About Marisa Bowe

Marisa Bowe Articles written 24

Marisa Bowe is a writer, editor and producer with credits in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, New York Magazine, Slate, and PBS NewsHour, among others. She is co-editor of the oral histories Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, and US: Americans Talk About Love. She graduated cum laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in modern European history.

Articles written by Marisa Bowe

Rumble in the Bronx

Nicole Aldridge-Henry coaches the next generation on more than just law

Nicole Aldridge-Henry’s journey to the law began at age 5 watching Matlock on Jamaica’s sole TV station. “The whole investigating and hard work to get to ‘Aha, this is what this is all about,’ that intrigued me,” she says. “I wanted to be that.” Now she’s helping Bronx middle schoolers with their own journeys. Born and raised in Kingston, Aldridge-Henry headed to Virginia for college because her grandmother lived there and because she got a scholarship, but the move was more …

Miracles on 29th and 42nd Streets

Michael Hiller’s battles to preserve historic landmarks

“I believe that life is relentless,” says Michael Hiller. “And I think we have to be vigilant and protect what’s important to us.” Hiller has certainly been vigilant in protecting historic landmarks and the public’s right to public institutions. He’s even fought the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to make sure that they are, in fact, preserving landmarks. “Twelve people have set foot on the moon,” Hiller says. “I think it’s seven or eight that have won cases against …

The Rules for Contesting a Will in Florida

No. 1: someone has to be dead

If you’d like to contest a will, there are several rules to follow—chief among them, the person has to be dead. “That’s the first mistake a lot of people make,” says Marsha Madorsky, who practices estate planning and probate law at Duane Morris in Miami. “People come in and say, ‘I want to contest my father’s will.’ ‘When did he die?’ ‘He’s not dead yet.’ ‘Well, I’m sorry, you can’t do that.’” The second rule: Not just anyone can contest a will. “You have …

Trademarking Your Business in California

IP lawyers say you should with a business name, but make sure you do it right

“Building a business without owning the trademark is like building a house without owning the land,” says Catherine Tang, an intellectual property attorney at Catherine Tang Law in Oakland. “You might be able to get away with it for a while—or even, perhaps, forever—but the landowner can come at any time and kick you off.” Without the protection of a registered trademark, adds Britten Sessions, an IP attorney at Zilka-Kotab in San Jose, someone can piggyback off your success with a …

The Ways to Contest a Will in New York Are Few

NYC estate planning attorneys break it down

There are only a handful of valid reasons to contest a will, and feeling slighted by a loved one is not on the list.  “There can be a lot of hurt feelings around wills,” says Theresa Balducci, who practices estate planning and probate law at Kelley Drye & Warren law firm. “Especially if, let’s say, the parents favored one child. But just because something’s unfair doesn’t make it illegal.” The grounds for contesting a New York will are quite narrow. Mental Capacity Perhaps …

Dollars to Donuts

Bankruptcy lawyer Janice Grubin comes into her own

Janice Grubin and her wife have been together 35 years but came out to co-workers only 15 years ago. “I wasn’t going to allow my situation to impact my career until I was comfortable that there wouldn’t be any negative repercussions,” she says. “I never went with anybody to firm functions or at conferences. I was always alone.”  It wasn’t until Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage in 2008 and the couple tied the knot that she came out at work. “It was strangely …

What Happens When Your Ex Leaves the Country with Your Child?

How international custody battles are sorted in Florida

A child abduction or a parent kidnapping their child and taking them to another country seems villainous—but it’s sometimes an emotional decision that wasn’t premeditated, says family law attorney Raymond Rafool, at Rafool LLC in Miami. “It’s more: They go, and then they decide not to come back,” he says. “Let’s say somebody met someone abroad, married them, and brought them to Miami,” says Dolly Hernandez, a family law attorney at Miami’s Boyd Richards Parker & …

Nipping Startup Concerns in the Bud

The cannabis industry is financially rewarding, but complicated, in NorCal

The prevailing perception among the public is that, in the marijuana industry, money literally grows on trees. That’s not entirely wrong, according to Katy Young, a business litigator at Ad Astra Law Group in San Francisco. “I have so many clients ... the ones that do have successful businesses, who just say, ‘Look, I get up every day and I get to go play in my cannabis garden.’” The problem? “For most people,” she says, “it’s just so hard to get involved. The reality of being …

How to Handle Child Custody Across Borders

International family law cases are on the rise; here's how they're resolved in New York

Trade isn’t the only thing on the increase in a globalized world with international borders. So are marriages between people from different countries—and with those marriages, inevitably, come international divorces and custody battles. These can be especially problematic and heartbreaking. “When somebody wants to move with a child far away from the other parent, somebody’s sort of winning and the other person is really losing,” says Patricia Fersch, a family law attorney at Fersch …

Not After the Big Part

Anne Vladeck and her family have been taking on big, fat firms for 70 years

“You won’t do it casually.” Anne Vladeck is talking plaintiff’s employment law in a nondescript conference room in the law offices of Vladeck, Raskin & Clark in Midtown. She knows the law school drill—you should be able to argue either side of a case—but she also knows there’s a difference between a job and a calling. “It’s really how you want to spend your time,” she says. “It’s not an accident that you will find mostly liberals doing plaintiff’s employment and …

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