Mary Campbell Gallagher

Born and raised in Chicago and trained as a lawyer at Harvard, urban expert Mary Campbell Gallagher calls herself a "captivated student" of rebuilding the New York City economy. In Newsday for January 6, 2005, Dr. Gallagher argued that Wal-Mart's claim that it creates jobs is false. She proved that big box stores like Wal-Mart actually destroy jobs, instead. That same day, she testified on big box stores before the Economic Development Committee of the New York City Council. In the Nation, she has reviewed Mike Wallace's book A New Deal for New York, urging the strengthening of the manufacturing sector of the New York City economy. She frequently speaks on that subject. She is working on a book on big box stores and their effects on the economy. A widely-published writer, Dr. Gallagher is a member of the Authors Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Speakers Association.

Also a leading expert on preparation for the bar exam, Dr. Gallagher is the author of the widely-praised book Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays. She is President of BarWrite Training Schools, a division of Mary Campbell Gallagher & Co., Inc., that offers courses preparing students for the New York bar examination and that works with law schools that want to raise their bar pass rates, and of BarWrite Press.

Dr. Gallagher attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, on whose Board of Visitors and Governors she has served, and she was graduated from Barnard College with the A.B. in philosophy, receiving the Montague Prize for distinction in philosophy. She holds the J.D. from Harvard Law School and the Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Illinois. Dr. Gallagher has received many awards and honors and four VCCA fellowships.

A member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bars, Dr. Gallagher has served on the national Accreditation Panel of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) and on the Board of Directors of the New York Tri-State Speakers Association, Inc. (NYTSA-NSA).

Dr. Gallagher is a member of the Federalist Society, the National Association of Scholars, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and numerous other professional, civic, architectural and planning organizations. She belongs to the National Arts Club, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the Harvard Club of New York City.