arraignment through trial throughout Suffolk
County. Prior to joining the Suffolk
County District Attorney’s Office in 2015, Julianne was an Assistant District
Attorney in the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office.
Julianne received her J.D., summa
cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School, where she was a note editor
of the Suffolk University Law Review.
Julianne earned her B.A. from The College of the Holy Cross.
Andrea Carrillo is a Staff Attorney in the
Family Law Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), a non-profit
organization that provides free legal assistance and representation on civil
matters to hundreds of the neediest residents in the city of Boston and 31
surrounding cities and towns. Andrea represents survivors of domestic
violence in highly contested custody and divorce cases, with the aim of
empowering them so that they can take back a sense of controland
agency in their lives.
Prior to joining GBLS, Andrea was
a Staff Attorney at Community Legal Aid, serving Central and Western Central
Massachusetts, where she represented low-income individuals in family,
consumer, bankruptcy, and housing matters. As a pro bono attorney for De
Novo, Andrea began her legal career by representing a Spanish-speaking
Salvadoran woman in a removal hearing and won asylum for the client within four
months. Prior to practicing law, Andrea worked at CoachArt in Los Angeles
and served as a Planning Commissioner Vice Chair in her hometown, Baldwin
Park, California.
Andrea is a graduate of Boston University School
of Law, where she served as the Fundraising Co-Chair of the Public Interest
Project, a non-profit dedicated to help law students fund summer internships in
public interest, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of
California, San Diego. Andrea currently serves as a member of the
Steering Committee of the Women of Color Committee for the Women’s Bar
Association, a member of the legal services subcommittee of the Supreme
Judicial Court Steering Committee on Lawyer Well-Being, and a Clerk for the
Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys.
Edmund Donnelly currently serves as Area Manager for External
Affairs, State Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for AT&T Services,
Inc. In this role, Edmund plays a lead
role in municipal engagement on permitting and siting issues related to
wireless technology. Additionally, in this role, Edmund facilitates the public
policy advocacy of the company at all levels of state government for
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Edmund
also leads AT&T’s community engagement efforts to bring training sessions
to local senior centers across Massachusetts to teach seniors how to avoid
consumer scams and develop their skills with technology.
Prior to AT&T, Edmund served as the Deputy Director of the
Massachusetts Broadband Institute, a state quasi-public agency working in
partnership with the Administration of Governor Charlie Baker to expand access
to broadband in 54 communities in western and north central Massachusetts. Edmund also served as an Assistant Attorney
General in the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General from 2010-2015,
serving in the Trial Division and in the Policy & Government Division. Edmund also served as a Special Assistant
District Attorney in the Roxbury Division of the Boston Municipal Court. Edmund started his career in the
Massachusetts legislature, where he worked from 2004-2010, including during law
school, holding various staff positions for two members of the Democratic
leadership of the House of Representatives.
Edmund currently volunteers with Veterans Legal Services, providing pro
bono representation. In addition, Edmund volunteers as a youth hockey, Little
League, and soccer coach in the town of Andover. Edmund is a graduate of Georgetown University
and New England School of Law.
Robert Foster is an Associate at Meehan, Boyle, Black &
Bogdanow, P.C., where he represents plaintiffs in personal injury matters,
primarily those arising out of catastrophic injury or wrongful death. Rob
focuses much of his practice on trial litigation, but is also heavily involved
in complex brief writing and appellate matters at the firm. He began his time
at Meehan Boyle as a “co-op” student while in law school at Northeastern
University School of Law, where he received the Social Justice Scholarship
Award in recognition of his outstanding academic achievement and his commitment
to public interest work. He has significant experience in litigation, having
worked for the United States Attorney’s Office in Portland, Maine, and with the
Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston. He also served as a
Judicial Intern with the Honorable Raymond Brassard in Norfolk County Superior
Court. Rob is a 2008 graduate of Colby College, where he received his B.A. in
English, and a 2016 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law.
Jessica Galimberti is Associate General Counsel at Accion, a
global non-profit committed to creating a financially inclusive world with a
pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. She has more
than twelve years of experience providing legal advice and support to non-profit,
for-profit, and government actors, with a focus on international development
and cross-border legal issues. Jessica’s responsibilities at Accion include
advising management and staff on corporate, transactional and compliance
matters and leading the organization’s enterprise risk management program. She
also manages the production, dissemination and forthcoming release of a second
edition of the “Client Protection Principles: Model Law and Commentary for
Financial Consumer Protection” to promote strong financial consumer protection
legal frameworks for underserved populations.
