THE MAGAZINE OF BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL  |  SPRING 2021
Generation
group of men and women wearing suits
Strong
When historic events upended their legal education, the Class of 2021 persevered and forged ahead
Also Inside:
THE NEW LAWS OF ROBOTICS
SUPPORT The
Annual Fund
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS HELP US
  • Strengthen scholarships and financial aid programs
  • Support student organizations
  • Expand our faculty and support their nationally recognized scholarship
  • Maintain our facilities
  • Plan for the future of the Law School
Support the Annual Fund by making a gift TODAY
or email Kamille James Ogunwolu at kamille.james@brooklaw.edu
SUPPORT The
Annual Fund
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS HELP US
  • Strengthen scholarships and financial aid programs
  • Support student organizations
  • Expand our faculty and support their nationally recognized scholarship
  • Maintain our facilities
  • Plan for the future of the Law School
Support the Annual Fund by making a gift TODAY
or email Kamille James Ogunwolu at kamille.james@brooklaw.edu
Contents
Feature
nine members of the Class of 2021
Meet nine members of the Class of 2021 who are forging ahead and making the most of their legal education.
artificial intelligence
Professor Frank Pasquale drafts guiding principles to harness the potential of artificial intelligence.
Departments
The community builds an antiracist curriculum, and more
Law School teams pivot and prevail in online competitions
Students close $2.2 million green housing loan, and more
Explorations of election law, consumer welfare, and more
Committing to increase access to higher education
Leading the Javits Center’s response to COVID-19
Building the New York Islanders’ new home
A conversation with Professor Susan Herman, and more
Alumni mentor students and inspire women to lead
Fred Rosen ’69 supports the next generation, and more
Amanda Kadish ’20 examines the limits of Section 230
Brooklyn Law Notes
Vol. 26, No. 1
Editor-in-Chief
Clorinda Valenti
Executive Director of Communications
Managing Editor
Dominick DeGaetano
Contributing Editors
Peggy Swisher
Rosemarie Yu
Digital Editor
Kyle Rivers
Design
Amy Schraub
Contributors
David Bryant
Nanette Maxim
Caitlin Monck ’02
Photographers
Janna Ireland
Todd McVey
Michael Meyer
Natalie Roberson
Conor Sullivan
Printer
Allied Printing Services
Contact Us
We welcome letters and comments about articles in Brooklyn Law Notes. We will consider reprinting brief submissions in print issues and on our website.
tel: 718-780-7966
email: communications@
brooklaw.edu

web: brooklaw.edu
Mailing Address
Brooklyn Law Notes, External Affairs
Brooklyn Law School
250 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Brooklyn Law Notes

is published semiannually by Brooklyn Law School for alumni, students, faculty, and friends.
Connect with Us
Stay connected on social media and be the first to learn the latest news.
Dean’s Message
Dean Cahill sitting in his office and smiling
Our graduates are sure to serve, and lead, our profession with skill and grace for decades to come.
D

URING THIS LAST YEAR-PLUS of the COVID-19 pandemic, life often has seemed to transpire in a perpetual present, in which time has little meaning. So many of us labor just to plod through each day to get to the next, which will mostly resemble the previous day and the day to follow. One could start to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, or, to reach further back, like Macbeth: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” Sounds about right.

Yet, with the arrival of spring, and some signs that the tide of the pandemic is finally turning, it seems there is once again occasion for us to lift up our gaze and look forward. As this issue of Brooklyn Law Notes emphasizes, the future is well on its way. Here at the Law School, we’re ready for it, and helping others prepare for what lies ahead.

I often think of my faculty colleague Frank Pasquale as an emissary from the future, sent here to advise us on what our modern tools for gathering and analyzing massive quantities of data might do for us, and to warn us about what they might do to us. He is among the leading contemporary scholars thinking through the complex relations between science and law to ensure that humans can exploit the uses of technology while preventing the use of technology to exploit humans. The excerpt from his important new book, New Laws of Robotics, featured in this issue, offers his vision of how we might navigate these important issues in a productive and ethical way.

News typography
January Jumpstart graphic
Alumni and Faculty Offer Career Guidance to Students

MORE THAN 200 alumni, students, and faculty convened online over winter break for the inaugural January Jumpstart career development program. The three-day program featured engaging conversations with alumni leaders and faculty on breaking into the legal job market and seizing opportunities to advance professionally. The sessions explored an array of topics, including careers in intellectual property law, health law, criminal law, entertainment, and finance, and featured panels on clerkships, entrepreneurship, and attorney well-being. Breakout groups gave students and alumni an additional opportunity to obtain career mentoring.

The program culminated with the panel “Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession,” led by Dean Cahill and featuring David Djaha ’88, managing partner at Ropes & Gray; Gloria Greco ’98, global wealth and investment management compliance and operational risk executive at Bank of America; and Alphonzo Grant ’98, managing director of the legal and compliance division in the global litigation group at Morgan Stanley.

“Concrete quantitative goals are an important part of any diversity and inclusion initiative,” said Grant. “On Wall Street, you learn that the numbers are the fundamental essence of how you track success. You need to, as a team, set a target, and then have a conversation on how you are going to reach those goals.”

Concurrently, the Career Development Center ran a mock interview program, giving students experience speaking to alumni employers, who offered advice for navigating a virtual interview.

For a list of all the alumni panelists, go to www.brooklaw.edu/jumpstart

Colleen Caden smiling
“There is a real opportunity for recent graduates and young associates right now. If you’re successfully navigating all of the new challenges in the workplace, you show that you are a superstar.”
— Colleen Caden ’99, Partner & Chair of the Immigration Group, Pryor Cashman
Students and Faculty Build an Antiracist Curriculum
AT THE INAUGURAL Summit on Building an Antiracist Curriculum in January 2021, students and faculty gathered on Zoom to explore how the curriculum could change to remove bias and help create a culture of inclusion in the legal profession. The Curriculum Committee invited the entire student body to the half-day meeting to discuss their views on the effects of racism on their education at the Law School and their ideas on how the academic program can move toward integrating antiracist content and instruction.

Reforming the curriculum is one of the key efforts initiated by the faculty after the adoption of its anti-bias resolution in August 2020. In the resolution, the faculty acknowledged that “as educators, we must learn and grow as we ask our students to learn and grow. Being antiracist must be an active, daily pursuit.”

“We are thinking about how we can actively change our society to end systemic racism,” said Maryellen Fullerton, the Suzanne J. and Norman Miles Professor of Law, who chairs the Curriculum Committee. “We need to do this, both as a faculty and as students who will soon be members of the bar.”

