There’s a lot to celebrate.
Elizabeth Yeampierre ’83
Photograph by Bob Handelman
For Yeampierre, it’s TIME to Close
Elizabeth Yeampierre ’83, executive director of UPROSE, was hailed as one of TIME’s The Closers 2025, 25 Black leaders working to end the racial equity gap. With Elizabeth at the helm, UPROSE, Brooklyn’s oldest Latino community-based organization, promotes sustainability and resiliency in the Sunset Park neighborhood. Elizabeth chaired the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and works regularly with environmental justice leaders across the country.
Boston’s Movers and Shakers
Governor Maura Healey ’98 (left), Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka ’80 (center) and Betty Francisco ’98, CEO of Boston Impact Initiative, were named to Boston magazine’s 150 Most Influential Bostonians 2025 list
Rothstein Chills Out at ICEHOTEL 36
Dave Rothstein and a recent sculpture, At What Cost, which he carved as part of Team India at the Stillwater World Snow Celebration held in Minnesota in January.
Renowned winter artist Dave Rothstein ’97 has been selected as one of 29 artists from 10 countries who will bring their ice and snow sculpture visions to life at ICEHOTEL 36 in Sweden in December. Since 1989, the making of the seasonal hotel has been an art forum: selected designers gather in Jukkasjärvi to use ice and snow in constructing suites that are original pieces of art. The rooms are used by guests (yes, people pay for the opportunity to stay!) and then melt each spring. Dave will create a bedroom called Parliament of Owls.
Medvedow Retires as Head of Rappaport Center
Elisabeth “Lissy” Medvedow ’85, founding executive director of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School, which brings together the region’s top policymakers and thought leaders to engage in dynamic discussions on critical public policy issues, retired at the end of 2024. Scores of Northeastern Law students have benefited from the center’s Rappaport Fellows Program, which annually provides funded summer internships across Massachusetts for 12 law students who are passionate about public service and public policy. During Lissy’s nearly 10 years of leadership, the Rappaport Center held programs and conferences that explored issues including criminal justice, environmental justice, racial equity, education, campaign finance, voting rights and more. In her last semester, Lissy convened panels on the 2024 presidential election, environmental justice, civil Gideon and LGBTQ+ rights and held a symposium addressing reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals.
Epperson-Temple and Jackson Honored at Harvard Screening of Becoming Black Lawyers
In February, Avana Epperson-Temple ’15 (left), then president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, and Tara Dunn Jackson ’17, president of the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys, were honored by the Harvard Generational African American Students Association and other groups for their exceptional leadership in advancing diversity and inclusion within the legal field at a screening of the award-winning documentary Becoming Black Lawyers.
Mass LGBTQ Bar Association Honors Cherry and Queer Caucus, Chandy Delivers Keynote
At the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association annual gala in June, Elyse Cherry ’83 (left), CEO of BlueHub Capital, was honored with the Pioneer Spirit Award for her decades of leadership, advocacy and impact. Sunu Chandy ’98, senior advisor at Democracy Forward, delivered the keynote address, and Northeastern Law’s Queer Caucus was honored as the inaugural Law Student Chapter of the Year.
Anchors Away for Spievack
Captain Bowen Spievack ’01
Photograph by Robert Rives
Captain Bowen Spievack ’01, who took over as commanding officer of US Coast Guard Base Cape Cod in 2023, retired from the military in June. Bowen joined the Coast Guard JAG program in 2002 and went on to hold a number of senior positions, including serving as commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s largest training center in Yorktown, Virginia, and overseeing the Coast Guard legal program. Her military honors include five Meritorious Service Medals, a Coast Guard Commendation Medal and a Coast Guard Achievement Medal.
NEBLSA Honors Four Graduates
Congratulations to our graduates who were named to the Northeast Black Law Students Association (NEBLSA) 57 Most Influential Black Attorneys list, which honors the exceptional achievements and contributions of Black attorneys who have made a lasting impact in the legal profession and their communities.
April English ’00, Chief Secretary to Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey ’98
Avana Epperson- Temple ’15, Immediate Past President of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and Associate at Peabody & Arnold
Tara Dunn Jackson ’17, President of the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys and Associate at Mintz
Cassandra L.M. Prince ’20, Associate at Nutter McClennen & Fish
Professor Antoinette Coakley was also named to this impressive list.
Congratulations to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Honorees
LAWYERS OF THE YEAR
Ryan Schiff ’03
Strehorn, Ryan & Hoose — also the recipient of the 2025 Massachusetts Bar Association Juvenile and Child Welfare Award
Michael Stefanilo Jr. ’12
Littler
TOP VERDICTS
Joel Rosen ’94
Rosen & Goyal
TOP 20 MANAGING PARTNERS
Jaclyn Kugell ’92
Morgan, Brown & Joy
Lisa Warren ’94
Morse
In Memoriam
1970s
James L. Buechl ’74
Bennett C. Sandick ’74
Gladys P. Gifford ’79
1990s
Heather K. Lafollette ’96
David S. Hall ’98
Philip M. Hanaka ’99
2000s
Evangelos P. Kostorizos ’03
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Connections 2025, the law school’s largest networking event of the year, brought together 250 graduates and students.
In May, Professor Elettra Bietti presented on “AI Antitrust as Regulatory Law” at the Law, Technology and Economics of AI conference held at the University of Hong Kong.