Prior to joining Accion, Jessica served as in-house counsel for a
passport and ID solutions provider, where she advised on international
contracting, compliance, and corporate restructuring matters. She previously
volunteered with non-profits advancing the social and economic rights of the Greater
Boston Brazilian community and advocating for equal educational opportunity for
low-income, immigrant, and language minority children. She also assisted in the
prosecution of consumer and securities fraud class action cases before law
school.
Jessica earned her J.D. from Boston College Law School and her B.A., cum
laude, in Political Science and Business Studies from New York University.
She is admitted to practice law in New York and Massachusetts. Jessica
currently serves on the board of The Welcome Project, a community organization based
in Somerville, MA, that builds the collective power of immigrants to
participate in and shape community decisions. She has been an active member of
the Boston Bar Association since 2015.
Richard Goulding is a Corporate Associate at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP. His practice focuses on general corporate and business law, with an emphasis in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, securities, and corporate finance. Rick provides practical legal advice to his clients on a wide array of legal matters ranging from day-to-day operational questions to sophisticated financings and strategic expansion. He is also a member of Hinckley Allen’s Business Aviation Group and specializes in the areas of aviation, commercial, and real estate finance, serving as legal adviser to institutional lenders and borrowers in senior and subordinated debt financing and equipment leasing transactions. Rick also represents large financial institutions that provide trustee and agency services in secured and unsecured financing transactions, with a concentration on domestic and international project finance, corporate and municipal debt, mergers and acquisitions, and asset-backed securitizations.
Rick graduated from Boston College High School in 2004, Boston College
in 2008, and Suffolk University Law School in 2014. Before joining Hinckley
Allen, Rick worked as a Corporate Associate at Sullivan & Worcester LLP and
Legal Counsel at the Publicis Groupe.
Prior to law school, Rick worked as a White House intern on the National
Economic Council in the Executive Office of the President of the United States,
and currently serves on the Norwell Economic Development Committee.
Naitasia Hensey is an Assistant Vice President, Associate
Counsel at State Street Corporation where she primarily works in drafting and
negotiating contracts and other contract specific issues. She also handles
legal matters relating to institutional client-based services for multiple
areas of the company. Her work ranges from drafting third-party custody
contracts to negotiating event and sponsorship agreements, with the occasional
(fun) deep dive contracts remediation project. Prior to joining State Street,
Naitasia’s career focused largely on contract drafting, negotiation, and
management in the fields of healthcare, financial services, real estate,
regulatory & compliance, and intellectual property.
Naitasia’s involvement with the Boston Bar Association began as a
student. Since then she has found a home at the BBA and has enjoyed returning
for optional continued legal education and fellowship. Recently, opportunities
arose to serve on the 2019 Casino Night Steering Committee and as a
Member-At-Large on the Diversity & Inclusion Section Steering Committee and
she happily joined those teams.
Naitasia is committed to pro bono and community service work. She
volunteers with Project Citizenship to help immigration applicants, engages in
various community outreach efforts through her role as Justice of the Phi Alpha
Delta Boston Alumni Chapter, and interned at Halfar refugee and asylum camp in
Malta while in law school.
Naitasia is a graduate of Stetson University where she studied
psychology and communications, and then went on to receive an MBA from the
University of Phoenix while working full time. After relocating to
Massachusetts for the love of seasons, Naitasia pursued a J.D. with a
concentration in Intellectual Property law from New England Law | Boston as a
Charles Hamilton Houston Scholarship recipient and graduated receiving the
President Anna E. Hirsch Award for “dedicated service to fellow students, the
law school, and the legal profession.” She is now licensed to practice in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Meryum Khan is an Assistant Attorney General in the Fair Labor
Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. The Fair Labor
Division enforces certain laws that enhance the economic security of vulnerable
workers, including the minimum wage, timely payment of wages, overtime, and
child labor laws. Previously, Meryum worked as a labor and employment associate
at KP Law. Meryum began her legal career as a staff attorney for the Boston
Police Department, where she provided legal counsel to the command staff and
represented the Department in employment-related proceedings.
Meryum is an active member of the South Asian Bar Association of
Greater Boston (“SABA”), and volunteers with the SABA “Know Your Rights”
program to provide legal trainings for South Asian community leaders. She is
also an active member of the New England Muslim Bar Association. Having spent
most of her career in public service, Meryum is dedicated to community
engagement and advocacy.