Brooklyn Joins NYC Law Schools in Antiracism Consortium
THE LAW SCHOOL has joined with the 10 New York City–area law schools to form the Law School Antiracism Consortium, a coalition of law school faculty, administrators, staff, students, and alumni committed to building an antiracist culture and climate in law schools and actively confronting the extent to which racism impacts legal education. The organization provides resources for law schools to support students and alumni of color; identify, confront, and explore the impact of racism on law; and center racial justice as a guiding principle and a concrete practice in every area of legal education and the legal profession.
SCOTUS After Ginsburg Subject of Constitution Day Event
At the Law School’s annual Constitution Day event in October 2020, constitutional law faculty engaged in a lively discussion of the direction of the United States Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as issues related to the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. Professors Susan Herman, William Araiza, and Wilfred Codrington III explored the major cases on the Court’s docket this year, including those with an impact on voting rights and public health.

Herman, who was named the inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law in October, reflected on the late justice’s legacy. “Justice Ginsburg [was] the fifth vote in a range of highly important cases,” she said to the audience of students, faculty, and staff gathered online. “There’s reason to wonder how the changing composition of the Court will affect the law in many areas.”

Araiza spoke of how the recent shift on the Court, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett taking Ginsburg’s place, would have a generational impact. “We really are on the precipice of a potential major change in the Court’s direction,” he said. “It’ll be fascinating to see, and quite impactful on both your careers and your lives.”

Brooklyn Book Festival Highlights Faculty Authors
4 Book Covers
Books by faculty authors featured in the festival
For the ninth consecutive year, the Law School served as host and sponsor of the Brooklyn Book Festival, a popular event that draws thousands of authors, booksellers, and readers from around the country to Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn. This year, the festival was held online, presenting free programming that featured an array of national and international literary stars and emerging authors.

Brooklyn Law School hosted the panel “Technology’s Past and Future: The Need for Justice and Insight,” a discussion of the intersection of law and technology, moderated by Vice Dean Christina Mulligan, and featuring Professor Frank Pasquale. They were joined by Charlton McIlwain, vice provost and professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University, and award-winning author Joanne McNeil. They explored how the development of algorithms and artificial intelligence has changed everyone’s daily lives. (Read an excerpt of Pasquale’s new book, New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI [Harvard University Press, 2020] in this issue.)

Student Competitions
Moot Court, ADR, and Vis Teams Pivot and Prevail in Online Competitions
Online video call session with many people
After the interruption of the in-person competition calendar, the Moot Court Honor Society (MCHS), Alternative Dispute Resolution Honor Society (ADRHS), and Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot teams arrived in the fall 2020 semester ready to compete on a new virtual playing field. In an evolving online circuit, these teams racked up victories and gained national recognition.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Teams Excel in Virtual Meets
In what was only the organization’s second year, ADRHS teams successfully navigated the challenges of virtual competitions, placing in two prestigious competitions and building a national reputation. Teams representing the Law School advanced to the semifinals in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Commercial Mediation Competition and took the top prize in the regional round of the American Bar Association Client Counseling Competition.
News | CLINIC UPDATE
Clinical Speaker Series Highlights Developments in the Field
A new program for the fall 2020 semester, “Clinical Speaker Series: The Law in Action,” organized by Professor Prianka Nair, co-director of the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic, and Clinic Administrator Julia DeVito, brought the Law School community together to learn about developments in the law related to clinical faculty members’ areas of expertise. The program, which was open to the entire Law School community, also offered students a forum for discussing the issues they were encountering in their clinics.

“We wanted to create an opportunity for students and practitioners to come together and talk about what law in practice looks like and to create a sense of community during this difficult time,” said Nair. “The conversations that resulted were thought-provoking and stimulating.”

Professor Minna Kotkin Headshot
Professor Minna Kotkin
Navigating Unemployment Insurance and Back-to-Work Issues
Professor David Reiss Headshot
Professor David Reiss
How to Incorporate a New York Not-for-Profit Corporation
Professor Prianka Nair Headshot
Professor Prianka Nair
Disrupting Myths about Disability and Incarceration
Professor Susan Hazeldean Headshot
Professor Susan Hazeldean
Recent Changes to LGBTQ Parents’ Rights in New York State
Professor Debbie Bechtel Headshot
Professor Debbie Bechtel
Co-op and Land Trust Structures for Affordable Housing
Professor Stacy Caplow Headshot
Professor Stacy Caplow
Post-Election Prospects for Immigration Law
Professor Faiza Sayed Headshot
Professor Faiza Sayed
Detention and Separation of Immigrant Children and Families
Professor Sarah Lorr Headshot
Professor Sarah Lorr
Exploring Racism and Ableism in Child Welfare
Professor Jonathan Askin Headshot
Professor Jonathan Askin
Representing Bootstrapped Startups
A new program for the fall 2020 semester, “Clinical Speaker Series: The Law in Action,” organized by Professor Prianka Nair, co-director of the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic, and Clinic Administrator Julia DeVito, brought the Law School community together to learn about developments in the law related to clinical faculty members’ areas of expertise. The program, which was open to the entire Law School community, also offered students a forum for discussing the issues they were encountering in their clinics.

“We wanted to create an opportunity for students and practitioners to come together and talk about what law in practice looks like and to create a sense of community during this difficult time,” said Nair. “The conversations that resulted were thought-provoking and stimulating.”

Corporate and Real Estate Clinic Closes $2.2M Green Housing Loan for Williamsburg Building

After TWO and a Half years of representation by the Corporate and Real Estate Clinic, a 41-unit building in Williamsburg owned mostly by low-income tenants closed on a $2.2 million loan through the City’s Green Housing Program in December 2020. The loan will finance energy efficiency improvements and needed upgrades, including a new roof and windows, solar panels, and facade repairs.

Under the supervision of the clinic’s director, Professor Debra Bechtel, students Brian Brown ’21, Melissa Cifone ’21, Huyen Dang ’21, and Austin Manna ’21 negotiated a complex deal involving three separate government loans. At the closing, the City of New York was represented by Michael Chau ’00. Stewart Title Company, where Alumni Board member Tim Oberweger ’05 is a vice president, insured the property title.

The clinic initially became involved in the Williamsburg project when students began advising the tenants about co-op conversion options, pursuing a real estate tax exemption, assisting with a predevelopment loan, and satisfying mortgages. The student teams on the project included Briana Stapleton ’19, Brenda Slochowsky ’19, Sarah Zehentner ’21, Jaime Dinan ’20, Michael Nasheweit ’20, John Caruso ’19, Yu Xie ’20, and Nicole Ventura ’20.

“I’m so proud of the dedicated efforts of our clinical students, both past and present,” said Bechtel. “The pandemic has posed many challenges as well as created great need for our services, and our students have met the challenges head on.”

