Destini M. Agüero, Clinical Instructor and Director, Estate Planning Project of the Veterans Legal Clinic
Roger Bertling, Senior Clinical Instructor, Predatory Lending/Consumer Protection Clinic and Lecturer on Law
Alexander Chen, Founding Director, LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic; Clinical Instructor; Lecturer on Law
Sharon Christian, Paralegal, Federal Tax Clinic
Eileen Connor, Director of Litigation, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Julia Devanthéry, Attorney and Lecturer on Law, Housing Law Clinic; Director, Housing Justice for Survivors Project
T. Keith Fogg, Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Federal Tax Clinic
Ebony Griffin, Faculty Assistant
Betsy Gwin, Clinical Instructor, DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow, and Associate Director, Veterans Legal Clinic
Kate Manning Kennedy, Senior Advisor, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Isabel Lima, Case and Business Manager
Deanne Loonin, Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Julie McCormack, Senior Clinical Instructor and Director, Safety Net Project
Maureen E. McDonagh, Managing Attorney; Director, Housing Law Clinic; Lecturer on Law
Toby Merrill, Clinical Instructor, Predatory Lending/Consumer Protection Clinic; Director, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Dana Montalto, Attorney and Clinical Instructor, Veterans Legal Clinic
Daniel Nagin, Clinical Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Legal Services Center & Veterans Legal Clinic
Nnena Odim, Senior Clinical Instructor, Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic
Margaret O’Grady, Senior Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Audrey Patten, Attorney and Clinical Instructor, Federal Tax Clinic
Anna Pierce, Director of Administration
Julie Rafferty, Senior Advisor for Advancement
Jack Regan, Senior Fellow, Veterans Legal Clinic
Catherine Rizos, Communications Coordinator
Victoria Roytenberg, Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Eric Schmidt, Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Rebekah Sexton, Intake Paralegal and Pro Bono Coordinator, Veterans Legal Clinic
Michael Turi, Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Silvia Vazquez, Receptionist and Interpreter/Translator
Emmanuelle Verdieu, Attorney and Fellow, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Lindsey Withem, Project Manager, Project on Predatory Student Lending
Destini M. Agüero
Clinical Instructor and Director, Estate Planning Project of the Veterans Legal Clinic
daguero[at]law.harvard.edu
Destini joined the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School in 2018 as a Clinical Instructor and the Estate Planning Project Director of the Veterans Legal Clinic. Destini’s clinic work focuses on providing free legal representation to veterans on matters such as drafting wills, powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, trusts, and probate of estates. Prior to joining the Veterans Legal Clinic, Destini was most recently an Assistant Director in the Co-op and Career Development Office at Northeastern University School of Law, where she also served as the Mock Trial Coach for NUSL’s National Mock Trial Team. She has also taken on pro bono cases through the Community Legal Services and Counseling Center’s Immigration Law Project and the Elder Law Project of the Women’s Bar Foundation, where she assisted older persons in drafting their estate planning documents. Previously, Destini was a Trial Attorney with the Children and Family Law Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Originally from Arizona, Destini received her B.S. in Justice Studies and Social Inquiry from Arizona State University, graduating summa cum laude. She is also a graduate of New York University School of Law, where she was the recipient of the Dean John Sexton Prize for outstanding service to the law school community.
Roger Bertling
Senior Clinical Instructor, Predatory Lending/Consumer Protection Clinic and Lecturer on Law
rbertlin[at]law.harvard.edu
Roger joined the Center’s Housing Law Clinic in 1993. He is now a Clinical Instructor and Attorney in the Predatory Lending / Consumer Protection Unit of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center and a Lecturer on Law at HLS. He supervises students negotiating and litigating predatory mortgage, bankruptcy, and consumer cases. Additionally, Roger teaches a Predatory Lending Workshop and co-teaches Consumer Law at HLS. He has given numerous presentations to national and state wide groups on mortgage and consumer issues.
