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Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC)

Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration

The Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC) takes the lead in infusing the law school’s public interest mission into all facets of the student experience.

While supporting the law school’s long-standing commitment to social justice, the center also pilots programs and initiatives that address broader justice issues. The center’s most recent projects have focused on applying design and data strategies to find new interventions in the Cradle-to-Prison pipeline, centering community lawyering as a practice method and connecting students with pro bono opportunities.

Mission

Through teaching, practice, research and networking, CPIAC seeks to enhance the role of law and legal practice in achieving social, economic, and environmental justice in all dimensions. Searching for innovative and holistic solutions to contemporary social justice challenges, we work across disciplines; we engage with academic, professional, advocacy and grassroots communities; and we develop approaches to legal education geared toward this mission.

Core Values

  • Upholding democratic values and working as a catalyst for systemic transformation on behalf of and in collaboration with vulnerable populations and communities that promotes the realization of social justice.
  • Promoting action-oriented research and public-policy initiatives, strategic collaborations and experiential, cross-disciplinary learning.

Institutional Goals

  • To assure that NUSL remains the premier public interest law school
  • To develop the best law school-based, interdisciplinary public interest law center
  • To develop the premier public interest “pipeline” by recruiting and training the next generation of social justice lawyers, and facilitating their entry upon graduation into fulfilling public interest careers.
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In recognition of its national leadership in preparing students for public interest lawyering, Northeastern University School of Law has been ranked No. 1 for public interest in the 2021 “back to school” issue of preLaw magazine.

 

Leadership

FACULTY DIRECTOR
Professor Lucy Williams
email: lu.williams@northeastern.edu
617.373.4537

Professor Lucy Williams, an internationally recognized authority on welfare law and low-wage labor, as well as international comparative social and economic rights, directs the Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration.

MANAGING DIRECTOR
Shannon Al-Wakeel
Managing Director
email: s.al-wakeel@northeastern.edu

Shannon Al-Wakeel is the managing director of the Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration. A community lawyer and public policy advocate, she was previously executive director of the Muslim Justice League for five years. Shannon received her JD from Harvard Law School in 2010. She worked in the immigration unit at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute as a Kaufman Fellow and went on to serve as state policy director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA).

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR PUBLIC INTEREST AND GOVERNMENT
Renay Frankel is Associate Director for Public Interest and Government at Northeastern Law's Center for Co-op and Career Development. In this role, she supports and advises  students interested in public interest co-ops and post-graduate jobs. Renay is also CPIAC’s Pro Bono Liaison, collaborating with CPIAC to develop and promote pro bono opportunities for students.

Renay joined Northeastern Law’s co-op office in 2017 after providing career advising to law students as the Assistant Director of Harvard Law School’s Office of Public Interest Advising. Prior to working in career services, Renay practiced for 8 years in the public sector. She started her legal career as a public defender in Roxbury, Mass., with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). She also worked as a housing attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services. In 2009, she was the recipient of a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship, which led to the creation of a unique position at the Committee for Public Counsel Services to expand the public defender agency’s holistic defense practice and address clients’ civil legal issues. In this role, she provided training and advice to court-appointed criminal defense attorneys in Massachusetts regarding the civil consequences of criminal cases. She also facilitated collaboration between the public defender agency, civil legal services providers and community partners in order to support public defender clients.

Student Advisory Board

CPIAC’s Student Advisory Board plays a key role in ensuring CPIAC continues to provide meaningful opportunities for student involvement that align with students’ educational goals and social justice passions.  The Student Advisory Board is open to any Northeastern Law student interested in contributing their ideas and insights to uphold and strengthen NUSL’s vibrant public interest culture.

2021-2022 Student Advisory Board Members:
Maya Brown ’22 | Gabriella Capocelli ’22 | Robert Mogollon ’23 | Bianca Pickering ’22 | Jennifer Reale ’23 | Shayna Scott ’22

To learn more or get involved, contact Shannon Al-Wakeel at s.al-wakeel@northeastern.edu.

Recent News

 

Frequent Tragedies Spur ‘Mass Shooting Protocol’ Handbook for Local Officials
May 23

Frequent Tragedies Spur ‘Mass Shooting Protocol’ Handbook for Local Officials

Sarah Peck ’96, director of #UnitedOnGuns, a nonpartisan initiative of Northeastern Law’s Public Health Advocacy Institute, joined NPR’s All Things Considered to talk about the Mass Shooting Protocol and Playbook, a checklist and handbook produced in collaboration with a group of US mayors who have presided over large-scale shooting incidents. These resources provide a guide for mayors to prepare for, respond to, the needs of survivors and their communities when recovering from a mass shooting.
‘Stay in the Race.’ The Honorable Victoria Roberts ’76 Inspires Northeastern Law Graduates To Pursue Justice
May 23

‘Stay in the Race.’ The Honorable Victoria Roberts ’76 Inspires Northeastern Law Graduates To Pursue Justice

The Honorable Victoria Roberts ’76 delivered a rousing commencement speech at Friday’s ceremony and urged the class of 2022 not to let “the challenges of practicing law ever defeat you.”
Will the US Now Jump Through Hoops To Bring WNBA Player Brittney Griner Home?
May 20

Will the US Now Jump Through Hoops To Bring WNBA Player Brittney Griner Home?

Calling Brittney Griner wrongfully detained “opens up options for engagement in her case, including potential diplomatic options,” says Professor Xander Meise.
She Pioneered the Sale of Breast Milk, Then Lost Everything
May 17

She Pioneered the Sale of Breast Milk, Then Lost Everything

“[Nonprofit milk banks] are saddened by the idea that this product that they believe in very strongly and think would benefit a lot of babies would be less accessible if allocated on the basis of company profit rather than patient need,” Professor Kara Swanson, author of Banking on the Body,” tells The Washington Post. “In the history of U.S. medicine, there has never been enough banked breast milk for all the babies that might benefit.”