Beacon Broadside

Judge Nancy Gertner Retires From the Bench

Today marks the first day of the Honorable Judge Nancy Gertner's retirement from the United States District Court, where she has served since her nomination to the bench by President Clinton in 1994. Don't worry--she's not going to take up quilting or zip off to a deck chair in Boca: the illustrious judge has been appointed a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, where Dean Martha Minow said upon her appointment:

"Nancy Gertner's brilliance as a legal advocate did so much to advance civil rights, criminal law, and the rule of law for two decades even before her appointment to the federal bench. As a distinguished federal judge for the past 17 years, she has brought keen intelligence, deep learning, and rigorous investigation of facts and law while also serving as an inspiring teacher and scholar. She has shared her searching questions, rich experiences, and uncanny ability to bridge theory and practice with students at Harvard Law School and elsewhere, and I could not be more delighted that she will now join our community as a Professor of Practice." (link)

She ended her tenure with a several noteworthy decisions. We wish Judge Professor Gertner well in her new academic digs, and can't wait to read her next memoir. 

In honor of her retirement, here are some videos of her talking about her legal career, including her first case as a lawyer and how she became a judge. 

 

 

 

Video: Nancy Gertner On Being an "Unrepentant Advocate" and How She Became a Judge

Beacon Press director Helene Atwan talked with Judge Nancy Gertner about her new book, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate. Watch to hear about her life as a defense lawyer, what it meant to her to defend women, and the different paths Gertner and Justice Sotomayor took to becoming judges.

In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate

"Nancy Gertner's book should be required reading at every law school in the country where women-and men-are learning these days that they have to choose between a successful legal career and their deepest convictions about justice. She is living proof that you don't have to sacrifice one for the other. You can have it all. Indeed, she has done it all." -Ellen Goodman, author of Paper Trail

From a "Human Rights Hero," a memoir of her illustrious career litigating groundbreaking cases

Today Judge Nancy Gertner dons a long black robe while presiding over court cases for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. But in the 1970s, when she was one of few women in a stubbornly male profession, she sported bright red suits that reflected her fearless choice of cases and her daring litigation tactics. Defending clients in some of the most prominent criminal and civil rights cases of the time, Gertner drove home the point that women lawyers belonged in our courtrooms.

In 1975, Nancy Gertner launched her legal career by defending antiwar activist Susan Saxe, who was on trial for her role in a robbery that resulted in the murder of a police officer. It was a high-profile, complex, and highly charged case. What followed for Gertner was a career of other groundbreaking firsts, as she fought her way through the boys' club climate of the time, throwing herself into criminal and civil cases focused on women's rights and civil liberties.

Looking back on her storied career, Gertner writes about her struggle to succeed personally and professionally while working on benchmark cases. Among her clients were a woman suing the psychiatrist who had repeatedly molested her; another on trial for murdering her abusive husband; Teresa Contardo, suing Merrill Lynch for discrimination; and Clare Dalton, suing Harvard Law School for the same offense. In her signature red suit, Nancy Gertner was always the unrepentant advocate in defense of women. But over the years she also represented a student accused of rape; Ted Anzalone, on trial for extortion; and Matthew Stuart, implicated in his brother Charles's infamous murder of his pregnant wife.

In Defense of Women is the one-of-a-kind memoir of an exceptional, self-proclaimed "outsider lawyer."

Available from: Beacon Press | Independent Bookstore | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell's

Watch Nancy Gertner talk with Emily Rooney on Greater Boston. 

Read an excerpt from In Defense of Women by Nancy Gertner, here or on Scribd

Link Roundup: Judging Memoirs, History of a Grand City, and the Health Effects of Racism

Mentions for books older, books new, and books eagerly anticipated…

In the Boston Globe, US District Court Judge Nancy Gertner discussed the anticipation and controversy surrounding her upcoming memoirs, In Defense of Women, which will be published in April. David Lat responded to the piece on Above the Law, defending Gertner's openness about her views.

Eboo Patel was on CNN and Wordview on WBEZ discussing the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center. 

David Chura—author of I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine—appeared in the Westchester County newspaper The Journal News. In the interview, Chura describes his experiences teaching incarcerated students.

Listen to Stephen Puleo on WBUR's Radio Boston where he talks about his book, A City So Grand, documenting Boston's drastic changes and achievements between 1850 and 1900.

Is racism bad for your health? This excerpt from Are We Born Racist suggests that it might be. Also check out this review by Beacon author Thomas N. DeWolf.

Nobody Turn Me Around by Charles Euchner documents the events that took place behind the scenes of the historic 1963 March on Washington. The Christian Science Monitor ran a review highlighting some of the tensions between the organizers of the March.

Say it ain't so, Susan! Our beloved Susan Campbell is shuttering the blog that shares its name with her book, Dating Jesus. You can still catch her on her Fear, Itself blog at the Hartford Courant website, but we'll miss her lively comment streams at DJ.