Prior to his work at the Legal Services Center, Roger was an attorney in Legal Services in Missouri and Massachusetts, specializing in consumer cases, elder cases and complex litigation. His work included an emphasis on mortgage problems and foreclosures. Roger received his B.A. at the University of Northern Iowa and his J.D. at the University of Iowa.
Alexander Chen
Founding Director, LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic; Clinical Instructor; Lecturer on Law
achen[at]law.harvard.edu
Alexander Chen is the Founding Director of the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Alexander’s work focuses on expanding the rights of LGBTQ+ people through impact litigation, policy advocacy, and direct representation at both the national and local levels. Previously, Alexander worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations. At NCLR, Alexander engaged in LGBTQ+ impact litigation and policy advocacy in education, employment, health care, housing, prisons, and juvenile justice and child welfare settings. Alexander was a member of the litigation team in the transgender military cases Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump, as well as the landmark Ninth Circuit transgender prisoner surgery access case Edmo v. Corizon. He also co-drafted AB 2119, a bill that made California the first state to guarantee access to transition-related health care for trans youth in foster care.
Alexander has received numerous awards for his work, including being named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Law and Policy, and one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association. He is also a co-founder of the National Trans Bar Association. Alexander received his B.A. from Oxford University, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first openly transgender editor of the Harvard Law Review and worked on trans issues at the Department of Justice, the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. He clerked on the Ninth Circuit for the Hon. M. Margaret McKeown, and in the Southern District of California for the Hon. Gonzalo P. Curiel.
Sharon Christian
Paralegal, Federal Tax Clinic
schristian[at]law.harvard.edu
Sharon joined LSC 2020 as a Paralegal. She performs specifically delegated substantive legal work in managing the Tax Clinic’s dockets, client intake and works with partner organizations in efforts to achieve the Center’s mission.
Sharon is originally from London, England and spent years there before migrating to the United States, ultimately settling in Massachusetts, where she became a US Citizen in the mid 1980’s. Early in her career, she worked in corporate law as a Legal Executive Assistant. Thereafter, she embarked in the Biotechnology industry in Cambridge as a Regulatory Affairs Associate performing liaison work under FDA pharmaceutical Guidelines. She balanced this position with a small self-owned real estate and property management business in Jamaica Plain and Springfield, Mass.
Yet, Sharon felt a yearning to do work that was more directly involved for members of the community who were struggling both at a social and economical disadvantage. It was her desire to promote self- sufficiency, career opportunities, educational awareness and mentorship, particularly among youth and young adults. She found fulfillment in this work at a nonprofit social service organization in Jamaica Plain that offered multiservices and initiative programs, including social work, behavioral health, effective parenting classes for young parents, Fatherhood initiatives, guardianship for elder financial security and clinical care for children suffering from trauma.
Years later, Sharon relocated to Atlanta, Georgia and worked with higher education institutions and volunteer programs before returning to her beloved Boston. Sharon has attended Suffolk University, Simmons College and Roxbury Community College and holds a Degree in Business Administration and a Certificate in Health and Human Service Management. She also works with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families and serves as a Hearings Officiant Panelist in Child and Family Reunification in deciding family action plans towards forwarding steps.
Sharon and her husband have been married for 25 years, and they have two children, a daughter who is entering law school in the fall of 2020 and a son who attends middle school.
Eileen Connor
Director of Litigation, Project on Predatory Student Lending
econnor[at]law.harvard.edu
Eileen Connor joined the Legal Services Center as Director of Litigation for the Project on Predatory Student Lending in 2016. Previously, she was a Senior Staff Attorney in the Special Litigation Unit of the New York Legal Assistance Group, where she was counsel on multiple consumer class-action lawsuits concerning student loan debt, and a founder of NYLAG’s For-Profit School Project. Prior to joining NYLAG, she was a John J. Gibbons Fellow in Constitutional and Public Interest Law at Gibbons P.C., and a staff attorney at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco. She served as a law clerk to Hon. Martha Craig Daughtrey of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and B.A. from Brown University.