Intellectual Life
Each semester, the Law School offers a robust calendar of intellectually rich and dynamic programs sponsored by its centers and institutes, fellowship programs, and journals. Led by our nationally recognized faculty, the programs feature leading scholars, jurists, and practitioners exploring critical topics in diverse areas of the law and policy.
Sparer Forum Considers Urgent Election Law Issues
Illustration of flag stripes going through a maze to place a vote

Amid the excitement and anxiety of the U.S. presidential election, the annual Sparer Forum in September brought together election law experts and activists to discuss the major issues and challenges facing voters in November. The forum, hosted by the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Program, focused on how structural barriers to voting and systemic disenfranchisement of minority and other marginalized communities have limited local, state, and federal democracy, and discussed the work that will be needed to move forward.

The panelists included Professor Wilfred U. Codrington III; Christina Asbee, director of assistive technology and voter access programs at Disability Rights New York; and Jan Combopiano, deputy director at Worth Rises, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy organization.

“This year, we celebrate 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and 55 years since the passage of the Voting Rights Act,” said Codrington. “These were profound manifestations of democracy in action, but we still have a lot of work to do before we can make good on their promises of broad inclusion and equality and have a government of, by, and for all of the people.”

The panel was moderated by Professor Cynthia Godsoe, director of the Sparer program, and Sparer Fellow Meredith Wiles ’22. Godsoe organized the event with Sparer Fellowship Committee members Codrington and Professor Prianka Nair, co-director of the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic.

Symposium Explores the Effect of Internet Platforms, Fintech, and Politics on Consumer Welfare

In November 2020, the Center for the Study of Business Law and Regulation and the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law hosted the virtual symposium Consumer Welfare, Market Structure, and Political Power. At the two-day event, legal scholars explored how internet platforms, online lenders, and other powerful market players influence the law of consumer contracting, product liability, antitrust, and civil procedure, and affect people’s daily lives.

Topics covered by the presenters included forced arbitration in consumer contracts, fintech and consumer credit, Amazon’s role as a warrantor of items sold by third-party sellers, the failure of the economic measurements of consumer welfare in antitrust, and the history of state law class actions.

The symposium was organized by center co-director Associate Dean Edward Janger, with Professors Frank Pasquale and Aaron Twerski among those who presented papers. At the conclusion of the program, Janger and Professor K. Sabeel Rahman joined a roundtable discussion tying together the common themes found across the presentations.

The symposium participants included scholars from U.C. Berkeley School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, and Fordham Law School, and a founding principal from the law firm Gupta Wessler.

Panel Asks, “Is Criminal Justice Possible?”

In the wake of one of the largest protest movements in United States history last summer, the Center for Criminal Justice assembled a panel to present different perspectives on possibilities for the criminal legal system. The panel, moderated by center co-director Professor Jocelyn Simonson, grappled with the question posed in the event’s title, Is Criminal Justice Possible?

“Due to tectonic changes in our country, criminal justice is no longer a term that you can use and assume that everyone knows what you mean,” said Simonson. “This is due to social movements and uprisings, most centrally the Movement for Black Lives, as well as decades of organizing by people directly affected by the carceral state who question the notion that criminal justice is possible.”

The panelists represented many organizations working in the area, including the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, the Center for Justice at Columbia University, CUNY School of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law, and Freedom Agenda at the Urban Justice Center. Topics included prosecution-driven reform; anti-Black racism and racial disparities in the system; the debate between reform and abolition; and the relationship between policing, prosecution, and incarceration.

“The question of punishment is not just a matter of whether a person engaged in criminality is a suitable candidate for punishment,” said Dean Cahill, whose academic work focuses on criminal law. “It is also a question about what we need to demand from the state before we will afford it the authority to impose punishment.”

The Center for Criminal Justice Hosts Feminist War on Crime Author Aya Gruber
Author Aya Gruber
Author Aya Gruber
Author Aya Gruber

The Center for Criminal Justice hosted Aya Gruber, professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School, to discuss her recent book, The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration (Cambridge University Press, 2020). In her book, Gruber examines the conflict between the punitive impulse of “legal feminism” and the issue of hyper-incarceration in the United States, and, in doing so, critiques the state’s ability to combat sexual and domestic violence through law and punishment.

Kate Mogulescu, professor of clinical law and co-director of the center, moderated the discussion, calling the book “important and necessary.”

“As lawyers, we understand that our legal frames are necessarily state-centric,” said Gruber. “We should be careful about successes within that system and the strategy of reform from within. While many of the reforms proposed by feminists have made the carceral state more feminist, they certainly also made feminism more carceral.”

Business Law Program Blows the Whistle on White-Collar Crime
illustration of business men shadows and a whistle shadow
illustration of business men shadows and a whistle shadow
Without whistleblowers, government enforcement agencies lose the ability to promptly and effectively address corporate wrongdoing and hold high-level corporate officials accountable for malfeasance. That concern served as the backdrop for the Center for the Study of Business Law and Regulation’s panel discussion Corporate Whistleblowing 2020: Where We Are Today and Where We’re Going. This panel of practitioners, scholars, and a former government prosecutor examined the role of employees and insiders in disclosing fraud, bribery, and other complex and sophisticated schemes.

“We all like to imagine ourselves as heroes, but when the boss tells an employee to cover up wrongdoing, the mind has a great capacity to rationalize such behavior and avoid confrontation,” said Professor Miriam Baer, who organized and moderated the event. “Whistleblowing as a practice can build moral fortitude. It reminds employees of their responsibility to protect the firm from internal wrongdoers and provides them with a viable path out of an otherwise intractable puzzle.”

The panel’s wide-ranging discussion focused on corporate whistleblowing in both the United States and the European Union and explored the laws and government institutions that manage the process and the behavioral incentives to suppress or come forward with pertinent information. Among the panelists was Winston M. Paes ’03, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton and the former chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Law School Hosts Leading Private Law Theorists to Discuss Works in Progress
Andrew Gold headshot
Professor Andrew Gold
Andrew Gold headshot
Professor Andrew Gold
A group of leading private law scholars from across the continent were invited by the Law School for the eighth North American Workshop on Private Law Theory. The virtual workshop, held once a year to discuss works in progress, was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Business Law and Regulation and organized by Professor Andrew Gold.

The workshop drew scholars from University of Virginia School of Law, New York University School of Law, University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers Law School, University of Alberta, Queen’s University (Canada), and Fundação Getulio Vargas Law School (Brazil). They discussed works in progress on topics including “Property and Local Knowledge,” “Resistance and Recognition in Contract,” “Procedural Wrongdoing,” and “Contract Law, State Capacity, and Inequality.” Brooklyn Law School was represented by Gold, as well as Dean Cahill, Vice Dean Christina Mulligan, and Associate Dean Edward Janger.

“I’m delighted that the conference was such a success, especially under difficult conditions,” said Gold. “The quality of papers and discussion made for a very exciting event.”

