Roundtable on hosted by the Rappaport Center in January 2009
The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy is a privately endowed public interest law center administered by and located on the grounds of Boston College Law SchoolBoston, Massachusetts. The center offers financial support and career counseling to individuals interested in public interest law and public policy work and provides a forum for discussion of such work.[1] The center also occasionally commissions polls to gauge public attitudes on various public policy issues.[2]
Alasdair Roberts and Massachusetts Treasurer Steve Grossman at the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service in January 2014
The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service was established at Suffolk University Law School in 2007, with the support of a gift from the Jerome L. Rappaport Foundation.[3] The center was shut down by Suffolk University in August 2014 for financial reasons. Renamed the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, it re-opened at Boston College Law School in the spring of 2015.[4][5]
Rappaport Chair in Law and Public Policy
The Rappaport Chair in Law and Policy was established at Suffolk University in 2006 with a gift from the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation, to provide a "a position for a nationally recognized academic leader in law and public policy."[6] This was the first endowed chair in the history of Suffolk University.[7]Alasdair Roberts was appointed as the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Professor of Law and Public Policy in 2008.[8] The gift supporting the chair was returned to the donor in 2014.[9]
Rappaport Fellows
The center was created in part for the purpose of "educating, supporting and mentoring students with an interest in public policy and public service."[10] To this end, the center now manages the law student portion of the Rappaport Fellows program, which was created in 2000 to provide summer public interest fellowships to students from each of the six Boston-area law schools: Boston College Law School, Boston University Law School, Harvard Law School, New England School of Law, Northeastern University Law School, and Suffolk University Law School.[11] Fellowships for graduate students in other public policy-related disciplines are offered by the Rappaport Center's sister institution, the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.[12] Rappaport Fellows receive summer job placements that allow them to "work with top public policymakers and government officials on key issues that affect the citizens of Greater Boston and Massachusetts."[13]
Public interest career development
The center also provides career development information for students who wish to work in public interest law, including roles with non-profit organizations and government entities.[14] According to director Susan Prosnitz, "Any student or alumni or any lawyer anywhere in Boston who is in pursuit of a career in public service can come here and get help getting there."[15]
Public interest events
Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill (right) and Professor Alasdair Roberts (left) participate in roundtable discussion at Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service, Suffolk University Law School in October 2008
Besides its student-oriented programs, the Rappaport Center also sponsors and organizes numerous public policy symposia, lectures, and other events designed to promote "engagement in public issues for faculty, students, government officials and policymakers."[10] The center is located in Boston's downtown across the street from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill. Past programs have addressed such topics as government secrecy, child welfare, civil rights, professional ethics, managing the bailout and public accountability after the age of newspapers.[16]
A February 2009 event[17] brought together leading government representatives to discuss the management of the federal "bailout" of the financial sector.
The Center also holds periodic roundtables that provide a forum for open conversation on critical issues. The roundtables include a broad range of stakeholders and conversations are conducted on an off-the-record basis unless all panelists would prefer to hold an open discussion. Roundtables are held in the Law School's faculty boardroom from noon to 1:30pm, and are accompanied by a casual lunch.
The first roundtable[18] was held on October 3, 2008, and addressed the federal response to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Speakers included Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill. The second roundtable[19] on the state's budget crisis was hosted by the Center on January 30, 2009.
The University of Massachusetts Boston is a public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system.
Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the tenth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a law school in 1906 and named after its location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The university is also host to its namesake public opinion poll, the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
John Joseph Moakley was an American politician who served as the United States representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent Louise Day Hicks in a 1972 rematch; the seat had been held two years earlier by the retiring Speaker of the House John William McCormack. Moakley was the last Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Rules before Republicans took control of the chamber in 1995. He is the namesake of Joe Moakley Park in Boston, Massachusetts which was renamed in his honor in 2001 after his death.
Massachusetts shares with the five other New England states a governmental structure known as the New England town. Only the southeastern third of the state has functioning county governments; in western, central, and northeastern Massachusetts, traditional county-level government was eliminated in the late 1990s. Generally speaking, there are four kinds of public school districts in Massachusetts: local schools, regional schools, vocational/technical schools, and charter schools.
Cathy E. Minehan was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from 1994 until her retirement in July 2007. Minehan also served as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the body responsible for U.S. monetary policy. She was "appointed Dean of the School of Management of Simmons College, a private university, in August 2011 and is Managing Director of Arlington Advisory Partners, a private advisory services firm."
Suffolk University Law School is the private, non-sectarian law school of Suffolk University located in downtown Boston, across the street from the Boston Common and the Freedom Trail, two blocks from the Massachusetts State House, and a short walk to the financial district. Suffolk Law was founded in 1906 by Gleason Archer Sr. to provide a legal education for those who traditionally lacked the opportunity to study law because of socio-economic or racial discrimination.
Kerry Murphy Healey is an American politician and educator serving as President Emerita of Babson College. She previously served as the 70th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 under Governor Mitt Romney. A former member of the Republican Party, she was the party's nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in the 2006 gubernatorial election, but was defeated by Deval Patrick.
Jarrett Tomás Barrios is an American politician and activist. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region. Prior to this, he was the CEO of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. Barrios was a member of both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate and became the first Latino and first openly gay man elected to the Massachusetts Senate. He subsequently was president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and, later, of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
Robert Laurent Caret is an American academic and university administrator. He is the former chancellor of the University System of Maryland and former president of San José State University, Towson University and the University of Massachusetts System.
The Northeastern University School of Law is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Alasdair S. Roberts is a Canadian professor at the School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and author of articles and books on public policy issues, especially relating to government secrecy and the exercise of government authority.
The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston is a research and policy center housed at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The director is Jeffrey B. Liebman, a professor of economics at Harvard University.
Jerome Lyle Rappaport was an American lawyer, developer, political leader, and landlord. Rappaport is also known for his philanthropy in Boston, Massachusetts, and Stuart, Florida. He was the general partner of one of the most controversial developments of the urban renewal era, the West End Project, from which he created a 48-acre urban neighborhood known as Charles River Park.
Alan Khazei is an American social entrepreneur. He served as chief executive officer of City Year, an AmeriCorps national service program he co-founded with Michael Brown, his friend and roommate at Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
John F. Keenan is a member of the Massachusetts State Senate for the Norfolk and Plymouth district.
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student body numbered around 230, of whom 36 percent were international students from 70 countries, and around a quarter were U.S. minorities.
John Fish is an American businessman. He is the Chairman and CEO of Suffolk Construction Company, the largest building company in New England. He is chairman of The Real Estate Roundtable and led the private effort to secure Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Fish was the chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and was the chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. According to Forbes, as of 2024 he has a net worth of $2.3 billion, owing to his 100% stake in Suffolk.
Tram Nguyen is an American politician serving as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 18th Essex District. She represents the towns of Andover, Boxford, North Andover, and Tewksbury. Nguyen serves as the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Steering, Policy & Scheduling and member of Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use & Recovery Committee, Joint Committee on Municipalities & Regional Governments, Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion, and House Committee Human Resources & Employee Engagement. Prior to being elected as the first Vietnamese-American woman in the Massachusetts Legislature, Nguyen was an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services providing support for survivors of domestic violence, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, low-wage workers, and others from vulnerable communities. Nguyen is the highest ranking Asian American woman in the Massachusetts legislature.
Rachael Splaine Rollins is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. attorney for District of Massachusetts from 2022 to 2023. Before that, she was the district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
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