MARY E. O'CONNELL 80 Cargill Hall Northeastern University School of Law 400 Huntington Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02115 (617) 373-3918 FAX (617) 373-5056 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2007 Visiting Professor Boston University School of Law 2006-2007 Visiting Scholar, U Mass. Memorial Health Care Dept. of Psychiatry Child and Family Forensic Center Worcester, Massachsuetts 2001-2004 Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Northeastern University School of Law 1996 Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, Northeastern University Urban Law and Public Policy Institute. 1982-present Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law. Subjects: Family Law, Education Law, Property 1979-1982 Director, Legal Research and Writing Program, Northeastern University School of Law. 1976-1979 Associate, Foley, Hoag and Eliot, Boston. Areas of practice: public utilities law, insurance law, litigation. Volunteer representation in family law and employment law through the Massachusetts Volunteer Lawyers Project. 1975-1976 Law Clerk to the Honorable Sidney W. Wernick, Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine.
EDUCATION: Northeastern University School of Law, J.D. 1975. Brandeis University, B.A., 1970, cum laude. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS: Mandated Custody Evaluations and the Limits of Judical Power, 47 Family Court Review 304 (2009). When Noble Aspirations Fail: Why We Need the Approximation Rule, 1 Child Development Perspectives 129 (2007). Final Report: The Family Law Education Reform Project, 44 Family Court Review 524 (2006). The Riddle of Troxel: Is Grandma the State?, 41 Family Court Review 77 ( 2003) Book Review: Pauline Tessler, Collaborative Law, 40 Family Court Review 403 (2002) Book Review: John Eekelaar et al., Family Lawyers: The Divorce Work of Solicitors, 40 Family Court Review 153 (2002). "Parent Education's Second Generation: Integrating Violence Sensitivity," 37 Family and Conciliation Courts Review 24 (1999) (with Dr. Geri S.W. Fuhrmann and Joseph McGill). Guest Editor, 27 Family and Concilation Courts Review, No. 3 (1999). Special Issue on Domestic Violence. The Rugged Feminism of Sandra Day O Connor, 32 Indiana Law Rev. 1219 (1999) (with Judith Olans Brown and Wendy E. Parmet). "Contingent Lives: The Economic Insecurity of Contingent Workers", 52 Washington and Lee L. Rev. 889 (1995)
"Coming Unfringed: The Unraveling of Job-based Entitlements", The American Prospect (Spring 1993). "On the Fringe: Rethinking the Link Between Wages and Benefits." 67 Tulane L. Rev.1421 (1993). "The Rehnquist Court's Road to Serfdom", The American Prospect (Spring 1992) (with Wendy E. Parmet). "Alimony After No-Fault: A Practice in Search of a Theory", 23 New England Law Review 437 (1988). SELECTED PANELS AND PRESENTATIONS: Are Family Courts Solving the Wrong Problem? A Critical Examination of Judicially Mandated Problem-Solving Techniques, presentation to the joint conference of the Denver and Boulder Interdisciplinary Committees, Denver, Colorado, March 4, 2011. The Future of Child Custody Evaluations, Massachusetts Chapter Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 28, 2010. Program on Human Rights in the Global Economy, panel moderator, October 15, 2010, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts. Flaschner Judicial Institute, Important Developments in Family Law, seminar for the judges of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, 2005-2011. (Dedham, Masssachusetts). Mental Health Professionals in the Family Court, presentation to the Post Doctoral Program in Forensics, U. Mass. Memorial Health Care, Worcester, Massachusetts, 2005-2009.
Problem Solving Family Courts, Panel Discussion, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Annual Meeting, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, June 2008 Co-Reporter, Family Law Education Reform Project (joint project of AALS Section on Family Law, AALS Section on ADR and Hofstra Law School.) Bringing Family Law Teaching into the 21 st Century, AFCC Annual Meeting, Tampa, Florida, June 2006. Teaching Family Law: The Role of Mediation: Comments on the Final Report of the Family Law Education Reform Project. ABA Section on Dispute Resolution, Atlanta, Ga., April 2006. Non-Traditional Families and Massachusetts Law, presentation to MAGAL (Massachusetts Association of Guardians Ad Litem), Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts, November 2004. Lawyering in the Legal Minefield after Goodridge, Suffolk University Law School Advanced Legal Studies Program, March 2004. Domestic Violence and Custody: New Research, New Questions, Panel Moderator, Association of Family Courts and Community Professionals, Toronto, Ontario, May 2003. The Relocation Dilemma: Legal Aspects of Parental Relocation after Divorce. Annual MAGAL Conference, Waltham, Massachusetts, November 2002. Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Tying the Law in Knots, Advanced Legal Studies Symposium, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts, September 2002. Moderator: The Lessons of Troxel, Association of Family Courts and Community Professionals, Annual Conference, Kona, Hawaii, June 2002.
New Reproductive Technologies: Legal Implications, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Conference, April 2002. Woodward, Post-Mortem Conception and Social Security, Family and Probate Inns of Court, Salem, Massachusetts, March, 2002. New Approaches to High Conflict Divorces, Tri- State Commission on High Conflict Divorce, New York, New York, March 2002 (Conference Reporter). Grandparent Visitation after Troxel, Mass. Bar Association Annual Conference, February 2002. The Role of the Family Court, Bench/Bar Conversation sponsored by the Flaschner Judicial Institute, May 2001. Judicial Intervention in Family Cases: Is It Mediation? Association of Family Courts and Community Professionals Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, March 2001. PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES 1998-2010 The Mentoring Project. Selected, trained and supervised law students mentoring teenagers in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. Served over 150 children. 1998 Convenor, training on considering domestic violence in parent education, delivered to Massachusetts licensed parent educators, Worcester, Massachusetts, March 1998. 1998-2007 Board Member, Hingham Education Foundation, Hingham, Massachusetts 2004-2006 President, Hingham Education Foundation OTHER
1999 - Member, Editorial Board, Family Court Review.