March 25, 2014 - Dean Matthew Diller has announced that Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Of New York, will address graduates at Cardozo School of Law’s 36th Commencement Ceremony.

“I am thrilled that one of the leading prosecutors in the country will speak at Cardozo’s graduation,” Dean Matthew Diller said. “The integrity and conviction that Bharara possesses in approaching his position will be inspirational to our graduates.”

As U.S. Attorney, Bharara has successfully handled some of the most important cases in the nation, overseeing the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the Southern District of New York. Bharara has applied renewed focus with his office of more than 220 Assistant U.S. Attorney on large-scale, sophisticated financial frauds, cybercrime, international narcotics trafficking and terrorism, corruption in city and state government, and insider trading schemes.

In his position, Bharara created the Complex Frauds unit and the Civil Frauds Unit. The Civil Frauds Unit has collected close to $500 million in settlements since its inception, including multi-million dollar settlements with Deutsche Bank and CitiMortgage for faulty lending practices and other fraudulent conduct. The Complex Frauds Unit has addressed the threat of cybercrime, prosecuting core members of hacking groups LulzSec and Anonymous, and conducting the largest international takedown of defendants allegedly engaged in the theft of personal identification information and other crimes over the Internet.

In addition, Bharara has devoted significant resources towards combatting transnational acts of terrorism, narco-terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and money laundering; and has continued to combat corruption in city and state government. His office has prosecuted more than 500 members and associates of gangs throughout the region, and prosecuted one of the most notorious arms traffickers in the world, Viktor Bout, who is now serving a 25-year sentence. His office obtained a life sentence for Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber, and for one of the Al Qaeda plotters of the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in East Africa.

In addition, his office has convicted many insider-trading defendants, and also secured the guilty plea of Peter Madoff for his role in brother Bernard’s Ponzi scheme.

Prior to becoming the U.S. Attorney, Bharara was Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. From 2000 to 2005, he served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Previously he was a litigation associate in New York at Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman from 1996 to 2000, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher from 1993 to 1996. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and from Columbia Law School, where he was member of the Columbia Law Review.

Bharara has visited Cardozo several times in the past to participate in lectures and conferences, most recently at “The Wolf of Wall Street: Behind the Scenes at Stratton Oakmont,” which examined how to protect investors from fraudulent schemes like the one portrayed in the movie.

Commencement will take place May 27 at 4 p.m. at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

From left: Students Scott Kestenbaum '14, Marc Rosenberg '15, Michael Beck '15, David Fogel '15, and Michael Sheffy '14 of the Cardozo Sports Law Society organized the symposium. 

The Second Annual Cardozo Sports Law Symposium featured high-profile guests from the NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL, and MLS. Sports journalists, agents, and professors also joined the panels, which focused on some of the biggest current issues surrounding sports and law. Topics included the potential for growth of professional sports abroad, unionization in professional and collegiate sports, the legal implications behind the world's largest sporting events, and the rising popularity of participating in fantasy sports leagues for cash. The event was sponsored by the Cardozo Sports Law Society, Sports & Entertainment Law Students Association, Office of Career Services, Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Labor and Employment Law Society, Intellectual Property Law Society, The Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law (EASL) Section of New York State Bar Association (NYSBA).

Full Schedule:

Panel: Internationalization and the Growth of Professional Sports Abroad

Moderator: Terry Lefton (Editor-At-Large for the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily)

Panelists: Olivier Manigat (Cardozo ’08, Counsel at Major League Soccer), Andrew Kipper (Golf Agent at Excel Sports Management), Hymie Elhai (General Counsel for New York Jets), Mike Tannenbaum (President at Priority Sports - Coaches, Front Office & Broadcasters)

Over the past decade, the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB have increased their focus on expanding their sports abroad, including hosting regular season games in countries such as England, Australia, Mexico, Czech Republic and Sweden.  This panel focused on the ever-increasing sprawl of United States professional sports into countries not traditionally considered to be hotspots for the sports.  What legal issues do these games abroad present?  What are the implications of potentially hosting a Super Bowl in London or perhaps even placing a team or a division in England?  Aside from the obvious issues of travel, what legal concerns would there be for players and the league alike by playing abroad?  

Panel: Unionization in Professional and Collegiate Sports

Moderator: Dan Silverman (Labor Law Professor at Cardozo School of Law and former Regional Director of the NLRB New York Office)

Panelists: Joel Litvin (President of League Operations National Basketball Association), Hal Biagas (General Counsel of Excel Sports Management), Jason Belzer (Founder and President of Global Athletes Management Enterprise ("GAME") Inc.), Robert Boland (Academic Chair of the Sports Management Program at New York University), Charles Grantham (Former Executive Director National Basketball Player's Association, Adjunct Professor Sports Management Program at New York University)

This panel focused on the recurring strife between unions and management in professional and collegiate sports. In particular, the discussion focused on the recent movement by collegiate football players at Northwestern University to unionize for the purposes of obtaining compensation, benefits and a collective voice in dealing with the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA"). Are Northwestern University football players to be considered employees? 

Panel: The Legal Implications Behind the World’s Largest Sporting Events

Moderator: Ayala Deutsch (Cardozo School of Law Adjunct Professor, Senior Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel National Basketball Association)

Panelists: Jeff Gewirtz (Vice President Business Affairs and Chief Legal Officer Brooklyn Nets), Mark Stefanacci (General Counsel MetLife Stadium), Alison Wagner (Senior Counsel National Hockey League), Mark Holtzman (Executive Director, Non-Baseball Events, New York Yankees)

The legal issues stemming from a regular-season or post-season game are well documented. This panel focused on the bigger events in sports such as the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Winter Classic, the Pinstripe Bowl and more.  What legal issues do these more intricate events present?  What type of legal manpower is necessary to successfully run one?  

Panel: The Rising Popularity of Participating in Fantasy Sports Leagues for Cash

Moderator: Michael Graif (Cardozo School of Law Adjunct Professor, Partner Curtis, Mallet-Provost, Colt & Mosle)

Panelists: Marc Edelman, (Associate Professor of Law at Baruch College and Sports Lawyer), Brian Schwartz (Founder and CEO Draftstreet), Christopher LaVigne, (Counsel Shearman & Sterling LLP), Tom Griffiths (Co-Founder Fanduel)

This panel focused on the legal implications resulting from the popularity and development of fantasy sports and fantasy sports websites. In particular, this panel focused on the emerging legal, social, and economic impacts arising from the multi-billion dollar fantasy sports industry as well as the distinction between daily fantasy leagues and season-long fantasy leagues.

Vice Dean Edward Stein

Professor Melanie Leslie

Vice Dean Edward Stein Stepping Down, Professor Melanie Leslie to Become First Alumna to Serve as Vice Dean

April 1, 2014 - Dean Matthew Diller has announced that Edward Stein will step down from his role as Vice Dean on July 1, 2014, and Professor Melanie Leslie will become the first Cardozo School of Law graduate to take over the Vice Dean position.

Dean Stein will continue at Cardozo as a Professor of Law, and as Director of the Gertrud Mainzer Program in Family Law, Policy and Bioethics.

