Legacy of Professor Emerita Karen Frankel Blum

(Back row) Sean Higgins, JD ’03, Sarah Solomon, Morgan Blum, JD ’11, Tristan Colangelo, JD ’11, David Bastian, JD ’14, Hon. Michael Bolden, JD ’78 (Ret.) (Front row) Professor Emerita Karen Blum, JD ’74, Alexis Theriault, JD ’11, Sarah J. Fischer, JD ’13

In 1971, Professor Emerita Karen Frankel Blum, JD ’74, joined the Suffolk Law evening program as one of just ten women among 300 students. The legal profession's doors were barely cracked open for women then, and yet she became the first evening student to serve as an editor on the Suffolk University Law Review, teaching students with learning disabilities by day.

More than five decades later, dozens of judges, alumni, and students gathered at Sargent Hall to celebrate how Blum has spent her career—ensuring others wouldn't have to fight so hard for their place.

The First Year Summer Internship Program (FYSIP), which Blum founded in 2005, marked its 20th anniversary by formally adopting its founder's name. Judge Michael Bolden, JD ‘78, former first justice of the Charlestown and South Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court and one of the original judges to host FYSIP interns in 2005, announced at the celebration that Blum’s fundraising effort on behalf of FYSIP students has now raised a total of $1 million.

The goal, Blum explained, is to ensure that financial barriers never prevent talented students from accessing life-changing judicial internships. Last year, she committed $500,000 to establish a fund providing stipends for FYSIP participants. This generosity triggered additional contributions, including a $250,000 matching gift from alumnus Stanton Dodge, JD ’95, chief legal officer of DraftKings, which inspired 70 alumni and friends to contribute a total of $250,000 in additional support for the newly named Karen Frankel Blum, JD ’74 First Year Summer Internship Program.

Since 2005, FYSIP has placed more than a thousand Suffolk Law students in judicial internships. Last summer, 80 students interned with approximately 70 judges and courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

"Working with a judge builds students' confidence, provides real-world context that helps in the classroom, and forges relationships that lead to high-powered internships and better jobs," says Blum, a nationally renowned expert on federal civil rights law.

"I always knew I was going to do something that involved making sure people were treated the way they should be treated," Blum said in a recent interview. "It was just ingrained in me."

At the April 10 celebration, Suffolk Law Dean Andrew Perlman addressed a packed room of judges, alumni, students, and supporters, reflecting on Blum's far-reaching impact.

"During my career, I have met a few people who have changed institutions, and I've met other people who have changed people's lives. And then there are the rare people who have done both," Perlman said. "Karen is just one of those people our alumni regularly mention to me as having a profound impact on their lives and careers."

"When I meet our alumni who are from underrepresented communities in law school, they tell me how much Karen did for them to make them feel included in our community, at a time when inclusiveness and inclusive pedagogy wasn't even a concept that people discussed," Perlman noted.

Emily Riccio, a current second-year Suffolk Law student, shared her FYSIP experience working with U.S. District Court Judge Myong Joun, JD ‘99. "In only the second week of my FYSIP judicial internship at the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, one of Judge Joun's clerks asked me to draft a decision to release a man being wrongly detained while awaiting trial," Riccio told the audience.

She described her surprise when Judge Joun appeared at her desk with her draft covered in red ink, pulled up a chair, and walked her through his feedback. "This moment in the early days of my internship was indicative of the remarkable experience I had in Judge Joun's chambers," Riccio said. "Even with his busy workload, Judge Joun took the time every day to teach us."

Blum’s son, Morgan Blum, JD ’11, offered a personal perspective on his mother's lifelong commitment to opening doors for others. "For me, I think what my mother set out to do 20 years ago was to promote an environment of giving," he said. "Judges giving back to students, students and lawyers giving back to the community, donors and alumni giving time and financial resources. The whole concept is about giving."

Karen Blum's commitment to inclusion began early. Growing up in a working-class household in New Haven, Connecticut, she was surrounded by an open and welcoming spirit. Her mother worked three jobs—as a bus driver, dance instructor, and driving teacher—and rented rooms to international students from Yale in the family's three-decker home.

"There were always people from different countries, students who were in and out of the house," Blum recalled in the Suffolk Law alumni magazine. "At that time, my mother was the only driving instructor in New Haven who would teach Puerto Ricans how to drive. She cared about people being treated fairly and feeling welcome."

"You look at the people who ascend to these great jobs in the law," she said, "and a lot of them are individuals who had the gift of a judicial clerkship where they learned practical skills and built relationships that opened doors."

With Suffolk Law alumni rallying behind it, the program named in Blum’s honor will continue to provide opportunities for students whose backgrounds make them a little less likely to get a big break—a fitting legacy for a woman who has spent her life in pursuit of justice and fairness for all.

Support the Karen Frankel Blum FYSIP fund by making a contribution

Professor Emerita Karen Blum, JD ’74 and Dean Andrew Perlman