Meryum is a 2011 graduate of Suffolk University Law School, a 2008
graduate of Syracuse University, and a 2004 graduate of Acton-Boxborough
Regional High School.
Tallulah Knopp is a Staff Attorney at the Volunteer Lawyers
Project (VLP), where she practices in the areas of consumer and employment law.
Tallulah represents consumers in defending debt collection cases and represents
workers in bringing affirmative cases for unpaid wages. In addition, she
mentors volunteers and new attorneys who provide pro bono representation to VLP
clients in consumer and employment cases. During law school, Tallulah worked
for the plaintiff-side employment firm, Fair Work, P.C. Tallulah attended
Northeastern University School of Law and always knew that she would go into
public interest work. Prior to law school, Tallulah worked in the restaurant
industry and was a worker-member of the Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC), a
group that advocates for restaurant workers through organizing and policy work.
Tallulah was raised in Cambridge, MA, where she still lives today with her
husband and daughter.
Cory Lamz serves as in-house counsel and Data Privacy Officer to
Buoy Health, Inc., a company that uses A.I. to help users start their health care
journey on the right foot. Cory manages the Legal team at Buoy, including
digital health, data privacy, intellectual property, product development,
regulatory compliance, employment, and transactional matters, as well as
government affairs and public policy efforts. Cory earned his J.D. from
Northeastern University School of Law, with concentrations in Intellectual
Property and Innovation, Business and Commercial Law, and Law and Economic
Development. During law school, Cory was a member of the law review and various
student organizations. Cory earned his MS, focused on data, creative economies,
and new product development within the music industry, also from Northeastern.
Previously Cory worked on the legal team at a weather data startup and as a
legal intern at Duane Morris LLP, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, Autodesk,
Inc., Vibe Lab (formerly the Creative Footprint Project), and GLAAD. Before law
school, Cory worked as a journalist in Denver, Colorado. He earned his BA in
journalism and digital media from the University of Denver.
Cory is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and New York. He is a
volunteer mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay and a
member of the New York State Bar Association, the National LGBT Bar
Association, and the Boston Bar Association, where he is a member of the New
Lawyers Forum and the Diversity & Inclusion Section Steering Committee. He
is also the co-founder of Boston’s only recreational inner tube water polo
league, Boston ITWP.
ThyThy Le is an Assistant Corporation Counsel at the City of
Boston Law Department, where she is committed to providing the City with
unparalleled legal counsel with a focus on procurement and complex real estate
transactions. ThyThy provides counsel
for city-wide goods and service contracts as well as construction contracts for
capital improvements and maintenance of City property. Through her work and
belief that education is the cornerstone to ensuring that the City yields the
highest public benefit at all stages of procurement, she provides procurement
training to citywide departments. She continues to lead the effort on
procurement through oversight of the City’s standard contract documents and
practices, in coordination with other integral City departments to guarantee the
utmost level of protection to the City in any given transaction. In addition,
ThyThy represents the City in real estate transactions including acquisitions,
dispositions, and leasing. She most notably handled a complex transaction to
establish and construct a memorial park in a collaborative effort involving
state agencies and non-profit organizations from beginning to close.
Prior to representing the City of Boston, ThyThy worked as counsel for
a Fidelity National Financial real estate title insurance company where she
advised on title issues and insurability, and handled closings for numerous
multi-million-dollar commercial transactions. To meet the fast-paced nature and
demands of real estate, she was committed to provide clients with innovative
solutions in addressing title and insurability issues to attain skillful
execution and expeditious transactions.
As a longtime East Boston resident, ThyThy received her J.D., cum
laude, from Suffolk University Law School, graduated summa cum laude
from Northeastern University, and is a graduate of Boston Latin Academy, one of
Boston’s prestigious exam preparatory schools.
David Lyons is an Associate at Anderson & Kreiger LLP, where
his practice focuses on environmental and land use law, as well as litigation
on behalf of state agencies and municipalities. He has helped to secure
complex environmental permits, litigated under a diverse array of state and
federal environmental and employment statutes, and advised towns on adopting
new local legislation. David’s diverse pro bono practice has included
advising non-profits on environmental clean-ups, assisting individuals with
their immigration matters and claims for welfare benefits, and litigating
claims for access to public records.
