LEGAL SERVICES CENTER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Clinical Instructor
- Clinical Instructor, Consumer Protection Clinic Lecturer on Law
Alexa joined the Legal Services Center as a clinical instructor in the Consumer Protection Clinic in 2022. Prior to coming to LSC, she represented low-income clients at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) for over nine years. She began her career at GBLS as a Skadden Fellow practicing disability rights law in the Elder, Health, and Disability Unit. In 2015, Alexa transferred to the Consumer Rights Unit at GBLS; for the next six years she represented low-income consumers in state and federal court in a wide variety of matters, including debt collection and foreclosure defense. Alexa was an Arthur Garfield Hays fellow as a student at NYU Law School, and clerked for a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of New York before starting her career as a legal services attorney.
Job Titles:
- Founding Director of the Harvard Law School LGBTQ Advocacy Clinic
- Founding Director, LGBTQ Advocacy Clinic Clinical Instructor Lecturer on Law
Alexander Chen is the Founding Director of the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Alexander's work focuses on expanding the rights of LGBTQ+ people through impact litigation, policy advocacy, and direct representation at both the national and local levels. Previously, Alexander worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the nation's leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations. At NCLR, Alexander engaged in LGBTQ+ impact litigation and policy advocacy in education, employment, health care, housing, prisons, and juvenile justice and child welfare settings. Alexander was a member of the litigation team in the transgender military cases Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump, as well as the landmark Ninth Circuit transgender prisoner surgery access case Edmo v. Corizon. He also co-drafted AB 2119, a bill that made California the first state to guarantee access to transition-related health care for trans youth in foster care.
Alexander has received numerous awards for his work, including being named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Law and Policy, and one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association. He is also a co-founder of the National Trans Bar Association. Alexander received his B.A. from Oxford University, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first openly transgender editor of the Harvard Law Review and worked on trans issues at the Department of Justice, the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. He clerked on the Ninth Circuit for the Hon. M. Margaret McKeown, and in the Southern District of California for the Hon. Gonzalo P. Curiel.
Job Titles:
- Director of Administration
Anna joined the Legal Services Center as the Director of Administration in 2016. Previously, she worked for the Child Advocacy Program and Criminal Justice Institute, both programs of Harvard Law School, and did public interest nonprofit work. Anna received her B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology with a minor in African American Studies from Smith College.
Job Titles:
- Attorney and Clinical Instructor, Federal Tax Clinic
Audrey Patten joined the Legal Services Center in 2015 to represent survivors of domestic violence in consumer law cases, dealing primarily with debt collections and bankruptcy. Audrey then joined the Tax Clinic in 2017. Prior to working at the Legal Services Center, Audrey was a staff attorney at Northeast Legal Aid, Inc. in Lowell, Mass. Audrey graduated from Emory University School of Law in 2012, where she was a managing editor of the Emory International Law Review and a student in the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, the Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic, and the Emory Supreme Court Advocacy Project. She was also Emory's recipient of the Clinical Legal Education Association's Outstanding Student Award. Audrey holds an M.A. in Regional Studies - East Asia from Harvard University and a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Clinical Instructor
- Attorney and Senior Clinical Instructor, Veterans Legal Clinic
Dana Montalto is an Attorney and Clinical Instructor in the Veterans Law Clinic, where she represents low-income veterans who received less-than-honorable discharge in military discharge upgrades and federal and state veteran benefits. Dana also works on systemic reform initiatives to improve the institutions that serve our nation's veterans, which has included authoring Underserved: How the VA Wrongfully Excludes Veterans with Bad Paper and founding the Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership.
Dana received her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Wellesley College and her law degree from Yale Law School, where she participated in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic and the International Refugee Assistance Project. After graduating, Dana clerked for the Honorable F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and then joined the Legal Services Center as an Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellow in 2014.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Clinical Professor of Law Faculty Director, Legal Services Center Faculty Director, Veterans Legal Clinic
Daniel Nagin is Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Legal Services Center. He is also Faculty Director of the Legal Service Center's Veterans Legal Clinic, which he founded in 2012. His teaching and research interests include clinical education, social welfare law and policy, and legal services for veterans.