Dean Diller thanked Dean Stein for his service to the law school, saying, “Ed is a brilliant problem solver, a calming presence, a supportive colleague and friend, and an amazingly efficient administrator.” 

Dean Stein has served as Vice Dean for five years. During that time, he played a critical role in hiring new faculty and administrators and has worked tirelessly to advance numerous curricular additions at the school, including new courses, clinics, and externships programs.  He also established new collaborations and partnerships with The New School, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and with the broader Yeshiva University community. He has been instrumental to the development of the Israeli Supreme Court Project at Cardozo Law, organized and led Cardozo’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) program with China. Dean Stein has brought a tremendous energy and commitment to student life, and has been a key participant in organizing many events at the school each year.

As a key member of the university administration, and while teaching large classes, Dean Stein consistently offered support and leadership to the community in times of difficulty, personally checking on students in Cardozo housing when the power was lost in lower Manhattan after Hurricane Sandy. He painstakingly reorganized class schedules during that storm, when a water-main break shut down the school, and during one of the most difficult winters on record in 2013-14.

Dean Stein came to Cardozo in 2000 as an Associate Professor of Law, became a Professor of Law in 2005, and has served as Vice Dean since 2009. Previously, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and Mount Holyoke College, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at New York University, and a Visiting Instructor of Philosophy at Williams College. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School and a Visiting Scholar at UCLA Law School. Dean Stein will start a yearlong sabbatical in the fall. He is looking forward to working on his scholarly pursuits over that time.

Dean Stein is the author of three books; the most recent titled The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. His work on sexual orientation and the law is considered groundbreaking. His interdisciplinary writings also include work in family law, bioethics, philosophy of science, and theory of knowledge. He has also organized numerous conferences and scholarly workshops, and is a sought-after speaker on these topics in various contexts. Dean Stein holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a B.A. from Williams College.

“It has been an honor to work with Dean Diller and the rest of Cardozo’s terrific administrative team and faculty to provide our students with a high quality legal education,” said Dean Stein. “I am proud to have been part of all that the school has accomplished during this time.”

Professor Leslie received her J.D. magna cum laude from Cardozo in 1991, and served as Executive Editor of the Cardozo Law Review. She began her teaching career at Cardozo in 1995 as a Visiting Professor of Law, and has been a tenured professor since 2002. In addition, she has been a Visiting Professor of Law at New York University and Columbia Law Schools, and has taught as an adjunct at both schools. She has held numerous leadership positions at Cardozo, including heading the committee charged with overseeing ABA reaccreditation.

A prolific writer, Professor Leslie specializes in estates, nonprofits, and fiduciary responsibility in the trust, corporate and nonprofit contexts. She teaches Property, Trusts and Estates, Nonprofit Governance, and Evidence.

Her most recent article, published in the NYU Law Review, reveals significant problems with the current system of managing retirement accounts, which could impact millions of Americans. The paper, titled “Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts and the Hidden Law of Succession” was co-authored with Professor Stewart E. Sterk, with whom she also wrote a leading trusts and estates casebook and Trusts and Estates (Concepts and Insights) (published by Foundation Press).

Professor Leslie is a Legal Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC) and on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. She was a member of the New York State Bar and NYC Bar Joint Committee on the Uniform Trust Code, Chair of the AALS Section on Trusts and Estates, and the New York City Bar Association Committee on Trusts, Estates & Surrogate Courts. Before entering academia, Professor Leslie clerked for Justice Gary S. Stein of the New Jersey Supreme Court and was a litigation associate at the law firm of McCarter & English.

Dean Diller praised Professor Leslie’s scholarly work, her exceptional teaching skills, and her many contributions to the life of the law school.

“We are fortunate to have had amazing people in this position,” Dean Diller said. “I am delighted that this tradition of excellence will continue under Melanie’s leadership. She has already proven herself an outstanding leader in our community as well as a highly respected and praised teacher.”

For more information, contact:

John DeNatale
Assistant Dean
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
212.790.0237
DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves
Assistant Director
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
212.790.0837
Reeves@yu.edu

“RETHINKING RIKERS’” REPORT PROPOSES NEW MODEL FOR YOUTH OFFENDERS

 COMPREHENSIVE STUDY BY YOUTH JUSTICE CLINIC AT CARDOZO LAW

Calls for a Therapeutic Approach Based on Other State Models To Save Money and Rebuild Lives of 16-18 year-olds

Over 25% of Rikers’ Youth Currently See Solitary Confinement

Read the report

February 13, 2014 – New York, NY – A report released today by the Cardozo School of Law's Youth Justice Clinic, "Rethinking Rikers: Moving from a Correctional to a Therapeutic Model for Youth," uncovers the need for New York City to modernize its treatment and punishment of youth offenders. The report, released at Cardozo Law School during a symposium called Life in the Box: Youth in Solitary Confinement, details conditions and highlights current practices that actually increase the likelihood of sending young people down a path of despair and recidivism. It calls on New York City prison officials to move away from incarcerating youth ages 16-18 at the Department of Corrections facility on Rikers Island and adapting successful correction models used in other states

New York is one of two states that treat 16 year-olds as adults. The report documents a system that encourages a so-called “School to Prison Pipeline”. The report also urges state elected officials to adopt a therapeutic approach such as those in Missouri and elsewhere, with practices that are specialized for and dedicated to youth rehabilitation.

Solitary confinement is one of the most pressing changes needed to be made, according to report authors who are law students at Cardozo Law who visited Rikers and conducted interviews with experts around the country in other criminal justice systems. Over 25% of the youth population at Rikers have spent time in solitary confinement, many for months at a time.  Furthermore, the report notes, 500 youth languish in Rikers Island prison and over 75% of them are awaiting trial.

“Data from around the country shows us that not only are New York City’s practices archaic, but that these policies are counterproductive to the goals of our justice system,” Ellen Yaroshefsky, director of Cardozo Law’s Youth Justice Clinic, said.  “By incarcerating youth, often times putting them through long bouts of solitary confinement, we are not only setting them on a course for failure instead of addressing the underlying problems, but also are spending a lot of money in the process of doing harm.”

The report details how the current policies which incarcerates such a large number of youth with the majority of them awaiting trial, and exposes so many youth to solitary confinement, provides little benefit for long‐term public safety, wastes vast sums of taxpayer dollars, and more often than not, harms the well‐being and dampens the future prospects of the youth behind bars. 

“The severe emotional, mental and physical harm caused by solitary confinement is well documented,” Yaroshefsky said. “Moreover, the practice itself has proven to be unnecessarily costly and a substantial contributor to increased recidivism rates.”

The report also notes that New York City lags behind New York State in modernizing its practices and, furthermore, that the state as a whole is one of only two in the nation that still treat 16 and 17 year olds as adults in its courts.

The report explains that solitary confinement, defined in the report as extreme isolation for 22‐24 hours a day with minimal human contact, is the most extreme of the harmful practices, but that the Rikers Island correctional model overall is damaging and in need of significant change.  Specifically, New York City must change from a punitive to a therapeutic model.

