Features Nonprofit

Depression. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Abuse. Anxiety. Under “normal” circumstances, many of today’s young people struggle with mental health and learning disorders. Now, add to the mix COVID-19, school closures, civil unrest.   It’s a lot for a child to process, says Brett Dakin, general counsel for the Child Mind Institute, noting that the number of […]

Tim Phillips can’t emphasize it enough: The American Cancer Society’s mission is a lifesaving one. And while the Naval veteran and experienced attorney was attracted to this noble charge—as well as the unique, underlying legal challenges—he hadn’t been impacted by the insidious disease. That was, until 2009 when a close friend and fellow veteran was […]

In the legal world, negotiating and approving contracts can be much the same whether the contract is for widgets or human services. What the contract accomplishes, however, makes a big difference. The former seals deals, the latter can save lives, and it is the latter that has made Adam Lancer’s work more meaningful to him […]

All too often, those who’ve served and put their lives on the line all over the world come home to discover that needed support and benefits are hard to find—or even unavailable. John Muckelbauer, general counsel for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, knows he’s one of the fortunate ones. Since leaving the Marine Corps in […]

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 […]