Nagin holds a B.A. in History and Government, Phi Beta Kappa and with distinction in all subjects, from Cornell University, an M.A. from Stanford University, and a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received the Edwin F. Mandel Award for excellence as a clinical law student. View Nagin's Harvard Law School faculty webpage here.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University School of Social Work
- Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School 's LGBTQ Advocacy Clinic
- Clinical Instructor, LGBTQ Advocacy Clinic
Deborah Lolai (she/her) is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School's LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. She brings almost two decades of experience in community organizing, policy making, direct legal services, and teaching on a range of social justice issues with a focus on policing, mass incarceration, and gender and sexuality to her role. Deborah is one of the leading experts in the area of representing LGBTQ people in criminal cases and improving conditions of confinement for TGNCNBI people.
Deborah was a public defender at The Bronx Defenders for nearly a decade, where she represented thousands of clients. She was the Founding Director of the LGBTQ Defense Project, the first project of its kind in the country at a public defense organization. In that role, she represented LGBTQ clients in direct legal services, advocated for policy changes impacting criminalized LGBTQ people, and offered training and technical assistance for organizations striving to better serve LGBTQ communities. Deborah was amongst the first appointed members of the NYC Board of Correction Task Force on Issues Faced by TGNCNBI People in Custody in 2019, and co-authored the first report of the Task Force published in August, 2022. In addition to her work on the Task Force, Deborah has worked on many successful legislative and policy campaigns improving the experience of criminalized LGBTQ people.
Deborah has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University School of Social Work since 2019, where she teaches three courses: Advocacy, Contemporary Social Issues, and LGBTQ Communities. Deborah's publications can be found in the Tulane Journal of Law and Sexuality, The New York Law Journal, and Bustle Magazine. Deborah is the proud recipient of the Community Excellence Award by the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York in 2021, the New York State Bar Association's Award for Outstanding Achievements in Promoting Standards of Excellence in Mandated Representation in 2020, and the New York Law Journal Trailblazers Award in 2019.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director, Legal Services Center Clinical Instructor and Director, Estate Planning Project of the Veterans Legal Clinic
- of Harvard Law School in 2018 As a Clinical Instructor
Destini joined the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School in 2018 as a Clinical Instructor and the Estate Planning Project Director of the Veterans Legal Clinic. Destini's clinic work focuses on providing free legal representation to veterans on matters such as drafting wills, powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, and trusts. Prior to joining the Veterans Legal Clinic, Destini was most recently an Assistant Director in the Co-op and Career Development Office at Northeastern University School of Law, where she also served as the Mock Trial Coach for NUSL's National Mock Trial Team. She has also taken on pro bono cases through the Community Legal Services and Counseling Center's Immigration Law Project and the Elder Law Project of the Women's Bar Foundation, where she assisted older persons in drafting their estate planning documents. Previously, Destini was a Trial Attorney with the Children and Family Law Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Originally from Arizona, Destini received her B.S. in Justice Studies and Social Inquiry from Arizona State University, graduating summa cum laude. She is also a graduate of New York University School of Law, where she was the recipient of the Dean John Sexton Prize for outstanding service to the law school community.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Chang is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Head of Harvard Psychiatry at VA Boston Healthcare System. She is also the first female Chair of the Harvard Executive Committee of Harvard Chairs of Psychiatry. Dr. Chang's clinical interests focus on the substance use disorders and consultation-liaison Psychiatry.
Dr. Mekdessi grew up in a multicultural household in Houston, TX before pursuing a degree in Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences at the University of Houston. While at University of Texas Medical Branch SOM, Dr. Mekdessi directed a large student-run free clinic serving 2 counties, where his love for caring for the underserved grew. He is currently a resident in general adult psychiatry at the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Program. His areas of interest include geriatric psychiatry, cultural psychiatry, and integrated care.
Dr. Daly grew up in "The City of Champions," Brockton, Massachusetts and was overjoyed to return to his hometown for residency training. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst for undergraduate and graduate studies as well as University of Massachusetts Worcester School of Medicine. He is currently a PGY-3 resident in general adult psychiatry at the Harvard South Shore Program. His interests include residential treatment, consult-liaison psychiatry, medical education, and he looks forward to pursuing further training in child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship.
