We're pleased to announce the launch of the Cardozo Law Gear online store! At this new website, you will find carefully selected Cardozo School of Law branded apparel and accessories, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, hats, and more.

Head to www.cardozolawgear.com to take a look or to shop. We hope you enjoy!

Cardozo Life Magazine Wins Merit Award in the 30th Annual Educational Advertising Awards

Five publications produced by Yeshiva University won awards at the 30th Annual Educational Advertising Awards, sponsored by Higher Education Marketing Report. The largest educational advertising awards competition in the country, over 2,000 entries were received from over one-thousand colleges, universities and secondary schools from all fifty states and several foreign countries.

Cardozo Life, the law school's yearly magazine, is published by the Cardozo Law Office of Communications and Public Affairs and the Yeshiva University Communications & Public Affairs Office. It received a merit award for the 2014 issue. 

Awards Include:

Silver, YU Today (Newsletter category)
Silver, Wurzweiler School of Social Work's search piece (Brochure category)
Bronze, Azrieli's Prism Journal (Publication category)
Merit, Cardozo Life Magazine (Publication category)
Merit, Athletics' YU Fit flatscreen campaign (New Media category)

Professor Sheri Rosenberg Named 2015 Peace Ambassador by The Center for Peacebuilding

The Center for Peacebuilding (CIM), an organization that seeks to rebuild trust and foster reconciliation among the people of Bosnia & Herzegovina, has named Professor Sheri P. Rosenberg a 2015 Peace Ambassador for her diligent work and accomplishments in peacebuilding. As a Peace Ambassador, Professor Rosenberg will attend International Peace Week in Bosnia & Herzegovina as a distinguished guest. The events will be held in September in Sanski Most.

Professor Rosenberg has dedicated much of her human rights career to the field of genocide and atrocity prevention, and has won landmark cases for non-discrimination in the European Court of Human Rights related to the post-conflict rebuilding in Bosnia.  She is Faculty Director of the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights and directs the Human Rights an Atrocity Prevention Clinic.

This award is the second distinguished honor received by Professor Rosenberg this month. She was chosen last week to receive the Outstanding Educator Award at the Spirit of Anne Frank Awards Gala, which will take place on June 15 in New York City. This award recognizes the outstanding leadership and dedication of educators who inspire their students, and who teach about the dangers of intolerance and prejudice and urge those around them into action.

Barbara Kolsun, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Stuart Weitzman, Adjunct Professor of Law at Cardozo and head of Cardozo's Fashion, Arts, Media & Entertainment Law (FAME) Center, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Trademark Review's Industry Awards. The World Trademark Review Industry Awards are designed to recognise the vital work performed by in-house trademark counsel, and to identify those teams and individuals that are performing their functions to the highest possible standards.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Kolsun's impressive career, which includes stints in private practice and in-house roles at fashion and luxury brands. Prior to Stuart Weitzman, she served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Seven For All Mankind, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Kate Spade, Assistant General Counsel at WestPoint Stevens, and Assistant General Counsel of Calvin Klein Jeanswear.

She has devoted significant time and effort to the cause of enforcement of intellectual property, serving as Chairman of the Board of the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition. Kolsun has spoken and published on the topic of counterfeiting and trademark infringement in the U.S., Asia and Europe, and has been the subject of many publications for her pioneering work on anticounterfeiting efforts in the field.

Kolsun is the co-author of the first textbook on fashion law, Fashion Law: A Guide for Designers, Fashion Executives and Attorneys.

She will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 World Trademark Review Industry Awards in May. 

Attorney General Schneiderman to Partner with Cardozo Law to Help Start-Ups

April 24, 2015 Capital New York - Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will announce in a speech Friday the formation of partnership with local law schools to help start-ups navigate state laws and regulations.

By partnering with Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic (BLIP), the Fordham University School of Law’s Center on Law and Information Policy and the Tech Startup Clinic (CLIP), operated out of Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law, Schneiderman hopes to promote regular interaction between government and technology start-ups.

