Susan L. Crockin, Esq. 

SUSAN L. CROCKIN, J.D . has, since 1988, developed a unique legal and consulting practice focused on adoption, the assisted reproductive technologies and collaborative reproduction, reproductive genetics, 'embryo law' and stem cell research, and fertility preservation. Building on her volunteer advocacy work for both mandated infertility insurance coverage and adoption in Massachusetts in the 1980's, this became the first such legal practice in the country.   As leaders in this growing field, our work has expanded to include the legal aspects of areas such as fertility preservation, reproductive genetics, stem cell research, and 'embryo law'. The Crockin Law & Policy Group, LLC currently represents individual clients, agencies, medical and donor programs, and institutions, in and outside of Massachusetts.   Attorney Crockin has provided legal counsel in over 1,000 adoptions, including co-parent, same-sex, and single parent adoptions, assisted with hundreds of egg donation and gestational carrier arrangements, and provides ongoing and consulting services to private agencies and private and hospital-based medical ART programs throughout the country.   She is also a consultant to the Genetics & Public Policy Center in Washington, DC and holds academic appointments at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Tufts University.

PUBLICATIONS : Susan Crockin has published widely in the field. Most recently, she has written on emerging topics including the legal aspects of embryos, reproductive genetics and tort liability, fertility preservation, egg freezing, and donor gamete registries. She is the editor and contributing author of two books: Adoption and Reproductive Technology Law in Massachusetts ; and Family Building through Egg and Sperm Donation: Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues (co-editor).   Since 1990, her national quarterly column, " Legally Speaking"® , has reported on court decisions involving the ARTs and the families they create in ASRM News . She has also authored numerous chapters and articles--both peer-reviewed and popular press, including articles for the Genetics & Public Policy Center on reproductive genetics and ART law that appear on their website, www.dnapolicy.org.

CURRENT ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS and SELECTED PRESENTATIONS: Susan Crockin is an Adjunct Professor of Ob/Gyn at Eastern Virginia Medical School where she most recently participated in the Masters Embryology course, and a visiting lecturer at Tuft University, where she teaches "Embryos, Reproductive Technology and the Law".

A frequent national presenter on legal and ethical aspects of the ARTs, she has taught Bioethics at Northeastern University School of Law, was a plenary speaker at the 1999 IVF World Congress in Australia, and has presented at state and national judicial conferences, consumer conferences, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, multiple Ethics Advisory Boards, and both chaired and participated in numerous continuing legal and medical, consumer, and multi-disciplinary education programs throughout the United States.  

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS and APPOINTMENTS: American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; American Bar Association (Reproductive and Genetic Technology Committee); American Society of Reproductive Medicine (co-founder of legal professional special interest group); New England Fertility Society (current vice-president); Women's Bar Association of MA; Citizens' Task Force on Adoption (sole adoption professional1995-96); MA Office for Children (state advisory task force formulating proposed regulations on allowable adoption expenses, 1988).

CONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS: Past president of the Massachusetts RESOLVE chapter; former board member of RESOLVE, Inc. and chair its advocacy committee (following participation in the successful effort to draft and enact the Massachusetts Infertility Mandate); and recipient of a Family Building Award for infertility advocacy work from the American Fertility Association. 

Amy Clary, Esq.

AMY CLARY, J.D, provides legal assistance to both individuals and agencies involved in the adoption process and to individuals and medical and donor programs involved in assisted reproductive technology (ART). She focuses her work on crafting individualized donor egg, donor sperm, and gestational carrier agreements as well as counseling, and crafting documents for, medical and donor programs regarding their practices and policies.

Given the frequent medical advances and constantly-shifting legal parameters, both adoption and reproductive technology law are dynamic and often overlapping, practice areas. Ms. Clary closely follows policy changes and developing case law in this area; and weaves that knowledge into the counsel she gives her clients.

Prior Practice: Ms. Clary was an associate at a boutique litigation firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts before joining the Firm in 1991, shortly after its inception. She was instrumental in setting up the Firm's unique approach to providing clients with a full range of family building legal services from adoption to collaborative reproductive arrangements, all with a commitment to providing thorough, thoughtful, and principled services. She returns to the Firm after taking a leave to care for her family, and today brings that same level of commitment to helping build legally secure families and thoughtful, quality medical and donor programs in an ever-changing environment.

Education: Ms. Clary received her J.D. from Boston University, and her B.A. from Tufts University.

Amy Berlin Cook, Esq. 

AMY BERLIN COOK, JD, is of counsel to the Group, with a focus on family building services through both traditional adoption and the intersection of adoption and ART practices. She works with individuals to help them build secure families through adoption, donor egg, gestational carrier arrangements, and, as appropriate, combinations of these technologies and laws. Attorney Cook brings over twenty years of adoption expertise to the Group, having completed thousands of both international and domestic adoptions, through representation of adoptive and birth parents, and adoption agencies. She advises adoption agencies on the complexities of international adoption and has lectured and authored materials for numerous educational programs on the topic of international adoption. She is the author of International Adoption in Massachusetts , published in Adoption and Reproductive Technology in Massachusetts, MCLE 2000.

Education: Attorney Cook is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School.