Features Nonprofit

Call it a sign of the times. This past May, Sesame Street introduced a new character to its neighborhood: a bright green Muppet with bursting pigtails named Karli. Viewers learned early on that Karli had spent time in foster care. Recently, America learned why: Karli’s mother was in treatment for addiction. Helping to mold the […]

For Robert Frankel, writing became a way of life as he litigated insurance cases for policyholders in Philadelphia at the firm of Anderson Kill & Olick, but not for the usual reasons. To establish himself in the field, he was encouraged to speak and write as much as possible, going above and beyond his workload. […]

They’ve existed since at least 2,300 BCE, with records from ancient Mesopotamia highlighting everything from marriage and mortgages to adoptions and bankruptcy. Without them, there would be no civilization, let alone markets or governments. And yet, these documents have become so fundamental to the human experience (and the daily lives of lawyers) that their importance […]

As if the legal education wasn’t stressful enough, M. Dru Levasseur had the additional challenge of transitioning from female to male while enrolled at the Western New England University School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts, during the early and mid-2000s. “It’s a very individualized process,” says Levasseur, who would earn his juris doctorate in 2006. […]

When Robynn Van Patten decided to take a self-imposed sabbatical and move her family to France, following a succession of heartbreaking losses and years of taxing work, the veteran general counsel did something she’d never done before: she kept the calendar open. Childrearing by day, wine and writing by night, Van Patten tried to put […]

It’s a question he’s often asked, and one that Joel Stern seems to enjoy every time it’s posed—how he, a 60-year-old, heterosexual white man—was selected in 2014 as chief executive officer of NAMWOLF, the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms. “You’ve just called out the elephant in the room,” Stern says with […]

When you’re prosecuting organized crime rings by your mid-30s, representing one of the most visible districts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, it’s worth wondering how much higher the lawyer’s ceiling can get—let alone the daily adrenaline rush. Fearing his career might never split from its current track, David Foster did what any hungry young lawyer […]

Short of founding your own firm, being able to grow in tandem with a legal-backed institution—through all the triumphs and pitfalls that follow—is something of a rarity. Then again, there’s a lot about Vee Leonard’s story that seems unlikely. Married at 18, mother at 19, law degree some quarter-century later and myriad life trials, Vee […]

Long before becoming chief legal officer, general counsel and senior vice president of legal at the central nonprofit agency SourceAmerica, which creates employment opportunities for persons with significant disabilities and is based in Washington D.C., Raquel Tamez went through the ringer at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, and before that, […]

Ask Tina R. Patel who her clients are and she’ll tell you “the kids,” all 35,000 of them. Then, she’ll pause, take a breath, and list all her other clients: the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jose L. Parra; the board of trustees, the campus principals, the teachers and the executive cabinet. Patel is the chief […]