David earned a B.A. from Yale University in 2008 and a J.D. from
Columbia University in 2014. Before law school, he worked on several
political campaigns and as a legislative aide for a member of Congress.
At Columbia, David served as the editor-in-chief of the Columbia Journal of
Environmental Law and assisted several environmental non-profits through
the school’s Environmental Law Clinic. He also interned for a judge on
the Southern District of New York. After law school, David worked in the
San Francisco office of a large international law firm.
David joined the Cambridge Conservation Commission in 2018, and he is Junior
Fellow of the Boston Bar Foundation’s Society of Fellows.
Mathilda McGee-Tubb is
an associate in the litigation section at Mintz. Her practice focuses on complex commercial
litigation and arbitration across a variety of areas and industries, including
particular emphasis on defending class actions and serving clients in the
education sector. Mathilda also has an
active pro bono practice and was awarded the 2019 Richard Mintz Pro Bono
Award. She has worked on a variety of
immigration matters in a pro bono capacity, including developing impact
lawsuits in federal court, helping an immigrant secure release from ICE custody
after nearly a year of detention, and representing non-citizens seeking Special
Immigration Juvenile status. In
addition, she has assisted Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) in filing briefs of
amici curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court, for which she was awarded LCR’s Pro
Bono Award twice.
Prior to joining Mintz, Mathilda served as a
judicial law clerk, first to the Honorable Robert J. Cordy of the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court, and then to the Honorable Douglas P. Woodlock of the
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She also spent several years working in the
central administration of Columbia University on university policy,
communications, and events, as well as on providing services and programs for
U.S. military veterans.
Mathilda serves as a gubernatorial appointee
on the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency serving
metro Boston, and as an at-large member of the Oberlin Alumni Leadership
Council. She is a graduate of Boston
College Law School, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the Boston
College Law Review. She also holds an
M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University in sociology and education,
with a focus on educational policy, and a B.A. from Oberlin College.
Jeremy
Meisinger is an administrative law attorney in the
Boston office of Foley Hoag LLP. He
counsels clients on a variety of regulatory questions, in such contexts as
healthcare, data privacy, and energy.
Jeremy has substantial experience in advising
healthcare providers, insurers, and related entities on both Massachusetts
healthcare regulations and federal Medicare and Medicaid regulations. Jeremy’s data privacy and security work
focuses on helping emerging and established companies in developing privacy
policies, information security policies, and similar documents, both
proactively and in response to government and other investigations. Jeremy also
has significant experience in assisting clients under investigation by federal
and state regulatory agencies.
Jeremy’s pro bono experience has centered
around assisting the victims of violent crimes in obtaining protective orders
under G.L. c. 209A and G.L. c. 258E, as well as in opposing motions seeking
discovery of medical, counseling, and other private records in criminal
proceedings. Jeremy has also assisted
victims of violence from outside the United States in the process of procuring
release from immigration detention and obtaining asylum relief in federal
immigration court. Along with several
attorneys from other Boston law firms, Jeremy assists in the administration of
the Massachusetts Appeals Court’s Civil Appeals Clinic, which provides weekly
office hours to low-income, pro se
litigants attempting to navigate the appeals process at all stages.
Jeremy is a member of the Boston Bar
Association, and is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Harvard
Law School.
Yavor Nechev is a senior
associate in the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group at WilmerHale,
where he focuses his practice on complex litigation matters in state and
federal courts and regulatory enforcement matters before the SEC and various
other state and federal regulatory agencies.
Yavor has represented algorithmic trading firms in SEC enforcement
matters and insurance companies in nationwide class action litigation. He is a frequent volunteer at the Volunteer
Lawyers Project’s Lawyer for a Day Program at the Boston Housing Court and
represents veterans in matters before discharge review boards. He also helps manage WilmerHale’s legal
clinics for the homeless, in conjunction with Lawyers Clearinghouse, and serves
as a mentor for law students through the Boston Lawyers Group.
Prior to WilmerHale, Yavor interned for the Hon. William G. Young of
the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from New York University, and his J.D., cum laude, from Boston College Law
School, where he was a member of the Boston College Law Review and served as a
student attorney at the Boston College Legal Assistance Bureau.
Yavor was born in Bulgaria and grew up in Nashville, TN, and Boulder,
CO. He and his wife, Elizabeth, now live
in the South End in Boston and are expecting a baby boy in October.
