Stefanie (Stevie) Leahy

Biography

Professor Stefanie (Stevie) Leahy is a professor in the Legal Practice Skills program and an active member of the national legal writing community. Prior to joining Suffolk in July of 2023, Professor Leahy was an assistant professor at Northeastern University School of Law, teaching courses that include Legal Skills in Social Context as well as Writing for Litigation. Professor Leahy also served as the Resident Fellow for the Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration, working on issues related to juvenile sentencing and the cradle to prison pipeline. She has presented and published on a diverse array of issues, including fostering equity and inclusion in the classroom and student wellbeing, in addition to juvenile sentencing and related Supreme Court decisions. Her national service includes chairing the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) Committee on Leadership and Development, which earned her an Outstanding Service Award in 2021.

Professor Leahy also serves the Boston legal community as a pro bono attorney for the Women’s Bar Foundation Clemency Project, assisting incarcerated women at MCI Framingham with clemency petitions.

In addition to the LPS program, Professor Leahy also teaches courses related to professional identity formation, litigation writing, and clemency.

Prior to starting her teaching career, Professor Leahy was an attorney with Goodwin Procter, Latham & Watkins, and Aeton Law Partners. She earned a BA from Villanova University and her JD from Pepperdine Law School (magna cum laude).

Publications

Articles

• Current Events in Legal Classrooms: Enhancing Professional Identity Formation, 76 Mercer L. Rev. 1109 (2025)
• Disparities in Sentencing: Creating a “Benchcard” on Brain Development to Incorporate Neuroscience Research, 4 LSU Law J. for Soc. Just. & Pol’y 23 (2024)
• The Battle of the Narrative in Jones v. Mississippi: Consideration of Youth “In Name Only,” 74 Mercer L. Rev. 1129 (2023)
• Book Review, 71 J. Legal Educ. 221 (2021) (reviewing Integrating Doctrine and Diversity: Inclusion and Equity in the Law School Classroom)
• Fostering Equity and Inclusion Across the Gender Spectrum in the Law School Classroom, 65 Vill. L. Rev. 1105 (2020)

Other Publications

• “Emerging Adults” Can No Longer Be Sentenced to Life Without Parole: The Impact of Commonwealth v. Mattis, Bos. Bar J., May 17, 2024

Book Chapters

• Coggan v. Coggan: Rewritten Opinion, Feminist Judgment Series (2020) (co-author with Professor Natasha Varyani)

Presentations

• Advocating for Self and Students in a Time of Trauma (Moderator), ALWD L&D Virtual Front Porch (2022)
• Integrating Social Justice in the Legal Writing Classroom: Competing Demands and Challenging Conversations, ALWD Panelist July (2020)

Bar Admittance

• New York 2006
• District of Columbia 2008
• Massachusetts 2009

Education

Pepperdine University School of Law – Malibu, CA
Juris Doctorate (2002-2005)
magna cum laude

• Dean’s Merit Scholar
• Literary & Citation Editor, Pepperdine Law Review
• Pepperdine Trial Advocacy Team; Dalsimer Award for Oral Advocacy
• Research Assistant to Dean Richard Cupp and Professor Harry Caldwell

Villanova University – Villanova, PA
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science (1998 – 2002)

Awards & Honors

2021 ALWD Outstanding Service Award