Scott Harshbarger, Senior Counsel in Casner & Edwards’ Litigation and Nonprofit Departments, spoke at the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Fellows Reunion on May 9, 2018 at the Boston College Club. Harshbarger serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for the Rappaport Center.
This reunion brought together Rappaport Center Fellows from 2001-2018 (now over 200 in number), Phyllis and Jerry Rappaport, Faculty Director Professor Michael Cassidy, Executive Director Elisabeth Medvedow, and members of the Center Advisory Board for a night of networking. Established by the Rappaports, and now based at Boston College Law School, this unique and innovative program is designed to interest outstanding law students in public service as a vocation.
Harshbarger, introduced Senator Will Brownsberger, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and leader of the successful effort to enact comprehensive criminal justice reform legislation, as the guest speaker for the event. In his remarks, Harshbarger urged leaders of the Bar, law firms and law schools, “as independent leaders of our profession, to end their silence and mobilize in a non-partisan movement to respond to the repeated attacks by many of our highest elected leaders on the rule of law, the independence of the Judiciary, and the integrity of Justice and law enforcement.”
Noting his pride in the public interest and public service career achievements of Brownsberger, Cassidy and Medvedow, all of whom served as Assistant Attorneys General during his AG tenure, Harshbarger cited them as role models for the Fellows, who he called upon to be “the cavalry in restoring respect for public service and being advocates for fair and equal justice.”
Harshbarger specializes in providing strategic counsel for corporate investigations and defense, business ethics, compliance and risk management, corporate and governance, and government regulation. He has had a long and successful public service career as a public defender, civil rights attorney, Middlesex District Attorney and Massachusetts Attorney General. While AG, he was the elected President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), and led numerous major consumer and public protection initiatives. From 1999-2002, Harshbarger served as President and CEO of Common Cause in Washington, D.C., the national nonprofit citizens’ lobby, public interest advocacy and government and corporate watchdog group founded by John Gardner.
Since returning to private practice, Harshbarger has continued to be involved in public policy reform, serving as the head of Governor Romney’s Commission on Corrections Reform (2003-2005), chair of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Pension Reform, vice-chair of the Ethics Resource Center, chair of the SJC Task force on Hiring and Promotion in Probation, and in the Judicial Branch (2010-2011), a member of the SJC Court Management Advisory Board (CMAB), and chair of the Advisory Board for the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School.
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