Julia Devanthéry
Attorney and Lecturer on Law, Housing Law Clinic; Director, Housing Justice for Survivors Project
jdevanthery[at]law.harvard.edu
Julia Devanthéry co-teaches the Housing Clinic and directs the Housing Justice for Survivors Project, which she founded in 2017. The Housing Justice for Survivors Project trains clinical law students to represent tenants who are facing housing instability due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Students under Julia’s supervision provide direct client representation, develop and litigate impact litigation, conduct housing rights trainings for community members and advocates, and engage in local, state, and federal law reform efforts aimed at improving the housing rights of survivors. Julia and students in the Housing Justice project represented the tenant in BHA v. YA, 482 Mass. 240 (2019), in which the Supreme Judicial Court decided affirmed a domestic violence survivor’s right to raise the Violence Against Women Act defense to a non-payment of rent eviction.
From 2018-2020, Julia was the Dignity for All Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California where she worked to safeguard the civil rights of people experiencing homelessness and advance the right to safe, affordable housing for all.
Julia is the author of Boston Housing Authority v. Y.A., 482 Mass. 240 (2019): SJC Clarifies VAWA Defenses in Eviction Cases, Early Lease Termination Under G.L. c. 186 s 24: An Essential Escape Route for Tenants Who are Facing Domestic Violence Sexual Assault or Stalking and The Supreme Judicial Court’s Decision in Beacon Residential v. R.P. Gives Survivors of Domestic Violence Their Day in Housing Court, all published in the Boston Bar Journal, and co-author of Chapter 12: Evictions in the 8th edition of Massachusetts Law Reform’s pro se manual Legal Tactics: Tenant’s Rights In Massachusetts. She also co-authored an ACLU report exposing abuse, neglect, and unsafe living conditions inside county-funded homeless shelters in Southern California. Julia received her juris doctor from Northeastern University School of Law and she graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Sociology.
T. Keith Fogg
Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Federal Tax Clinic
kfogg[at]law.harvard.edu
Professor Fogg directs the Federal Tax Clinic at the Legal Services Center where he serves as a clinical professor of law. He joined the Harvard faculty in 2017 after teaching at Villanova Law School for a decade. He got the tax clinic at Harvard off the ground in 2015 and 2016 while serving as a visiting professor. Prior to teaching at Villanova he worked for over 30 years with the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS. Professor Fogg received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary, his J.D. from the University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law and his M.L.T. in tax from the College of William and Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law. He developed a course for the Georgetown LLM program, Federal Taxation of Bankruptcy and Workouts, which he taught there for 15 years as an adjunct. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at William and Mary and University of Richmond law schools and as a visiting professor at University of Arizona.
He is a national authority on tax procedure especially in the area of collection and bankruptcy law as it relates to tax. He co-authors a blog with Professor Les Book, procedurallytaxing.com, which focuses on current tax procedure issues. Fogg served as the editor of the ABA Tax Section publication “Effectively Representing Your Client before the IRS” for the 5th, 6th and 7th Editions. He authors the collection chapters in “IRS Practice and Procedure” created by Michael Saltzman and currently edited by Les Book. He was chosen as the IRS Chief Counsel Robert H. Jackson National Attorney of the Year in 2007 and the ABA Tax Section Janet R. Spragens Pro Bono Award winner in 2015. He is a past chair of the ABA Tax Section Pro Bono and Tax Clinics Committee a past council member of the Section and will begin a term as Vice-Chair for publications in August 2018.
Ebony Griffin
Faculty Assistant
egriffin[at]law.harvard.edu
Ebony Griffin joined the Legal Services Center and the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation in January 2015 to provide support to the Centers’ Directors, Professor Robert Greenwald and Professor Daniel Nagin. Ebony previously worked for College Bound Dorchester, a dynamic organization that is working to better Dorchester and ensure its residents are college bound. Ebony provided direct executive support to the CEO, Mark Culliton. Earlier in her career, Ebony provided executive level assistance to the team at Atlantic Retail Properties, the leading retail real estate firm on the East Coast. Prior to that, Ebony served as Center and Programmatic Development Management at the African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC) at Boston University, provided direct support for APARC’s Director Ambassador Charles R. Stith.