He will also announce that his office is the first state government member of Civic Hall, the new civic technology hub in the Flatiron District, to further connect with the technology community. His office joined earlier this year, followed by the office of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

In his remarks today at Fordham, Schneiderman will talk about the need for the technology industry to work together with government when it comes to regulation efforts. As technology companies become increasingly important parts of the economy, he will reiterate that they cannot adopt a "cyberlibertarian" attitude. 

Read more in Capital New York. 

Congratulations to the new editorial boards of all of Cardozo Law's journals and Moot Court Honor Society! See below for the new mastheads. 

Cardozo Law Review

Moot Court Honor Society

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LESLIE SALZMAN TO BECOME CLINICAL EDUCATION DIRECTOR AT CARDOZO LAW

Toby Golick to Retire After 30 Years of Overseeing Cardozo Clinics

Professor Leslie Salzman

Professor Toby Golick

May 4, 2015 – New York, NY –  Dean Matthew Diller has announced the appointment of Leslie Salzman as Director of Clinical Education at Cardozo effective July 1, succeeding Toby Golick, who is retiring after serving a remarkable 30 years overseeing the growth of clinical education at Cardozo Law.

Professor Salzman has been teaching on the faculty since 1990 as a clinical professor of law and has directed the Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic, which offers free legal services to the elderly and disabled. Toby Golick, a pioneer in legal clinical education, was the founding director of Bet Tzedek. This was one of Cardozo’s first clinics along with the Criminal Defense Clinic, which was established by Barry Scheck, who later started the Innocence Project.

Professor Salzman has taught students and represented clients at Cardozo’s Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic for 25 years. Under her guidance, generations of Cardozo lawyers gained real-world experience providing legal services to low-income individuals.  Over the years, she has also conducted class action litigation enforcing the rights of older individuals and individuals with disabilities. She will continue as the director of Bet Tzedek, and will teach mediation and disability law.  

“Leslie is an outstanding teacher, dedicated to her students and her clients,” said Dean Diller. “She is leader on our faculty and she will do a magnificent job stepping into this vitally important position.”

After graduating from New York University School of Law, Professor Salzman was Pro Se law clerk in the Second Circuit. Prior to coming to Cardozo, she was an attorney at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, where she specialized in litigation concerning the rights of individuals with physical and mental disabilities, and at South Brooklyn Legal Services. She lectures on disability law and benefits issues and has written scholarly works, including Rethinking Guardianship, published in the University of Colorado Law Review.

Toby Golick is a nationally recognized leader in legal services and education. Under Professor Golick’s leadership, the experiential learning program at Cardozo expanded to include 15 clinics, in a wide range of areas from criminal defense to The Indie Film clinic. She helped Cardozo Law become a leading innovator in legal education, and helped establish the field clinics program, which places teams of students in law practices around the New York region. Professor Golick always brought experience and dedication to her students.

“Toby has been the most inspiring kind of teacher,” said Dean Diller. “Her experience and compassionate approach to real world issues have been a hallmark of her contributions to the law school.”

For more information contact:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean of Communications

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW ANNOUNCES HON. DENNY CHIN, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT, AS 2015 COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

May 11, 2015 – New York, NY –  Dean Matthew Diller has announced that Hon. Denny Chin, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, will address Cardozo School of Law graduates at the 2015 commencement ceremony on Thursday, June 4, 2015 at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

Judge Chin was sworn in as United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit in 2010. Prior to joining the Court of Appeals, he served as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York from 1994 to 2010.

Judge Chin has presided over many high profile cases, including cases involving Megan's Law, the Million Youth March, Al Franken's use of the phrase “Fair and Balanced” in the title of a book, the Naked Cowboy, the Google Books Project, and the United Nations Oil for Food Program. He also presided over the trial of an Afghan warlord charged with conspiring to import heroin and the guilty plea and sentencing of financier Bernard L. Madoff.

