CLE Programs

*Sponsored by the Lawyers in Transition Committee

This roundtable will convene published authors from various genres, who will discuss their craft, the path to publication and how their legal experiences affected their writing and career paths.

MODERATOR:

Gina Walcott, Esq., program chair

Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Boston

Gina Walcott is the executive director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, a private, nonprofit corporation that is the only lawyer assistance program servicing the commonwealth’s judges, lawyers and law students. Prior to this position, Walcott spent nearly 15 years as a litigator, more than eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney for Massachusetts and six years as an assistant attorney general for the commonwealth.

AUTHOR PANELISTS:

Michael Fredrickson is general counsel to the Board of Bar Overseers and president of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. He has published three crime novels, A Cinderella Affidavit, Witness for the Dead and A Defense for the Dead. He is currently working on his next novel, Kill All the Lawyers.

Elaine McArdle is co-author (with Dr. Carolyn Bernstein) of The Migraine Brain, which was featured on NBC’s “Today Show” and NPR’s “Fresh Air.” A former editor of Lawyers Weekly USA, McArdle writes for The Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Magazine, Harvard Law Bulletin and other publications. She also teaches creative nonfiction writing at Grub Street writers' workshop in Boston. Prior to becoming a journalist, McArdle practiced law for a short time in Texas.

Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of the The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and its sequels, which follow the antics of spies during the Napoleonic Wars. She holds a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law. After a short time as a litigator at Cravath, Lauren is now a full-time writer of historical fiction.

Rishi Reddi is the author of Karma and Other Stories, which received the 2007 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Reddi’s work was chosen for The Best American Short Stories 2005, featured on NPR’s “Selected Shorts” program and received an honorable mention for a 2004 Pushcart Prize. She has been an enforcement attorney for the state and federal environmental protection agencies, as well as a lawyer for the Massachusetts Secretary of Environment.

Kate Flora is the author of 10 books, including seven Thea Kozak mysteries, the latest of which are Stalking Death and Playing God. Her research for Playing God led to her nonfiction collaboration, Finding Amy: A True Story of Murder in Maine, which was nominated for an Edgar award in 2007 and a finalist for the Maine Literary Awards. Flora, a former assistant attorney general, is a partner at Level Best Books and teaches writing for Grub Street writers' workshop in Boston.