The report outlines steps to be taken, and utilizes successful programs both in other states such as Missouri, and even in New York, that can be adapted and applied to Rikers. 

Some of the biggest steps that can be made are banning solitary confinement and taking steps to reduce the population of incarcerated youth.  For example, New York City has already adopted a successful program, based on the Missouri Model, for post-conviction youth called “Close to Home.”  The report recommends that New York City develop a similar pre‐trial instrument to assess which youth are a pretrial flight risk, and the system should offer a continuum of options such as supervision, bail expediting and a non‐profit bail bond system.

“Adopting measures similar to the Close to Home program for pre-trial youth, along with changes in case charging and bail policies and a concentrated effort to accelerate court‐processing time, will significantly reduce the pretrial population of youth,” said Yaroshefsky. “Taking these actions will downsize the Rikers Island population thereby conserving significant financial resources, some of which can be used for effective programming for youth.”

For those youth who do need incarceration the report outlines a model of closely supervised small groups, with group therapy and behavioral management facilitated by trained staff.  For example, in the small group model, youth are grouped in teams of approximately 10‐12, who sleep in the same dormitory style room and spend a significant amount of the day together (during meals, education, exercise, and therapy). Part of the benefit of these groups is that the structured consistency does not allow for a young person to withdraw because they receive support from staff and their peers.

The Youth Justice Clinic at Cardozo Law addresses the growing need for skilled lawyers in juvenile justice litigation and research positions. With a focus on the “school-to-prison pipeline”, it partners with the Legal Aid Society to handle school suspension cases related to clients charged with misdemeanors and felonies. In addition the clinic does impact work to address problems associated with youth in the education and justice systems. Cardozo students work under direct supervision, developing litigation, research reports, advocacy, case development, client interviewing, and counseling, in a wide range of settings.

###

Read the report 

For more information contact:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean, Communications & Public Affairs

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

Jackie Reeves

Assistant Director, Communications & Public Affairs

212.790.0837

Reeves@yu.edu

THE CARDOZO JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION HONORS JED MELNICK ’99 AND NAMES ITS SYMPOSIUM THE JED D. MELNICK ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OF THE CARDOZO JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION

April 10, 2014 – NEW YORK, NY – In recognition of distinguished alumnus Jed Melnick’s service to the law school and his generous gift in support of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution, Dean Matthew Diller has announced that the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution’s annual symposium will now be titled the Jed D. Melnick Symposium of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. 

Melnick ’99 was a founder of the Journal and was its first Editor-in-Chief.  In 2011 he joined JAMS as the youngest member of the panel and quickly established a thriving practice. 

“The same energy, vision and resolve that Jed Melnick displayed in starting and leading the Journal of Conflict Resolution has ultimately led to him being a star in the mediation field,” said Professor Lela Love, Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution. “Jed would not quit until the Journal was founded. I am sure he never gives up as a mediator, and the parties benefit from that. Alumni like Jed are the reason that Cardozo’s program is so prominent.” 

Melnick was actively involved in the mediation program as a Cardozo student. He was a proud member of Professor Love’s Mediation Clinic and, while in law school, was part of the team from the Center for Court Innovation (a public/private partnership that helps the justice system aid victims, reduce crime, strengthen neighborhoods, and improve public trust in justice) that founded and built the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center. The Crown Heights Mediation Center works to improve community problem-solving, collaboration, and inter-group relations in that diverse area of Brooklyn.

Jed has been involved in hundreds of cases with aggregate settlements in the billions of dollars, published numerous articles on mediation of complex disputes and has been frequently invited to speak and act as a panelist on issues related to the mediation of complex commercial litigation. He is one of the hosts of an annual panel presentation on legal developments and strategies for resolving securities class actions in Bermuda to the Bermuda insurance market.

Over the past few years, Jed has been involved in settling many of the securities matters that came out of the Adelphia and Lehman Brothers bankruptcies, numerous subprime matters, Madoff-related matters, Chinese reverse merger cases, a major class action resolution of a sexual assault claim and claims coming out of the bankruptcy of an international law firm. He is also the Managing Partner of the Weinstein Melnick Team and works with Judge Daniel Weinstein (ret.), one of the nation’s pre-eminent mediators of large complex disputes.

The yearly Jed D. Melnick Symposium of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution will gather high-profile lawyers and scholars in dispute resolution to discuss important and timely topics. Recent past topics have included “Bioethics, Health Policy, and Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Age of Obamacare” and “Negotiating the Extremes: Impossible Political Dialogues in the 21^st Century.”  

“The Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution is deeply grateful to Jed Melnick for his incredible support,” said Shawna Benston, the Journal’s current Editor-in-Chief. “Furthermore, speaking with him was truly a pleasure; despite his inspiring success, he remains connected to, interested in, and supportive of the workings of the Journal.”

The Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution consists of articles in alternative dispute resolution and mediation, and is ranked eighth* in the country in the field of civil litigation and dispute resolution. Published three times a year, it is a key component of Cardozo’s Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution. Ranked seventh** in the U.S., the Kukin Program is one of the top dispute resolution programs in the country. Cardozo’s Mediation Clinic, Divorce Mediation Clinic, Securities Arbitration Clinic and Dispute Resolution Society are all part of the Kukin Program, as well as many courses, an ADR competition team, and multiple symposia and panels—including the International Advocate for Peace Award, whose awardees have included President Jimmy Carter, President Bill Clinton, Abigail Disney, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

*Washington & Lee University School of Law

**U.S. News & World Report

For more information contact:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean of Communications

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves

Assistant Director of Communications

212.790.0837

Reeves@yu.edu

Edward Snowden's recent disclosures about the NSA's surveillance activities have raised important national security and civil liberty questions: How effective is the NSA's surveillance? What are its costs and benefits? Should individuals care if the government stores metadata even if they think they have nothing to hide? A fantastic panel of national security, cybersecurity, and privacy law experts discussed these important questions about the future of our democracy at Cardozo School of Law. The event was sponsored by the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy. 

Panelists Included:

JOEL BRENNER
Legal and Security Consultant
Former Inspector General
National Security Agency

ALAN BUTLER
Appellate Advocacy Counsel
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

AMY DAVIDSON
Senior Editor and Blogger
The New Yorker

SUSAN HERMAN
President
American Civil Liberties Union
Professor
Brooklyn Law School

Moderated by
DEBORAH PEARLSTEIN
Professor
Cardozo School of Law

April 1, 2014 - Dean Matthew Diller has announced that Edward Stein will step down from his role as Vice Dean on July 1, 2014, and Professor Melanie Leslie will become the first Cardozo School of Law graduate to take over the Vice Dean position.

Dean Stein will continue at Cardozo as a Professor of Law, and as Director of the Gertrud Mainzer Program in Family Law, Policy and Bioethics.

Dean Diller thanked Dean Stein for his service to the law school, saying, “Ed is a brilliant problem solver, a calming presence, a supportive colleague and friend, and an amazingly efficient administrator.” 