“Denny Chin is the model of a great judge and we are very pleased that he has agreed to address the Cardozo class of 2015,” said Dean Matthew Diller. “His career is one of service and inspiration, and his personal story is a moving embodiment of the American dream.“

Judge Chin graduated from Princeton University magna cum laude in 1975 and received his law degree from Fordham Law School in 1978. After clerking for the Honorable Henry F. Werker, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, he was associated with the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1980 to 1982. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1982 until 1986, when he and two of his colleagues from the U.S. Attorney's Office started a law firm, Campbell, Patrick & Chin. In 1990, he joined Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., where he specialized in labor and employment law.

Judge Chin was born in Hong Kong and came to the United States with his family when he was 2 years old.

For more information:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean of Communications

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARISSA VOGEL TO JOIN CARDOZO LAW AS ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR LIBRARY SERVICES

Lynn Wishart to Receive Leadership Award, Steps Down After Over 30 Years of Service

May 14, 2015 – New York, NY – Dean Matthew Diller has announced that Carissa Vogel will become Associate Dean for Library Services; Professor of Legal Research; and Director, Law Library, taking over for Dean Lynn Wishart, who is retiring after 32 years of service to Cardozo Law.

Vogel has extensive experience in library services, most recently as Assistant Director for Research and Instruction and Lecturer in Law at Cornell University.

“I am delighted that Carissa will be heading up the Dr. Lillian & Dr. Rebecca Chutick Law Library,” said Dean Diller. “She has impressive experience in the field, and brings new and innovative plans for expanding Cardozo’s excellent library research services.”

At Cornell, Vogel fostered collaboration among librarians in their instructional activities, including a lawyering class for first-year students; created a multi-year plan for new research courses; and oversaw a new, comprehensive outreach plan for the library.

Prior to Cornell, Vogel served as Head of Public Services and Lecturer in Law for the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library at Columbia University. She has also worked at the Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington.

Vogel spent several years in practice before entering the academic law library field, including at Townsend and Townsend and Crew in San Francisco. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington, a J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of California-Berkeley.

She has been published in several library publications and is an active member of AALL, the American Association of Law Librarians.

Dean Wishart announced that she will step down as Associate Dean, Library Services; Professor of Legal Research; and Director of the Law Library at the end of August. In recognition of her dedication to the school the Cardozo faculty will present Dean Wishart with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Award for Extraordinary Leadership at this year’s commencement in June. She has been recognized at three previous commencement ceremonies with the graduating student’s award for outstanding service to the school.

“We are grateful to Lynn for all her years of leadership that have been critical to the law school,” said Dean Diller. “She has played vital roles in educating students in research skills that are critical to legal practice, and supporting the legal scholarship that is so central to Cardozo. We all wish her well for the future.”

Dean Wishart received the Monrad G. Paulsen Award for Outstanding Achievement by the Cardozo faculty in 1990. In 1996, she received the West Excellence in Academic Law Librarianship Award. In 2012, she was a recipient of The Roy M. Mersky Spirit of Law Librarianship award in recognition of her work outside of Cardozo on behalf of the homeless. Her scholarship focuses on library management and legal research. She serves on law school site evaluation teams for the American Bar Association and is active in local and national professional associations.

For more information contact:

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

Jacqueline Reeves
Director, Media Relations and Communications
212.790.0837
Reeves@yu.edu

CARDOZO LAW NAMES MELANIE LESLIE NEW DEAN
First Woman Dean of Cardozo Law, First Cardozo Graduate Appointed
 

May 14, 2015 – New York, NY – President Richard M. Joel has announced the appointment of Melanie Leslie as dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law effective July 1. She will be the seventh dean of the law school, the first woman and the first Cardozo graduate to serve in the position.

Leslie is currently the vice dean and professor of law at Cardozo, where she has been teaching since 1995. As vice dean, she oversaw the introduction of new professional concentrations to the curriculum, worked closely with Dean Matthew Diller to expand Cardozo’s renowned intellectual property program to include initiatives on technology and data law, and managed the launch of the Fashion, Arts, Media, & Entertainment Law Center (FAME) this spring.