Jessica Alfano Powell is an Associate in the Real Estate
Department at Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP. She advises nonprofit
organizations, operating companies, and developers in commercial real estate
and financing transactions, as well as in zoning, permitting, and other land
use matters. Jessica has dedicated a significant amount of time to pro bono
projects, including representation of a U.S. Army Veteran before the U.S. Court
of Appeals for Veterans Claims, for which she was recognized with a Civil
Rights Pro Bono Recognition Award from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
and Economic Justice. In addition, she
regularly advises pro bono clients in transactional real estate and land use
matters.
Jessica serves on the Real Estate Bar Association’s planning committee
for its annual fundraiser for Women’s Lunch Place and served as a co-captain of
Nutter’s Associates Fund Drive for Greater Boston Legal Services for several
years. After the birth of her son, Jessica donated several thousand ounces of
milk to Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, a nonprofit community milk bank that
provides donated human milk to babies in fragile health throughout the
Northeast.
Jessica received her J.D., magna cum laude, from New England
School of Law and her B.A. in Economics from Tufts University. During law school,
she clerked with the Honorable Robert B. Collings at the U.S. District Court of
Massachusetts and Commissioner Frank J. Scharaffa at the Massachusetts
Appellate Tax Board. Jessica grew up on the North Shore and presently resides
in Saugus with her husband, Mike, and their young son, Jamison.
David Rangaviz is a staff attorney in the Appeals Unit of the
Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). His practice consists of indigent
defense in post-conviction proceedings, primarily before the Massachusetts
Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court. He currently serves as a member
of the BBA’s Criminal Law Section and as co-chair of the amicus committee for
the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He clerked for
Justice Barbara Lenk of the Supreme Judicial Court, Magistrate Judge John
Conroy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, and Judge Kent
Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Before joining
CPCS, Dave worked as a trial attorney at the Maryland Office of the Public
Defender and in private practice at Zalkind, Duncan, & Bernstein LLP.
He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Brown University.
Blair M. Rinne is an associate in Brown Rudnick’s White Collar
Defense & Government Investigations Group.
As a member of the White Collar Group, Blair advises clients on complex
internal investigations and represents corporations and individuals in criminal
and civil investigations and related litigation. Prior to joining the White Collar Group,
Blair was an associate in Brown Rudnick’s Commercial Litigation Group for four
years. She handled complex contract
disputes and intellectual property matters.
She also represented clients in several zoning appeals and real estate
matters in Massachusetts state court.
Blair has also maintained an active pro bono practice. She represents clients before the United
States Immigration Court and the United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services in matters referred from Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). Blair has also participated in KIND’s Expert
Panel alongside other attorneys in the Boston area.
Blair has a dual J.D./M.B.A. from Boston College. While at Boston College Law School, Blair was
a Note Editor for the Journal of Law & Social Justice (formerly the Third
World Law Journal). Prior to law school,
Blair worked as a litigation clerk at Finnegan in Washington, D.C., where she
assisted with a complex patent infringement trial and prepared for numerous
depositions.
Sajid Shahriar is an Equal Opportunity Specialist at the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Office of Fair Housing
and Equal Opportunity, where he enforces the Fair Housing Act and related
federal civil rights laws in the New England region.
Sajid graduated from Boston College Law School in 2016 and became a
Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) at HUD before converting to a permanent
position in 2018. During his time as a PMF, Sajid conducted a six-month
rotation at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Civil
Rights Unit, where he gained valuable experience investigating systemic civil
rights cases involving sexual harassment, housing, education, employment,
healthcare, and voting accessibility. At HUD, Sajid monitors grant programs,
investigates complaints of housing discrimination against protected classes,
and negotiates conciliation agreements between parties.
Sajid is also the Executive Vice President of his regional union, AFGE
Local 3258, and represents AFGE as a Vice President to the Massachusetts
AFL-CIO Executive Council. In 2019, Sajid was honored to be chosen as Senator
Elizabeth Warren’s guest to the State of the Union Address, representing
federal workers affected by the government shutdown.
In his spare time, Sajid volunteers as a community organizer with the
nonpartisan Greater Boston Interfaith Organization around issues like criminal
justice reform, healthcare, and immigration. Sajid also sits on the board of
the New England Muslim Bar Association, which has collaborated with the BBA to
conduct networking and educational events for Muslim lawyers and allies.
Prior to law school, Sajid worked in the nonprofit health industry as a
development coordinator in the Greater Washington, D.C., area. Sajid attended
Northwestern University and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science.
