Page 7 - Lawyers Who Lead by Example

LAWYERS WHO LEAD BY EXAMPLE

LIFETIME

ACHIEVEMENT
Her passion to make the world a better place is relected in her

commitment to do the best for her clients, help those in need and

create a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.

SHEILA BOSTON, 45 trial for the interns that summer.
By Phil Albinus
“He served as the judge and I just marveled
Partner, Kaye Scholer
SHEILA at how intelligent he was. He gave us feedback
on our examination and he just knew the law so
Appointments/Activities:
well,” she recalled. “He became one of my men-
Nominating committee
tors when I came to work here full time.”
of the New York
Pro bono work inspires Boston, but she is
City Bar Association
BOSTON
also a dynamo in large litigation cases, especial-

Departmental Disciplinary ly those involving pharmaceutical and medical
committee,
device manufacturers. She has taken cases rang-
ing from artiicial heart valve litigation and agri-
Appellate Division,
First Department
cultural pesticide class action litigation to those
President, Federal Bar involving Viagra, the diabetic drug Rezulin, and
the antipsychotic drug Seroquel.
Council’s Inn of Court
Vice President
SOME LAWYERS have trophies and certiicates When asked about the case that brings her
from past victories lining their ofice walls from the most pride, she was modest.
of the Federal Bar big paying clients. But Sheila Boston, a partner “On paper, people would say it was McReyn-
Council
at Kaye Scholer, has something even better: a olds v. Sodexho, a discrimination class action
Chairwoman and member, plaque from a struggling family whom she helped brought on behalf of 2,400 African American
Enhance Diversity
in a pro bono case years ago when she was a midlevel manager plaintiffs,” she said. Boston
in the Profession
new attorney. It reads “In Appreciation,” and she was second chair, serving as trial counsel for her
Committee,
gets teary-eyed thinking about it.
partner Kerry Scanlon from the irm’s Washing-
New York City Bar The case involved a Haitian mother of
ton, D.C. ofice. This major lawsuit brought in an

Legal Momentum Board
two who was suing her ex-husband for child $80 million settlement as well as injunctive relief.
of Legal Advisors support. The differences between client and “Not too long ago, Sodexho was lauded with
counsel were hard to ignore. Boston describes a diversity award, so hey, that is major and a
Committee to Nominate
herself as short and petite, while her client
beautiful outcome,” she said.
Alumni Trustees,
Princeton University was more than six feet tall with a strong accent Boston has done more than litigate for
and a desperate outlook. “What’s an itty bitty diversity. She has made it a professional goal.
Adviser/mentor
thing like you going to do to help me and my As chair of Kaye Scholer’s diversity committee
to the Bronx High School
children? I got to feed my kids,” Boston recalled for eight years, she guided the irm through its
for Law, Government
as she attempted to replicate the desperate own diversity evaluation and helped create a
& Justice mock trial
mother’s frustration.
mentoring program, a lexible work policy and

team
She made her case. A self-described religious a diversity training program. Outside the irm,
State Attorney General-Elect woman whose mantra is Luke 12:48—“To whom Boston chairs the New York City Bar Asso-
Schneiderman’s
much is given, much is required”—Boston not only ciation’s Enhance Diversity in the Profession

Transition Team uncovered hidden assets from the ex-husband Committee. She has worked with Practicing
(November 2010-
during the hearing, but also earned the mother a Attorneys for Law Students, Inc. on retreats for
higher child support payment than expected.
new associates of color. And she has been an
January 2011)
Small differences are important to Boston and adviser and mentor to the Bronx High School
it’s one reason why she entered law. “I believe
for Law, Government & Justice mock trial team
Education:
in making the world a better place,” she said. since 2004. Her efforts on these and many other
J.D., Columbia Law School,
1993
“Whether it’s for my clients, the colleagues at the projects have won her numerous accolades.
irm or in the bar organizations with whom I work Boston’s sense of mission extends to her per-
A.B., Princeton University, and my pro bono clients, I love helping people.”
sonal and religious life. She is married to Rev.
1990
“I think I’m a decent problem solver,” she Jerome Robinson and helped raise his two adult
continued. “And that helps me get out of bed children. “They call me ‘mommy,’” she said.
in the morning and say, ‘What can I do today to She said she loves her busy life and manages

help somebody?’”
to make time to serve as an oficer at Abyssinian
Mentorship is important to the 45-year-old Baptist Church while her husband is assistant
lawyer. Boston said she didn’t have an inspira- pastor at Gospel Missionary Baptist Church in

tion to pursue law growing up in Maryland, but Harlem. There is no discord with their involve-
she found one in 1992 as a summer intern at ment in different churches, just a sense of mission.
Kaye Scholer. The lawyer’s name was Steven “When he becomes a pastor there, I will

Glickstein, a retired partner who ran a mock
deinitely join his church,” she said. ■

Photo by Rick Kopstein
October 2014 5