40th Anniversary Celebration 1968-2008

More than 400 graduates and friends joined the law school community for the 40th anniversary of the law school’s reopening. The October celebration included panel discussions, a luncheon and capstone reception at the Moakley US Courthouse. View photo galleries at www.northeastern.edu/law/news.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Lewis delivered the keynote speech at the capstone reception.

Dorothy Samuels ’75, a New York Times editorial board member, joined former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis and other graduate experts on a panel, “US Agenda for the Next Four Years.”

Three days of celebratory events included reunions for the classes of ’73, ’78, ’83, ’88, ’93, ’98 and ’03.

Graduates and friends mixed and mingled while they enjoyed the stunning view of Boston from the Moakley US Courthouse.

PHOTOS: DAVID LEIFER

Spring 2009 Newsbriefs

Ranked #1

Northeastern University School of Law is the best public interest law school in the country according to two publications in the legal field. The law school earned first-place rankings by two sister publications, The National Jurist and preLaw Magazine, a national periodical targeted to prospective law school students. The story appeared in the fall issues of both publications.

Northeastern was the only law school in New England to make the top 10 list.

The law school’s selection was based on a scoring system that awards points in three equally weighted categories: student involvement, curriculum and financial factors. Top schools exhibited strength in their clinical programs, pro bono requirements, percentages of graduates entering public interest law and loan assistance programs.

“We are quite pleased with the national recognition, but it comes as no surprise to those in the legal community who know of our commitment to social justice,” said Dean Emily Spieler. “We strongly believe that every student who enters law school should learn about law and society and get practical legal experience supporting public interest organizations. While many of our graduates join distinguished law firms as well as nonprofit organizations, we believe they all benefit from a curriculum where social justice is a core principle.”

Northeastern was cited as the only law school in the country that requires every first-year student to work on a community-based legal research project for a nonprofit organization. The program — Legal Skills in Social Context — involves “law office” teams of students providing more than 2,000 hours of free legal services each year to 10 to 12 organizations throughout the country that are committed to social justice.

All Northeastern students also get practical experience through the school’s cooperative legal education program, in which every student spends four 11-week quarters working full time as legal interns. Approximately 85 percent of each graduating class satisfies the school’s public interest requirement by completing a public interest co-op with a legal services, public defender, nonprofit advocacy group or government agency.

The school also offers a number of clinics, programs and institutes, including the Domestic Violence Institute, Public Health Advocacy Institute, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, and the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.

Society for Restorative Justice Captures Award

Equal Justice Works (EJW) honored the School of Law’s Society for Restorative Justice, a student organization, with its 2008 EJW Exemplary Public Service Award at the EJW annual awards luncheon on October 10 in Washington, DC.

Rebecca Greening ’10 accepted the award and described the audience and experience. “Needless to say, I was nervous,” commented Greening. “Speaking in front of a ballroom full of leaders in public interest law as well as students who share a similar passion for public interest was an intimidating proposition. However, as I spoke, I looked out at the audience and felt invigorated by being able to speak about restorative justice and not feel that it was being received as a fringe concept or radical idea.”

The award lauded the society’s work at the Social Justice Academy, a Hyde Park high school where NUSL students are collaborating with the administration to implement an alternative disciplinary system based on restorative principles. Other society activities include raising on-campus awareness of restorative justice and other progressive law movements, partnering with local restorative justice organizations to promote their ideals in New England, and advocating for the use of restorative justice in schools statewide.

Moot Court Triumph

Should a rural hospital’s health care team, against their moral and professional judgment, be compelled to sustain the biological functions of a 72-year-old patient at the family’s direction? Does a patient have constitutional due process rights to challenge a hospital’s medical decision-making process when state law defines that process? Third-year students Debbie Freitas, Cristina Freitas and Katherine Scarborough, all candidates for the dual JD/master’s in public health, argued these issues in a fictitious Supreme Court case at the National Health Law Moot Court competition and placed second nationwide, winning a $750 scholarship.

The 17th annual competition at Southern Illinois University (SIU) Law School in Carbondale, Illinois, included 34 teams from 25 law schools. Teams submitted legal briefs in early October, and competed in November in two preliminary and four elimination rounds. Students argued in front of judges and attorneys, who provided feedback. Students were required to present both sides of the case, regardless of the side represented in their brief. Both the brief and oral argument scores contributed to the final team rankings. Professor Wendy Parmet and Tufts public health professor Marcia Boumil advised the team.

SIU Dean Peter Alexander ’83 was thrilled for his alma mater. “It was a very pleasant surprise to learn that the team from Northeastern placed second in the competition that my current law school hosts. I am not surprised, however, that the NUSL team competed so well. Northeastern has long been regarded as a school that provides a strong skills education to its students.”

The competition was co-sponsored by the American College of Legal Medicine, the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation, SIU Center for Health Law and Policy and SIU School of Medicine’s Department of Medical Humanities. Other Boston schools that competed, but did not place, included Boston University School of Law and Suffolk Law School.