NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW MAGAZINE

Joseph D. Feaster Jr. and his wife, Phyllis Ellison- Feaster, were celebrated as 2025 Juneteenth Honorees and described as living monuments to Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in social justice at Embrace Boston’s Embrace Ideas Festival. Joseph, who serves as counsel at Dain, Torpy, Le Ray, Wiest & Garner, has held numerous leadership positions in private practice and government and currently serves as chair of Boston’s Task Force on Reparations.

Margaret Drew, associate professor of law and director of clinics and experiential learning at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School of Law, recently received the 2025 Access to Justice Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Bar Association. Before joining UMass Law in 2014, she practiced law for 25 years, focusing on family, probate and residential real estate law. Margaret is a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and received the commission’s 20/20 Vision Award for her work in implementing the Violence Against Women Act and mobilizing attorneys to represent survivors of domestic violence.

In May, Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka received the Frances Perkins Award from Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which lauded Spilka for “visionary leadership [that] helped pass Massachusetts’ landmark wage-equity and transparency law, ensuring that salary ranges are shared with job applicants and employees alike.”

In March, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont nominated Judge Robin Wilson to the state appellate court. Robin has served on the Connecticut Superior Court since 2003 and was previously assigned to the Waterbury Complex Litigation Docket, where she presided over civil cases; before that, she served in the Civil Division of the New Haven Judicial District for 15 years. Robin has been honored as one of the NAACP’s 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut and as one of the area’s 100 Women of Color leaders.

Penny Talbot has returned to her lifelong passion for painting after a long career in environmental law. A Boston-area native who has been drawing and painting since childhood, Penny discovered her true medium in 2005 when she began studying watercolor under the late master Ed Grabhorn. Her work was recently featured in an exhibit at Boston’s St. Botolph Club.

In May, Mary Bonauto, senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), received an honorary Doctor of Laws at the Bates College commencement ceremony.

Christine Nickerson has joined Yale New Haven Health as vice president of labor strategy and senior associate general counsel. She previously spent three years at MaineHealth as corporate counsel for labor relations.

John Lanza, a partner in the intellectual property department and technology industry group at Foley Hoag in Boston, has been named to the 2025 edition of Intellectual Asset Management magazine’s Patent 1000. The prestigious guide highlights leading practitioners in patent litigation, prosecution and licensing.

Edlyn Willer was selected for inclusion in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America, in recognition of her expertise in legal services. Edlyn has dedicated nearly three decades to serving marginalized communities and the underprivileged through her work as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society in New York.

Nima Eshghi, former associate dean of Northeastern Law, has been appointed to the board of directors of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law). Early in her career, Nima served as a GLAD Law staff attorney. Most recently, she served as associate dean of academic programs at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Marion Odence-Ford was recently promoted to chief legal officer and chief human resources officer at OptimizeRx, a leading healthcare technology company headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. A corporate lawyer with more than 25 years of large firm and in-house experience, she joined OptimizeRx in 2021 as general counsel and chief compliance officer.

Ilene Wolf Moore has joined Geisinger Health System Foundation in Danville, Pennsylvania, as executive vice president and chief legal officer. She most recently served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Envision Healthcare.

In May, Valerie Frias, a dedicated advocate for special education, LGBTQ+ rights and youth advocacy, was reelected to the Brookline School Committee. Valerie serves as director of the Elder Justice Unit in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General.

In May, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey ’98 appointed Kathy Henry to chair the Judicial Nominating Commission. Kathy joined the commission in 2023 and has served two terms as a vice chair. The commission is a nonpartisan and nonpolitical group composed of 27 distinguished volunteers appointed by the governor to screen judicial candidates and make recommendations. Kathy is executive vice president, general counsel and chief human resources officer of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. and Eastern Bank.

Shira Diner has been appointed to the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Board of Trustees and the Suffolk Lawyers for Justice Board of Directors. Shira is president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a lecturer and clinical instructor in Boston University School of Law’s criminal law clinical program.

Virginia Benzan, director of racial justice advocacy at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, has been appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Access to Justice Commission. She previously directed Suffolk Law School’s Immigration Clinic and served as an asylum officer at US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Keir Bickerstaffe has joined Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch in Washington, DC, as of counsel. A former deputy associate solicitor with the US Department of Labor, Keir has played a key role in shaping employment law policies and litigation strategies throughout his career.

Patrick Hanley, a partner at Butters Brazilian in Boston, has been appointed by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey ’98 to the State Ethics Commission. Patrick previously worked for more than a decade at the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, where he was an assistant attorney general and served as the office’s first chief of gaming enforcement.

