In recent years, we have witnessed a troubling decline in public respect for our democratic institutions and a coarsening of our nation’s political discourse. At a defining moment in our country’s history, this edition of the Suffolk Law Alumni Magazine offers a counter-narrative: students, faculty, and alumni engaging in critically important work to advance public trust.
As usual, the Magazine will share Suffolk Law’s many recent successes in admissions, rankings, employment outcomes, bar passage, and fundraising. We have a lot of great news to report. At the same time, however, we also want to emphasize why we should be so proud of the work we do to train outstanding lawyers.
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Instilling Confidence in Our Democracy
Lawyers offer an essential bulwark against the erosion of democracy. One way we do so is through our effective leadership within all branches of federal and state governments.
An excellent example is Claire Cronin JD’85, a key architect of the bipartisan criminal justice reform bill in Massachusetts, which has increased pretrial diversion programs and helped those in prison move on with their lives after serving time. She is the first woman to serve as the majority leader in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was recently confirmed to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.
Our faculty and students are playing their parts as well. Professor Sharmila Murthy is on leave this year to serve as senior counsel to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. And several of our students and recent graduates have been elected to public office so that they can make meaningful contributions at the state and local level.
Another way our community is building trust in our public institutions is through humane leadership in the judiciary. For instance, Associate Justice Serge Georges, Jr. JD’96, HLLD’21 brings his previous experience running the Municipal Drug Court in Dorchester to his position on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Judge Gustavo Gelpi, Jr. JD’91, HLLD’06, who was recently confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, imparts lessons he learned while serving indigent clients in one of our clinical programs. Both Justice Georges and Judge Gelpi bring their wisdom to the bench and to our students as adjunct faculty.
Our profession also instills confidence in our governing institutions by working to ensure that everyone has access to essential legal services. The troubling reality is that more than 80% of Americans who live below the poverty line and a majority of middle-income Americans receive no meaningful assistance when facing important civil legal matters, such as child custody, debt collection, eviction, and foreclosure.
The Suffolk Law community is doing its part to address these challenges. Our Legal Innovation & Technology Lab is providing thousands of pro se litigants with smart court forms that make it easier for people to access essential civil legal services. Our Accelerator-to-Practice Program is using technology and project management tools to bring down the cost of legal services to those who need them. And our clinics are finding new ways to increase their efficiency so they can serve more clients of modest means.
We have been reminded during the past year that democracy is fragile. We need people who can use their skills to instill confidence in governing institutions, improve the public’s access to legal services, and advance our country’s confidence in bedrock features of our government. We are those people, and I am proud of all of the ways that the Suffolk Law community upholds our profession’s and nation’s most precious values.
Hope for the Future
Dean Andrew Perlman
Image by Michael J. Clarke