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 Attorneys |
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Norma P. D'Apolito
Executive Director
 Norma D’Apolito recently joined the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights as Executive Director in November of 2007. Norma came to the Lawyers’ Committee with over thirty years experience in civil rights litigation and higher education. Her career reflects a lifelong commitment to social justice and to the representation of the poor and disadvantaged.
Most recently, Norma served with the Special Master of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California successfully implementing federal court orders involving the provision of mental health services to California inmates. Prior to that, she worked first as the Assistant Dean and then as the Associate Dean for Cardozo Law School. While at Cardozo, she taught courses on education law and juvenile rights as well as developed and supervised a political asylum clinic representing refugees from around the world.
Norma has also worked as a managing attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services and as a staff attorney for that organization’s Juvenile Law Reform Project, for the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society in New York, and for the Pennsylvania Department of Justice as a Deputy Attorney General in the Litigation Division. She has handled dozens of class action cases on behalf of prisoners, juveniles, women, the mentally ill, the elderly, and the indigent. In addition, Norma has served as a Board member for a number of non-profit organizations including a legal services organization, an arts collaborative, and a domestic abuse agency which she was instrumental in founding.
Norma has a B.A. in English from Vassar College, an M.A. in History from Brown University, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Laura Maslow-Armand
Staff Attorney
 Laura Maslow-Armand is a 1992 graduate of Harvard Law School. Laura also has received a Ph.D in History from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the Sorbonne (the University of Paris). For nine years she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights and Public Charities Divisions where she litigated housing discrimination and hate crime cases brought under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. She has an extensive history of teaching and writing in the field of race relations.
At the Lawyers' Committee, she has represented victims of racially-motivated employment and housing discrimination before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Cambridge Human Rights Commission, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has collaborated with the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston on cases defending the rights of tenants of color. Working with organizations that provide assistance to refugees and racial minorities, she participates in numerous community education programs. In 2003 she launched a legal services program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Healthcare Center in Chelsea, where she works part-time to assist low-income immigrant families with housing and benefits.
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Rahsaan D. Hall
Staff Attorney
 Rahsaan D. Hall is a 1998 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, who comes to the Lawyers’ Committee from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as a member of the Senior Trial Unit. After graduating, he worked briefly in the office of Dade County Public Defender Bennett H. Brummer in Miami FL, before returning to Boston and joining the District Attorney’s office in 2000.
Assigned to the Safe Neighborhood Initiative Unit, between 2003 and 2006, he was responsible for community outreach as well as prosecution of criminal matters arising out of certain sections of the city of Boston. In this role, he worked closely with community organizations, service agencies and neighborhood residents to facilitate a coordinated public safety agenda.
Rahsaan is an experienced litigator who has tried high profile and complex cases including homicides. He has also demonstrated his commitment to civil rights while interning at the Zimbabwean Human Rights Organization and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and while working for the civil rights law firm of Burnham and Hines.
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Michael Aleo
Staff Attorney
 Michael Aleo received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts in 1995 and graduated from the American University Washington College of Law in May 2006, where he received the Public Interest-Public Service Scholarship Award. At American University, Michael served on Law Review, graduated cum laude and received honors for his pro bono work. Before attending law school, Michael worked as a high school and middle school special education instructor and as a researcher for the Service Employee’s International Union. Prior to joining the Lawyers’ Committee, Michael worked with plaintiffs’ firms in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, California, focusing primarily on employment discrimination matters. In addition to practicing law, Michael has taught legal research and writing as an adjunct professor at American University, Golden Gate University, and New England Law Boston. Michael has published a law review article that discusses race and national origin discrimination in subprime lending. Michael is a member of the District of Columbia and Massachusetts Bar.
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Jessica Sommer
Staff Attorney
 Jess Sommer received her B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2000 and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2005. At Pitt Law, Jess served on Law Review, graduated cum laude and received numerous academic awards including the Robert DeBroff Prize, awarded to the graduate with the highest achievement in Corporate Law. Prior to joining the Lawyers' Committee, Jess worked at Ropes & Gray LLP as a corporate associate and joined the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign as a Finance Staff volunteer.
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William Collins
Economic Justice Fellow
 William D. Collins graduated cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 2009. William received a B.S. in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2006, graduating cum laude, where he earned recognition as "Student Organization Leader of the Year in 2005" for work he performed as president of Zeta Beta Tau. In law school, William served as Editor-in-Chief of the Review of Banking and Financial Law. William worked as a summer associate at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston in 2008 and plans on joining the firm's business law department in the autumn of 2010. William is a member of the American Bar Association's Business Law and Intellectual Property sections. William is admitted to practice in Massachusetts.
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Nathaniel Kurtis
Economic Justice Fellow
 Nathaniel Kurtis received a dual B.S. and B.A. from Cornell University in 2005 and graduated with a joint degree in 2009 from the University of Michigan Law School and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Nathaniel was a Dean's Scholar at Michigan Law, served on the Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, was Editor-in-Chief of Res Gestae, a member of the Campbell Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta, and graduated cum laude. At Ross, Nathaniel served his section as an elected community Values and Ethics Officer, graduated with high distinction, and was inducted into the International Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma. Prior to joining the Lawyers' Committee, Nathaniel was an SMP for John Deere in dealer development efforts, a MAP consultant for eBay in cross-boarder trade, a Summer Associate with Ropes & Gray, and a Co-op with Intel doing implementation engineering work for the Enterprise Platform Group. At the Lawyers' Committee, Nathaniel is focusing on efforts in the Belin Economic Justice Project. In his free time, he enjoys landscape photography, hiking, and boating. Nathaniel is admitted to practice in Massachusetts.
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Achal Oza
Litigation Fellow
 Achal Oza graduated cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 2009. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. in Computer Systems Engineering from Northeastern University. While attending law school, Achal served on Law Review and published articles on Fourth Amendment protections for e-mail communication and on tort liability of nanotechnology. In 2009, the Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation along with the Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association recognized Achal for his scholarship in the IP field by awarding him the Jan Jancin Award. Achal is admitted to practice in Massachusetts.
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James Xu
Litigation Fellow
 James (Hanjun) Xu earned a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Davis in 2006, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2009. During his time in law school, James worked extensively in the area of civil rights law, spending three semesters as an intern with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. At the Commission, James investigated pending cases on the agency's docket, and gave lectures on discrimination law to audiences in various communities to educate the public on civil rights law in the Commonwealth. James is admitted to practice in Massachusetts.
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Ming Zhu
Litigation Fellow
 Ming Zhu received her B.A. with honors from Stanford University in 2005 and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in June of 2009, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Her involvement with Asian-American issues and her leadership of the Harvard Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association resulted in her receipt of the 2008 Asian-American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts scholarship award and the Harvard Law School Dean's Award for Community Leadership. Ming is the author of a number of law review articles and has presented her research on affirmative action at several academic conferences. Following her fellowship at the Laywers' Committee, Ming will be clerking for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ming is admitted to practice in Massachusetts.
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