Dean Stein has served as Vice Dean for five years. During that time, he played a critical role in hiring new faculty and administrators and has worked tirelessly to advance numerous curricular additions at the school, including new courses, clinics, and externships programs.  He also established new collaborations and partnerships with The New School, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and with the broader Yeshiva University community. He has been instrumental to the development of the Israeli Supreme Court Project at Cardozo Law, organized and led Cardozo’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) program with China. Dean Stein brings a tremendous energy and commitment to student life, and has been a key participant in organizing many events at the school each year.

As a key member of the university administration, and while teaching large classes, Dean Stein consistently offered support and leadership to the community in times of difficulty, personally checking on students in Cardozo housing when the power was lost in lower Manhattan after Hurricane Sandy. He painstakingly reorganized class schedules during that storm, when a water-main break shut down the school, and during one of the most difficult winters on record in 2013-14.

Dean Stein came to Cardozo in 2000 as an Associate Professor of Law, became a Professor of Law in 2005, and has served as Vice Dean since 2009. Previously, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and Mount Holyoke College, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at New York University, and a Visiting Instructor of Philosophy at Williams College. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School and a Visiting Scholar at UCLA Law School. Dean Stein will start a yearlong sabbatical in the fall. He is looking forward to working on his scholarly pursuits over that time.

Dean Stein is the author of three books; the most recent titled The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. His work on sexual orientation and the law is considered groundbreaking. His interdisciplinary writings also include work in family law, bioethics, philosophy of science, and theory of knowledge. He has also organized numerous conferences and scholarly workshops, and is a sought-after speaker on these topics in various contexts. Dean Stein holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a B.A. from Williams College.

“It has been an honor to work with Dean Diller and the rest of Cardozo’s terrific administrative team and faculty to provide our students with a high quality legal education,” said Dean Stein. “I am proud to have been part of all that the school has accomplished during this time.”

Professor Leslie received her J.D. magna cum laude from Cardozo in 1991, and served as Executive Editor of the Cardozo Law Review. She began her teaching career at Cardozo in 1995 as a Visiting Professor of Law, and has been a tenured professor since 2002. In addition, she has been a Visiting Professor of Law at New York University and Columbia Law Schools, and has taught as an adjunct at both schools. She has held numerous leadership positions at Cardozo, including heading the committee charged with overseeing ABA reaccreditation.

A prolific writer, Professor Leslie specializes in estates, nonprofits, and fiduciary responsibility in the trust, corporate and nonprofit contexts. She teaches Property, Trusts and Estates, Nonprofit Governance, and Evidence.

Her most recent article, published in the NYU Law Review, reveals problems with the current system of managing retirement accounts, which could impact millions of Americans. The paper, titled “Accidental Inheritance: Retirement Accounts and the Hidden Law of Succession” was co-authored with Professor Stewart E. Sterk, with whom she also wrote a leading trusts and estates casebook and Concepts and Insights in Trusts and Estates (published by Foundation Press).

Professor Leslie is a Legal Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC) and on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. She was a member of the New York State Bar and NYC Bar Joint Committee on the Uniform Trust Code, Chair of the AALS Section on Trusts and Estates, and the New York City Bar Association Committee on Trusts, Estates & Surrogate Courts. Before entering academia, Professor Leslie clerked for Justice Gary S. Stein of the New Jersey Supreme Court and was a litigation associate at the law firm of McCarter & English.

Dean Diller praised Professor Leslie’s scholarly work, her exceptional teaching skills, and her many contributions to the life of the law school.

“We are fortunate to have had amazing people in this position,” Dean Diller said. “I am delighted that this tradition of excellence will continue under Melanie’s leadership. She has already proven herself an outstanding leader in our community as well as a highly respected and praised teacher.”

For more information, contact:

John DeNatale
Assistant Dean
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
212.790.0237
DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves
Assistant Director
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
212.790.0837
Reeves@yu.edu

Cardozo's Spring Fashion Law Symposium on April 24, 2014 focused on key legal issues in today's fashion business, including branded entertainment, mobile marketing, and false marketing practices.

Barbara Kolsun '82, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Stuart Weitzman and the driving force behind Cardozo Law's fashion offerings, organized the symposium. She worked closely with Alexandra Simmerson '14 who will work as Corporate Counsel for Michael Kors after graduation. James L. Johnston, Joseph Lewczak, and Ina Scher, distinguished partners at Davis & Gilbert LLP, moderated the panels and hosted a cocktail reception after the symposium, where students and alumni met industry leaders.

The first panel, "Branded Entertainment, Product Placement and Viral Techology," featured Ewa Abrams, Tiffany & Company's Intellectual Property Counsel, Marguerite Hill, Vice President and Legal Counsel of Rue La La, and Geri Lynn Elias, Vice President & Intellectual Property Counsel of Kate Spade & Co. Johnston navigated the panel through current legal issues in brand management, and discussed strategies when advising fashion business leaders on digital issues.

The second panel provided a detailed examination of mobile marketing, focusing on the legal challenges campaigns face when striving to engage consumers through mobile technology. Panelists, including Tom Burke, Deputy General Counsel of Brown Shoe Company and Nicole Marra, General Counsel of Gucci America, analyzed recent litigation over the use of text messages in retail promotion campaigns. Lewczak moderated the discussion.

The third panel, "False Advertising & Deceptive Marketing Practices", was moderated by Scher and featured Michael Oberlander, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Brown Shoe Company and Anca Cornis-Pop, Global Marketing Counsel of Avon.

The event was sponsored by The Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance, The Cardozo Intellectual Property Law Society, The Cardozo Cyberlaw Society, and Davis & Gilbert LLP.

Read More:

Luxury Daily: Understanding the Brand's Risk Tolerance Key to Intellectual Property Agreements

By Jen King

April 28, 2014 Luxury Daily - NEW YORK – When negotiating for branded entertainment, product placement or viral campaigns, it is important for a luxury brand’s legal counsel to manage marketers’ expectations while balancing the risk, a panel of in-house lawyers suggested April 24 at the Cardozo School of Law’s Semi-Annual Fashion Law Symposium.

Although on the surface entertainment content, sponsorships and public relations strategies that involve intellectual properties such as film, television, music and celebrity personalities may seem straightforward, there are contractual issues that must be considered. The panelists discussed the legalese of promoting intellectual property such as with jeweler Tiffany & Co.’s capsule collection for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” and subsequent promotions.

“This was a very important, substantial and successful deal for [Tiffany & Co.],” said Ewa Abrams, intellectual property counsel at Tiffany & Co., New York.

“[The Great Gatsby capsule collection was] one of Tiffany’s largest deals [and] was an opportunity for marketing and PR to leverage a small budget,” she said. “The output was an investment and was hopefully returned through sale of merchandise and promotional materials with Warner Bros. Studios.

“We look at if [the partnership] is a good fit, if it sounds like a great opportunity [and then] I coach our PR and marketing team to understand the tenor of the film and the product itself.”

