Mary Pilkington-Casey
Professor of Law
Professor Pilkington-Casey received the 2005 Marilla Ricker Achievement Award. The award is presented each year by the New Hampshire Women’s Bar Association to an outstanding woman lawyer who has achieved professional excellence and paved the way to success for other women lawyers. Professor Pilkington-Casey’s public service work was a significant factor in her receipt of the award. Professor Pilkington-Casey was also praised for her positive influence with law students who worked with her in the University of New Hampshire School of Law’s Administrative Law and Advocacy Clinic.
In October 1997 Professor Pilkington-Casey received the Dr. Roger M. Fossum Award from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect for her work with Professor Bruce Friedman and Attorney Ron Lospennato of the Disabilities Rights Center on the Eric L. class action lawsuit. The lawsuit filed in Federal Court concerned the treatment of abused and neglected children in the State of New Hampshire. It also addressed issues regarding children in foster care and the lack of adoptions for children languishing in foster care.
Prior to attending law school, Professor Pilkington-Casey was employed by the New Hampshire Division of Human Services where she worked as a social worker specializing in investigating child abuse and neglect cases, as social service planner and consultant, and as chief of the Bureau of Adult Services. While in the Adult Services Bureau, Professor Pilkington-Casey testified before the legislature and wrote the first Adult Services Elderly Abuse and Neglect Policy and Procedures for the State of New Hampshire. After law school, Professor Pilkington-Casey clerked for the New Hampshire Superior Court.
Professor Pilkington-Casey worked with other professionals and advocates in developing the New Hampshire Alliance for Children and Youth. She also has served on a number advisory boards of community agencies including the Merrimack County Visitation Center, Second Start, Bishop Brady High School, and the Salvation Army. She has co-authored state legislation concerning child abuse and neglect and has testified before legislative committees concerning child and elderly issues.
Professor Pilkington-Casey teaches Children and the Law and Family Law. The landscape for Family Law is rapidly changing as states address same-sex marriage, the federal and state Defense of Marriage Acts, and methods for having children. Other topics include pre-marital agreements, roles and responsibilities in a marriage, and alternatives to marriage. The course is a survey course covering a variety of topics to prepare students to represent clients in their practice of law after graduation.
Children and the Law is also a survey course. Students discuss topics concerning children such as if a fetus is a child, court decisions regarding the ability of youth to be held accountable for their actions in the same manner as an adult, and when the state can become involved with a family. Students also discuss the impact of the recession and legislative decisions on children, youth, and their families.