Alumni/ae Weekend

In addition to record-breaking rainfall, NUSL celebrated record-breaking attendance at Alumni/ae Weekend this year on May 12-13. Highlights included a Friday night reception, a soggy but spirited tour of Fenway Park, panel discussions and the reunion dinner.

To view Alumni/ae Weekend photos, visit the online album.

PHOTOS: JUSTIN ALLARDYCE KNIGHT

Summer 2006 | Class Notes

Chunias is Super

Jennifer Chunias ’99 was the featured cover story for the 2006 Massachusetts Super Lawyers — Rising Stars Edition. “Rising stars” are either 40 or under or have practiced for 10 or fewer years, and are considered to be in the top 2.5 percent of the best up-and-coming lawyers in the commonwealth. She was also saluted by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an “Up and Coming Lawyer” this year. Chunias is the coordinator and a board member of the New England Innocence Project (NEIP), a pro bono project of Goodwin Procter in Boston. In addition to managing a full litigation caseload as an associate with Goodwin, she directs NEIP and represents individual NEIP clients. She also oversees clinical work through the Harvard Project on Wrongful Convictions, which includes supervising Harvard law students working on such cases.

Benjamin Tapped to Expand Minority Business Opportunities

In February, Milton Benjamin Jr. ’81 was appointed founding president and CEO of the Initiative for a New Economy (INE), a coalition of corporations, community organizations and the City of Boston that is working to expand opportunities for minority-owned businesses in the Greater Boston area. Benjamin previously served as president of the Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corporation (CDFC), an economic development investment corporation that provides debt and equity financing to small businesses and real estate development projects. In a Boston Globe article, Mayor Thomas Menino said, “Milton has been an advocate, leader and visionary in the field of economic and community development here in Massachusetts for over 20 years. He brings to his new assignment a wealth of experience and a keen insight into the mission and opportunities for the Initiative for a New Economy.” The initiative is being funded for its first three years by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, The United Way of Massachusetts Bay, The Boston Foundation and the City of Boston. An additional sponsor is Liberty Mutual Group. INE is also supported by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

Montgomery to Head ABA IP Section

Susan Barbieri Montgomery ’86 takes the helm of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association in August. She is the first woman to chair this section of the ABA; with 19,000 members, it is the world’s largest intellectual property bar association. A partner in the intellectual property practice of Foley Hoag in Boston, Montgomery focuses on intellectual property strategic planning, exploitation and protection, and domestic and international business transactions for domestic and foreign clients.

Martin Named Chamber of Commerce Chair

Ralph Martin II ’78, a partner at Bingham McCutchen and a managing principal of Bingham Consulting Group, began a two-year term as chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in May. Martin was the unanimous choice of the Chamber’s executive and nominating committees. He is a former Suffolk County district attorney, heading the office from 1992 until 2002. “The Chamber’s commitment to work for legislative changes that encourage a strong, growing economy is a commitment I have shared throughout my career,” said Martin, who practices in the areas of corporate governance and investigations, white-collar defense and general civil litigation. Through Bingham Consulting, he also helps clients execute multistate political strategies to complement their business missions.

Kaplan Leads Delegation to Israel

In February 2006 a group of American financial service professionals visited Israel as part of a mission sponsored by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL) and the Government of Israel’s Economic Mission to North America. The mission was spearheaded by Paul Kaplan ’77 and Jack Kemp, former US representative from New York and secretary of housing and urban development under President George H.W. Bush. American business leaders participating in the mission met with Israeli political leaders and Israeli venture capitalists and financial executives to discuss the economic and political climate in the region as well as joint business opportunities. Kaplan is a partner in the New York City office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, and a member of the AIFL board of directors.

Chandy Champions Disabilities Rights

Sunu Chandy ’98, a senior trial attorney with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in New York City, handled a settlement that could have wide implications for a growing community of workers with developmental disabilities. Home Depot Inc. has agreed to pay $75,000 to a mentally disabled former employee whose supervisor fired her without first consulting the employee’s job coach. In a federal lawsuit, the EEOC had accused the retail giant of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 by failing to involve the woman’s job coach to help resolve any alleged workplace issues. It said that action should have been taken under the “reasonable accommodations” provision of the law. “This decree is significant because it sends a message that mental disabilities have to be accommodated under the law just as well as physical disabilities,” said Chandy.

Williams Receives Top Honor

The New Jersey State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Awards Committee named Tiffany M. Williams ’99 “Young Lawyer of the Year” for 2006. Williams is an associate in the New Jersey office of Riker Danzig Sherer Hyland Perretti, practicing in the firm’s governmental affairs and litigation group. She previously served as an assistant US attorney for the District of New Jersey and as a litigation associate at Mintz Levin in Boston. She is a leader in a wide variety of volunteer activities.

Celebrating His 100th

On March 22, 2006, Morris A. Kline '34 celebrated his 100th birthday with a party at the Life Care Center of West Bridgewater, Mass. In his honor, family and friends donated funds to a public interest co-op stipend for School of Law students.