Placing products
During the panel, Ms. Abrams discussed how Tiffany’s legal team worked with its PR department and marketers closely to create The Great Gatsby partnership while aiming to minimize the risk that jeweler would undergo if anything went sour.

In the case of the Great Gatsby, the end result of the campaign was known, since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work is one of the most well-known books in American history. For new films or promotional initiatives that are created in-house, the risk is significantly different.

Tiffany’s marketers and legal team also worked closely with Warner Bros. Studios to understand the content’s direction. Tiffany’s drafted contractual arrangements to provide exclusivity in the product category, billing as the jewelry provider in the film, the use of tag lines in branded promotions and advertisements as well as imagery with actress Carey Mulligan who starred in the film.

The campaign then began emerging on various platforms.

For instance, Tiffany pushed its 1920s’-inspired jewelry lines through advertisements on The New York Times’ desktop and mobile sites on the day that Mr. Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby hit theaters.

While sites such as YouTube and Yahoo! opened with video ads for the film, the New York Times’ desktop site May 10 presented an oversized banner ad with videos of items from Tiffany’s Jazz Age collections. That same day, the jeweler took out a static banner ad on the news outlet’s mobile site that linked to an optimized page where consumers could purchase items from its Ziegfeld Collection (see story).

By including these clauses in its contract with Warner Bros., Tiffany was able to weave a network of promotional activities.

One instance of this is the guarantee that the movie’s talent walked down the red carpet wearing Tiffany jeweler. This allowed for an endorsement that was quickly picked up, for free, by the press.

Ms. Abrams stressed the importance of “understand[ing] the studio’s relationship with the talent.”

“You don’t want to be in the position to create engagement but cannot use the promotional materials,” she said. “[Brands] need to add in rights with the talent to use their photos.

“Make sure you have those rights pre-negotiated with the studio.”

What about digital promotions?
The digital space has altered how branded promotions are handled. Now, many marketers are under the impression that anything digital can survive indefinitely, but it is common that a studio will want content removed when the promotion contract expires.

Social media is an exception where content. Ms. Abrams sees social promotions as a “snapshot in time, it will get buried but the promotion still happened” and will not negatively affect the studio or talent in the future when in contractual negotiations with a competitor.

“The best way to think about the viral promotions,” said Geri Lynn Elias, vice president and intellectual property counsel at Kate Spade & Co., New York, “is a mark on a brand’s timeline, that isn’t used for marketing purposes but rather to highlight the evolution of a brand.”

Also, the panelists agreed that during a brand-talent relationship, or when a promotional contract comes to an end, the terms can become murky. Brands must consider that these ambassadors are people and may be seen wearing a competitor, either personally purchased or gifted by brand or loved one.

For instance, a breach of contact can occur when a marketer uses a photograph of a celebrity wearing its products and that individual is under contract with another brand.

Though many brands have celebrity sighting sites, there is a spectrum that must be considered before going forward.

The right side, according to Ms. Abrams is implicit consent through gifting suites or lent products, while the opposite end is infringement, meaning the celebrity received a personal gift, was photographed and the brand uses that image for its own benefit and then the middle ground is more ambiguous and includes posting to a celebrity “people and parties”-type page.

Clearly, it is advisable to veer toward the right side of the spectrum.

“For [Tiffany], exclusiveness is important,” Ms. Abrams said. “We don’t want celebrities wearing competitors on the red carpet.

“What would cause reputational harm is important to consider,” she said.

Thanks to the hard work and generosity of the entire Cardozo community, the 22nd annual Cardozo Public Service Auction brought in $620,000, smashing last year's record. The auction's success means that 254 Cardozo students (every eligible student) will receive a generous $4-5,000 stipend to work in areas of public interest law over the summer. In fact, over the past ten years, every eligible student has received a summer stipend, meaning hundreds of Cardozo students and graduates have been able to fulfill their dreams of gaining work experience in the public service sector, thanks to the financial support of the law school. 

This year's auction marks the 11th year in a row that the public service auction has broken its fundraising record. Due to the auction’s stellar turnout, students will be able to serve the greater good working in international human rights, at nonprofits providing legal services to underserved communities, with federal, state and local government agencies, and with judicial chambers around the country.

The success of the auction is due to the collective commitment of our law school students, alumni, faculty, administration, Board of Overseers, parents, friends and Cardozo staff—and to our Board Chair Emerita, Kathy Greenberg ’82, whose dedication to the Public Service Auction and to Cardozo’s public service programs inspire us always to greater efforts on behalf our students.

Mark Gerlach, Law Technology News
 

May 16, 2014 Law Technology News - The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is ramping up its emphasis on technology with a new initiative that will help law students prepare for careers in cybersecurity, information governance, e-discovery, data privacy and social media law.

Called the Data Law Initiative, the program will consist of classroom coursework and internship credits. There is no additional cost to participate in the initiative for Cardozo students, according to a spokeswoman for the law school.

“I wanted to create a program to meet the changing demands of the profession and the marketplace,” said Cardozo School of Law Dean Mathew Diller in an LTN interview. “Technology has transformed business and society, and the digital age we live in is creating new legal challenges every day.”

According to John DeNatale, assistant dean of communications and public affairs at Cardozo, in addition to an internship, all students in the initiative must complete two mandatory courses: E-Discovery, Digital Evidence and Computer Forensics; and Information Governance Law. Each course is a full semester, DeNatale said.

The pair of core classes was developed over the past several years in preparation for the initiative, says DeNatale. Cardozo has also expanded its internship program as part of the initiative, and will launch a Tech Start-Up Clinic this fall, he said.  

The law school, which will also be applying for state approval for the new initiative in the fall, offers approximately 10 other optional courses from its intellectual property and information and corporate law course catalog. Some of which include Discovery in Civil Actions, Corporate Internal Investigations and Internet Law.

Initiative classes can be taken during a student’s second and third year, DeNatale says.

Students do not have to maintain a certain grade point average to enroll in the initiative. However, employers are at the helm of accepting students for internships, so GPA is most likely a factor.

Professor Patrick Burke, counsel at Reed Smith, is the director of the program. The associate director is professor Denise Backhouse, shareholder at Littler Mendelson.

Some students who were really “stars” in the classroom are either not finding work or are underemployed after they graduate, Burke says. The initiative is designed to amend that trend and help students find jobs in the tech field.

Big four companies (e.g., Earnest & Young and KPMG) recruit students each year from feeder schools and put them through a computer science “boot camp” to get them prepared for e-discovery practices; later bringing them on as consultants, Burke says. In response to this trend, Cardozo created its own tech boot camp because of the lack of notable J.D. feeder schools for legal technology careers.

Five students are enrolled in summer internships through the initiative, says Cardozo’s DeNatale, with approximately another half dozen internships in the works.

The program has an all-star board of advisers, including Jason Baron, of counsel at Drinker Biddle & Reath; Barclay Blair, president of the ViaLumina Group; David Cowen, president and managing director of The Cowen Group; Hon. James Francis IV, magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Manfred Gabriel, principal at KPMG; David Horrigan, analyst at 451 Research; Anne Kershaw, managing director at Knowledge Strategy Solutions; Patrick Oot, partner at Shook Hardy & Bacon; and Daniel Regard, CEO of iDiscovery Solutions Inc.