Wanda Denson-Low ’81
Commitment to Change
We went into institutions of higher learning with our eyes open, knowing that if things were going to change, we had to be the people to change them.
Wanda Denson-Low wearing a dark blue suit, sitting outside on a bench
For Wanda Denson-Low ’81, attending Brooklyn Law School meant returning to the brilliant diversity of her hometown. The Queens native and Bronx High School of Science graduate came to the Law School after receiving her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). There she was often the only woman and the only person of color in a 200-person lecture hall. While the vibrant energy just outside the Law School’s gates inspired the native New Yorker, it was a different story inside the classrooms of 250 Joralemon Street, where she was one of only seven students of color in the incoming class of full-time students. This time, however, she resolved to change that.

As vice president of the Law School’s chapter of the Black Law Students Association, she worked with other members to arrange the Law School’s first minority recruitment event. Given a modest budget, they bought refreshments and distributed handmade flyers promoting the event to students at local colleges. The successful event eventually grew into part of the Law School’s admissions programs and helped to increase the number of applicants from communities of color.

Today, Denson-Low continues that commitment to higher education as vice chair of the board and chair of the audit committee at RPI, and, with her husband, Ron Low, through her support for scholarships at the Law School for students from underrepresented groups.

Spotlight | Alumni Profile
Sonia Low ’98
The Energy on the Floor
Brooklyn Law School equipped me to embrace new challenges, and to not be afraid to go outside of my comfort zone and jump in when I need to take on challenges that come my way.
In 2014, going to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center seemed like a long journey to Sonia Low ’98. She had won a spot in that year’s New York City Marathon lottery and would need to go there and back from her office in downtown Manhattan during her lunch break to pick up her race bib. The last time she had visited the far West Side venue was the year she took the New York State Bar Exam. The first time she visited the Javits Center, she was attending her graduation ceremony from the Bronx High School of Science.

“It was my first marathon, and I was initially dreading it,” said Low, “but the feeling of camaraderie, excitement, and energy from all the people in line, from across the world, coming together for this event, was amazing.”

Now, Low plays a crucial part in creating that energy. In 2019, after serving for several years in-house as general counsel of a restaurant hospitality company, she took on the role of vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at the Javits Center. In her first year, in addition to her regular duties, she dedicated time to walking the event floor and observing the employees and activities as part of learning the day-to-day business of the Javits Center. She also participated, and continues to participate, in the legal aspects of its massive expansion project, which was already underway and set to be completed in May 2021.

In March 2020, as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the city, the Javits Center was activated by the New York State government. Fulfilling its role as a public benefit corporation, it converted into a medical station to help relieve the building pressure on the city’s hospital system.

Sonia Low ’98
The Energy on the Floor
Brooklyn Law School equipped me to embrace new challenges, and to not be afraid to go outside of my comfort zone and jump in when I need to take on challenges that come my way.
In 2014, going to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center seemed like a long journey to Sonia Low ’98. She had won a spot in that year’s New York City Marathon lottery and would need to go there and back from her office in downtown Manhattan during her lunch break to pick up her race bib. The last time she had visited the far West Side venue was the year she took the New York State Bar Exam. The first time she visited the Javits Center, she was attending her graduation ceremony from the Bronx High School of Science.

“It was my first marathon, and I was initially dreading it,” said Low, “but the feeling of camaraderie, excitement, and energy from all the people in line, from across the world, coming together for this event, was amazing.”

Now, Low plays a crucial part in creating that energy. In 2019, after serving for several years in-house as general counsel of a restaurant hospitality company, she took on the role of vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at the Javits Center. In her first year, in addition to her regular duties, she dedicated time to walking the event floor and observing the employees and activities as part of learning the day-to-day business of the Javits Center. She also participated, and continues to participate, in the legal aspects of its massive expansion project, which was already underway and set to be completed in May 2021.

In March 2020, as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the city, the Javits Center was activated by the New York State government. Fulfilling its role as a public benefit corporation, it converted into a medical station to help relieve the building pressure on the city’s hospital system.

Zach Klein ’11
On Home Ice
Zack Klein wearing a dark blue suit and standing in front of a construction zone
We have worked with industry experts and taken the lessons learned during the pandemic to enhance every aspect of the building to keep our fans safe for the next 20 to 40 years.
As general counsel for the New York Islanders and the new UBS Arena, Zachary Klein ’11 has been rink-side for the National Hockey League team’s decade-long journey to find a permanent home. The opening of the new arena in Elmont, N.Y., for the 2021–22 season begins a new chapter for a team that has won four Stanley Cups and culminates years of legal work by Klein representing key stakeholders in the team’s future.

Klein’s association with the Islanders began on the other side of the negotiating table. As an associate with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West in 2012, Klein represented Nassau County in its attempts to redevelop the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which had hosted the team since 1972, and keep the team in the arena. After those negotiations fell apart, Klein, still representing Nassau County, was tasked with overseeing the Islanders’ departure from the Coliseum to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

Under new ownership in 2016, the team rededicated efforts to find a permanent home on Long Island. Rebuilding their in-house legal team with an eye toward building a new arena, the new owners asked Klein, who came highly recommended by the outgoing general counsel, to join the Islanders front office as deputy general counsel. There, Klein helped assemble the winning proposal for the Belmont Park project, which will include the UBS Arena, a 250-room hotel, and more than 300,000 square feet of destination retail space.

group of men and women wearing suits
Generation
Strong
Suddenly finding themselves at the epicenter of a global pandemic
and a renewed fight for racial and social justice, the members of
Brooklyn Law School’s Class of 2021 demonstrated remarkable focus,
creativity, and resilience. Now, they are launching their careers
prepared to lead in the law and beyond.
by Dominick DeGaetano
The words of Associate Dean Stacy Caplow at the Law School’s August 2018 Convocation ceremony resonate today in ways the new students then in the audience, many of whom graduate in May 2021, never would have imagined.

Meet nine members of the Class of 2021 who, with their ingenuity, resilience, and stellar academic achievements, are ready to join the generations of graduates who weathered history-shaking times and went on to change the world.

Sydney Abualy headshot
slideshow of Sydney Abualy
Hometown: Nesconset, NY

Undergrad: Bard College

Career Plans: Associate, Davis Polk & Wardwell

Activities: Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy (BLIP) Clinic, Community Development Clinic

Internships: Blank Rome; Coinbase; NYS Supreme Court, Commercial Division

Favorite binge watch: “I’m a huge Dexter fan. I keep it on in the background too often!”

Sydney Abualy ’21
While at Brooklyn Law School, Sydney Abualy discovered her passion for technology law. Her exposure to the borough’s tech and startup scenes led her to cofound the Law School’s chapter of Legal Hackers, which brings together lawyers and technologists to explore the intersection of law and technology.
During the pandemic, I stayed in Brooklyn. Of course, I was not expecting to spend my final semesters in law school working remotely, but I had a smooth transition, which I attribute to the Law School giving me the opportunity to stay grounded in the community and remain independent.

