Honoring Excellence: Haile, Roberts and Medwed Named 2025 Teachers of the Year
06.05.2025 — Northeastern Law faculty members Andrew Haile, Melanie Roberts and Daniel Medwed are the 2025 recipients of the school’s Teacher of the Year award. Haile and Roberts are the inaugural recipients of this new annual award recognizing teaching excellence and efficacy; devotion to student success; dedication to the social justice mission of the law school; commitment to experiential education; challenging students to think critically and appreciate alternative perspectives; creation of an inclusive learning environment; and innovation in pedagogy and curriculum. Medwed received the established, commencement-related Teacher of the Year award in recognition of his selection by the graduating class to deliver the faculty commencement address.
“We celebrate these three faculty members for their outstanding contributions to our community and to our profession,” said Dean James Hackney. “They are all three clearly making an impact on our students and elevating our curricular offerings.”
Haile, who teaches in the Legal Skills in Social Context program, received the full-time teaching honor while Roberts, who teaches trial practice, received the part-time lecturer honor. They were selected by the Academic and Student Life Committee through a subcommittee composed of students and faculty who reviewed student nominations during the 2024–2025 academic year.
Students praised Haile for his dedication and commitment to his students, with one student deeming it “impossible to find another professor who cares as deeply for his students as Professor Haile.” Yet another student praised his ability “to foster an environment that encourages people to speak up and acknowledges that he wants to hear all voices.”
“It is such a gift to get to teach in the LSSC program, and to mentor and learn from our amazing students. I am incredibly grateful to my students and my cherished colleagues for this honor,” said Haile.
Similarly, students lauded Roberts for her student-focused teaching and pedagogical acumen. One student raved that she “took the daunting ideas of trial practice and broke them down into the basic parts.”
“It is an absolute privilege to support students in bringing their intellect, passion, and personalities into their courtroom advocacy,” said Roberts, who works full time as training director for youth advocacy at the Committee for Public Counsel Services (Massachusetts public defender agency).
Medwed, who was selected in 2025 for the eighth time in his teaching career as faculty commencement speaker at multiple law schools, regaled the commencement audience on May 2, 2025, with stories about his own legal practice prior to entering academia and insisted that “sometimes, as a lawyer, you need not just give voice to the voiceless or to those who’ve paid you to do so, but for yourself.”
Medwed described it is as both “a pleasure and a privilege to be chosen to speak at commencement by this special class of students” and that he “can’t wait to watch their careers take flight.”
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country. Northeastern guarantees its students unparalleled practical legal work experiences through its signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. More than 1,100 employers worldwide in a wide range of legal, government, nonprofit and business organizations participate in the program. With a focus on social justice and innovation, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experiences to successfully practice law.
For more information, contact d.feldman@northeastern.edu.