Dave Soutter is an associate in the Litigation and Enforcement
Practice Group at Ropes & Gray. Dave focuses primarily on securities class
actions, government investigations, internal investigations and the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act. Dave represents clients in a variety of industries,
including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, medical devices, private equity and
technology.
Dave also spends significant time on pro bono matters, including
representation of clients through Ropes & Gray’s partnerships with Veterans
Legal Services, Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project, Lambda
Legal, and Project Citizenship. Dave, working with Lambda Legal, successfully
challenged Puerto Rico’s ban on correcting the gender marker on the birth
certificates of transgender individuals. In addition to ongoing pro bono work,
Dave is currently assisting a homeless client with sealing his CORI so he can
obtain better employment and stable housing.
Dave is a graduate of the George Washington University and Suffolk
University Law School. He is also a
Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserves.
Sharona Sternberg is a litigation associate at Sunstein Kann
Murphy & Timbers, an IP boutique located in downtown Boston. She
concentrates in intellectual property litigation and trademark clearance,
registration and enforcement. She has been involved in numerous patent,
trademark, and trade secret litigations in federal court and has represented
multiple clients in opposition and cancellation proceedings before the
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Prior to joining Sunstein, Sharona worked at
Willkie Farr in New York City as a litigation associate with a broad-based
general commercial practice. Her clients have included well-known
pharmaceutical, software, medical device, and international e-commerce
companies. Sharona has worked on a variety of pro bono matters, including
intellectual property, domestic violence and divorce, and asylum cases, and is
extremely active in her Jewish community. She is also the mother of three
little boys, which keeps her on her toes. Sharona has a law degree from Harvard
Law School and a B.A. in English literature from Barnard College.
Katherine Stock is an associate at Miyares and Harrington, where
she works with towns and private clients on a wide range of environmental, land
use, and municipal issues. In this role,
she has represented municipalities in administrative proceedings before the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Public
Utilities, as well as Massachusetts trial courts. Katie also advises municipalities on
democracy and open government issues.
Prior to joining M&H, Katie was both an intern and a volunteer
attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation.
Katie’s past work also includes internships for the Honorable Nathaniel
Gorton of the Federal District Court of Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of
Justice in the Environmental and Natural Resources Division, and the Klavens
Law Group, a clean energy practice.
Katie is also an active member of the BBA, having served as the New
Lawyers Liaison to the Environmental and Energy Law Section. She has
participated in several volunteer programs through the organization.
Katie holds a B.A. in Political Science from Northeastern University, magna
cum laude, and a Masters in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law
School. She received her J.D from
Northeastern University School of Law.
Guest Post: Caroline Donovan (Foley Hoag), Sophia Hall (Lawyers for Civil Rights) and Susanna Jones (Foundation Medicine) are members of the BBA’s 2018-2019 Public Interest Leadership Program.
On January 7, 2019, Prisoners’ Legal Services* (“PLS”) presented to the 2018-2019 class of the BBA’s Public Interest Leadership Program (“PILP”), about current trends and PLS’s ongoing advocacy on behalf of incarcerated persons. Presenting for PLS was Executive Director Lizz Matos and Staff Attorney Jesse White. PLS is a non-profit legal organization that provides civil legal assistance to people who are incarcerated in Massachusetts state prisons, county jails and houses of correction.
By way of setting the stage, Matos shared some startling statistics, including that 22,000 people from Massachusetts are behind bars today and the rate of imprisonment has grown dramatically in the past 40 years. Furthermore, African Americans are incarcerated at a rate six times higher than their White contemporaries, and Latinos at a rate four times higher. Furthermore, Massachusetts is one of the least progressive states when it comes to parole, only granting parole in approximately 34% of cases, and having a tremendously high return rate for technical violations, rather than new criminal offenses. In 2016, for example, Massachusetts returned almost a quarter of its entire parole population to prison for technical violations.
After setting the stage, Matos and White shared some of the most recent work being managed at PLS. In terms of litigation, for example, they shared challenges with water conditions at MCI Norfolk, asbestos at MCI Framingham, and the 5-person visitor cap at Souza-Baranowski Correction Center. As for legislative work, Matos and White talked about their efforts on behalf of the Criminal Justice Reform bill, particularly as it relates to medical parole, improving the Prison Rape Elimination Act, and efforts surrounding solitary confinement. Finally, PLS shared some insight into a new project regarding the treatment of ICE detainees being held at houses of corrections.
