Class of 1973: Elizabeth Fink

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• Brooklyn Law School

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Elizabeth M. Fink ’73 (1945–2015)

Fink graduated from BLS in 1973 and, a year later, joined the Attica Brothers Legal Defense to help file the class action arising from the 1971 prison uprising. Over the next quarter century, she became a central figure in the litigation, helping secure a $12 million settlement in 2000 and preserving the record of abuses for public view. The New York Times called her “a fiery advocate for society’s outcasts,” reflecting a practice that also included Black Panthers, Puerto Rican nationalists, members of the Weather Underground, and other dissidents. Reflecting on that era, Fink recalled, “We were lawyers, but we were revolutionaries in our hearts.”