Claudia Quintero

Education

J.D., Western New England University School of Law
M.S., University of Utah
B.A., California State University Los Angeles

Background

Professor Quintero is a dedicated advocate to social justice and public interest advocacy. Currently she teaches Legal Research and Writing, and prior to joining the faculty full-time Professor Quintero taught Law and Social Change as an adjunct.  Professor Quintero's research focuses on the intersections of social justice, immigration, and worker's rights. She explores the power structures that exist within immigration policies and worker rights through a critical legal lens. Acquiring her Masters in Rhetoric from the University of Utah in 2013, Professor Quintero has presented her scholarship at many communication and rhetoric conferences across the United States. Her latest scholarship was published with the University of Massachusetts Law Review.

Most recently, Professor Quintero has led the statewide Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Project as a staff attorney at Central West Justice Center since 2017, a project that provides direct legal advocacy to farmworkers across Massachusetts. Her work has entailed representing farmworkers in immigration, wage and hour claims, housing, family, and benefits; community outreach; and legislative advocacy. A frequent presenter and educator around the community, Professor Quintero provides know-your-rights trainings to community members and organizations on immigration and workers rights. She also leads the Fairness for Farmworkers Coalition which is engaged in legislative advocacy to push for legislation that would entitle farmworkers to overtime pay and minimum wage, through the Fairness for Farmworkers Act which she co-wrote with Professor Harris Freeman and other lawyers around the state. In 2021, Professor Quintero coauthored and published the first white paper detailing the issues affecting farmworkers in Massachusetts.

Before law school, Professor Quintero was an adjunct professor in the Communication Studies department at Salt Lake Community College teaching public speaking and effective communication. Professor Quintero also taught as an adjunct in the Communication Studies Department at Western New England University while at the School of Law.

Professor Quintero is an alumna of the School of Law graduating cum laude in 2017, where she was a Public Interest Scholar and a member of the Western New England University Law Review. During her time at the School of Law she led the National Lawyers Guild student chapter and founded the Latino/a Law Student Association. In 2017, Professor Quintero was awarded the Adams Pro Bono Publico Award by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, in recognition of her distinguished service and outstanding commitment to providing pro bono legal services to those in need as a law student, she was also awarded the Student of the Year award by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.  Most recently she was chosen as 1 of 16 lawyers across the country for the American Bar Association (ABA) Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Scholar Program and led the Minorities in the Profession Committee for the ABA YLD.  In 2021, Professor Quintero was selected for the BusinessWest 40 under 40 class as a top professional in the community.

Professor Quintero has previously served on the boards of the Pioneer Valley Workers Center, the Rosenberg Fund for Children, the coordinating committee of the ACLU of Western Mass. Immigrant Protection Project, the Massachusetts Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and on the editorial board of ABA YLD The Young Lawyer.  She is actively involved in the community, and currently sits on the Community Advisory Board of New England Public Media (NEPM).

Courses Taught

Scholarly Works