Sponsored by the Women’s Law Caucus, the Association for Public Interest Law, the Rutgers Law–Camden Alumni Association, and the Camden County Bar Association, the Mary Philbrook Public Interest Award celebration is a tradition at Rutgers Law School's Camden location that began in 1986.
The 33rd Annual Mary Philbrook Public Interest Award Celebration honoring Susan L. Burke will take place on Thursday, October 25, 2018 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Rutgers University–Camden Campus Center. The formal program will be followed by a reception.
Learn more about the Mary Philbrook Public Interest Awards‣
2018 Mary Philbrook Award Honoree: Susan L. Burke
In June 2015, the National Law Journal named Susan L. Burke one of the top 75 female attorneys in the nation. Ms. Burke is an experienced litigator with 30 years of experience, specializing in bringing federal class action or mass tort lawsuits to reform broken systems or fix societal problems.
Presently, Ms. Burke serves as lead Multi-District Litigation (MDL) counsel in the KBR Burn Pit MDL, pending in federal court in Maryland. In that case, Ms. Burke represents military personnel harmed by Halliburton/KBR’s misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ms. Burke also serves as lead counsel in a nationwide fraud case against a medical device manufacturer.
Ms. Burke’s past work in American federal courts has had a global impact: As lead counsel for Iraqi victims, Ms. Burke achieved a legal first by negotiating multi-million dollar settlements with defense contractors involved in the Abu Ghraib torture, and with Blackwater, a private mercenary company responsible for the Nissor Square massacre. Ms. Burke also served as lead counsel in a series of lawsuits seeking to reform the military’s deficiencies in prosecuting rape and sexual assault. Her work on this issue was profiled in the Academy-award nominated documentary “The Invisible War.”
Further, Ms. Burke has prevailed in upholding campaign finance reform, served as counsel advocating for people with mental illness and other disabilities, and prosecuted civil cases against health care providers for paying kickbacks and overbilling Medicare and Medicaid.
Ms. Burke has appeared as a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, Nightline, CNN Christiane Amanpour, PBS Newshour, and many other television news shows. Ms. Burke and her legal work have been profiled by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Daily News, and The Baltimore Sun, as well as other news outlets.
Student Honorees
Class of 2019
April Gambardella
Joanna Gardner
Julianna Koster
Eric Lee
Ariella Levine
Ashley Maddison
Olivia Nardone
Kristen Petagna
Christina Schnyer
Class of December 2018
Michael Berryhill
Class of 2018
Jessica Beardsley
Jacquelyn Corsentino