Public Service Project
The ACC Law Student Ethics Award
The ACC Law Student Ethics Award: Annual award given by the Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) to a student at each Boston-area law school who “demonstrates an early commitment to ethics in the practice of law, either through clinical programs, legal internships, pro bono work, or exceptional scholarship.”
Megan Brinster (Class of 2008) —2008 Recipient
Megan has consistently demonstrated her dedication to the issues of ethics and professionalism through her clinical, classroom and extracurricular work. Ms. Brinster enrolled in the Public Interest Law Seminar and Clinic course in the Fall of 2006, her second year at law school. She performed her clinical work at the New England School of Law Clinical Law Office, where she represented clients primarily in the area of family law. Ms. Brinster’s supervisor wrote a glowing evaluation of her at the close of the semester, noting that Ms. Brinster’s work throughout was thorough, and that she did an outstanding job with her litigation plans. The supervisor also gave her high marks in the areas of professional practices and sensitivity to ethical issues, noting that Ms. Brinster identified a variety of challenging ethical issues in her cases, including with regard to the credibility of her client, and appropriately and carefully addressed each one.
In the seminar component of the Public Interest course, Ms. Brinster took advantage of an ethics assignment to flesh out many of the difficult ethical issues. Issues of competence, confidentiality, and scope of representation arose throughout the difficult representation of a client who was a victim of domestic violence. The client feared that the father, previously incarcerated for aggravated rape and facing deportation, might return to abuse not only the client but her children. At every turn in her representation of the client Ms. Brinster was forced to revisit the rules on confidentiality, help the client achieve multiple, but often conflicting goals, and understand limits as to which actions were within the scope of her representation, and which were beyond the scope.
Ms. Brinster’s commitment to ethics and professionalism has been particularly evident in her passion for protecting the rights of children through work in the legal system. She chose as a research topic for the public interest course the legal needs of unaccompanied child refugees. Ms. Brinster’s exploration of possible solutions included the important role for lawyers and the legal profession, including ways in which lawyers can be mobilized to provide crucial assistance.
Ms. Brinster’s concern for the welfare of children in the legal system has been a constant theme in her work beyond the Public Interest Seminar and Clinic. She has been an active member in the school’s student group dedicated to Children, the Children’s Law Society. Upon completion of her first clinical course, she immediately enrolled in the Lawyering Process clinic, obtaining a placement at Children’s Legal Services in Brookline. Her supervisor thought she was outstanding, noting that Ms. Brinster is thoughtful, extremely dependable, and can always be counted on to help whenever needed. Regarding professional responsibility, her supervisor noted that Ms. Brinster always conducted herself professionally and treated people with respect. The supervisor completed her written evaluation with: “Thank you for placing Megan with us. She’s great!” Not surprisingly, Ms. Brinster was invited to continue working with Children’s Legal Services over the summer, which she did.
Kareen Bar-Akiva (Class of 2007) —2007 Recipient
Ms. Bar-Akiva has demonstrated an early commitment to ethics through her work in three clinical courses, with placements both at the school’s in-house clinic and at external placements, and has also provided important leadership in organizing students to perform pro bono work. In her first clinic, the Lawyering Process, Ms. Bar-Akiva represented clients in family law matters and administrative proceedings, under the student practice rule, and assumed a tremendous amount of responsibility as lead counsel on her cases. Her work throughout the semester was outstanding, and she was particularly sensitive in her handling of ethical issues that arose. That same academic year, Ms. Bar-Akiva also volunteered many hours as an interviewer advocate for the Northeastern University Domestic Violence Clinic and Institute, providing important legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. During the time she has served as project coordinator of New England School of Law’s Women’s Law Caucus, the number of New England students volunteering in this program has grown considerably.