Mark Gerlach is a staff reporter at LTN.

Tania Karas, New York Law Journal

May 19, 2014 New York Law Journal - The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law announced Thursday that it will offer a Data Law Initiative program this fall, with the goal of graduating tech-savvy lawyers to help businesses and law firms as more of the world's data and communication moves online.

Students in the program will take existing Cardozo Law courses in e-discovery, digital evidence, social media law, computer forensics, corporate internal investigations, technology policy and other areas. The school will help them obtain internships with law firms and in-house departments of technology and e-discovery companies.

"Data law is growing at an amazing pace right now, and not a lot of fields of law are growing that way," said adjunct professor and program director Patrick Burke, who is counsel to Reed Smith and part of its records and e-discovery practice group. "More and more things are going to be automated. But we still need lawyers who are able to understand computers."

Adjunct professor Denise Backhouse, a Littler Mendelson shareholder who focuses on e-discovery, will serve as associate director. The school is seeking state approval to offer students a certificate upon completion.

The law school's expanding specializations in intellectual property and technology law has attracted a growing number of students, Burke noted.

"Building the Data Law Initiative on top of that makes for a really good fit," he said, adding that he wants Cardozo Law to be a "feeder school" into an industry that traditionally hires people with computer science backgrounds but needs employees with law degrees.

The launch dovetails with the introduction of Cardozo Law's tech startup clinic this fall, which will provide legal advice to city technology firms on legal issues unique to early-stage companies.

Co-organized by Professors Peter Goodrich and Michel Rosenfeld, the Law and Interpretation Conference was held to a packed house at Cardozo on April 29-30, 2014.

The aims of the conference were both trans-atlantic and trans-generational. A prestigious cast of luminaries, including Bernhard Schlink (Cardozo), Stanley Fish (Cardozo), Julie Saada (Sciences Po), Duncan Kennedy (Harvard), Gayatri Spivak (Columbia), Avital Ronnel (NYU), Bernie Meyler (Stanford), Anselm Haverkamp (Munich), Mikail Xifaras (Sciences Po), Antoine Garapon (IHJ) discussed diverse aspects of the theoretical and judicial traditions in common law. A group of younger scholars, including Chuck Gelman (NYU), Katrin Trustedt (Erfurt), Laurent de Sutter (Brussels), Marco Wan (Hong Kong), Marinos Diamantides (London), Connal Parsley (Kent), Mark Sanders (NYU) provided a conspectus of responses and renewals of the tradition from within contemporary continental legal theory.

Themes were as diverse as interpretation as falsification, the errors of Antonin Scalia, muslim veils, temporality, image and icon in the Greek crisis, sovereignty and philia, translation, governance and the bifurcation of ontologies were discussed by masters and disciples, the old and new guards, with humor, correction and moments of mellifluousness.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AARON WRIGHT ’05 TO DIRECT NEW TECH STARTUP CLINIC AT CARDOZO LAW

May 23, 2014 – NEW YORK, NY – Today, Dean Matthew Diller announced the appointment of Aaron Wright as the director of Cardozo Law’s newly-created Tech Startup Clinic. The Tech Startup Clinic is a transactional legal clinic offering services to New York City tech companies starting in the fall.

Professor Wright is a Cardozo alumnus who co-founded the highly successful wiki-based company ArmchairGM, a sports database that was sold to Wikia in 2006. At Wikia, he managed the New York office and served as general counsel and vice president of product and business development. He comes to Cardozo from Jenner & Block, where he was an associate in the Content, Media & Entertainment Group, representing media and technology companies.

“We are very fortunate to have Aaron join us as we aggressively expand Cardozo’s programs in tech and data law,” said Dean Matthew Diller. “The New York City tech sector is full of opportunities for new lawyers, and Aaron’s knowledge and experience will provide our students with the tools needed to take on careers in this growing field.”

Professor Wright was previously a law clerk for United States District Judge William J. Martini and an associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, and Jones Day.  Professor Wright is a 2005 cum laude graduate of Cardozo, where he served as editor in chief of the Cardozo Law Review and was selected to the Order of the Coif.

The Tech Startup Clinic will expose students to the myriad legal and business strategy challenges that start-ups face, and give them hands-on experience with intellectual property, corporate, contract, tax, and labor and employment issues. In representing clients, students will be exposed to and learn about the legal issues that start-ups face. They will focus on the various challenges the company may encounter, from formation and seed and angel funding to intellectual property and operational issues.

Like the recently announced Cardozo Data Law Initiative (CDLI), the Tech Startup Clinic is part of the school’s effort to prepare lawyers to deal with the ways in which the technological revolution is changing legal practice. The clinic will provide a needed public service that will help advance the tech sector in New York, and is an additional offering in Cardozo’s long list of stellar clinical opportunities.

“As start-ups develop, they often have to make legal decisions that can be tricky for new businesses,” said Wright. “They have to think about protecting their intellectual property, building a corporate culture, and structuring the company. Students will learn how to help start-ups navigate these challenges, and provide legal advice and counsel.”

For more information contact:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean of Communications

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves

Assistant Director of Communications

212.790.0837

Reeves@yu.edu

Cardozo Law Celebrates 36th Commencement

Speaking at Cardozo School of Law's 36th commencement ceremony, Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told graduates to reflect on what they bring to the law. “The law can have great force, but in order to truly form a more perfect union, it needs an assist from human beings who think and feel beyond it,” he said. Referring to the ceremony’s setting at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Bharara said, “In the coming years as you master the form and perfect your craft, don’t just use your head. Use your heart. Don’t just play the notes. Make music.”

The class of 2014 celebrated their commencement on May 27. In his remarks, Dean Matthew Diller urged the 463 J.D. and LL.M. graduates to be agents of change, and to make their mark in the legal profession.

"Think back to those first days of law school for a moment and the work you poured into your studies," Dean Diller said. "If only you could see a video of yourselves from your elements class, sorting through your first cases. You would not believe how much you have changed...I want to assure you—you really are ready for the road ahead, and I’m confident you will have much to celebrate in years to come."

Following Dean Diller’s speech, Bhrarara took the stage. Bharara has successfully handled some of the most important cases in the nation, overseeing the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the Southern District of New York. Among his many prominent cases, Bhrarara successfully prosecuted and obtained a life sentence for Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber and secured the guilty plea of Peter Madoff for his role in brother Bernard’s Ponzi scheme. He is celebrated for applying renewed focus on large-scale, sophisticated financial frauds, cybercrime, corruption in city and state government, and insider trading schemes.

Bharara told a poignant story about a legal case, to illustrate what he described as the most "uplifting a crime story as I have ever heard."

He told of avowed white supremacist Mark Anthony Stroman, who was living in Texas on September 11, 2001. After the terror attacks, Stroman went on a hate crime spree—killing 46-year-old Waqar Hasan, an immigrant from Pakistan, at a Dallas convenience store and Vasudev Patel, an immigrant from India, at another store. He was apprehended and tried for the murder of Patel. But he had also attempted the murder of Rais Bhuyan, a Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh at a Texaco mini-mart. Bhuyan survived, but suffered years of physical pain. But then an unlikely thing happened.