Dr. Chen was born and raised in Changsha, China. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor's degree in neuroscience. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from State University of New York Upstate University. She is currently a resident in general adult psychiatry at the Harvard South Shore program with interests in inpatient, addiction, and forensic psychiatry.
Dr. Aydinian received her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science and Health Promotion from Arizona State University. She graduated from medical school at Rocky Vista University in Denver, Colorado. During her graduate education, she worked actively in the policy sector of the American Medical Association and engaged in patient advocacy on the state level. Dr. Aydinian is currently a resident at the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Residency Training Program. She is especially interested in consult-liaison psychiatry, perinatal psychiatry, and medical education.
Job Titles:
- Attorney, Federal Tax Clinic
Elizabeth Segovis joined LSC's Tax Clinic in 2022. Elizabeth is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, Texas. She also has a Master of Arts in criminal Justice from SUNY Albany and a Master of Science in Taxation with honors from Bryant University in Rhode Island. Elizabeth retired from Rhode Island Legal Services (RILS) after 25 years in 2018. At RILS she was Director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and Director of Training. Prior to working with RILS, she practiced family and criminal law for fifteen years in Texas.
Elizabeth has been a frequent speaker for the Rhode Island Bar Association and other professional organizations, especially as tax law impacts low income taxpayers and those in family court. The Rhode Island Bar Association gave Elizabeth the 2000 Dorothy Lohmann Community Service Award. This award recognizes Rhode Island attorneys who donate their time and legal expertise for charitable work.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Receptionist
Geny joined the Legal Services Center as the Bilingual Administrative Assistant in 2022. Prior to coming to LSC, she worked in the health care field helping Medicare recipients. Geny earned her associates degree in business administration from Bay State College. She is very excited to be part of the LSC team and looks forward to helping the community.
Job Titles:
- Fellow, Tax Litigation Clinic
- of Harvard Law School in 2023 As a Fellow
Hufsa Husain joined the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School in 2023 as a Fellow of the Tax Litigation Clinic. Originally from Texas, she received her B.B.A. in Management Information Systems from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin in 2019. She went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, in 2023. During law school, she enjoyed honing her Arbitrations skills through Board of Advocates competitions, as well as beginning to practice poverty law through her time with the Child Advocacy Clinic and the Federal Tax Clinic.
Job Titles:
- Senior Fellow
- Senior Fellow, Veterans Legal Clinic
Jack is a Senior Fellow at the Legal Services Center, working in its Veterans Legal Clinic. He is a retired partner in the Boston office of WilmerHale's Litigation Department, where he was a member of its Intellectual Property Litigation and Business Trial Practice Groups. Jack served for many years as Co-chair of WilmerHale's Pro Bono Committee, and had an active pro bono practice, including extensive work in Haiti, the representation of veterans, and counseling nonprofits in many sectors.
Jack is a former President of the Boston Bar Association, serves on boards of international humanitarian relief and inner city education nonprofits, and is a trustee of the Lynch Foundation, a major charitable grant maker.
Jack is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar. Jack served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy on a frigate.
Job Titles:
- Attorney and Lecturer on Law, Housing Law Clinic Director, Housing Justice for Survivors Project
Julia Devanthéry co-teaches the Housing Clinic and directs the Housing Justice for Survivors Project, which she founded in 2017. The Housing Justice for Survivors Project trains clinical law students to represent tenants who are facing housing instability due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Students under Julia's supervision provide direct client representation, develop and litigate impact litigation, conduct housing rights trainings for community members and advocates, and engage in local, state, and federal law reform efforts aimed at improving the housing rights of survivors. Julia and students in the Housing Justice project represented the tenant in BHA v. YA, 482 Mass. 240 (2019), in which the Supreme Judicial Court decided affirmed a domestic violence survivor's right to raise the Violence Against Women Act defense to a non-payment of rent eviction.
From 2018-2020, Julia was the Dignity for All Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California where she worked to safeguard the civil rights of people experiencing homelessness and advance the right to safe, affordable housing for all.
