Carmen Messano ’77, retired as chief judge of New Jersey’s appellate division, the state’s intermediate court of appeals, after twenty-six years on the bench, sixteen in the appellate division, and ten as chief judge. New Jersey requires all judges to retire upon reaching the age of seventy. With no immediate future plans, he is looking forward to traveling, spending more time at home with his wife and dog, Dante, and reading much of what he never had enough time to read in the past. John Hanify ’74 Hanify, the founder of Middlesex Mediation, expanded the firm’s alternative dispute ..read more

BC Law’s Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (ILHPR) has been named a recipient of an inaugural impact award from Harvard University through its Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative’s (H&LS) Reparative Partnership Grant Program. The H&LS program is meant to address systemic inequities affecting descendant communities of formerly enslaved people, and stems from Harvard’s efforts to address its legacies of slavery through “meaningful, visible, and effective actions.” ILHPR will be partnering with the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), a leading nonpro ..read more

Political commentator, New York Times columnist, and attorney David French visited Boston College Law School on April 25 to impart his views on campus speech and take questions from the audience. French, a US Army veteran, characterizes himself as a free speech absolutist. In his estimation, he’s spent over thirty years litigating over and advocating for free speech and religious liberty, particularly in the realm of higher education. French had an evangelical upbringing and attended David Lipscomb College (now Lipscomb University), a Church of Christ-affiliated private university in Nashville ..read more

The 64th Annual Wendell F. Grimes Moot Court Competition took place at BC Law on April 24. Team Cavatelli’s Allison Carvalho and Bella Burrell emerged victorious in a tightly contested final round, representing the respondents. Close behind were Emma Abrams and Adam Siegel, for the petitioner, of Team Tortellini. Carvalho also clinched the Top Oralist title in the final round. The Top Oralists from the semester’s earlier rounds were 2Ls Burrell, Siegel, Andrea Traietti, and Carolyn Zaccaro. The finalists poured months of preparation into the event, drafting lengthy briefs and participating in ..read more

Boston College Law School has hired eight new faculty for the 2024-2025 academic year, the largest single cohort in recent history. Together with the five arrivals in 2022 and the two in 2023, the newcomers signify a dynamic period of scholarly growth and range for the Law School, adding expertise in everything from technology, bioethics, and criminal law, to intellectual property, child welfare, and constitutional law. “We are so proud to welcome the newest members of our faculty,” said Odette Lienau, the Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean at BC Law. “Each of them brings new perspectives, extensiv ..read more

The Black History at BC Law project, which officially launched in April 2024, was a year in the making. The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and the Black Alumni Network (BAN) had been advocating for support around the archiving of their organizational histories for some time. Shortly after she arrived in January 2023, Dean Odette Lienau formed a team of researchers, administrators, and videographers to tackle the project. The team came up with a proposal: The first part centered on the production of a video featuring Professor Emerita and BAN co-founder Ruth-Arlene Howe ’74. The second p ..read more

The Office of Academic and Student Services at BC Law marked the end of the academic year with the inaugural 5K Fun Run and Reception on April 19. Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff, and families gathered on a beautiful spring afternoon, circling through the neighborhoods of Newton. As part of the Reset series, the event was the finale of the year-long initiative dedicated to mental health and wellbeing activities at the end of each month. Following the 5K, participants enjoyed a BBQ on Stuart Lawn with food, drinks, and music. For more information about upcoming events at BC Law, visit the w ..read more

In 2017, Boston College Law School Professor Frank Garcia, an international law expert, began building a team of students to research and work on various aspects of investment law reform. Their focus was on the risks posed by litigation finance, or third-party funding as it is also called (TPF), to the integrity of the already-troubled investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system and to the developing countries targeted by these funders for investment arbitration claims. Team members included then-students Tara Santosuosso ’19, Randall Scarlett ’19, Leo Gargne ’18, and Hyun Ju “Monica” Cho ..read more

The Intellectual Property and Technology Forum (IPTF) marked a significant milestone on April 10 with its inaugural Writers’ Symposium, held in partnership with the Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The event showcased the culmination of a year’s worth of research by five 1L students on a wide range of IP and tech issues. Dean Odette Lienau’s opening remarks began the evening by celebrating academic achievement.  Since its inception in 1997 by BC Law students, the IPTF has remained entirely student-run and student-led. With a focus on Law School students’ work, it typically publ ..read more

A BC Law mock trial team placed among the top four teams in the country in the National Mock Trial Competition in Houston Texas, presented by the Texas Young Lawyers Association earlier this month. Samantha Cupolo ’24 and Jordan McGuffee ’24 lost a very close round to the eventual winners from the UCLA School of Law. This is the first time in over two decades that a BC Law team advanced to the nationals—and the highest finish for the school since 1983. “It is no accident that Sam and Jordan accomplished what no other BC Law team has accomplished in forty-one years,” said Steve Van Dyke ’08, on ..read more