Recent NLG Events in Pictures

1. The April “NLG Presents…” featured a spirited discussion of the state of the labor movement and recent attacks on public sector employee bargaining rights in Massachusetts and elsewhere.  Andrei Joseph, a high school teacher and Mass Teachers Association leader, shared an activist’s perspective on the plight of unions and how they can move forward.  Attorneys Shelley Kroll and Ira Sills of Segal, Roitman provided  legal and political context, based on their many years representing unions.   And a spirited assembly of Guild members debated the reasons for union decline and how unions can grow again.

“NLG Presents...” speakers present their fascinating analysis on the current and ongoing attacks on working class, labor organizations and unions (l.-r.): Andrei Joseph, Guild member Shelley Kroll, and Ira Sills.

Participants of the presentation - mostly law students and almost all (except one) women. Photos by Urszula Masny-Latos

2. In May the Guild hosted Modesto Ruiz at a reception prepared by Melinda Drew and Jeff Feuer in their cozy and welcoming Arlington home. Modesto Ruiz is a deputy in Venezuela’s National Assembly and the President of the Subcommittee on Legislation, Participation, Warranties, Duties and Rights of African descendants. Most recently he drafted a national law against racial discrimination and intolerance which was passed in mid May.

Modesto Ruiz (center) and John Willshire-Carrera (l.).

Molly, Melinda & Jeff’s precious poodle, knows something important is going on. Photos by Urszula Masny-Latos

At the reception Mr. Ruiz led a very engaging conversation with a group of NLG members on race relations in Venezuela and on the status of Afro-Venezuelans.

3. To welcome Spring and celebrate NLG students, in March the Guild held its Annual Spring Student and Mentorship Cocktail Event. We gathered at Revolution Bar & Lounge in Boston for an evening of wonderful (free!) appetizers, refreshing – spring-like – beverages, and inspring conversation.

The NLG Mentorship Committee hosts these events twice a year (in Spring and Fall) to introduce NLG law students, attorneys, and legal workers to each other, and to pair students with working legal professionals for mentoring purposes.

At this event, we hosted attorneys whose practice ranged from housing law, criminal defense, juvenile law, public defenders to immigration law. We had students from Harvard, New England, Northeastern, and Suffolk law schools. If you are a lawyer or legal worker and would like to establish a mentoring contact with a Guild law student, please let us know and and we’ll enroll you in the NLG Mentorship Program.

Sitting under a watchful glaze of a deer (l.-r.): Carl Williams, Sara DeConde, Daniel Werner (NESL), Urszula Masny-Latos, Camille Marcos, Laura Alfring, Liza Hirsh (NUSL), Stephanie Young (Harvard), Rebecca Amdemariam (Suffolk), and Jonathan Messinger.