Ms. Bar-Akiva’s own work in the area continued through her second clinic, the Public Interest Law Seminar and Clinic. The credit mechanism afforded her the opportunity to dedicate even more time to her work, as she performed a minimum of fifteen hours per week at the Domestic Violence Institute’s Boston Medical Center program. In the final written evaluation submitted to the clinic office, Ms. Bar-Akiva’s supervisor raved about Ms. Bar-Akiva’s dedication to her clients. The supervisor noted that Ms. Bar-Akiva’s “legal work in a medical setting presented unique ethical issues” and that she “understood the confidentiality requirements and successfully navigated through the issues that arose. She was always organized, dedicated, professional, and thoughtful.” Not surprisingly, Ms. Bar-Akiva was one of the top performers on the ethics assignment in the classroom portion of the course, which required students to identify ethical issues that have arisen in their clinical work and analyze them in light of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.
In addition to her clinic work, Ms. Bar-Akiva volunteered enough hours on separate legal projects for the Institute to allow her to become one of the first recipients of the New England School of Law’s new Transcript Recognition Program for Public Service Legal Work, which requires students to perform a minimum of twenty-five hours of appropriate legal work. Ms. Bar-Akiva easily hit the target in the same semester in which she dedicated many hours to her clinic work with great success. Finally, continuing her commitment to service and the delivery of high-quality legal services, Ms. Bar-Akiva is currently enrolled in the school’s Family Law Clinic and is placed in the Family Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services. She continues to dedicate her time and energy to the representation of low-income clients in desperate need of legal assistance, and she continues to demonstrate her commitment to ethics in a way that should make the profession proud.
Marissa Aquila (Class of 2006) —2006 Recipient
Ms. Aquila demonstrated her excellence in the area of professional responsibility through a series of clinical courses, as well as her work on behalf of clients outside the clinics. She completed the Public Interest Law Seminar and Clinic in the fall of 2004, the Family Law Clinic in the fall of 2005, and the Lawyering Process in the spring of 2006. In each of these clinics, she selected placements that involved working on behalf of low-income clients, pursuant to SJC Rule 3:03 . Beyond the clinics, she demonstrated her passion for delivering high-quality legal services by working at Greater Boston Legal Services during the summer of 2005.
In each setting, Ms. Aquila’s supervisors gave her high marks for ethics and professionalism. Her supervisor for the Public Interest Law Clinic, Professor Barbara Oro, rated her as “outstanding” in the category of “professional practices and sensitivity to ethical issues.” Professor Oro noted that Ms. Aquila recognized ethical issues on her own and “was very conscientious about how she proceeded while representing her clients.” Ms. Aquila’s supervisor in the Family Law Clinic, who also worked with her during the summer, gave her top marks in the categories of professional practices and professional responsibility. This supervisor observed that Ms. Aquila “was wonderful with clients—empathetic, but still professional.” She concluded her written evaluation by observing that Ms. Aquila’s clients loved her and trusted her “as an attorney”: “I’d hire her in a minute if we had positions available.”
Ms. Aquila captures the best in terms of compassion, dedication, and professionalism and has achieved an extraordinary record of service through the clinics.
Adrian Walleigh (Class of 2006)—2005 Recipient
Mr. Walleigh completed the Public Interest Law Seminar and Clinic in the fall of 2004 and also has worked both for clinical credit and in a volunteer capacity with Shelter Legal Services. Through his untiring dedication to his clients and to service, he has demonstrated his excellence in the area of professional responsibility and ethics in a manner that should make the legal profession proud.
In analyzing Mr. Walleigh’s handling of ethical issues, his supervisor at Shelter Legal Services noted that this “is probably where Adrian stands out the most.” He constantly was aware of ethical issues lurking in his cases and impressed his supervisor with his thoughtful analysis of the cases. Mr. Walleigh’s supervisor at the in-house clinic similarly noted that he often identified the ethical issues in his cases and came up with several suggestions as to how to handle the issues.
Finally, as a tireless volunteer and student leader for New England School of Law’s chapter of Shelter Legal Services, Mr. Walleigh embodies the spirit of MA Rule 6.1. He dedicates countless hours not only to his own performance of volunteer representation on behalf of homeless clients but to encouraging other members of the student body to do so and has implemented a structure for the organization that enables students to have an opportunity to serve those in need.