2011 NLG Annual Testimonial Dinner Honorees

It is our pleasure to announce that this year the Massachusetts Chapter of the NLG will recognize and honor four outstanding Guild members. Karen Blum and Emily Yozell will receive 2011 Lawyer Award; Chip Berlet will receive the Legal Worker Award, and Liz Dedrick will receive the Student Award.

Karen is an Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School where she teaches Civil Procedure, Federal Courts and Police Misconduct Litigation. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Police Accountability Project – a project of the NLG, and sits on the State Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Karen is co-author of “Plice Misconduct: Law and Litigation.”

Emily used to practice as a public defender and as a public interest lawyer specializing in criminal defense, immigration and refugee law. In 1988 she moved to Central America to work with non-governmental human rights organizations. In 1994, she founded Central America’s first public interest environmental litigation project motivated by her experiences as local counsel for banana farm workers injured by toxic pesticides suing US chemical and banana companies.

Chip is Senior Analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville and a vice-president of the Defending Dissent Foundation. Chip writes about how political repression, authoritarian ideology, and supremacist bigotry undermine civil liberties and civil rights. A Guild member for over 35 years, he co-founded the NLG staff union.

Liz is a third year student at Northeastern University School of Law. Before starting at Northeastern, she organized community members and labor activists in upstate New York to pressure government officials to recognize and meet the needs of low-income and working class people. During law school, Liz continued her commitment to social justice by advocating for the unemployed and for hotel and hospitality workers.