Officers

Chris Dillon '88, President
Chris is a partner at Gibson Dunn in San Francisco.  Prior to joining this firm, he was a partner at Union Square Advisors, a financial and strategic advisory firm focusing on the technology sector.  

Barbara Cusumano '08, President Elect
Barbara is an attorney at Bond, Schoeneck & King in New York. She is an dedicated volunteer both as a student and an alumna. She was LSA Vice President as a 3L and led her class gift effort to record highs of giving and participation. She is currently the New York Chapter Leader.

Kevin Curtin ’88, Vice President
Kevin serves as the Senior Supervisor, Appeals and Training Bureau, for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone, Jr. Kevin has tried approximately 100 jury cases and has handled approximately 100 appeals. He was previously our Alumni Board member for Reunions & Classes.

Tom Burton ’96, Secretary
Tom is founder and chair of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo’s Energy and Clean Tech Practice Group. Tom regularly represents emerging growth Energy and Clean Technology and Life Sciences companies, as well as larger established public companies. He was previously our Alumni Board member for Career Services.

Earl Adams, Jr. '02, Treasurer
Earl is of counsel at DLA Piper in Baltimore. Prior to this position, Earl was Chief of Staff to the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. 

George Field '78, Immediate Past President 
George Field is counsel to the Boston business litigation boutique Block & Roos, LLP, which he co-founded in 1996. Previously he was a partner at Burns & Levinson, LLP, and founding partner and Partner in Charge of the Boston office of Verrill Dana, LLP. A BCLS volunteer for 24 years, George served on the former Alumni Council as Vice President and Law Day Chair, and on the current Alumni Board as Alumni Programs Chair, Vice President and President-Elect.  George also participates annually at the Law School, teaching the 1L Ethics Program, mentoring students in pro bono programs, judging Advocacy Programs, and volunteering in community on Alumni Days of Service.

Board Members

Margie Palladino ’85, Reunion & Classes
Margie Palladino is principal of Reunions Reinvented LLC, a business that generates momentum for reunions and helps alumni reconnect with each other and their school. Margie was a partner at the Boston law office of Sherburne, Powers and Needham (now known as Holland and Knight) where she practiced litigation for over 12 years and served as the firm’s hiring chairperson. She was the inaugural recipient of the Boston College Law School’s Outstanding Reunion Volunteer Award for generating record attendance for her class’s 25th Reunion in 2010.

Steven Riden ’99, Career Services
Stephen Riden is a founding partner of Beck Reed Riden LLP, a litigation and employment boutique in Boston. Prior to starting Beck Reed Riden LLP, he was a Senior Counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP. In 2010, Stephen received BC Law School’s Chapter Award for Boston. Stephen established and administers the BC Law School group on LinkedIn, which boasts more than 2,000 members. Stephen is a member of the Boston Chapter and Law Day Committees.

Pat Rocha ’82, Regional Chapters
Pat is a partner at Adler Pollack in Providence RI. She is a longtime BC Law volunteer, serving as Rhode Island Chapter Leader and as an associate member of the Board of Overseers. Pat received the 2011 Law Day Chapter Award for her work with the Rhode Island Alumni Chapter.

Ingrid Chiemi Schroffner ‘95, Affinity Groups
Ingrid is an Assistant General Counsel at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.  Prior to this position, she practiced at Burns Levinson, clerked for Chief Justice Warner (Massachusetts Appeals Court), and clerked for the Massachusetts Superior Court justices. Ingrid serves on the BC Law Boston Alumni Chapter Leadership Team.

Joseph M. Vanek '87, Annual Giving
Joe Vanek is a partner of Vanek, Vickers & Masini, P.C. in Chicago and co-founder of Automark Technology Systems LLC, which developed a ballot machine to be used by voters with disabilities. For the past five years Joe has served on the Board of Overseers.

Elaine (Shimkin) Ventola '94, Student Programs
Elaine is currently an Assistant Director for J.D. Advising at Harvard Law School. Prior to this position, Elaine was an associate at Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale) and then an associate and Senior Training Manager at Goodwin Procter. Elaine has been an active and dedicated volunteer on our Mentoring Committee, and was instrumental in restructuring the program in 2009 to focus on matching students and alumni in both the practice area and geographic area in which they want to practice.

