Associate Dean Ronald Wheeler, a recognized leader in the area of legal research instruction, has served in various law library management roles at law schools across the country, including Suffolk University Law School, the University of San Francisco School of Law, Georgia State University College of Law, and the University of New Mexico School of Law. Wheeler has taught legal research in various contexts including in stand-alone first-year legal research courses, upper division courses, online, and in study abroad programs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Linz, Austria. Wheeler also taught a course on US Legal Research to Chinese law students at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China during the summer of 2012. Wheeler has also taught a research and writing seminar called Queer Legal Scholarship, and he has taught Critical Race Theory as a seminar course. His newest course is a seminar called Critical Legal Research applying critical theory to the legal research process.
Associate Dean Wheeler’s scholarship focusing on legal research techniques, legal research instruction, and algorithm-driven search engines has gained him national attention, and he is regularly called upon to speak about innovations in teaching and other legal research-related topics. He is also a well-known author and speaker about issues related to law library management and the role of the law library in legal education. Wheeler penned Diversity Dialogues, a regular feature in Law Library Journal which aimed to engage scholarly conversation on issues of diversity and inclusion in librarianship and the legal profession. In 2014, Wheeler was named to the Lawyers of Color “50 under 50” list of minority attorneys making an impact on legal education. In 2016-17, Wheeler served as the first Black male president of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). He also chaired the AALL Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Awareness (IDEA) Special Committee for two years. The Special Committee, charged with reviewing the organization, querying its members, and compiling recommendations aimed at making AALL more inclusive, diverse, and accessible, saw several of its recommendations adopted by the AALL Executive Board. Dean Wheeler serves as Chair of the Finance Committee on the Board of Directors of the Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the New England Law Library Consortium.
Associate Dean Wheeler has become passionate about the emerging field of Critical Legal Research which examines the ways that contemporary legal research processes, both print, and electronic, sustain the status quo, entrench bias, perpetuate oppressive forces, and prevent the discoverability of new and less hegemonic ideas. Wheeler has developed a new specialized research and writing seminar called Critical Legal Research modeled after a similar course taught by Professor Nicholas Mignanelli at Yale Law School.
Associate Dean Wheeler was appointed to serve as the Interim Associate Dean for Equity, Justice, & Engagement for the School of Law during FY 2022-23. He now serves as the Associate Dean for Law Libraries at Boston University School of Law’s Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries.
Sania is a passionate attorney inspired by a deep-rooted commitment to serving clients from urban and low-income communities. With a 2010 B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Sania went on to earn a J.D. from New England Law School in 2014, where she focused on immigration law. She began her career by representing insurance companies and litigating cases related to personal injury, premises liability and construction disputes. Within three years, Sania became a partner at Alves Santos P.C. in 2017, providing legal presentation surrounding real estate transactions and personal injury claims.
Sania’s launch of her law firm, Silva Santos PC in 2023 was motivated by her own parents’ challenges as they navigated a complex court system made all the more difficult by a language barrier. People in this situation need exceptional, sympathetic legal guidance. Sania’s purpose is to guide clients through the decision-making processes of their cases and help them regain their sense of empowerment. She knows how meaningful securing a substantial settlement can be for hard-working families like her own, creating real opportunities for the future through education and homeownership.
As a native Cape Verdean, Sania has assisted many Cape Verdean Creole speakers in and around the Boston metropolitan area, helping them successfully engage with the legal process. A board member of the Massachusetts Black Lawyer’s Association since 2022, she currently acts as coordinator of the “Know Your Rights” seminar series in the Boston area.
Sania is most fulfilled when she’s helping injured clients tell their story in a way that vividly captures their experience and earns them a just settlement, and when she’s guiding clients in real estate transactions to create generational assets. Aside from her work in the community and the legal profession, she finds joy in working out, spending time with family, exploring the world with friends, becoming a role model for young women, and continuing to defy the status quo.
Biography:
Gary Howell-Walton is the founder of Barrington Legal Group, PLLC, a Boston-based law practice focused on delivering client-centered, practical legal guidance to individuals and small businesses. His practice includes contract drafting and negotiation, compliance advising, dispute resolution, employment matters, estate planning, and small business support.
Gary gained several years of experience from leading law firm and compliance roles, where he advised on complex commercial, regulatory, and operational matters. He is known for combining rigorous legal analysis with clear, business-focused guidance, helping clients make informed decisions and manage risk effectively.
He is committed to responsive service, professional integrity, and building long-term client relationships grounded in trust and practical results.
Education:
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Courtney is an intellectual property attorney whose practice focuses on patent litigation in federal district courts and before the U.S. International Trade Commission. She is also a key member of teams arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Courtney is regularly relied upon by trial team leaders for in-depth legal and economic analysis in matters involving global high-tech, biotech, and medical device companies.
Courtney plays an integral role at all stages of trial preparation. Her experience includes taking fact depositions; drafting and responding to pleadings and motions; and preparing witnesses and attorney teams for depositions. She develops and drafts fact and expert witness statements, motions and responses, pleadings, briefs, and legal memoranda.
In addition, Courtney prepares damages positions in federal district court cases and economic domestic industry positions unique to the ITC. She also researches and drafts appellate briefs and assists with preparation for oral argument before the Federal Circuit.
Courtney maintains an active pro bono practice, counseling and representing clients in matters involving domestic and sexual violence, immigration, and civil appeals. She also serves on the advisory committee formed by Mintz’s Managing Member to address issues related to the recruitment and retention of minority attorneys.
In conjunction with her role on the Intellectual Property Litigation recruiting committee, Courtney recruits and interviews diverse and intellectual property-focused summer associate and lateral candidates. She is active in the firm’s diversity and associate mentoring programs and works closely with summer and junior associates in the Intellectual Property Litigation section. Courtney is also active in MIATTY, the firm’s minority affinity group for attorneys and senior legal professionals of color, and Mintz’s Women’s Initiative, through which she mentors law students.
Courtney was selected to serve as Mintz’s 2020–2021 representative to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s Pathfinder Program for high-potential, early-career attorneys.
Prior to joining Mintz, Courtney clerked for Associate Justice Geraldine Hines of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Associate Justice Vickie L. Henry of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. During law school, she served as a judicial intern to Judge William G. Young of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and to Justice Hines, then an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
While attending New England Law, Courtney was a three-time recipient of the New England Scholar Award and served as Editor-in-Chief of the New England Law Review. At commencement, she received the Trustee Bradbury Gilbert Award for Excellence in Achievement.
Courtney is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Her related industries include technology. Her practices include Patent Litigation; International Trade Commission Section 337 matters; Federal District Court Patent Litigation; Strategic IP Monetization and Licensing; Appellate matters; and IPRs and other post-grant proceedings.
Courtney earned her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from New England Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Washington.