“When Cardozo Law was created, its unique mission was to enhance the legal world and beyond by producing leaders who embrace and perpetuate timeless values,” said President Joel. “In appointing Dean Leslie from among its graduates, we have exceeded our highest ambitions.”

Leslie is a leading scholar in trusts and estates law, and is an expert in fiduciary duties in the trust, and corporate and nonprofit governance. As a professor of law, she teaches Property, Trusts and Estates, Charity Governance, and Evidence. She is the coauthor of a leading casebook, Estates and Trusts, Cases and Materials, as well as Concepts and Insights: Trusts and Estates. A prolific scholar, Leslie has had articles published in the NYU Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Florida Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and the Indiana Law Journal. She is widely respected for her excellent teaching skills and engagement with the student body, and has been presented the “Best First-Year Professor” award by three Cardozo classes.

“There is an unmistakable energy at Cardozo and I look forward to advancing the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of this remarkable law school,” said Leslie. “It is an honor to lead Cardozo’s world-class faculty and vibrant community of students and alumni, and to serve the institution that has given me so much.”

Leslie has been a visiting associate professor of law at New York University School of Law and a visiting professor of law at Columbia Law School. She is a member of the NY State Bar and NYC Bar Joint Committee on the Uniform Trust Code, a Legal Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC), and she is on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Nonprofits and Philanthropy.

Before joining the Cardozo faculty, she clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Gary S. Stein. She was a summer associate at both Debevoise & Plimpton and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton before she joined the firm of McCarter & English as an associate in the commercial litigation department.

Leslie earned her B.A. from the University of Oregon with honors, and a J.D. from Cardozo magna cum laude in 1991, where she was executive editor of the Cardozo Law Review. She has been actively engaged with alumni, the Cardozo Board of Overseers, and the leadership of Yeshiva University.

Leslie will succeed Matthew Diller, who is stepping down after serving as Cardozo’s dean for six years. Cardozo Board of Overseers Chair David Samson ’93, president of the Miami Marlins and member of the search committee, remarked, “Dean Diller’s tenure has been both distinguished and distinctive. Melanie Leslie is an exceptional choice to build on Cardozo’s outstanding programming and traditions.”

Yeshiva University Provost Selma Botman chaired the rigorous nationwide search for the new dean. “The committee was truly impressed with the candidates and the high level of interest from across the country,” said Botman. “At the end of the day, however, there was overwhelming faculty support for Dean Leslie, which was also shared by students who provided input to the committee.”

The search committee included former Cardozo dean Professor David Rudenstine; David Samson; Andrew Lauer, Vice President for Legal Affairs, Secretary and General Counsel of Yeshiva University; Cardozo Board of Overseers member Zahava Straus ’80; Cardozo faculty members Michelle Adams, Richard Bierschbach, Leslie Salzman, and Stewart Sterk; Dean of Admissions David Martinidez; Dean of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business Moses L. Pava; and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Cardozo Alumni Association Alissa Makower ’92, vice president and senior counsel at CBS Corporation.

For more information contact:

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

Jacqueline Reeves
Director, Media Relations and Communications
212.790.0837
Reeves@yu.edu

Cardozo Law is a vibrant community with deep connections to New York City. In this video. We offer a premier legal education with a committment to real-world experience.

To visit the school, contact the admissions department at 212.790.0274, or email the department at lawinfo@yu.edu.

 

Michael Graae

The independent documentary film "Gored" tells the story of Antonio Barrera, reputedly the bullfighter who's been gored more often than anyone in the sport's history. The movie includes archival footage of Barrera getting the sharp end of ill-tempered bulls, but for Diana Yu and Jonathan Yellin, one of the best parts comes during the credits, when their names scroll up the screen.

Their inclusion in the credits was director Ido Mizrahy's way of thanking the students from Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law for the countless hours they devoted to legal matters for his film though the law school's Indie Film Clinic.