Julia is the author of Boston Housing Authority v. Y.A., 482 Mass. 240 (2019): SJC Clarifies VAWA Defenses in Eviction Cases, Early Lease Termination Under G.L. c. 186 s 24: An Essential Escape Route for Tenants Who are Facing Domestic Violence Sexual Assault or Stalking and The Supreme Judicial Court's Decision in Beacon Residential v. R.P. Gives Survivors of Domestic Violence Their Day in Housing Court, all published in the Boston Bar Journal, and co-author of Chapter 12: Evictions in the 8th edition of Massachusetts Law Reform's pro se manual Legal Tactics: Tenant's Rights In Massachusetts. She also co-authored an ACLU report exposing abuse, neglect, and unsafe living conditions inside county-funded homeless shelters in Southern California. Julia received her juris doctor from Northeastern University School of Law and she graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Sociology.
Job Titles:
- Senior Clinical Instructor and Director, Safety Net Project
Julie joined the Center's staff in June 1994 and is an authorized non-attorney legal representative. She specializes in disability matters and runs a high volume administrative law practice, chiefly before the Administrative Law Judges of the Social Security Administration. She supervises clinical students representing clients in administrative settings. In providing holistic service to clients, she also works on employment, estate planning, consumer and other benefits issues and collaborates with the Estate Planning Project, the Consumer Protection Clinic, the Family Law Clinic, the Housing Clinic, the Tax Clinic and the Veterans Legal Clinic to address clients broader needs. Having emigrated from Ireland where she received her law degree in 1989, Julie worked at Community Legal Aid (then LACCM) in Worcester representing clients in public benefits, housing, consumer and employment law. At LACCM, she organized membership of all non-management attorneys and staff with the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), District 65, UAW and served as the new local's first president. She co-teaches on disability and administrative law as part of the Veteran's Law and Disability Benefits workshops offered at Harvard Law School. She coordinates the Center's People's Law School "Know Your Rights" community legal education workshops and has given numerous presentations to national and state wide groups on Access to Justice, Social Security and disability related issues. Julie received a B.A. in Law and Economics, and an L.L.B. in Civil and Canonical Law from Ollscoil na hEireann, Gaillimh (National University of Ireland Galway, Republic of Ireland).
Job Titles:
- Paralegal and Pro Bono Coordinator, Veterans Legal Clinic
Lisa joined LSC in September 2021. Prior to coming to LSC, she worked at a family law firm in California after completing the American Bar Association accredited paralegal certificate program at the University of San Diego. In addition to the paralegal certificate, Lisa holds a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Director, Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership
Margaret Kuzma is an Attorney in the Veterans Legal Clinic, where she represents low-income veterans upgrade their less-than-honorable discharges. She also works as the Director of the Veterans Inclusion Project at the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center. She has taught as a visiting clinical lecturer with the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, and co-founded the Veterans Law Project at Quinnipiac University School of Law. Margaret started her legal career as a Skadden Fellow Attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago, Illinois where she served low-income veterans and military families. Before becoming a public interest attorney, Margaret worked as the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator for Fort Benning and USAG Baumholder. Margaret received her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and her B.A. from Brown University.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Instructor, Family Law & Domestic Violence Clinic
Marianna Yang joined the Legal Services Center in December 2019. Since 2002, Marianna has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in various fields including MassTorts (MDL) Litigation, litigation involving Class A railroad companies, and most recently, in Child Welfare and Domestic Relations litigation. She serves as a panel member in the CPCS Child and Family Law Division Trial Panel and the Appellate Panel. She is also a trained mediator and a member of the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council.
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney
- Managing Attorney Director, Housing Law Clinic Lecturer on Law
Maureen joined the Center in January 1998 as a Clinical Instructor in the Housing Law Clinic. Prior to her work at the Center, Maureen, for ten years, specialized in the representation of indigent individuals in criminal defense and child abuse and neglect cases. She served as a Mentor Attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services' Children and Family Law Program, where she instructed attorneys who were new to practice in that area of law. Maureen has volunteered as a Citizen Teacher with the Citizen Schools program, mentoring Boston Public Middle School students in a Legal Apprenticeship Program that met at LSC. She is also adjunct faculty at the Urban College of Boston, which is affiliated with Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. Maureen received her B.A. from Suffolk University in 1980 and her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 1987.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Instructor
- Clinical Instructor, Family Law and Domestic Violence Clinic
Rebecca Greening is Clinical Instructor, Family Law and Domestic Violence Clinic. She is a graduate of Northeastern University Law School with an undergraduate degree in social work from New York University. Her career has focused on representing clients in family law and child welfare matters with an emphasis on domestic relations/divorce cases, child support actions, paternity actions, guardianships, and care and protection cases, including actions to terminate parental rights. Prior to coming to LSC, she worked as a private attorney and as a court appointed trial attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services' Children and Family Law Division in Juvenile and Probate courts representing parents and children who can't afford an attorney in state intervention/child welfare cases.
