Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Opens at Boston College Law School

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy will move this year to Boston College Law School, located in Newton, Mass., as the result of a $7.53 million gift from the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation. The gift, the largest in the 85-year history of BC Law, will fund the Rappaport Center and the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Visiting Professorship in Law and Public Policy.

The acclaimed public policy law center, founded in 2007, provides educational programs, career mentoring and financial support to law students interested in government and public policy. The center will house the Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy, which provides 12 paid summer internships to Boston-area law students interested in public service, and the Rappaport Distinguished Public Policy Series at BC Law, which will conduct research and host public forums featuring the region’s leading policy makers and thought leaders.

Center founder Jerome Rappaport, one of the nation’s preeminent real estate executives, said that when its association with Suffolk University ended this summer, the foundation sought applications from area law schools to host the center before selecting BC Law as the ideal fit.

“While transition can always be challenging, the selection of Boston College Law School to host the center has turned out to be wonderful,” said Rappaport, founder of the New Boston Fund, which engages in real estate development and property management for a national portfolio of properties. Phyllis Rappaport is the vice chair and director of the fund. “The move to Boston College gives the center a real opportunity to build in the foundation’s successes, while partnering with one of the nation’s leading schools of law. We are very excited about this new beginning.”

Boston College Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau said the addition of the Rappaport Center will help the law school promote two long-standing components of the BC Law experience: policy discussions and public interest law.

“There is a critical need for serious discussion regarding law and public policy issues, said Rougeau. “The Center represents an extraordinary opportunity for Boston College and the Rappaport Foundation to work together to elevate our public discourse and to produce thoughtful, ethical and innovative public servants for the commonwealth and the nation.”

The center, under the direction of BC Law Professor R. Michael Cassidy and an executive director, will maintain the Rappaport Fellows Program, which provides paid summer internships to public interest-focused students from law schools at BC, Boston University, Harvard University, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, New England Law Boston and the University of Massachusetts. In addition to paid internships at leading policy agencies, the center’s staff, civic leaders and accomplished attorneys mentor the fellows.

Jerome and Phyllis Rappaport, the founder and chairperson, respectively, of the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation, are well known Boston philanthropists with a noted passion for public policy issues. Created 1997, the foundation’s other hallmark initiatives include the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University and the Rappaport Fellowship at McLean Hospital.

“The Rappaport Center is dedicated to change, and the way in which you achieve the maximum impact of change is by enabling emerging leaders to realize how effectively they can participate in policy and decision making,” said Jerome Rappaport. “That was the beginning of our quest through the foundation, and it remains our hope for the future through our new association with BC Law.”

[Photo: (L-R) Jerome and Phyllis Rappaport with BC Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau. Photo by Lee Pellegrini]