"It was very cool," Yu said after attending the "Gored" premiere during the Tribeca Film Festival with Yellin in April; they hadn't been forewarned about the credit. "It felt great to get that kind of ­recognition for things you do in a law school clinic."

Yu beat the odds simply by enrolling in the clinic — director David Morrison typically receives more than 60 applications for eight slots each semester. Students flock to the clinic because it blends transactional and intellectual property law gives them the chance to work with creative types in the entertainment industry.

The clinic provides pro bono legal counsel to independent filmmakers in New York who lack deep financial resources and to documentarians focused on social justice. It is the only law school clinic in the country focused exclusively on aiding filmmakers, Morrison said.

Students form production companies, write contracts, draft legal opinion letters and more under the supervision of Morrison and adjunct professor Thomas Crowell. Yu and Yellin spent much of their time on "Gored" analyzing licensed and unlicensed footage used in the film, and drafting a fair-use opinion letter to help Barrera secure errors-and-omissions insurance. "I basically have the entire film memorized," Yu said.

They reviewed agreements with many of the individuals who helped make the film, to ensure they can't bring copyright claims. "It's really interesting to see how many people you have to have agreements with and how much protection you need in case people come around and try to sue the production company," Yellin said. "We want the film to be ­protected because we want it to be ­successful."

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Anja Marquardt credits the clinic in allowing her first feature, "She's Lost Con­trol," to follow her artistic vision. The well-reviewed 2014 film depicts the emotion­al breakdown of a graduate student who works as a sexual surrogate — a story that required nudity from her cast. The students helped negotiate nudity riders required by the Screen Actors Guild, among other legal matters.

"Without the clinic, I might have had to work with actors who are not SAG," Marquardt said. "Negotiating the nudity riders with actors and their management teams would have been very difficult. I don't know how I would have done it without the clinic."

 

 

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/law-school-news/id=1202726624049/Students

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RICHARD BIERSCHBACH APPOINTED VICE DEAN OF CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW

MAY 28, 2015 – New York, NY – Richard Bierschbach has been appointed vice dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law by incoming dean Melanie Leslie, effective July 1. Professor Bierschbach has been a full-time faculty member since 2005, teaching corporations, administrative law and criminal law. The graduating class of 2013 voted him best professor, and he is an active faculty leader.

“Rick brings a tremendous record of achievement in the classroom, the academy, and the legal profession,” said Dean Melanie Leslie. “I know he will be dedicated to keeping Cardozo moving forward to new heights.”

Before coming to Cardozo, Professor Bierschbach clerked on the United States Supreme Court for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for Judge A. Raymond Randolph. He also served as an attorney-advisor in the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General. In the private sector, Professor Bierschbach has been an associate at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, of counsel at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, and special counsel at Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe.

Professor Bierschbach’s scholarship focuses on criminal law and procedure, and he is especially interested in the procedural and institutional structure of criminal justice and how it intersects with criminal law’s substantive and regulatory aims. He has published articles in many top journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Virginia Law Review, Pennsylvania Law Review, and Minnesota Law Review.

Among his faculty leadership roles, Professor Bierschbach chaired the committee that revised the law school’s upper-level curriculum, resulting in new professional concentrations, and he was a member of the dean search committee.

He has served on various ABA committees, including as co-chair of the Criminal Justice Section’s Amicus Practice Committee and vice chair of the Administrative Law Section’s Criminal Process Subcommittee. 

“Cardozo is a phenomenal place, and it’s an honor to serve in this role,” said Professor Bierschbach. “Melanie Leslie embodies the creative and entrepreneurial spirit at Cardozo, and I look forward to working together to build for the future of our community.”

For more information contact:

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

Jacqueline Reeves
Director, Media Relations and Communications
212.790.0837
Reeves@yu.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHRISTOPHER J. BUCCAFUSCO, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SCHOLAR, TO JOIN CARDOZO’S IP FACULTY

June 3, 2015 – New York, NY – Dean Melanie Leslie has announced that Christopher J. Buccafusco will join Cardozo Law’s top intellectual property faculty as Professor of Law in the fall. Prior to joining Cardozo, he was a professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he co-directed the school's Center for Empirical Studies of Intellectual Property.

