Sarah J. Schendel

Biography

Professor Schendel has been a member of the faculty since 2017, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Law School's Academic Support Program. She was previously an instructor at Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Northeastern University School of Law. For over 7 years, she practiced as an immigration attorney, representing immigrants facing deportation, seeking security and safety in the United States, and reuniting their families. She is involved in a variety of pro bono and volunteer work supporting access to justice.

Education

After graduating from Bard College with a BA in Cultural Anthropology, Prof. Schendel completed a year of AmeriCorps*VISTA service, and then worked for two years as a paralegal at a prisoners’ rights legal services organization. She attended Northeastern University School of Law as a Public Interest Scholar, where she completed legal internships at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Office of the Federal Defender, and a prisoners’ rights nonprofit.

Selected Publications

Articles

S. Schendel and S. Bourgeois, “Teaching ‘Mistrust,’” 2 Minn. J. of Law & Ineq. (forthcoming 2024)

Due Dates in the Real World: Extensions, Equity, and the Hidden Curriculum, 35 Georgetown J. of Leg. Ethics 203 (2022)

Listen! Amplifying the Experiences of Black Law School Graduates in 2020, 100 Neb. L. Rev. (2021).

The Pandemic Syllabus, 98 Denv. L. Rev. F. (2020).

What You Don't Know (Can Hurt You): Using Exam Wrappers to Foster Self-Assessment Skills in Law Students, 40 Pace L. Rev. Vol. 154 (2020).

Book Chapters

"Beyond Fear: Introducing Mental Health in the Professional Responsibility Curriculum,” in Integrating Doctrine & Diversity: Inclusion & Equity Beyond the First Year, Carolina University Press (2024).

“Jennings v. Rodriguez” (re-written), co-authored with Prof. Sarah Sherman-Stokes, in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Immigration Opinions, Cambridge University Press (2023).

Media

“The Medium Is the Message: A Summer Book Club on Abolition,” 26 Legal Writing 187 (2022)

Panel Opinion, How I Lawyer podcast with Prof. Jonah Perlin (2021)

Legal Profession Can’t Leave Black Graduates Behind, Bloomberg Law (2021)

The weight of 2020: Black law grads are ‘exhausted’ and ‘anxious’, ABA for Law Students (2021)

Fostering Student Self-Assessment, Ipse Dixit podcast with Prof. Brian Frye (2020)

How Academic Support Professionals Can Better Support LGBTQ+ Students - and Why We Should, Learning Curve (2018)

Education

• BA, Bard College
• JD, Northeastern University School of Law

Awards & Honors

• Excellence in Support of Students’ Professional Development, Student Bar Association, Suffolk University Law School (2023)
• Social Change Award from the Student Bar Association, Suffolk University Law School (2023)
• Deborah Rhode Prize for Early Career Scholars from the International Association of Legal Ethics (2022)
• Trailblazer Award, Section on Academic Support, American Association of Law Schools (2022)
• Professional Excellence Award, Black Law Student Association, Suffolk University Law School (2022)

Bar Admittance

• MA

Professional Links

• SSRN
• LinkedIn