check out cidadao global's work on pg. 15: 10 spring cunylaw

sPRiNG 2010

A COMMUNITY OF JUSTICE

CUNY Law’s Clinics Advocating Justice, Leading Clinical Education

Join the Campaign for CUNY School of Law

Use the enclosed envelope or visit www.law.cuny.edu

2 Court SquareLong Island City

contentsSpring 2010

features4 STUDENTSPOTLIGHT:Cesar Vargas 6 HAYWOODBURNSCHAIRINCIVILRIGHTS: Dean Spade

cover story

8 CUNY LAW’S CLINICS Legal Education for Social Justice

10 Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic

11 Helping Haitians in Need

12 Criminal Defense Clinic

14 Community & Economic Development Clinic

16 International Women’s Human Rights Clinic

17 Mediation Clinic Q&A

18 Equality Concentration

20 Health Law Concentration

21 Economic Justice Project

22 Elder Law Clinic

EDITORANDARTICLESAUTHORVivian TodiniDirector of Communications [email protected]

EDITORIALASSISTANTDana RamosExecutive Assistant to Dean Michelle J. Anderson

ARTDIRECTORHope [email protected]

ALUMNINEWSCompiled by Ansley DavenportCoordinator of Alumni Affairs

FACULTYNOTESCompiled by Cindy RodriguezCommunications and Development Assistant

PHOTOGRAPHY©ARPIPAPArpi [email protected]

COPYEDITORVictoria Beliveau

departments

Dean’s Letter 2

News Brief 3

Alumni News 24

Faculty Notes 27

OntheCover: From left, Director of the Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic (IRRC) Ramzi Kassem, IRRC Social Work Supervisor and Adjunct Professor Martha Garcia, IRRC Instructor Liliana Yanez, and CUNY Law Director of Immigrant Initiatives Alizabeth Newman.

4 6 12

2 CUNY SChool of law • www.law.CUNY.edU

de

an

’s • letter

dear friends,I am pleased to share this special issue of CUNY Law

Magazine, which spotlights the law School’s signature clinical

program. Nationally recognized as one of the strongest pro-

grams in the country, our clinic is widely respected for being

both innovative and on the vanguard of clinical education.

our approach is different. we do not wait for the third

year to introduce students to the practice of lawyering. Practice

experience begins on day one. our amazing faculty—whom

the Princeton Review ranks among the 10 best law faculties in

the country—integrate theory and practice in both doctrinal

classes and lawyering seminars. our curriculum is modeled on

the belief that abstract knowledge cannot be separated from

practical skills and professional experience.

In recognition of our approach, the Carnegie foundation’s

report “educating lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of

law” praised CUNY law, stating: “we believe legal education

requires not simply more additions, but a truly integrative

approach in order to provide students with a broad-based yet

coherent beginning for their legal careers. It is the systematic

effort to do this in their curriculum that makes programs

like that at CUNY’s law school so noteworthy.”

our small lawyering seminars in the first and second

years provide students with the grounding they need to

begin supervised live client practice in their third years. our

experiential approach engages students more deeply in their

learning and prepares them for an outstanding clinical ex-

perience. Students enjoy a clinic faculty-to-student ratio of 8

to 1 and have unparalleled interactions with their professors.

They routinely report that their clinical experiences are the

highlight of their time at CUNY law.

as you’ll see on the following pages, each of our clinics has

a distinct area of focus, with passionate, excellent professors

and engaged students dedicated to carrying out “law in the

Service of human Needs.” each clinic dedicates itself to helping

low-income clients and communities access much-needed legal

assistance that otherwise would not be available. our clinical

approach teaches students how to look critically and thought-

fully at the ways in which our justice system neglects the salient

intersections of race, poverty, sexual orientation, and gender,

among other issues. our goal is justice for all communities.

our Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic represents individu-

als and groups of immigrants asserting their right to exist in the

U.S. without fear, exploitation, or subordination. The clinic also

works on civil liberties issues in military detention cases. our

elder law Clinic helps protect the elderly from exploitation and

abuse and helps families plan for the future. our Criminal de-

fense Clinic defends the rights of those caught up in the criminal

justice system. Through CUNY law’s extensive network of col-

leagues in the field, our equality Concentration and health law

Concentration provide students with in-depth placements in

public interest settings. Students in the Community & economic

development Clinic assist nonprofits and small businesses in

assessing and establishing viable governance structures. our

Mediation Clinic teaches students another way of lawyering that

often enhances outcomes for the parties involved and increases

their satisfaction with the process. and our International wom-

en’s human Rights Clinic uses human rights law to advocate for

justice nationally and abroad.

assistant attorney General for the Civil Rights division

at the U.S. department of Justice Thomas Perez visited the

law School recently and reflected on the first time he came

to CUNY law many years ago. having just been appointed

director of clinical programs at the University of Maryland

School of law, the first thing he did was travel to CUNY so

that he could “learn from the masters of clinical education.”

we are so proud of our clinical program. I am sure you

are, too.

Yours,

Michelle J. andersondean and Professor of law

Dean Michelle J. Anderson

Letter from the Dean

SPRING 2010 3

new

s • brief

CUNYLawStudentsMeetwithCivilRightsLeaderandAdvocateIn a special visit with CUNY Law students, Thomas Perez, assis-

tant attorney general for the Civil Rights division of the U.S.

department of Justice, talked emphatically about the need for

public interest lawyers. “The need is greater than ever,” he said.

“I especially wanted to visit CUNY law because of its commit-

ment to public service.” according to the National association

for law Placement directory, CUNY law sends a higher share

of its students into public interest and public service law prac-

tice than any other law school in the nation. In his meeting

with students, Perez praised CUNY law’s professors, telling

students they were learning from among the best in the coun-

try, and that the skills they gain from CUNY law will serve

them well as they pursue their law careers.

Perez, whose visit was hosted by CUNY law’s Career

Planning office, encouraged students to think hard about

their future careers and the mark they want to leave on the

world. “here’s your homework,” he said. “Take a piece of

paper and write your obituary. what do you want it to say?

what kind of legacy do you want to leave?” he advised the

students to “take educated risks in pursuit of what you want

to do.” and, he reminded them, “always use your moral com-

pass.” Perez told the students if they love what they do each

day, they will always be motivated.

he also challenged the students to be proactive in pursuit

of their careers, but not at the expense of others. “I was always

taught not to bring up the ladder behind me,” he said, referring

to the values imparted by his family. “My parents raised me to

think about the community and community service.”

Perez has spent more than two decades in state and

federal government service, including being the first latino

ever elected to the Montgomery County Council in Maryland

and serving as the council’s president in 2005. he was deputy

Thomas Perez

assistant attorney general for civil rights under attorney

General Janet Reno, and special counsel to the late Senator

edward Kennedy, including being Kennedy’s principal advi-

sor on civil rights, criminal justice, and constitutional issues.

for the final two years of the Clinton administration, Perez

served as the director of the office for Civil Rights at the U.S.

department of health and human Services. at the state level,

Perez served as the secretary of Maryland’s department of

labor, licensing, and Regulation, where he was the principal

architect on lending and foreclosure reforms.

“I’ve always loved what I do, and it doesn’t feel like work,”

he said. “Civil rights is the unfinished business of america, and

it’s something that we need to address every day.”

This is Perez’s second visit to CUNY law School. his first

was in 2001, when he was named clinic director at the Uni-

versity of Maryland School of law. “when I joined Maryland

School of law, one of the first things I did was meet with clinic

faculty at CUNY law, because I knew that in order to develop

an excellent program for Maryland, I first needed to learn and

hear from the masters of clinical education.”

CUNY law consistently ranks among the top 10 law

schools in the country in clinical training.