Betsy Gwin
Clinical Instructor and DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow
Lecturer on Law
Associate Director, Veterans Legal Clinic
bgwin[at]law.harvard.edu
Betsy Gwin joined the Legal Services Center as Attorney and DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow for the Veterans Law Clinic in 2014. Previously, Betsy was a Staff Attorney in the Child and Family Law Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Betsy received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2011. While in law school, Betsy was Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy and worked as a research assistant in the Federal Legislation and Administrative Law Clinic. She completed internships during law school at the Legal Aid Society of D.C., the Poverty and Race Research Action Coalition, and the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law. Prior to law school, Betsy served as an AmeriCorps Paralegal at Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services, where her work focused primarily on disability benefits advocacy. She previously volunteered as a grant-writer to raise funds for children of fallen soldiers in Massachusetts and assisted patients at a veterans’ treatment program in Syracuse, NY. She graduated in 2006 with a B.A. in Anthropology summa cum laude from Syracuse University, where she completed her Honors Thesis on veteran culture.
Kate Manning Kennedy
Senior Advisor, Project on Predatory Student Lending
kkennedy[at]law.harvard.edu
Kate Manning Kennedy joined the Project on Predatory Student Lending as senior advisor in 2018. Previously, Kate was a strategic communications consultant where she designed and executed national communications campaigns for nonprofit clients. Her work included strategic planning and goal setting, message development, media relations, external stakeholder engagement, partnership development, and internal communications. Prior to consultancy, Kate held senior communications positions at organizations including Social Finance, Inc., The Glover Park Group, and Fidelity Investments. Kate received her B.A. from Fairfield University.
Isabel Lima
Case and Business Manager
ilima[at]law.harvard.edu
Isabel joined the Center in 1980 as a receptionist managing our busy afternoons. Over the years, her responsibilities have increased, and now, as office administrator, Isabel is responsible for case file management (opening, closing and record keeping); providing administrative services to students (seating, scheduling information and guidance through our complicated case management procedures); administering the office Client Trust Account; working closely with HLS Facilities Maintenance and outside contractors on all aspects of facility management for our building; and acting as liaison with the community on issues of neighborhood safety and improvements. Isabel is a long-time resident of Jamaica Plain.
Deanne Loonin
Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
dloonin[at]law.harvard.edu
Deanne Loonin joined the Legal Services Center as an attorney in 2016. Deanne is the founder and former Director of the National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project. She is the primary author of the first five editions of NCLC’s Student Loan Law and numerous policy papers and reports on student assistance topics. She created and maintains the Student Loan Borrower Assistance website. Deanne has advocated for low-income student loan borrowers before Congress, state, and federal administrative agencies, including Department of Education rulemaking sessions, and in other forums. Prior to joining NCLC, Deanne was an attorney at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles.
Julie McCormack
Senior Clinical Instructor
Director, Safety Net Project
jmccorma[at]law.harvard.edu
Julie joined the Center’s staff in June 1994 and is an authorized non-attorney legal representative. She specializes in disability matters and runs a high volume administrative law practice, chiefly before the Administrative Law Judges of the Social Security Administration. She supervises clinical students representing clients in administrative settings. In providing holistic service to clients, she also works on employment, estate planning, consumer and other benefits issues and collaborates with the Estate Planning Project, the Consumer Protection Clinic, the Family Law Clinic, the Housing Clinic, the Tax Clinic and the Veterans Legal Clinic to address clients broader needs. Having emigrated from Ireland where she received her law degree in 1989, Julie worked at Community Legal Aid (then LACCM) in Worcester representing clients in public benefits, housing, consumer and employment law. At LACCM, she organized membership of all non-management attorneys and staff with the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), District 65, UAW and served as the new local’s first president. She co-teaches on disability and administrative law as part of the Veteran’s Law and Disability Benefits workshops offered at Harvard Law School. She coordinates the Center’s People’s Law School “Know Your Rights” community legal education workshops and has given numerous presentations to national and state wide groups on Access to Justice, Social Security and disability related issues. Julie received a B.A. in Law and Economics, and an L.L.B. in Civil and Canonical Law from Ollscoil na hEireann, Gaillimh (National University of Ireland Galway, Republic of Ireland).