Raquel Webster, senior litigation attorney at National Grid and president of Northeastern Law’s Alumni/ae Association, received the Ida B. Wells Award from the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys in June in recognition of her trailblazing contributions to the legal profession.

Megan Hilson has joined the Manchester, New Hampshire, office of Sheehan Phinney as a shareholder and member of the firm’s business litigation group. Megan focuses on construction and real estate litigation, as well as assisting clients in medical malpractice, toxic tort and personal injury matters. She previously served as in-house counsel to Brady Sullivan Properties, one of the largest real estate developers in New England.

In May, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey ’98 nominated Judge Asha White to the Superior Court. Asha was appointed as an associate justice to the District Court in 2021 and has served as the first justice of the Woburn District Court since July 2024. He is a past president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, former deputy chief of the Criminal Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and also has experience as a defense attorney

Melissa D’Alelio, chair of the insurance and catastrophic loss group at Robins Kaplan in Boston, has been elected to the firm’s 2025 executive board, after serving as an appointed member for the last two years.

Rebecca Knudson, a partner in the Wilmington, North Carolina office of Cranfill Sumner, was selected for inclusion in the 2025 North Carolina Super Lawyers list. She focuses her civil litigation practice on representing builders, developers and homeowner association boards.

Elizabeth Manchester, a partner at Partridge, Snow and Hahn in Rhode Island, received the Dr. William A. McDonnell Award from Providence College, her alma mater, in February. Elizabeth holds two degrees from Providence College and was recognized alongside her husband, Bernard, for their contributions to the institution.

Jamila Glean has been appointed senior vice president of R.F. Wilkins Consultants in New York, which she joined in 2023. Previously, Jamila was vice president of research, operations and compliance for Empire State Development’s division of minority and women’s business development.

Justin Keith, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Boston office and co-chair of the firm’s labor and employment practice’s labor management relations group, was named one of the 2025 Go To Lawyers for Employment Law by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Eric Kaviar has joined Day Pitney’s Boston office as counsel in the firm’s intellectual property and technology practice. He previously served as partner at Sunstein, a boutique intellectual property firm.

Jeni Landers is now executive director of the Cape Cod Village Center for Developmental Disabilities, which provides 16 units of housing whose professional accomplishments and community leadership embody the foundation’s core values of excellence and philanthropy.

Chase Strangio, co-director for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, was recently named to The Washington Post’s inaugural Post Next 50 list of people shaping our society in 2025. Chase was recognized as “next in policy” for his pioneering advocacy for transgender rights, including being the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the US Supreme Court.

Eva Jellison was selected by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association for its 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 honor roll of attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their field and demonstrated a profound commitment to LGBTQ+ equality. A partner at Jellison & Nathanson, Eva is a board member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association and serves as its liaison to the Superior Court. Lindsey Smith has joined Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete in Baltimore, Maryland, as a partner in the firm’s cybersecurity and data privacy practice. He previously served as corporate counsel for incident response at Amazon, managing internal security teams in preparation for and during the incident response process.

Maria Duarte has been promoted to senior corporate counsel at Amazon, which she joined in 2022 as corporate counsel after nearly four years as an associate at Littler in Long Island, New York.

Catherine Scott has been elevated to partner at Morgan, Brown & Joy. As a litigator and labor and employment expert, Catherine helps companies navigate workplace allegations involving employment discrimination, retaliation, wrongful discharge, the Family and Medical Leave Act, breach of contract, and wage and hour class actions, among others.

Cornelia Dean has been elevated to partner in the Miami, Florida, office of McDermott Will & Emery, where she focuses on transactional matters in the healthcare industry, including management and professional service arrangements, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures.

Diana Balluku, an associate in Greenberg Traurig’s Boston office, was selected for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Boston’s Future Leaders program. The program, presented with Harvard Business School, provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit that blends academic content, practical application and networking. Diana focuses her practice on commercial litigation in state and federal courts, including business litigation, class action defense and data privacy matters.

In June, Tara Dunn Jackson, president of the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys and an associate at Mintz, received the Veterans Legal Services (VLS) Lynn A. Girton Award for her service to country and community. Lynn, a 1979 graduate of Northeastern Law and former VLS pro bono director, presented the award to Tara. Tara was also selected to receive the 2025 National Bar Association’s 40 Under 40: Nation’s Best Advocates Award and the 2024 Just the Beginning (JTB) 5 Under 40 Legal Professionals Award.