The pandemic compelled me to get creative around securing professional opportunities. Right before the pandemic hit, I went to a Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) event at Linklaters discussing the federal regulatory landscape for crypto token offerings. It turned out that the organization was seeking help managing the efforts of more than 150 practitioners around the world. I joined them and took on that role, which gave me the opportunity to continue to explore the blockchain and digital currency space—building on my work at Blank Rome and leading to my internship at Coinbase. The rules of this nascent industry are still being developed, which calls for creative lawyering that is very interesting.

I can ascribe a lot of the opportunities that I’ve had to the connections I have made and the work that I’ve done. Finding innovative ways to develop professional relationships can further you in your career. For me, Meetup groups gave me the opportunity to connect with startup founders and learn to speak their language. But when you don’t have a Meetup group at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to go to, what are the ways that you can stay in touch with people? Don’t be afraid to send an email to somebody you know in an industry you want to enter and ask for a cup of coffee over a Zoom call.

Sydney Abualy headshot
Sydney Abualy ’21
While at Brooklyn Law School, Sydney Abualy discovered her passion for technology law. Her exposure to the borough’s tech and startup scenes led her to cofound the Law School’s chapter of Legal Hackers, which brings together lawyers and technologists to explore the intersection of law and technology.
During the pandemic, I stayed in Brooklyn. Of course, I was not expecting to spend my final semesters in law school working remotely, but I had a smooth transition, which I attribute to the Law School giving me the opportunity to stay grounded in the community and remain independent.

The pandemic compelled me to get creative around securing professional opportunities. Right before the pandemic hit, I went to a Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) event at Linklaters discussing the federal regulatory landscape for crypto token offerings. It turned out that the organization was seeking help managing the efforts of more than 150 practitioners around the world. I joined them and took on that role, which gave me the opportunity to continue to explore the blockchain and digital currency space—building on my work at Blank Rome and leading to my internship at Coinbase. The rules of this nascent industry are still being developed, which calls for creative lawyering that is very interesting.

I can ascribe a lot of the opportunities that I’ve had to the connections I have made and the work that I’ve done. Finding innovative ways to develop professional relationships can further you in your career. For me, Meetup groups gave me the opportunity to connect with startup founders and learn to speak their language. But when you don’t have a Meetup group at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to go to, what are the ways that you can stay in touch with people? Don’t be afraid to send an email to somebody you know in an industry you want to enter and ask for a cup of coffee over a Zoom call.

slideshow of Sydney Abualy
Hometown: Nesconset, NY

Undergrad: Bard College

Career Plans: Associate, Davis Polk & Wardwell

Activities: Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy (BLIP) Clinic, Community Development Clinic

Internships: Blank Rome; Coinbase; NYS Supreme Court, Commercial Division

Favorite binge watch: “I’m a huge Dexter fan. I keep it on in the background too often!”

The New Laws
of Robotics
black bar with dot at the end
black bar with dot at the end
by Professor Frank Pasquale
After decades of technological breakthroughs, artificial intelligence is now a part of our daily lives. Guiding principles for AI law and policy are essential if we are to capitalize on its immense potential, while continuing to center human expertise in the economy and stave off the rise of the machines.
The stakes of technological advance rise daily. Combine facial recognition databases with ever-cheaper micro-drones, and you have an anonymous global assassination force of unprecedented precision and lethality. But what can kill can also cure; robots could vastly expand access to medicine if we invested more in researching and developing them. Already, businesses are taking thousands of small steps toward automating hiring, customer service, and even management.

All these developments change the balance between machines and humans in the ordering of our daily lives. Right now, artificial intelligence and robotics most often complement, rather than replace, human labor. In many areas, we should use our existing institutions of governance to maintain this status quo. Avoiding the worst outcomes in the AI revolution while capitalizing on its potential will depend on our ability to cultivate wisdom about this balance.

However, attaining this result will not be easy. A narrative of mass unemployment now grips policymakers, who are envisioning a future where human workers are rendered superfluous by ever-more-powerful software, robots, and predictive analytics that perform jobs just as well at a fraction of present wages. This vision offers stark alternatives: make robots, or be replaced by them.

Faculty
Passing Liberty’s Torch:
A Conversation with
Professor Susan Herman
Susan N. Herman headshot
Passing Liberty’s Torch:
A Conversation with Professor Susan Herman
Susan Herman, the inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law, stepped down recently as president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after serving 12 years in that role and 32 years on its board of directors. Here, she reflects on her presidency during a time of significant and ongoing challenges to rights and liberties under the Constitution, particularly those of racial minorities and other historically marginalized people.
What accomplishments during your tenure as president are you most proud of?
Particularly over the past four years, the most important part of my role as president was to help keep the ship steady through the turbulence. During this time, the ACLU brought over 430 legal actions against the federal government, some of which were existential battles about the rule of law, and over 100 COVID-related lawsuits. The ACLU’s very talented staff, including some Brooklyn Law School alumni, did amazing work, even while working remotely.
Why did you make the decision to step down now?
Last year, 2020, was the ACLU’s centennial. I decided to turn over the gavel to someone new now because the timing was good for us to have an orderly transition to new leadership for the beginning of the ACLU’s second century.
Alexis Hoag and Andrew Jennings to Join Faculty
Alexis Hoag, a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer, and Andrew Jennings, an authority on corporate governance, will join the Law School this fall. “We are thrilled to be welcoming Alexis and Andrew to the faculty,” said Dean Cahill. “These two brilliant and talented additions to our faculty will build on and carry forward the existing strengths of our criminal and business law curriculum, scholarship, and academic centers. We are fortunate to have them joining us.”
Alexis Hoag portrait
Alexis Hoag is the inaugural practitioner-in-residence at the Eric H. Holder Jr. Initiative for Civil and Political Rights at Columbia Law School. Prior to academia, she spent over a decade as a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer. She will teach classes on evidence, criminal law and procedure, and an upper-level seminar on prison abolition.

Hoag’s scholarship examines the ways in which practices within the criminal legal system erode people’s constitutional rights and perpetuate racial subordination. She serves on the editorial board of the Amicus Journal and chairs the capital punishment committee of the New York City Bar Association.

She previously served as senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and as an assistant federal public defender in Nashville, Tenn.

Hoag graduated from Yale College and New York University School of Law, where she was a Derrick Bell Public Interest Scholar and an editor on the Review of Law and Social Change. She clerked for the Hon. John T. Nixon of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

“I’ve been fortunate to have already partnered with members of Brooklyn Law School’s faculty, examining ways to transform the criminal legal system,” said Hoag. “I am thrilled to continue this work, and to mentor and guide students as they form their professional identities as lawyers.”

Andrew Jennings portrait
Andrew Jennings is a lecturer in law and the teaching fellow for the Corporate Governance & Practice program at Stanford Law School. He will teach classes on corporate law and securities regulation.