Maureen E. McDonagh
Managing Attorney; Director, Housing Law Clinic;
Lecturer on Law
mcdonagh[at]law.harvard.edu
Maureen joined the Center in January 1998 as a Clinical Instructor in the Housing Law Clinic. Prior to her work at the Center, Maureen, for ten years, specialized in the representation of indigent individuals in criminal defense and child abuse and neglect cases. She served as a Mentor Attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services’ Children and Family Law Program, where she instructed attorneys who were new to practice in that area of law. Maureen has volunteered as a Citizen Teacher with the Citizen Schools program, mentoring Boston Public Middle School students in a Legal Apprenticeship Program that met at LSC. She is also adjunct faculty at the Urban College of Boston, which is affiliated with Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. Maureen received her B.A. from Suffolk University in 1980 and her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 1987.
Toby Merrill
Clinical Instructor in the Predatory Lending Practice Director, Project on Predatory Student Lending
tomerrill[at]law.harvard.edu
Toby founded and directs the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which represents low-income student loan borrowers in predatory lending cases against for-profit and occupational schools and related entities. Toby twice represented legal aid providers and their clients in the US Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking sessions, by which the Department promulgates new student loan regulations, and is a member of the advisory council on Private Occupational Schools to the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure.
Toby joined the Legal Services Center’s Predatory Lending Practice in 2012 as a Skadden Fellow, after clerking for the Honorable Janet C. Hall of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. She received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she participated in the Center’s Employment and Predatory Lending Clinics. She holds a B.A. from Yale.
Dana Montalto
Attorney and Clinical Instructor, Veterans Legal Clinic
dmontalto[at]law.harvard.edu
Dana Montalto is an Attorney and Clinical Instructor in the Veterans Law Clinic, where she represents low-income veterans who received less-than-honorable discharge in military discharge upgrades and federal and state veteran benefits. Dana also works on systemic reform initiatives to improve the institutions that serve our nation’s veterans, which has included authoring Underserved: How the VA Wrongfully Excludes Veterans with Bad Paper and founding the Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership.
Dana received her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Wellesley College and her law degree from Yale Law School, where she participated in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic and the International Refugee Assistance Project. After graduating, Dana clerked for the Honorable F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and then joined the Legal Services Center as an Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellow in 2014.
Daniel Nagin
Clinical Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Legal Services Center; Faculty Director, Veterans Legal Clinic
dnagin[at]law.harvard.edu
Daniel Nagin is Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Legal Services Center. He is also Faculty Director of the Legal Service Center’s Veterans Legal Clinic, which he founded in 2012. His teaching and research interests include clinical education, social welfare law and policy, and legal services for veterans.
Nagin holds a B.A. in History and Government, Phi Beta Kappa and with distinction in all subjects, from Cornell University, an M.A. from Stanford University, and a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School. For Nagin’s Harvard Law School faculty webpage, please visit here.
Nnena Odim
Senior Clinical Instructor, Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic
nodim[at]law.harvard.edu
Nnena joined the Center in May 1997 providing legal representation to families affected by HIV/AIDS. She additionally practiced in the areas of estate planning, guardianship, bankruptcy and debt management. In June of 2000, Ms. Odim joined the Family and Children’s Law Unit where she practices in all aspects of domestic relation and family mediation. While in law school, Nnena was the coordinator of the National Lawyer’s Guild’s ‘Street Law Clinic’, a program led by law students and practicing attorneys providing legal information on landlord/tenant and stop and search issues to local high schools, community centers, homeless shelters, prisons and other community groups. Nnena also participated in the Domestic Violence Prevention and Criminal Trial Advocacy Clinics. Ms. Odim received her B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, 1985; her M.S. from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, 1991; and her J.D. Northeastern University School of Law, 1997.
