Maine v. Kaci Hickox: Public Health Protection or Ebola Panic?

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

1–2 p.m.
Instructional Building
72 East Concord Street
Hiebert Lounge
Live-Streaming Available During Event
Please Register

Boston University School of Public Health’s Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights presents the annual Cathy Shine lecture. The lectureship honors the memory of Cathy Shine and her dedication to the rights of all those in need of care.

Protecting Americans against dangers from abroad may include stopping not only terrorists, but also contagious diseases. Does protection mean quarantining health professionals as well as refugees and immigrants? The story of Kaci Hickox, a nurse who cared for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, and who governors of New Jersey and Maine attempted to quarantine for three weeks, illuminates the tension between protecting and panicking the public. David A. Soley, who represented Hickox in Maine in her fight for freedom, recounts his first-hand experience and lessons learned in navigating the competing demands of politics, public health, and the Constitution.

David A. Soley

Partner, Bernstein Shur

David Soley leads Bernstein Shur’s Real Estate Litigation Group, is the author of the American Bar Association’s nationally acclaimed Real Estate Litigation Handbook and is recognized by Best Lawyers in America for his work in Real Estate Litigation. Soley concentrates his practice in the areas of business, real estate and constitutional litigation. He regularly represents entrepreneurs and property owners in disputes over boundaries, titles, easements, mortgage priorities, partitions, purchase and sale agreements and other real estate issues.

Soley spent four years as a trial lawyer in Washington D.C. before returning to Maine. Over the course of more than thirty years as a trial lawyer, Soley has specialized in complex litigation involving some of the largest companies in the United States and Europe. He routinely handles trials in federal and state courts, and has litigated high profile constitutional cases involving drug testing, pregnancy testing, mandatory jury fees, congressional term limits, prison headgear policies, ebola quarantines, and no-contact policies applied to suspected victims of domestic violence. He has also co-authored the ABA’s The Trial Lawyer’s Guide to Success and Happiness.

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