By June Bell
law community
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Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
winter 2023
At a historic moment for the Law School—the naming of the school’s first-floor function room in honor of attorney George N. Keches, JD ’75—the Law School’s leaders selected Kerimal Suriel Guerrero, Black Law Students Association President and academic standout, to speak on behalf of Suffolk Law’s first-generation student community.
Keches and his wife, Ann Maguire Keches, pledged $1 million to Suffolk Law to create two new scholarships focused on first-generation students with financial need. Guerrero joined Bay State political leaders, including Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, to share remarks celebrating the Keches family’s many years of community giving.
Guerrero grew up in the Dominican Republic, moving to the U.S. at age 5, she told the large audience of Keches family members, friends, and law firm colleagues, as well as Suffolk Law alumni. She grew up in public housing with her parents, who worked as janitors to support the family; it was exhausting work, and, even as a young girl, she could see the toll on her parents faces.
Her dream of attending law school would have been impossible without an academic scholarship like the one the Kecheses were launching, Guerrero said. In 2020, Suffolk Law offered the Trifiro-Sargent Scholarship, covering her tuition throughout law school, an unexpected gift that brought her to tears and clinched her decision to attend.
From public housing to student attorney
“I knew I wouldn’t have to add to my family’s financial burden or to my own and could still follow my dreams of going to law school,” she said. “There are thousands, maybe even millions, of families just like mine that simply need a little bit of help to find their way. I want nothing more than to have the ability to follow in [the Keches’s] footsteps one day and support my alma mater just as you are doing today."
Suffolk Law’s financial support has allowed Guerrero to try her hand at a wide range of legal work during law school. For example, as a student attorney in the Juvenile Defenders Clinic, she has represented juvenile clients before judges in shoplifting, larceny, possession of a stolen vehicle, and assault and battery cases.
Through internships over the last few years with the Major Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Prince Lobel Tye, and Conn Kavanaugh, she has worked on social security fraud, unlawful employment discrimination, and trust and estate cases.
The scholarship has given her enough time to help fellow students, and that has been a gift, she said. As last year’s vice president, and now president of the Black Law Students Association, Guerrero serves as a mentor for new students, setting up mock exams and lessons in legal issue-spotting.
As Guerrero completes law school, she is keeping an open mind about where her legal education will take her, though she is drawn to community service. “The Juvenile Defenders Clinic and criminal defense work speak to me—because I see myself in those criminal defendants,” she said.
Helping young people find their way