Margaret O’Grady
Senior Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
mogrady[at]law.harvard.edu
Maggie O’Grady joined the Project on Predatory Student Lending in 2020. Maggie graduated from Wellesley College and Harvard Law School, where she was an intern at LSC in Steve Churchill’s employment civil rights clinic. She has been practicing at WilmerHale in the areas of government and regulatory affairs and anti-trust litigation. She has also maintained an active pro bono practice, including litigation challenging immigration detainer policies as well as other litigation and non-profit advising.
Audrey Patten
Attorney and Clinical Instructor, Federal Tax Clinic
apatten[at]law.harvard.edu
Audrey Patten joined the Legal Services Center in 2015 to represent survivors of domestic violence in consumer law cases, dealing primarily with debt collections and bankruptcy. Audrey then joined the tax clinic in 2017. Prior to working at the Legal Services Center, Audrey was a staff attorney at Northeast Legal Aid, Inc. in Lowell, MA. Audrey graduated from Emory University School of Law in 2012, where she was a managing editor of the Emory International Law Review and a student in the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, the Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic, and the Emory Supreme Court Advocacy Project. She was also Emory’s recipient of the Clinical Legal Education Association’s Outstanding Student Award. Audrey holds an M.A. in Regional Studies – East Asia from Harvard University and a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University.
Anna Pierce
Director of Administration
annapierce[at]law.harvard.edu
Anna joined the Legal Services Center as the Director of Administration in 2016. Previously, she worked for the Child Advocacy Program and Criminal Justice Institute, both programs of Harvard Law School, and did public interest nonprofit work. Anna received her B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology with a minor in African American Studies from Smith College.
Julie Rafferty
Senior Advisor for Advancement
jrafferty[at]law.harvard.edu
Julie Fitzpatrick Rafferty brings more than 20 years of fundraising, media relations, and marketing communications experience to her role helping the Legal Services Center pursue greater visibility and funding for its work. In addition to running her own public relations and fundraising communications firm, she was most recently Associate Vice Dean for Communications at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Julie previously was Director of Communications at Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center.
At Harvard Chan, Julie supervised a team responsible for the School’s media relations and fundraising communications, as well as the School’s website, social media presence and magazine. She oversaw the School’s fundraising communications program in preparation for a $450 million Capital Campaign, which subsequently exceeded that goal.
At Joslin, she built the marketing and fundraising communications and public relations function from the ground up, helping to solidify Joslin’s position as the name brand in diabetes treatment and research.
Julie also has held positions as a Public Information Officer at Harvard Medical School, and as an editor and reporter covering politics, local government and features for several newspapers in New York. Julie has received numerous awards and honors from such organizations as the American Medical Writers Association, Cine, and the New England Direct Marketing Association
Julie is a magna cum laude graduate of Syracuse University, where she majored in Policy Studies and Journalism.
Jack Regan
Senior Fellow, Veterans Legal Clinic
jregan[at]law.harvard.edu
Jack is a Senior Fellow at the Legal Services Center, working in its Veterans Legal Clinic. He is a retired partner in the Boston office of WilmerHale’s Litigation Department, where he was a member of its Intellectual Property Litigation and Business Trial Practice Groups. Jack served for many years as Co-chair of WilmerHale’s Pro Bono Committee, and had an active pro bono practice, including extensive work in Haiti, the representation of veterans, and counseling nonprofits in many sectors.
Jack is a former President of the Boston Bar Association, serves on boards of international humanitarian relief and inner city education nonprofits, and is a trustee of the Lynch Foundation, a major charitable grant maker.
Jack is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar. Jack served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy on a frigate.
Catherine Rizos
Communications Coordinator
crizos[at]law.harvard.edu
Catherine joined LSC as communications coordinator in 2018. She previously served as director of communications at the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, the state’s largest funder of civil legal aid. In addition to managing the organization’s print and digital communications, she provided support for the annual legislative campaign for civil legal aid coordinated by the Equal Justice Coalition. Catherine holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the State University of New York, Plattsburgh, and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Washington.
