Storytelling in Law
Brian J. Foley, and Professor Ruth Anne Robbins
NELA Webinar, October 8, 2024
Creative & Effective Storytelling for Workers’ Rights Advocates, 2024 NELA Annual Convention
Brian J. Foley, Mariyam Hussain, and Laura C. Mattiaci

Brian J. Foley
Brian J. Foley, Attorney At Law
Philadelphia PA
Brian J. Foley practices employment and defamation law solo in Philadelphia. He helped pioneer teaching storytelling in law schools and CLEs and co-created the Applied Legal Storytelling conference series. He is a Lecturer at Rutgers Law School, where he teaches Employment Law and Evidence. Before practicing employment law, Foley was a newspaper reporter, a federal judicial law clerk, worked in BigLaw, and entered academia, where he was a full professor at Florida Coastal School of Law.

Mariyam Hussain
Berger & Montague, PC
Chicago, IL
Mariyam Hussain is Senior Counsel in Berger Montague’s Chicago office. In the Employment Law practice group, Ms. Hussain primarily focuses on wage and hour class and collective actions arising under state and federal law. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Hussain developed interdisciplinary impact litigation cases and legal strategies to advance economic and social justice. She also represented migrant farmworkers in Illinois, filing cases alleging racketeering, human trafficking, forced labor, and FLSA violations.

Laura C. Mattiacci
Console Mattiacci, LLC
Philadelphia PA
Laura C. Mattiacci is the Co-Managing Partner of Console Mattiacci, LLC. She has been practicing plaintiffs’ employment law for 21 years and is the lead trial lawyer for many of the firm’s most significant cases. Most recently, Laura was the lead trial lawyer in Phillips v. Starbucks Corp., in which the jury unanimously awarded $25.6 million to her client in a high-profile race discrimination case. Laura has tried many discrimination and retaliation cases to verdict in state and federal court.