Professor Buccafusco's research applies social science methods to study legal problems, especially how the law affects creativity, innovation, and happiness. His work tests fundamental assumptions about how the intellectual property system functions. IP law attempts to affect people's creative behavior by offering them incentives to innovate, share, and use new works and inventions, but very little is known about whether these incentives actually work. Using novel creativity experiments, Professor Buccafusco's research has shown that creators often do not behave the way that IP law assumes they will. His studies have explored how different kinds of incentives affect creativity, how creators think about borrowing from others’ efforts, and how creators assign value to their innovations. The results of these studies challenge important aspects of IP law, and they suggest opportunities for improving the legal system and creative economies. 

“Professor Buccafusco is a leading intellectual property professor, and we are excited to have him join the Cardozo Law faculty,” said Dean Melanie Leslie. “Our students will greatly benefit from his teaching and groundbreaking scholarship.”

Professor Buccasfusco’s book Happiness and the Law, which he co-authored, was recently published by the University of Chicago Press, and his law review articles have appeared in top journals including the Columbia Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, Cornell Law Review, and Georgetown Law Journal.

He is teaming up with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and colleagues at Northwestern University to co-host the third annual Workshop on Empirical Studies of Intellectual Property in spring 2016. Professor Buccafusco, David Schwartz, and the PTO's Chief Economists founded the workshop two years ago. The workshop allows researchers from around the world to present early stage empirical projects so they can receive feedback before they begin collecting data. This enables them to refine their ideas and methods and to improve the value of the resulting data. Previous workshops have included participation by researchers from Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, NYU, and MIT.

Professor Buccafusco studied legal history at the University of Chicago, and he received a law degree from the University of Georgia and a bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech.

For more information contact:

John DeNatale

Assistant Dean of Communications

212.790.0237

DeNatale@yu.edu

Jacqueline Reeves

Director, Media Relations and Communications

212.790.0837

Reeves@yu.edu

At the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law's 2015 commencement ceremony, Judge Denny Chin, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, urged students to go forward and prosper, to not forget about those who came before and helped them, those who need their help now, and those who will need their help in the future.

Judge Chin was the keynote speaker for the ceremony on June 4, 2015 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, in which 365 graduates received their J.D. degree and 50 received their LL.M. degree.
In his speech, Judge Chin told students to "be a good person, and you'll be a better lawyer for it." He spoke of his inspiring story - his parents came to America from China and were naturalized when he was a child. Judge Chin was the first Asian American appointed as an appellate judge.

Student speaker Casandra Tolentino told her fellow graduates that "we have to remember to act and think justly."
Professor Alexander Reinert was awarded "best first-year professor" and and Vice Dean and Professor Richard Bierschbach was awarded "best professor."

Congratulations class of 2015!

View and download photos from Cardozo Law's 2015 commencement ceremony.

Congratulations to professor Toby Golick, Cardozo's Director of Clinical Education, for receiving the 2015 New York City Bar Association's Legal Services award. Professor Golick is one of five individuals to be honored at a ceremony on June 10th. She is being recognized for her work at Cardozo's Bet Tzedek Clinic in providing representation to vulnerable individuals and families, and in conducting systemic litigation that has established and protected essential rights for tens of thousands of poor, elderly and disabled New Yorkers. "Toby has improved the lives of her clients and their communities, and inspired generations of her students to pursue careers as public interest lawyers," said Cardozo Dean Matthew Diller.