Victoria Roytenberg
Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
vroytenberg[at]law.harvard.edu
Victoria Roytenberg joined the Legal Services Center in 2016 as an attorney for the Project on Predatory Student Lending. Previously, Victoria was a public defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), where she represented indigent clients who were charged with criminal offenses. She received her J.D. from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. At CUNY, Victoria was a staff member of the CUNY Law Review, a student clinician in the Adult Defender Clinic, and defended students facing long-term exclusion from NYC public schools through the Suspension Representation Project. Prior to law school, Victoria worked as a paralegal at The Legal Aid Society in the Juvenile Rights Practice, and as a legal assistant at the Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland. She holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in Political Science and Social Thought and Political Economy.
Eric Schmidt
Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
eschmidt[at]law.harvard.edu
Eric Schmidt joined the Project on Predatory Student Lending in 2019. Previously, he worked at the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office as a Special Services Attorney with the Division of Law. There, he assisted the Bureau of Securities in litigation related to the 2007 financial crisis and was also assigned to the Government and Healthcare Fraud Section, where he investigated Medicaid fraud and worked on consumer complaints and false claims actions. Prior to graduating from Brooklyn Law School in 2015, Eric worked for the Hon. ALJ Ziedah Diata at the NYS Dept. of State, as well as the Hon. Joan A. Madden of the NYS Supreme Court. Eric received his B.A. in History and Journalism from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.
Rebekah Sexton
Intake Paralegal and Pro Bono Coordinator, Veterans Legal Clinic
rsexton[at]law.harvard.edu
Rebekah joined the Veterans Legal Clinic in 2019 as the Intake Paralegal and Pro Bono Coordinator. Prior to joining the clinic, Rebekah worked for Connecticut State Senator Cathy Osten advocating for victims of human trafficking and working on various pieces of legislation. Rebekah served in the United States Army 75th Field Artillery Brigade, stationed out of Fort Sill, Oklahoma as a Field Artillery Survey and Meteorological crewmember. She holds a B.S. in Justice and Law Administration-Legal Studies from Western Connecticut University.
Michael Turi
Attorney, Project on Predatory Student Lending
mturi[at]law.harvard.edu
Michael joined the Project on Predatory Student Lending in 2020. Michael graduated from Tufts University and Harvard Law School, where he was a student at LSC in the housing clinic. He was a Skadden fellow at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a fellow at the plaintiff-side labor & employment firm Lichten Liss-Riordan, and most recently a law clerk to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Gants.
Silvia Vazquez
Receptionist and Interpreter/Translator
svazquez[at]law.harvard.edu
Silvia joined the Center in 1991 as our afternoon receptionist handling what turned out to be the busiest part of the day due to afternoon intake sessions for more than 15 years. She has been the Center’s full-time receptionist and primary translation services support since September 2009. With humor, warmth, patience and understanding, she deftly manages each day’s steady stream of clients, students and visitors.
Emmanuelle Verdieu
Attorney and Fellow, Project on Predatory Student Lending
everdieu[at]law.harvard.edu
Emmanuelle Verdieu joined the Project on Predatory Student Lending in 2018. She received her law degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, where she was an Associate Editor of the BYU Journal of Public Law, BYU Trial Advocacy Team Member, and Co-Vice President of the Black Law Student Association. During law school, Emmanuelle was a legal intern with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the Consumer Protection Divison, Bowmans in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Utah County Attorney’s Office. Prior to law school, Emmanuelle interned with the Boston Branch of the NAACP advocating for students, parents, and teachers in Boston Public Schools. Emmanuelle holds a B.A. in Crime and Justice Studies, magna cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Lindsey Withem
Project Manager, Project on Predatory Student Lending
lwithem[at]law.harvard.edu
Lindsey Withem joined the Legal Services Center in 2017 as the Project Manager for the Project on Predatory Student Lending. Prior to working at the Legal Services Center, Lindsey worked as a Compliance Officer at the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology. While working at MIT, she developed best practices to ensure compliance with federal, state, and institutional financial aid regulations. Earlier in her career, she held multiple positions in higher education accreditation in Washington D.C. Lindsey holds a B.A. in Art History from James Madison University.