The Civil Rights division, said Perez, is tackling a variety of

issues such as foreclosure and voting rights. “It was a privilege

to have him back at the law School,” said dean Michelle J.

anderson. “he inspired the students and spoke of issues that

are at the heart of CUNY law’s mission.” • •

“I’ve always loved what I do, and it doesn’t

feel like work. Civil rights is the unfinished

business of America, and it’s something

that we need to address every day.”

SPRING 2010 5

Cesar Vargas is considering two potential career paths: he could become an officer in the Marines as a military lawyer or an

assistant district attorney. Vargas, who is finishing up his second year at CUNY law, acknowledges that on the surface, those

career choices may not appear to align with CUNY law’s values. But, he said, these careers are very much in sync with the CUNY

law mission.

“It’s all about creating access to justice,” he said. as a military lawyer in the Judge advocate General’s (JaG) Corps, Vargas

said, he would work toward ensuring fair treatment of troops, and he would defend individuals in courts-martial. he also said

he would ensure that generals follow international human rights treaties. “The military is the ultimate in public service,” he said.

“Plus, troops need representation, and the generals need oversight.”

Vargas is torn, however, because he has an equally strong calling to be a prosecutor for the State. “I wouldn’t be a tradi-

tional prosecutor,” he said. “I would work toward changing the system and the prosecutorial model. we need more emphasis

on treatment, prevention, and alternatives to incarceration,” he explained. “for instance, when we take the accused out of

the community and isolate and marginalize him in prison, it often doesn’t work.” Vargas advocates a more holistic approach

involving the community.

“The criminal justice system has to use the strength of the community to prevent a path to crime,” he said. “This is especially

important in the case of our youth. we need greater community links and intervention, so we don’t have to keep prosecuting

youths whose lives are changed in a minute because of a misdemeanor or a felony.”

a need to diversify the profession is another reason that a prosecutor career holds Vargas’s interest. “we need more prosecu-

tors who come from the community,” he said. “It makes a big difference for people in the community to know that the people

who prosecute them actually understand them and aren’t detached from their communities.”

In keeping with a community prevention model, Vargas said he intends to join the Community & economic development

Clinic next year. his goal is to help address the legal needs of local small businesses, including helping them incorporate.

“Small businesses are the commercial lifeline of the community. If we help local entrepreneurs flourish, it will help the com-

mercial welfare of the entire community, making it possible for business owners to hire people from within their community,”

he said, adding, “Jobs are a crime prevention strategy. I love CUNY because it gives you a rich and wide array of possibilities to

pursue justice.”

Vargas said that other students share his interest, and, as a result, he has started the Prosecutor law Students association.

Vargas recently interned at the Brooklyn district attorney’s office. “It was an opportunity to get real legal experience by draft-

ing legal documents and assisting senior adas with trials,” he said. “It was also an opportunity to see success stories of prison

alternative programs.”

Vargas cites his Mexican roots as his pull toward social justice. “In Mexico, it’s all about ‘whoever has money has justice,’ ” he

said. “It’s actually not so different from here. The thing I love about CUNY law is that we want to make sure that race or class

doesn’t dictate who gets access to justice.” • •

STUDENTSPOTLIGHT

CesarVargas


QUESTION AND ANSWERDEAN SpADE

DEAN SpADE, CUNY Law’s 2009–2010 Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights, is a leading voice on the intersections of gender identity, poverty, and discrimination. Recognized for his activism and academic contributions, Spade was a Wil-liams Institute Law Teaching Fellow at UCLA Law School and Harvard Law School, teaching classes related to sexual orientation and gender identity law and law and social move-ments. Currently on the faculty of Seattle University School of Law, Spade recently received a Dukeminier Award for his article “Documenting Gender,” and was selected to give the 2009–2010 James A. Thomas Lecture at Yale.