Jennings’s research focuses on corporate governance and compliance, securities regulation, and white-collar crime. He is the creator and host of the Business Scholarship Podcast, where he interviews legal and business scholars, as well as experts in business and other related fields. Jennings was previously a scholar-in-residence at Duke Law School and a law clerk to the Hon. Helene N. White of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he handled mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance matters, and at Sullivan & Cromwell, where he practiced in criminal defense and investigations and civil litigation.

Jennings earned degrees from Hampden-Sydney College and Duke University School of Law, where he concurrently earned a master’s degree in economics while serving as executive editor of Duke Law Journal.

“I started out practicing law in New York City before going to Stanford and am looking forward to coming back to the heart of our nation’s capital markets,” said Jennings. “As a securities scholar, I want to be where I can have real-world impact, and Brooklyn Law offers great opportunities for me to do just that.”

Professor K. Sabeel Rahman Appointed to Biden Administration
Professor K. Sabeel Rahman, an expert in democratic participation and civic engagement, has been appointed by President Joseph R. Biden as senior counselor at the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

“From the pandemic to economic inequality to climate change to racial inequity, this moment of crisis will require a strong public policy response,” said Rahman. “I’m humbled to have the opportunity to serve and to help advance policies geared for this moment.”

Rahman’s scholarship has focused on the interactions between law, political economy, economic inequality, and racial exclusion, and on the ways in which law can create more inclusive democracy. He will be on leave from the Law School to serve in the administration.

Since 2018, Rahman has served as president of Demos, a public policy organization. Rahman previously was a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School and a fellow at both the Roosevelt Institute and New America. He was special advisor to New York City on economic development issues and has worked and consulted for a variety of organizations on issues of democracy reform.

Professor Roberta Karmel Examines Erosion of Security Exchange Commission’s Independence
Portrait photo of a smiling Roberta Karmel wearing a navy coat, wireframe glasses, and orange jewelry against an orange background
Professor Roberta Karmel
In her latest article, “Little Power Struggles Everywhere: Attacks on the Administrative State at the Securities and Exchange Commission,” published in the Administrative Law Review, Professor Roberta Karmel, Centennial Professor of Law, examines how the politicization of appointments, strictures such as the application of cost-benefit analysis, and court involvement in decision making have undermined the status of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an expert and independent agency.

“When the SEC’s remit spread to general corporations, business interests began to aggressively push back against SEC rulemaking,” writes Karmel. “This is a game of raw politics that is a disservice to the SEC, the public, and even regulated business interests.”

Karmel, a member of the Brooklyn Law School faculty since 1985 and co-director of the Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law, was the first female commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a director of the New York Stock Exchange. She is the recipient of many honors for her scholarship, including a Fulbright Scholar grant to study the harmonization of the securities laws in the European Union. Her extensive published work includes Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation (PLI, 2014) and Regulation by Prosecution: The Securities and Exchange Commission Versus Corporate America (Simon & Schuster, 1982).

A symposium, A Life Navigating the Securities Markets: A Celebration of Professor Roberta Karmel’s Work, Teaching, and Mentorship, was held in May 2021 to bring together leaders in the field and to honor her distinguished career. The papers presented will appear in the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law.

Israeli Supreme Court Justice Alex Stein Returns to Teach at the Law School
Alex Stein headshot
Professor Alex Stein
Alex Stein returned to the Law School faculty this spring as a visiting professor of law to teach Law and Economics from his home in Israel, and will teach Evidence in the fall. Stein is a sitting justice on the Israeli Supreme Court and an internationally recognized authority on torts, evidence, medical malpractice, and economic analysis of law.

Stein was a full-time faculty member of the Law School until his appointment to the high court of Israel in 2018. He sees his roles as justice and teacher as complementary. “I’ve refined my teaching methods throughout my academic career,” said Stein. “In fact, I believe my teaching experience has positively affected the clarity and internal logic of my written decisions.”

Stein is one of the most frequently cited scholars in the field of evidence. He is the author of five books, two of which are considered pathbreaking in the fields of torts and evidence, and over 80 articles, many of which have appeared in the world’s leading journals. Before joining the Law School in 2016, he held faculty posts at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Cardozo Law School, and was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, Oxford University, and the University of Toronto, among others. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a doctorate in law from the University of London.

Stein looks forward to continuing his association with the Law School as it returns to in-person classes. “I had an enjoyable experience teaching in Brooklyn as a full-time professor, and I was missing that part of my work after moving to the bench,” said Stein. “It would be wonderful to rejoin my colleagues—as well as to spend some time in the great city of New York.”

Professor Miriam H. Baer Explores the Consequences of Corporate Misconduct
Professor Miriam H. Baer headshot
Professor Miriam H. Baer
Professor Miriam H. Baer’s recent work explores the intersection between the Supreme Court’s latest decisions on the rights of corporations and the Court’s evolving stance on the Fourth Amendment.

Baer’s forthcoming article, “Law Enforcement’s Lochner” in the Minnesota Law Review, examines the potential convergence of the Court’s corporate personhood jurisprudence and its shifting view of Fourth Amendment privacy. She contends that the fusion of these two areas of law could upend rules that promote the government’s investigation and enforcement of corporate misconduct.

Her analysis of these implications for corporate compliance appears in her chapter in the forthcoming Research Handbook on Corporate Purpose and Personhood (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021). Baer argues that even if external compliance enforcement by the government changes or erodes, several countervailing factors would likely sustain some version of internal enforcement.

Baer’s work on personhood and procedure follows earlier scholarship on corporate criminal law that straddles the line between corporate regulation and criminal law. Her chapter “Corporate Criminal Law Unbounded” was recently published in the Oxford Handbook on Prosecutors and Prosecutions (Oxford Univ. Press, 2021). She also published an essay, “Three Conceptions of Corporate Crime (and One Avenue for Reform)” in Duke Law School’s journal Law and Contemporary Problems. In these essays, Baer theorizes a series of reforms that would clearly define corporate criminal law’s boundaries and restrain prosecutorial discretion, while enabling the government to hold corporate executives accountable.

Drawing on these and other observations, Baer is currently working on a book, Myths and Misunderstandings of White-Collar Crime (Cambridge Univ. Press., forthcoming 2022). She proposes changes to Congress’s definitions of major white-collar crimes to “make white-collar practice more understandable” and therefore more defensible.

Noteworthy
Adjunct Professor Margo K. Brodie was named chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where she has served as a judge since 2012.

Dean Michael Cahill was included in City and State’s “Law Power 100” for 2021. The list recognizes the leading legal professionals in New York State.

Professor Cynthia Godsoe was named director of the Law School’s Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Program.

Adjunct Professor Haeyoung Yoon was appointed to President Biden’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

Habitat for Humanity NYC Honors Professor Debra Bechtel
Debra Bechtel headshot
Professor Debra Bechtel

Habitat for Humanity New York City presented Professor Debra Bechtel, founder and director of the Corporate and Real Estate Clinic, with the Sondra Roach Community Partnership Award at the Habby Awards during a Virtual Habitat House Party in November 2020.

