Suffolk University alumna Rosemary Scapicchio, a criminal defense attorney who successfully argued for the release of Sean Ellis, incarcerated for more than 21 years for the murder of a Boston police detective, is profiled in a Boston Globe article as a “hot shot lawyer who grew up in Brighton projects” and “specializes in all-but-lost causes.”

“Growing up in the projects, you saw a lot of injustice,” Scapicchio, 50, says of her kinship with underdogs.” She notes that her clients often are up against a “David-Goliath situation.”

Former Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone describes Scapicchio as “a tireless and passionate advocate, devoted to her clients and their causes.”

“Certainly the idea that you’re able to free someone who’s actually innocent — it doesn’t get better than that,” Scapicchio said.

She received two degrees from Suffolk University: a JD in 1991, and a BSBA in 1986.