"Bhuiyan thought about the man who had done this to him and who was now sitting on death row in Texas," Bharara said. "He thought about the two women who had lost their husbands, and he thought about their children and all the suffering this hateful man had caused. And then he did something that I think most people, myself included, could never do. He forgave his would-be killer. And he did more than that. In 2010, Bhuiyan began a campaign to spare Stroman from the death penalty. And as Rais Bhuiyan elevated himself from victim to advocate, he was not the only one transformed. For you see, the man who had tried to kill him and who now sat on death row had learned of Bhuiyan’s efforts on his behalf. Stroman was asked by a reporter, in the days before he was scheduled to be executed: 'What are you thinking now?' And Stroman said this: 'I can tell you what I’m feeling today, and that’s very grateful for Rais Bhuiyan’s efforts to save my life after I tried to end his.'"

Bharara went on. "Speaking as a prosecutor, from what I can tell, justice was done in this case. A jury deliberated, the law was followed, and ultimate punishment was imposed as prescribed by law. But speaking as an American and a human being, it seems to me that there is a larger lesson here. While we can respect the methodical and grinding machinery of the law in this case, we can marvel even more at how a victim of hatred grew to be a teacher of tolerance and transformed his own would-be killer in the process. I hope that you keep your hearts open to ideas and feelings that stretch beyond the law.”

Following Bharara's speech, James C. Ng, the chosen student speaker, took the stage, and generated much applause and laughter from his fellow students. Vice Dean Edward Stein led the awards and honors ceremony, and Yeshiva University President Richard Joel conferred the Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees. Dean Diller presented the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Award for Extraordinary Leadership to Vice Dean Stein for his five years of service as Vice Dean.

Congratulations to the class of 2014!
 

CARDOZO LAW ANNOUNCES ELECTION OF DAVID SAMSON ’93 AS NEW CHAIR OF THE CARDOZO BOARD OF OVERSEERS
Jeffrey Goldfarb ’02 and Jonathan Henes ’96 Elected as New Members of Board

June 3, 2014 – NEW YORK, NY – Dean Matthew Diller announced today that David Samson ’93, President of the Miami Marlins, has been elected Chair of the Cardozo Board of Overseers.

“I am delighted that David will be leading the Cardozo Board of Overseers,” said Dean Matthew Diller. “He has been an energetic supporter of the law school for years, and a champion of many of our most innovative new programs. David will be a wonderful Chair of the Board.”

David Samson was elected to the Board of Overseers on December 8, 2010. As a board member, he has been instrumental in helping to shape the long-range goals of the law school and to envision a vital role for Cardozo in the changing legal landscape. A strong proponent of Crdozo’s clinical education, he has recently donated significant funds towards the school’s experiential education programs, and wants Cardozo alumni to stand out in the employment market. A frequent speaker at law school events (and always a great student favorite), a mentor of students, a 2010 Alumni of the Year and a spirited advocate for Cardozo, David is deeply engaged in the law school at every level.

"I am very humbled and thankful to have been nominated to serve as Chairman of the Cardozo School of Law Board of Overseers,” Samson said. “I look forward to working with Dean Matthew Diller and the entire board and to continue the great work of immediate past Chair Leslie Payson. Cardozo is well positioned to tackle the many complex issues that are before it and I am excited to get started.”

David Samson received his J.D. from Cardozo Law in 1993. He has been President of the Miami Marlins since 2002. As President, he played a key role in securing a public-private partnership to build a retractable roof ballpark in Miami, which opened in 2012. He was a force behind the team’s successful rebranding in 2011. In 2003, the Marlins won the World Series with Samson as President. He is one of just eight current team presidents to preside over a World Series Championship.

Previously, Samson was the Executive Vice President of the Montreal Expos from 1999 to 2002. Following his graduation from Cardozo, he founded News Travels Fast, which delivered The New York Times, Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal to Europe daily. In 1997, he joined Morgan Stanley as an investment advisor, and he held that position until he joined the Expos.

Samson was honored as a Cardozo Alumni of the Year in 2010 for his achievements and his many contributions to the law school. A native of New York City, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990 with a B.A. in Economics.

Samson is taking over leadership duties from Leslie E. Payson ’91, Managing Director of Global Operations and Technology at Citigroup, who was Chair of the Board since 2010. Payson’s managerial leadership was vital to maintaining the fiscal health of the school and to the development of new initiatives. She was the first board liaison to the Junior Advisory Board and has been a leader and advocate for advancing the quality of student life at Cardozo.

“Leslie has been a wonderful Chair. During her tenure, she set a high bar – not only for her successor, but also for everyone who served on the board with her. Her energy and her affection for the law school made her a natural leader and an effective motivator,” said Patricia Weiss, Associate Dean of Institutional Advancement and Alumni Affairs. “Leslie knows how to get things done and move us forward, and always with focus and grace.”

Past Board Chairs include Chair Emeriti Kathryn O. Greenberg ’82, Founder and Honorary Chairman, New York Legal Assistance Group and Hon. Earle I. Mack, Senior Partner, The Mack Company.

The Cardozo Law Board of Overseers also elected two new distinguished members, Jeffrey Goldfarb ’02 and Jonathan Henes ’96.

Jeffrey Goldfarb is Director of Strategic Planning at G-III Apparel Group, which designs, manufactures, imports, and markets men and women’s apparel. He joined G-III in 2002 and was named to his current position in 2004. He is a 2002 graduate of Cardozo, and received his B.A. from Boston University.

Goldfarb has been actively involved at Cardozo, participating as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council, a speaker for the Dean’s Speaker Series, and an active participant in the Public Service Auction. He has been a driving force in establishing the joint program with the Fashion Institute of Technology and Cardozo Law, and is instrumental in hiring recent Cardozo graduates.

Jonathan Henes is recognized as one of the nation’s top restructuring lawyers. He is a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, leading some of the most complex restructurings in the U.S. and abroad in a variety of industries, including media, chemicals, energy, manufacturing, real estate, retail, and telecommunications. He is a 1996 cum laude graduate of Cardozo, where he was Managing Editor of the Cardozo Law Review. He holds a B.A. from Union College.

Henes is a great supporter of Cardozo Law. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance. Henes frequently organizes major conferences, most recently, “The Wolf of Wall Street: Behind the Scenes at Stratton Oakmont.” He often speaks to students as part of the Dean’s Speaker Series and Heyman Center Lunch Talks. As an Adjunct Professor, Henes teaches distressed investing and corporate restructuring.

For more information contact:

John DeNatale
Assistant Dean of Communications
212.790.0237
DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves
Assistant Director of Communications
212.790.0837
Reeves@yu.edu

Matthew Kriegsman '14 has been selected as the 2014 recipient of the Mark Whitlock Scholarship.  

