Hi, I’m Leah.
I live with my husband, kids, and dog in the micropolis of Concord, New Hampshire. Think Stars Hollow, but bigger and with presidential candidates chilling in the diner. I’m an everyday runner, an around-the-clock Earl Grey tea drinker, and an enthusiastic but mediocre vegetable gardener.
I went to Harvard College & Harvard Law School and became a lawyer so I could work with kids, parents, and communities on law and the ordinary—those things in our daily lives at the heart of who we are and who we aspire to be. Our families and personal relationships. Our privacy and individual freedoms. Our education. Our economic lives. Our commitment to social justice and equality. Our use of digital technologies and how that is changing everything we do.
Here I am playing as a kid. To share this with you, my parents had to dig through their albums, scan the picture, and email it to me to give to a web designer to upload. #tbt #1980s
When I’m not coaxing my kale to grow,
I’m busy being an associate dean & associate professor at University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. I also direct UNH Law’s Academic Success program. Down in the metropolis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, I’m a faculty associate with the Youth & Media team at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
I got my start in law teaching and writing as a Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School. Before I became a teacher, I practiced as a legal aid lawyer with New Hampshire Legal Assistance. I founded the Youth Law Project there, which represents kids and teens in special education, school discipline, and related cases. Then I worked at the National Consumer Law Center, which gives us all a voice as we buy houses, shop for cars, and do all the things with our money.
I love volunteering
my time as a board member for non-profits, like the ACLU of New Hampshire. I am grateful for all the ways that working on law and the ordinary is a truly extraordinary experience! I wish there were more hours in the day. Thankfully, Earl Grey is caffeinated. I wish kale were.
#Sharenting Alert!
Here I am, almost a decade ago, pregnant with my first child with no idea what the @#*($# to expect. I’d like to think I know more now, but the jury’s still out . . . New York City. Photo by Julia Sabot.
Here I am, almost 5 years ago, pregnant with my second child. I had cold feet. Mostly literally. A little bit metaphorically because 2 kids is a whole new level. Photo by Kiera Slye.
I think most things can be figured out over a strong cup of tea and an even stronger conversation.
Over the last six years, I’ve talked with parents, grandparents, educators, lawyers, researchers, technologists, psychologists, computer scientists, government regulators, policy-makers, elected officials, and lots of other grown-ups from around the world about kids and digital life. I’ve also talked with kids and teens. I’m excited to share!