Mark Warner '89, Alumni Programs
Mark is a partner at Witmer Karp, Warner & Ryan where he concentrates his practice in divorce and other family law cases. Mark is the current Co-Chair of the Law Day Committee, and awardee of the 1st annual Boston Chapter Law Day Award.

Geoffrey G. Why., A&S ’88, Law ’98 - Admissions

In June 15, 2009, Governor Deval Patrick appointed Geoffrey Why as the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (DTC).  He is also the co-chair of the North American Numbering Council, a Federal Advisory Committee that was created to advise the Federal Communications Commission on numbering issues; and a member of the Section 706 Joint Conference on Advanced Services which advises the Federal Communications Commission on broadband issues.  In 2012, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.  Prior to that, Geoffrey served as the General Counsel for the DTC and assistant attorney general in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division.  In addition, he was a co-chair of the Attorney General’s Diversity Committee from 2003-2007. In 2006, Geoffrey was presented the Edward J. McCormack Jr. Award for Excellence by the Attorney General for his work on behalf of Massachusetts consumers.  From 1998 to 2001, Geoffrey was an assistant district attorney at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Appellate Division.  From 2002 to 2005, he was a first-year legal writing instructor at Boston University School of Law.  Geoffrey frequently speaks on communications issues before national organizations.

Geoffrey has also been active in a number of community organizations.  He was a member of the board of directors of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts from 2003-2012 and the board of the Massachusetts Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights from 2006 to 2008.  He is currently a Commissioner and vice chair of the Massachusetts Asian-American Commission.  In addition, he was recently appointed to the board of the Asian Community Development Corporation. 

At BC Law, Geoffrey was the 1998 recipient of the Lisa Blank Scholarship which was awarded to a graduate intending to work as a prosecutor.  In addition, he received Public Interest Law Grants in 1996 and 1997; and was active with the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association.  For the past three years, Geoffrey has guest-lectured at BC Law in the telecommunications class speaking about recent cases and trends.  In 2011, he was the keynote speaker at the annual Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association dinner. 

Robert M. McGill ’05 - Advocacy Programs

Robert McGill is the principal and founder of the The McGill Law Firm.  He specializes his practice in the areas of business litigation, professional responsibility and probate law.  Rob has litigated disputes in state and federal court including professional malpractice, complex antitrust, construction, employment, trustee/fiduciary, probate, copyright, patent and insurance disputes.  Rob has also represented attorneys in disciplinary proceedings before the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.

Prior to law school, Rob worked as a legislative analyst for the Joint Committee on Commerce and Labor of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and continues to use his knowledge of Massachusetts state government to assist his clients in advocacy before state agencies and the legislature.  While in law school, Rob served as a legal intern to the Senate President’s task force on Health Care Reform and as the legal officer to the Human Rights Committee of the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center, a school and residence for the developmentally disabled, in Waltham, Massachusetts.

After law school, Rob served as a Law Clerk to the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court, including two rotations in the Business Litigation Session at Suffolk Superior Court.  Prior to founding The McGill Law Firm, Rob practiced class action and antitrust law with Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP in Cambridge, MA, and was a member of the business litigation and professional liability practice groups at Sherin and Lodgen LLP in Boston, MA.

He has coached the BC Law European Law Moot Court Team since 2005 and was a member of the BC Law Democrats in law school.  At BC Law he was on the National Mock Trial Team and on the EU Law Moot Court Team.

Hon Denis P. Cohen ’76 - Communications

Judge Cohen has been a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia since 2001,  and has also been a longtime supporter of Boston College Law School.  In addition to hiring 10 BC Law graduates as Judicial Law Clerks, he has held numerous roles in the BC Law School Alumni Association, including President, 2010; Board of Overseers, 2009-2010; Immediate Past President, 2011; President-Elect, 2008-2009; Nominating Committee, 2009; and Dean’s Alumni Relations Task Force. As a member of the former Alumni Council, his responsibilities included: President-Elect, 2007-2008; Vice-President, 2003-2006; and Philadelphia Liaison/Representative, 2003-2006. He was a founding member of the Philadelphia Area Chapter in 1996 and served as President in 1998-2003 and Vice-President in 1996-1998.  In 2005, Dean John Garvey presented him with a BC Law Alumni Association 75^th Anniversary Medal in 2005.

Judge Cohen is an active member of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Other charitable and communal activities include the Main Line Reform Temple, the Central High School Alumni Association, Pennsylvania Conference State Trial Judges, Overbrook Farms Club, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and the Jewish Community Relations Council.