The Habby Awards celebrate volunteers and partners who have made a significant impact throughout the past year. The Sondra Roach Community Partnership Award is presented to a community partner who has shown outstanding commitment to the Habitat NYC mission.

After a six-year effort, Bechtel, Corporate and Real Estate Clinic students, and pro bono attorneys from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel’s bankruptcy department helped 16 longtime residents of 2178 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn emerge from a foreclosure and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in control of their building with affordability preserved. The payoff of the foreclosing lender was funded through an $893,000 loan from the Habitat for Humanity NYC Community Fund.

At the Law School, in addition to leading the Corporate and Real Estate Clinic and teaching the Real Estate and Community Development Externship, Bechtel is the deputy director of the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE). In the spring 2021 semester, she also served as interim director of the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Program.

The following are selected highlights of recent faculty scholarship.
To learn more, visit www.brooklaw.edu/facultyscholarship →
Jodi Balsam

Criminalizing Match-Fixing as America Legalizes Sports Gambling, 31 Marquette Sports Law Review 1 (2020)


Since 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down the law that prohibited states from allowing sports betting, almost every state and Washington, D.C., has enacted, passed, or proposed legal sports betting legislation. These laws prescribe very little in the way of criminal penalties in the event of betting-related manipulation of the underlying athletic competitions. Balsam explores the moral and legal dimensions of honest athletic competition and the importance of defining game manipulation as a crime, and recommends a federal penal provision that makes competition manipulation a separate criminal offense.
Anita Bernstein

There’s Feminism in These Judgments, 61 Boston College Law Review Electronic Supplement I.-112 (2020)


Bernstein identifies common ground between her book The Common Law Inside the Female Body (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018) and Feminist Judgments, a movement that looks to rewrite published judicial decisions to steer their results or their rationales in a feminist direction. This article was featured in one of two symposium issues dedicated to Bernstein’s book since its publication, following one published by Northwestern University Law Review in 2019.
Dana Brakman Reiser

Buyer Beware: Variation and Opacity in ESG and ESG Index Funds (with Anne Tucker), 41 Cardozo Law Review 1921 (2020)


Industry leaders, critics, and commentators all herald a shift in investing and corporate governance to more broadly consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Brakman Reiser and Tucker examine a sample of ESG and traditional funds from 2018–2019, documenting great variation in their investment strategies. They investigate the supply- and demand-side drivers fueling ESG market growth, and explore mechanisms to better match investors to high ESG-committed funds.
Alumni Events
Alumni Inspire at Women’s Leadership Network Event
Jenny Chung smiling at the camera
Jenny Chung ’14
Kevin Lauri in a suit smiling at the camera
Kevin Lauri ’90
Caroline Werner in a red shirt
Caroline Werner ’97
The Women’s Leadership Network fall gathering focused on the role of leaders in overcoming the unprecedented challenges of the global pandemic and racial inequality. In an engaging virtual panel discussion, alumni and students examined how leaders are emerging during this critical time, and how they can address issues, advance dialogue, and institute positive change.

The panelists included Jenny Chung ’14, associate at Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi and president of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey (APALA-NJ); Kevin Lauri ’90, chair at Jackson Lewis; and Caroline Werner ’97, director of CLW Solutions and a faculty member at New York University School of Social Work. Meeka Bondy ’94, a member of the Women’s Leadership Circle, led a Q&A with the panelists. Karen Porter, the Arthur Pinto and Stephen Bohlen Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity, moderated the event.

On leading APALA-NJ’s response to the increase in violence against Asian Americans, Chung said, “With so many people calling me at all hours to give me their opinions on how to do everything and anything, I realized I had to focus and do what was, in my view, best for our group.”

Porter stressed the importance of preparing attorneys for the mantle of leadership. “Although lawyers have always assumed the role, the skills of leadership have not been an explicit part of our education,” she said. “Our task in the legal profession is not only to prepare lawyers for leadership, but to inspire them to seek roles of ultimate responsibility, and to do so in a way that fosters their own well-being and that of others.”

Jara Jacobson in a tan coat, smiling at the camera
Jara Jacobson ’22
Women’s Leadership Network Scholarship
The first Women’s Leadership Network Scholarship has been awarded to Jara Jacobson ’22. The scholarship, established by the members of the Women’s Leadership Circle and supported by other members of the community, is awarded to students who best exemplify the network’s mission. Meet Jara and learn how to contribute to the scholarship at www.brooklaw.edu/WLN
Mentor Program Connects Students with Alumni
One Hundred and fifty students connected with alumni mentors as part of the 2020–21 Mentor Program. The program was conducted virtually, a first in its 28-year history.

“Through creating these one-on-one relationships, the Mentor Program provides students with a valuable link between the law school experience and the practicalities of a legal career,” said Michael Tenenhaus, associate director of career and professional development.

“The fact that we were able to make this many matches this year during an unprecedented pandemic is a true testament to the dedication of our alumni community and their desire to pay it forward,” said Caitlin Monck ’02, director of alumni engagement and special programs.

Among this year’s mentor pairings are David Bayer ’13, associate labor relations counsel for the National Football League and a mentor since 2015, and Jamie Kaplan ’22, currently a legal intern with the New York City Football Club, who connect via monthly virtual meetings.

“David has given me great advice and perspective on legal experience at a firm and working with sports teams, as well as about law school and my career,” said Kaplan.

For Bayer, himself a former mentee, the mentorships are about giving back to the Law School community, but also about building meaningful relationships. “I really enjoy speaking to students and learning about their goals and interests,” he said. “I have former mentees who have become friends.”

IMPACT
Fred Rosen ’69 Helps Kick-start the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
Fred Rosen headshot
Fred Rosen ’69
Fred Rosen ’69 has not had the typical legal career. In 1982, he created the opportunity to leave his own practice and become the CEO of a computerized ticketing company that had exhausted its capital and was facing closure. Under Rosen’s leadership, that company grew to become Ticketmaster, now the predominant and leading player in the live event business.

“Most people thought I was not of sound mind to take over a failing company, but I wanted to run my own show,” said Rosen. “When you’re advising clients, it’s their movie. People depend on you for advice and guidance, but it’s still their movie. Personally, I got tired of being in other people’s movies.”

Since selling Ticketmaster and leaving the company in 1997 to start exciting new ventures, Rosen has also explored ways to share his passion for entrepreneurship with the next generation. In 2021, he created, through the Fredric D. Rosen and Nadine Schiff Family Foundation, the Seymour and Hannah Rosen Endowed Scholarship, which will enable Brooklyn Law School students to follow in his footsteps.

