Karen Pita Loor

Karen Pita Loor was the associate dean of clinical & experiential education from July 2020 to June 2023, following eight years of teaching and supervising student attorneys in the Defender Division of the BU Criminal Law Clinical Program as they represent indigent clients charged with crimes in the Boston District Court.  Loor also teaches a seminar that she developed entitled Regulation of the Immigrant Experience where students examine, through a legal lens, the obstacles immigrants face in American society.

Loor writes and speaks as an expert on issues related to protest policing, criminal law and procedure, police violence and immigrants’ rights.  She encourages students to use their education to join conversations around legal matters and does the same.  She has testified in support of legislation that would make Massachusetts a sanctuary state. She has organized trips – involving law students and other faculty — to the Mexican side of the border to assist migrants seeking asylum.  She supervised a group of students who filed an amicus brief in a first-of-its-kind case arguing that Massachusetts state and local law enforcement do not have the authority to detain a criminal defendant pursuant to an immigration detainer.