The Whitlock Scholarship was established by the friends and family of Mark Whitlock '10, who passed away from brain cancer when he was a student at Cardozo. Mark’s family sought to celebrate his joyous spirit and vitality with this scholarship. It is designed to recognize an outstanding, third-year J.D. student who, through the force of individual effort, energy, spirit and initiative, contributes to and/or expands and strengthens student life and community at Cardozo.

Matthew is the founder of Cardozo's Student Mentor Program and is the Co-Founder of the Cardozo Book Loan Program for students in financial need and the Cardozo Apparel Store. He also served as a class Senator and eventually as Vice President of the Student Bar Association, chairing the Student Life Committee during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Matthew also received the Jacob Burns Medal and the Cardozo Service and Achievement Award for his efforts throughout law school. He graduated with a J.D. from Cardozo in 2014, and is currently pursuing an LL.M. at Cardozo in Dispute Resolution and will be graduating in January of 2015.

Congratulations to Matthew!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NACDL-CARDOZO LAW NATIONAL FORENSIC COLLEGE ADVANCES FORENSIC SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE AMONG PUBLIC DEFENDER OFFICES

Cardozo Law Professor Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, speaks at the NACDL-Cardozo Law National Forensic College.

June 12, 2014 – NEW YORK, NY – Public defenders from around the country, and other lawyers with training responsibilities gathered at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law from June 8 to 13, 2014, to train in the most current complex forensic science issues. With support from the Foundation for Criminal Justice, Cardozo Law and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) hosted the inaugural, first-of-its-kind NACDL-Cardozo Law National Forensic College (NFC), with an aim in ultimately significantly decreasing the number of people incarcerated via wrongful convictions.

“Training lawyers in the latest in forensic science means we are creating a network of public defenders who are better armed in the courtroom, and more prepared to win their case,” said Cardozo Law Professor Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project. “Spreading this type of knowledge is essential in our goal of decreasing the numbers of those wrongfully imprisoned.”

For each subject matter area, a faculty of leading scientists, litigators, and scholars in the field are covering latest developments and systematically strategizing how forensic issues can be approached at each stage in a case.

“The National Forensic College reflects Cardozo Law’s commitment to reforming the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions,” said Cardozo Law Dean Matthew Diller. “As the home of the Innocence Project, the school has been involved in freeing innocent prisoners through DNA evidence from the beginning. The NFC will help advance this cause throughout the nation.”

In the six-day college, lawyers and scientific experts are forming working groups to make sure each of the trainees became part of a national network that shares the best information, uses and develops the best experts, and pursues disciplined and sophisticated law reform strategies. The college instructs the newly trained lawyers to then train their colleagues at their office in the latest in forensic science.

 “This is precisely the sort of program that is a core part of the NACDL mission – fostering the expertise of the criminal defense profession. NACDL, through its myriad training programs, is committed to ensuring that all attorneys – private and public defenders – are equipped to deliver the very best, cutting edge defense to their clients,” said NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer. “We are delighted to have partnered with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law to make such an important program a reality.”

The college is thoroughly training lawyers in a multitude of issues. “Litigating DNA Cases: Low Template DNA and Databank Access” looked at updates to legal rulings that concern the admissibility of low copy number DNA, new studies dealing with the prevalence of contaminated DNA in labs, and the issues associated with the interpretation of complex mixed DNA samples. “Litigating False Confession Cases” included a discussion on selecting experts in false confession cases, preparing client testimony, and a lecture/demonstrative on cross-examination questions in false confession cases. “Litigating Forensic Economic Crimes” included discussion concerning the calculation and evaluation of loss, “materiality” of accounting misstatements, and litigation of mortgage fraud. “Litigating Eyewitness Identification Cases” focused on findings related to eyewitness memory and perception, recent legal developments on eyewitness ID, and how to tell a compelling story about why the witness is wrong. Other panels included “Litigating Pattern Evidence Cases: Fingerprints,” and “Litigating Digital Evidence Cases – Focus on Cellphones.”

The defenders from offices that were unable to make a contribution toward tuition or lodging had their participation subsidized by the sponsors.

This program was made possible by support from Cardozo, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, and corporate and law firm sponsors.

For more information or to schedule interviews, contact:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean of Communications

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves

Assistant Director of Communications

212.790.0837

Reeves@yu.edu

Summa Cum Laude

Harry R. Kaplan
Elin B. Lassen
Matthew F. Longobardi
Yan Slavinskiy (Brandeis Award)

Magna Cum Laude

Gershon Akerman
Daria A. Andryushchenko
Julie E. Bernstein
Emily M. Burgess
Gregory Capobianco
Benjamin F. Cooper
Molly R. Duane
David I. Feinstein
Rachel Chana Flaschner
Elizabeth Friedler
Amanda J. Goldstein
Jonathan W. Greisman
Alexandra H. Gutman
Kodey M. Haddox
Anastasia L. Holoboff
Bryan R. Joggerst
Catherine S. Leibowitz
Adrienne D. Levy
Jonathan A. Lynn
Madelyn A. Morris
Allison Nicole Netto
Christina C. Orlando
Nicholas J. Phillips
Jodi A. Raab
Sophia Albina Ray
Nicholas Roper
Eric Howard Rosoff
Zachary A. Ross
Jessica R. Schissel
Nahid A. Shaikh
Zubin D. Soleimany
Pamela Takefman
Laura B. Tatelman
Kerry B. Van Schoyck
Melissa A. Wollis

Cum Laude

Gill Benedek
Michael Brasky
Ryan C. Brewer
Amy L. Cassidy
Albert D. Chang
Ross S. Clements
Mark DeAngelis
Alexander S. Dombroff
Morris S. Dweck
Daniel A. Feinstein
Shlomo Fishelis
Michael Galen
Theadora B. Gersten
Andrew E. Glantz
Emma B. Glazer
Jenny Lian Greisman
Michal Gross
Avi Guttman
Mallory E. Harwood
Daniel A. Hoffman
Dena M. Ingerman
David Israel
Robert D. Keeler
Yuu Kinoshita
Michelle L. Kornblit
David C. Kurlander
Anna Linetskaya
Jessica M. Marshall
Rebecca A. Martin
Maegan B. McAdam
Paul Mezan
Melanie L. Miller
Danit L. Mishani
Jessica E. Morak
Andrew W. Moses
Devin W. Ness
Darius E. Niknamfard
Kelli D. Ortega
Arie A. Peled
Lee F. Pickett
Daniel S. Rabinowitz
Jessica M. Rubenstein
Hugo Ruiz de la Torre
Laura C. Sayler
Lisa A. Schlesinger
Gulsah Senol
Katie A. Serrano
Alexandra R. Simmerson
Courtney L. Sirwatka
Alicia D. Sklan
Alexis D. Soshnick
Joshua Stein
Bryan Noah Sterba
Solomon Suleymanov
Steven N. Tremblay
Karina C. Can Ginkel
Shane D. Wax
Andrew L. Weg
Gabrielle C. Wilson

Cardozo's Field Clinics program sends teams of students to work in New York City law offices, representing clients and gaining valuable career experience.