Carey Appointed Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern Law

06.22.26 — Naoka Carey, an interdisciplinary scholar whose legal and empirical work focuses on the impact of US mass incarceration on children and communities, has been appointed an assistant teaching professor at Northeastern University School of Law, effective July 1, 2026. She will teach in the Legal Skills in Social Context program, which introduces first-year students to the core skills of legal research and writing as well as effective team lawyering through an extensive legal research project on behalf of a public-service partner organization.

“We are thrilled to welcome Naoka to our community,” said Dean James Hackney. “Her interdisciplinary research on how legal and social welfare systems affect child and adolescent development is both intellectually rigorous and urgently relevant, and her commitment to using empirical methods to drive policy reform reflects the values at the heart of this institution.” 

Prior to joining Northeastern, Carey spent the 2025–2026 academic year as an acting assistant professor of lawyering at NYU School of Law. Previously, she worked as an attorney and policy advocate at Citizens for Juvenile Justice, where she served as executive director, and at the Committee for Public Counsel Services Youth Advocacy Division, where she served as a juvenile justice policy advocate. She also worked as a senior litigation associate at K&L Gates. In addition to her role at Northeastern Law, Carey serves as a senior advisor with the Emerging Adult Justice Project. Her scholarship has been published in multiple empirical and legal journals, including Cornell Law Review, NYU Review of Law & Social Change, JAMA Network Open, Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health and Social Science & Medicine.

Carey received her JD cum laude from NYU School of Law and her PhD in applied developmental and educational psychology from the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. She also holds a master’s degree in education and an AB from Harvard University. She clerked for the Hon. Warren J. Ferguson of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“I am thrilled to be joining the LSSC faculty at Northeastern Law. The students at Northeastern Law are phenomenal, and I am really excited and honored to support them as they develop their legal skills and explore social justice focused work,” said Carey.