Rosen’s scholarship has unique criteria meant to target students who he believes have what it takes to run their own businesses. The recipients will be first-generation law students, like Rosen, with financial need who have shown a demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship. Additionally, the eligible students will place in the middle of their class in academic performance.

“The top students are going to get there anyway,” said Rosen. “The middle are all works in process. Good grades are not the primary test for ultimate success—creativity, energy, humor, and ambition must also be factored in.”

Support the Student Mental Health Initiative
This spring, Dean Cahill announced the Student Mental Health Initiative, which provides support for students’ mental health and well-being, enabling them to thrive in the classroom and beyond. As part of this initiative, and with the support of donors, the Law School launched Brooklaw.Care, which offers access to medical and mental telehealth care at no cost to all students. The proceeds from the virtual Alumni Luncheon in May supported the initiative.
New Scholarship Honors the Legacy of Bernard Mirotznik ’52
Attorney Charles Mirotznik smiling and standing with his hands on a wooden desk in an office with framed art on the walls
Charles Mirotznik
Attorney Charles Mirotznik has made a planned gift to Brooklyn Law School that will establish an endowed scholarship in memory of his father, Bernard Mirotznik ’52, who died in 2019. The recipient of this scholarship will be selected annually by the dean, under advisement of the Scholarship Committee.

Born in 1925, Bernard Mirotznik was a decorated veteran of the Army Air Corps, stationed in the United Kingdom during World War II. “He deeply believed in the value of education,” said his son. “It inspired my siblings and me—all lawyers—and gave us the opportunity to succeed.”

Bernard Mirotznik’s parents were immigrants from Russia who owned a chicken market in lower Manhattan. “My father was a hardworking and highly respected man,” the younger Mirotznik said. “[But] it was only because of the G.I. Bill that my father could go to college.”

He attended Brooklyn Law School after graduating from New York University. He later established his practice in East Meadow, N.Y. Actively engaged in his community, he was a member of the Nassau County Bar Association and the Jewish Lawyers Association. He was involved in local politics, and performed volunteer legal work for the 452nd Bomb Group Association for more than 30 years.

“My father had humility, always held his head high, and was professionally independent. It led me to follow in his footsteps,” said Charles Mirotznik. “He was a great mentor. I hope that spirit is passed on here.”

Whatever your motivations or ability to give, you have many options to create an enduring impact. To learn more about how you can help the next generation of Brooklyn Law School students, contact Caitlin Monck ’02, director of alumni engagement, at caitlin.monck@brooklaw.edu
Alumni Board Member Sasha Linney ’11 Gives Back
A smiling Sasha Linney in a red top with flower earrings
Sasha Linney ’11

Sasha Linney ’11, executive committee member of the Alumni Board and current associate general counsel for GoldenTree Asset Management, has generously made a $25,000 unrestricted gift to the Annual Fund. Linney’s gift will help fund the Law School’s urgent and immediate needs, including financial aid for students in need, support for teaching and research, and sustained support of dynamic clinical programs and initiatives.

“I was a beneficiary of the Clare R. Petti Scholarship, the Judge Shirley Wohl Kram Memorial Scholarship, and a Sparer Fellowship when I was at law school, and they helped me tremendously,” said Linney. She was also a former Moot Court Honor Society member and managing editor of the Brooklyn Law Review.

Under the mentorship of Professor Michael Gerber, bankruptcy law was at the center of Linney’s legal education. As an Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellow, she interned for the New Economy Project, helping the nonprofit fight abusive lender practices. As a corporate associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, she worked on projects that included the American Airlines Chapter 11 filing and restructuring. She then joined GoldenTree in 2016, a firm focusing on distressed products and high-yield bond opportunities.

Linney recognizes the financial challenges for some young alumni to give back early in their career. “Giving back is sometimes hard to imagine when you still have loans,” she said. “But I have such loyalty to the Law School and wanted to show my appreciation. The smallest amount you can give comes back to you.”

To support the Annual Fund, go to www.brooklaw.edu/give or email Kamille James Ogunwolu, director of individual giving, at kamille.james@brooklaw.edu.

ClassNotes
1967

Stanley M. Grossman was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York Law Journal. Grossman, a senior counsel at Pomerantz, focuses his practice on securities litigation.

1968

Alan E. Weiner published an article, “Becoming Successful in Today’s Professional World,” in the CPA Journal.

1969

Michael Rikon, partner at Goldstein, Rikon, Rikon & Houghton, was inducted into the 2021 Hall of Fame by the International Association of Top Professionals.

1973

James Grossman was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America for his expertise in eminent domain and condemnation law. He is a partner at Barclay Damon.

In Memoriam
David N. Dinkins portrait
David N. Dinkins ’56
David N. Dinkins ’56, the 106th mayor of New York City, died Nov. 23, 2020, at age 93. Born July 10, 1927, in Trenton, N.J., Dinkins served as the city’s first Black mayor from 1990 to 1993. While leading the city during a time of unrest and upheaval, he also introduced many of the initiatives and programs that led to the city’s revitalization.

As mayor, Dinkins instituted a comprehensive plan to reduce crime and expand opportunities for the children of New York. His administration, the most diverse in the city’s history, initiated the revitalization of Times Square and established cultural staples such as Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, and Broadway on Broadway. It also successfully negotiated to keep the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York for the next 99 years.

At the Law School, Dinkins was a longtime member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. He was honored as Alumnus of the Year in 1990 and was named an Icon of the Law School in 2015. Dinkins also was an active member of the Black Law Students Association, which, in 2018, presented him with the inaugural David N. Dinkins Award.

In
Closing
By Amanda Kadish ’20
The Limits of Section 230
In October 2020, Glenn Greenwald, a well-known and controversial national security journalist, announced he was leaving The Intercept, an online publication he helped create, to start an email newsletter on Substack. In his first newsletter on the new platform, Greenwald wrote, “I will be publishing here… in order to practice journalism free of the increasingly repressive climate that is engulfing national mainstream media outlets across the country.”

Launched in 2018, Substack promises journalists and other writers independence and the opportunity to create their own mini media empires. Readers subscribe to their favorite writers and, in return for a small monthly fee, are emailed periodic newsletters. The platform is gaining traction. It has received funding and support from Y Combinator, a startup accelerator whose portfolio includes such household names as Airbnb, Stripe, and Dropbox. Journalists are also embracing the model, and are leaving more established publications such as Buzzfeed, Vox, Rolling Stone, and the New Yorker to start newsletters on the platform.

While it has long been argued that the news business is due for a remodeling, is Substack in the business of news? Not according to its co-founder and CEO, Chris Best. “I think our asset is the platform that we’re creating,” said Best in an interview with The Verge. “We aren’t a media company… The whole point of Substack is that, as a writer, you can use Substack to go independent, and we are spawning a million media companies.”

Brooklyn Law Logo Shop Advertisement
Fierce, Tenacious, Ready to Lead, The Class of 2021 graphic with students featured