A nationally recognized leader in legal services for the poor, Toby Golick is pioneer in clinical legal education, helping to found the Bet Tzedek Clinic and to build over fifteen other clinics, as well as Cardozo's field clinic program. For thirty years she has taught at Cardozo, dedicated to helping the poor receive representation, and providing skills and experience for her students. The Bet Tzedek clinic,  which means House of Justice in Hebrew, helps elderly and disabled New Yorkers on a wide range of legal services. As the Director of Cardozo's clinical programs she has trained generations of Cardozo law students in the skills necessary to provide justice for the underrepresented. "Toby is an inspirational leader, and we at Cardozo have been blessed to have her heading up our clinical education programming these many years," said dean elect Melanie Leslie.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL FORENSIC COLLEGE 2015 AT CARDOZO LAW PRESENTS THE LATEST COURTROOM SCIENCE TO HELP REDUCE WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

June 11, 2015 – NEW YORK, NY – Cardozo School of Law and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) co-sponsored a weeklong conference on science in the courtroom, hosted at Cardozo Law, bringing lawyers from around the country to the second annual National Forensic College (NFC). The NFC is a concept developed by renowned attorney, Cardozo professor and former NACDL President Barry Scheck, who designed the program to provide defense attorneys with up-to-date forensic science information. Professor Scheck co-founded the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law, which in its 25 years has revolutionized the criminal justice system and exonerated hundreds of wrongfully convicted prisoners with the use of DNA evidence.

“Training lawyers in the latest in forensic science means we are creating a network of defense attorneys who are better armed in the courtroom, and more prepared to win their cases,” said Professor Scheck. “Spreading this type of knowledge is essential to our goal of decreasing the numbers of those wrongfully imprisoned.”

The NFC brings leading scientists, litigators and scholars together to present the latest developments, strategies and best practices for forensic tools in criminal cases.

“This is precisely the sort of program that is a core part of the NACDL mission – fostering the expertise of the criminal defense profession,” said NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer. “We are committed to ensuring that all attorneys – private and public defenders – are better equipped to understand all aspects of forensic evidence to minimize the risk that such evidence contributes to unfair trials and unjust outcomes."  

In the six-day college, lawyers and scientific experts present information and form working groups to ensure that each of the trainees has the know-how to become part of a national network sharing the most sophisticated law reform strategies.

“Innovation is a hallmark of Cardozo Law, and Barry Scheck has already reformed the criminal justice system dramatically with the Innocence Project,” said incoming Cardozo Dean Melanie Leslie. “Generations of Cardozo students have helped win the freedom of wrongfully convicted prisoners using DNA evidence, and now the work of the NFC 2015 will advance this cause throughout the nation.”

Topics on the 2015 NFC Agenda include: Digital Evidence; Cellphone Tracking and Mobile Forensics; Hair Review and DOJ/ FBI Commitment to Review; Medical Imaging in Child Abuse Cases; Firearms Identification; Forensic Accounting; Forensic Issues in Health Care Fraud; Loss Calculation; Ballistics/Toolmark Evidence; Statistics in DNA Cases; Expert Software Systems for Interpreting Low Level Samples and Complex Mixtures; Race and Gender Bias in Risk Assessment; Sex Offender Risk Assessment Sentencing, Legal Challenges and Educating the Court; and more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARDOZO LAW, IN COLLABORATION WITH NYU, CUNY AND COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOLS, HOSTS 2015 HUMAN RIGHTS CLINICIANS CONFERENCE JUNE 14-15, 2015

June 11, 2015 – NEW YORK, NY – Cardozo Law’s Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic, in collaboration with human rights clinics at NYU, CUNY and Columbia law schools, is hosting this year’s Human Rights Clinicians Conference, bringing together 50 distinguished human rights clinicians from the United States and Canada to further the teaching and practice of human rights law and advocacy. The Conference will begin with a moment of silence in honor of our beloved colleague, Sheri P. Rosenberg, in recognition of her tireless efforts in the fields of human rights and atrocity prevention.

“Sheri was proud for Cardozo to host the 2015 Human Rights Clinicians Conference and was excited to showcase the Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic’s recent accomplishments,” said Professor Patty Blum, Interim Director of the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights and the Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic.  “It is a tribute to Sheri and her work toward protecting human rights and preventing atrocities that we move forward, bringing her colleagues together to discuss the teaching and practice of human rights law.”

