Staff

Emily Cortes

Portait of Emily Cortes 

Emily Cortes is a Clinical Fellow with Suffolk University Law School’s Center for Housing Justice and Policy (CHJP). She leads projects to educate the public across Massachusetts about their rights and obligations under fair housing laws, with a focus on renters, property owners, and first-time homebuyers. In addition to developing and coordinating fair housing tests, she trains new testers and partners with community organizations and municipalities to strengthen awareness of fair housing protections.

A first-generation college graduate, Ms. Cortes earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication, Media, and Cultural Studies from the University of Tampa. She received her JD from Suffolk University Law School in 2025. During law school, she advanced fair housing enforcement by serving as a fair housing tester, working as the 2024 HDTP Fair Housing Fellow, and completing a legal externship with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) compliance and enforcement divisions. Outside of work, Ms. Cortes is passionate about analyzing reality television and pop culture, exploring how media influences society and communities. She also enjoys discovering new Boston restaurants with her family and traveling the country to stay connected with her University of Tampa friends.

Kyra DeTone 

Kyra M. DeTone is a Clinical Fellow for the Center for Housing Justice & Policy (CHJP) at Suffolk University Law School. After studying Art History and Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies at Union College, Kyra worked for an education nonprofit supporting high-impact tutoring programs in Title I public schools across the country’s biggest cities. Kyra left the organization after five and half years of service to attend law school at Columbia University. There, Kyra committed herself to public interest practice through representation of survivors of domestic violence and trafficking and contribution to policy and advocacy projects focused on improving access to justice and public education. Kyra also served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Gender & Law and supported the work of the Center for Institutional and Social Change by writing grants for its community-centered participatory justice projects. After graduating law school, Kyra clerked for the Honorable Una S. Gandbhir of the Third Judicial District of the Superior Court of Alaska. As a neurodivergent, queer, first-generation college and law school graduate, Kyra is deeply committed to serving her community at all its intersections. When she is not working, Kyra enjoys volunteering with the Boston Election Commission, singing with local choirs, cooking something spicy, knitting and crocheting, and obsessing over her beloved dog, Harley.

Ashley Grant

Ashley Grant

Ashley Grant is the Director of Fair Housing Enforcement and a Clinical Fellow with the Center for Housing Justice & Policy and Accelerator to Practice Program at Suffolk University Law School. Prior to joining Suffolk University Law School, Attorney Grant was the Legal Director at the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, where she spent ten years representing victims of housing discrimination in state and federal court, as well as before administrative agencies. In addition to conducting frequent trainings and presentations on fair housing issues, Attorney Grant also designed and co-taught a course on housing discrimination at Western New England School of Law. Attorney Grant is a graduate of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and Wesleyan University. After law school, she served as a law clerk for a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of New York and worked as an attorney at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House in New York City, representing low-income tenants in housing court and assisting individuals whose public benefits had been terminated.

Jamie Langowski

Jamie Langowski, HDTP Clinical Fellow

Jamie Langowski, pronouns: she/her, is a Practitioner in Residence at Suffolk University Law School and the Executive Director of the Center for Housing Justice & Policy. Attorney Langowski has many years of experience in the area of fair housing law and helped start the Housing Discrimination Testing Program (HDTP) at SULS. She is a nationally recognized expert on housing discrimination testing. Attorney Langowski has co-developed and co-taught multiple experiential fair housing law courses and is a frequent speaker on topics related to fair housing testing.

Prior to coming to Suffolk, Attorney Langowski clerked for a Boston civil rights attorney and served as Director of Policy and Communications for an At-Large Boston City Councilor where she worked on a wide range of issues with a focus on the environment and education. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law.

Publications

  • Jamie Langowski et al., Qualified Renters Need Not Apply: Race and Voucher Discrimination in the Metro Boston Rental Housing Market, Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, Vol. 28(1), Fall 2020.
  • Jamie Langowski et al., Qualified Renters Need Not Apply: Race and Voucher Discrimination in the Metro Boston Rental Housing Market, The Boston Foundation, July 2020.
  • Jamie Langowski, William Berman, Regina Holloway, and Cameron McGinn, Transcending Prejudice: Gender Identity and Expression-Based Discrimination in the Metro Boston Rental Housing Market, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Vol. 29, p. 321, 2018.
  • Jamie Langowski, Discrimination with a Smile, Pride Guide, 2018.
  • William Berman and Jamie Langowski, Supreme Court Upholds a Critical Tool in the Struggle for Inclusive Communities, Human Rights at Home Blog, June 25, 2015.
  • Lingering Lead: Strategies for Eliminating Familial Status Discrimination Due to Lead Paint, 2 BEARING WITNESS: J. L. & SOC. RESP. 22 (2014).

James Matthews

James Matthews

James Matthews, is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law in Suffolk Law School’s Accelerator-to-Practice Program and Housing Discrimination Testing Program (HDTP) where he supervises law students in housing discrimination, landlord-tenant, and other consumer protection matters related to housing. Attorney Matthews has over ten (10) years of experience working with low-income individuals on housing issues. Prior to law school, he was employed by the North Shore Community Action Programs (NSCAP) in Peabody, MA, where he worked with the agency’s staff attorney to assist low-income tenants facing eviction, discrimination, and termination or denial of subsidized housing. During law school, he continued advocating for at-risk tenants through a Summer Fellowship at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and as a student attorney in Suffolk Law School’s Housing Clinic. Attorney Matthews also has significant teaching and professional presenting experience. He helps conduct fair housing trainings and presentations as part of HDTP’s community education and outreach. He also teaches an upper-level landlord-tenant course he developed which includes instruction on state and federal fair housing law.