Job Titles:
- Senior Clinical Instructor, Consumer Protection Clinic Lecturer on Law
Roger joined the Legal Services Center's Housing Law Clinic in 1993. He is now a Clinical Instructor and Attorney in the Consumer Protection Clinic and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. He supervises students negotiating and litigating predatory mortgage, bankruptcy, and consumer cases. Additionally, Roger teaches a Predatory Lending Workshop and co-teaches Consumer Law at HLS. He has given numerous presentations to national and state wide groups on mortgage and consumer issues.
Prior to his work at the Legal Services Center, Roger was an attorney in legal services in Missouri and Massachusetts, specializing in consumer cases, elder cases and complex litigation. His work included an emphasis on mortgage problems and foreclosures. Roger received his B.A. at the University of Northern Iowa and his J.D. at the University of Iowa.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law, Housing Clinic
Samir Hanna co-teaches in the Housing Clinic and leads a new medical-legal partnership with Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. In this partnership, students work holistically with Brigham's Social Care Team to represent tenants in housing court as they deal with housing instability.
Prior to joining the Legal Services Center, Hanna taught at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) where he supervised second and third-year students in housing cases, social security hearings and unemployment insurance hearings. At HLAB he successfully supervised students through a five-day jury trial leading to a verdict of over $10,000 for the tenant.
Hanna has also taught at the University of Michigan Law School in the Unemployment Insurance Clinic(now known as the Workers' Rights Clinic). At Michigan Law, Hanna designed and taught clinic seminar classes for first, second, and third year students. Hanna supervised students in complex administrative litigation, appellate brief writing, and oral argument.
Prior to the being faculty at Michigan Law, Hanna served as an administrative law judge for the State of Michigan, presiding over and issuing more than 1,500 decisions in administrative appeals. In his capacity as an administrative law judge, Hanna developed unique insight into the administrative adjudication process and the inner workings of state administrative agencies.
Before joining the bench, Hanna worked in legal aid and maintained his own private practice, which focused on indigent clients charged with unemployment fraud. He has worked for the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Professor
- Clinical Professor of Law, Emeritus
Keith Fogg is clinical professor of law, emeritus and former director of the Federal Tax Clinic at the Legal Services Center. He joined the Harvard faculty in 2017 after teaching at Villanova Law School for a decade. He got the tax clinic at Harvard off the ground in 2015 and 2016 while serving as a visiting professor. Prior to teaching at Villanova he worked for over 30 years with the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS. Professor Fogg received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary, his J.D. from the University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law and his M.L.T. in tax from the College of William and Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law. He developed a course for the Georgetown LLM program, Federal Taxation of Bankruptcy and Workouts, which he taught there for 15 years as an adjunct. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at William and Mary and University of Richmond law schools and as a visiting professor at University of Arizona.
He is a national authority on tax procedure especially in the area of collection and bankruptcy law as it relates to tax. He co-authors a blog with Professor Les Book, procedurallytaxing.com, which focuses on current tax procedure issues. Fogg served as the editor of the ABA Tax Section publication "Effectively Representing Your Client before the IRS" for the 5th, 6th and 7th Editions. He authors the collection chapters in "IRS Practice and Procedure" created by Michael Saltzman and currently edited by Les Book. He was chosen as the IRS Chief Counsel Robert H. Jackson National Attorney of the Year in 2007 and the ABA Tax Section Janet R. Spragens Pro Bono Award winner in 2015. He is a past chair of the ABA Tax Section Pro Bono and Tax Clinics Committee, a past council member of the Section and served as vice-chair for publications.