The conference, entitled: “Collaborating and Communicating to Maximize Resources and Impact in the ‘New Normal’” will bring together clinicians and other experts alike to discuss innovative ways of thriving as human rights clinics, even in these challenging times for law schools and the legal profession as a whole. In addition, conference participants will discuss pedagogical and substantive issues as a way to cross-pollinate and share innovative ideas with scholars and advocates in the field. Following Sunday’s conference sessions, Cardozo will also host a networking reception event to bring together human rights practitioners who are working or would like to work collaboratively with human rights clinics and clinicians who are advancing projects in their specific areas of expertise. 

“In addition to thanking our NYC-based partners for their contributions to furthering human rights clinical teaching, we are excited to offer an opportunity for them to meet other clinicians doing exciting, cutting-edge work in human rights law and advocacy,” said Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Telford Taylor Fellow in the Cardozo Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic. “We hope that connecting advocates to clinicians will lead to more exciting opportunities for law students to work on cases that have meaningful impact for vulnerable populations across the globe.”
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROFESSOR CAROLYN PATTY BLUM APPOINTED INTERIM DIRECTOR OF THE CARDOZO LAW INSTITUTE IN HOLOCAUST AND HUMAN RIGHTS (CLIHHR) AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND ATROCITY PREVENTION CLINIC

June 12, 2015 – NEW YORK, NY – Professor Carolyn Patty Blum, an experienced human rights clinician and Visiting Clinical Professor of Law at the Cardozo Law Human Rights & Atrocity Prevention Clinic, has been appointed Interim Director of the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR).

“In the wake of the tragic loss of our friend and colleague, Professor Sheri P. Rosenberg, we welcome Professor Blum’s dedication and expertise to carry forward the work of the institute and clinic,” said Dean Melanie Leslie. “We are confident that she will honor Professor Rosenberg’s work and help to build the already excellent human rights programs at Cardozo Law.”

Professor Blum is a Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Berkeley Law, University of California, where she founded and directed their International Human Rights Law Clinic. She also is a Senior Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, where she is a member of the faculty of the Masters Program in International Human Rights Law.

As the long-time Senior Legal Adviser to the human rights organization, the Center for Justice and Accountability, Professor Blum has worked on cases concerning accountability for crimes committed by the Chilean and Salvadoran militaries in the 1980s. She has successfully litigated three civil cases concerning El Salvador in US courts and currently is on the legal team of the Spanish National Court criminal case concerning the 1989 massacre of 6 Jesuit priests in El Salvador.

Professor Blum’s areas of expertise and scholarship include refugee law, transitional justice and accountability, human rights and national security, and human rights and film. In addition to her academic achievements, she has litigated dozens of asylum and human rights cases.

The Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights was founded by funds from a Holocaust claims case and has become a unique law school program designed to strengthen laws, norms and institutions to prevent mass atrocities and strengthen human rights protections.

“I feel very honored to have been asked to help preserve Sheri’s legacy and continue her important work in human rights and the prevention of mass atrocities,” remarked Professor Blum. “Through our scholarship, teaching and advocacy at the institute and clinic, we hope to build upon Sheri’s many successes while preparing the next generation of human rights practitioners to advance the field, further the rights of marginalized and vulnerable populations, and be part of the world-wide movement for criminal accountability for human rights abuses.”

Valbona Myteberi has been appointed Assistant Dean of LL.M. and International Programs. She was previously Director of the Heyman Center on Corporate Governance and Adjunct Professor for the Intensive Transactional Lawyering Program (ITRANS).

Myteberi earned her L.L.B. from the University of Tirana, School of Law. After coming to the United States, she worked as the Director of Marketing and Business Development at Hoagland Longo Moran Dunst & Doukas, and the Assistant to the Chief Marketing Officer of Sills Cummis & Gross. She earned her LL.M. from Cardozo, and joined the Heyman Center in 2009. She has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of the center and has strengthened the school’s connections to the bench, bar and alumni.

Myteberi is a member of the New York bar, and speaks Albanian, French and Italian.