What inspires you to work in civil rights? like many people, I think I first got politicized by my own experi-

ences, especially my experiences of growing up on welfare and

then becoming aware of welfare politics broadly during the mid-

1990s attacks on welfare. My politics expanded from there, espe-

cially as I developed an analysis of how the legal reforms pushed

by social movements often fail to address the needs of people fac-

ing the worst harms. when I got involved in lesbian, gay, bisexual,

and transgender politics in the 1990s, I became aware of how the

mainstream “gay rights” frame marginalizes poor people, people

of color, trans people, immigrants, people with disabilities, and

other highly vulnerable queer and trans people. I wanted to get

involved in building resistance that addressed the needs, includ-

ing legal needs, of those facing multiple vectors of vulnerability.

What led you to establish the Sylvia Rivera Law project (SRLp)?I founded SRlP in 2002 to respond to the enormous unmet

legal needs of low-income people and people of color facing

gender identity and expression discrimination. I knew from

my own experiences and from those I was close to that trans

and gender nonconforming people face high levels of police

harassment and arrest, homelessness and barriers to social

services, imprisonment, employment discrimination, evic-

tion, deportation, harm in juvenile justice and foster care

systems, and sexual violence.

The fact that most of the institutions of social control

where poor people and people of color are overrepresented

(shelters, jails, prisons, group homes, detention centers, hospi-

tals, etc.) are sex-segregated and refuse to recognize nontradi-

tional gender identities means that trans and gender noncon-

forming people face both heightened vulnerability to violence

and exclusion from services. further, the increasing trend of

excluding trans-related health care from Medicaid and other

public insurance programs and the increasing difficulties faced

by trans people whose identity documents do not accurately

represent them in the context of increased identity surveil-

lance after 9/11 result in significant obstacles to basic survival

needs. SRlP’s mission is to work on these issues by providing

legal services to people in need, changing major laws and poli-

cies, and building racial and economic justice–focused trans

resistance that demands not just formal legal rights, but also

redistribution of wealth and life chances.

What distinguishes CUNY Law from other law schools at which you’ve taught? CUNY is an exceptionally exciting place to teach because of the

mission and because the students come to the classroom with a

much broader range of life experiences and work experiences, as

well as a deep commitment to social justice. I find the classroom

conversation to be very sophisticated and dynamic because

the students are so passionate about examining injustice and

strategizing resistance, and they bring so much of themselves to

the dialogue.

What do you hope students will learn from your class? I hope that students in my Poverty law class will learn to ana-

lyze problems of disparity from an intersectional perspective,

considering questions of wealth distribution and redistribution

through the lenses of feminist critique, critical race studies,

queer theory, critical disabilities studies, and women of color

feminism. Through this process, I aim to give them a chance

to think about the limits of legal reform for addressing wealth

disparity, as well as the opportunities for lawyers to be part of

resistance efforts whose demands exceed what law can offer. • •

2009–2010 Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights Dean Spade

SPRING 2010 7

ThE hAYWOOD BURNS ChAIR IN CIVIL RIghTS is a visiting position at

CUNY law, which enables a succession of extraordinary civil

rights attorneys to provide students with an unparalleled oppor-

tunity to learn from leaders in the field. The Chair is named for haywood Burns, the first african-

american dean of CUNY law and of any New York law school.

during his deanship, he led CUNY law to american Bar as-

sociation accreditation.

a founder of the National Conference of Black lawyers, Burns began his civil rights career at age 15 when he helped integrate

the swimming pool in Peekskill, New York. as a law student at Yale, he participated in the 1964 freedom Summer in Mississippi.

he became assistant counsel to the NaaCP legal defense and education fund and later served as general counsel to Martin lu-

ther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign.

Burns died tragically in an automobile accident in 1996 when he was in South africa participating in a world conference on

post-apartheid democratic reform. CUNY law named the Chair in his honor to keep his legacy alive and to bear witness to the

sacrifices and successes that he made, in both life and death, in the struggle for racial justice worldwide. • •

CUNY LAW’S hAYWOOD BURNS ChAIRS 1997–98 The Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and former General Counsel of the Na-tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

1998–99 Theodore M. Shaw, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

1999–2000 William L. Robinson, former Dean of the District of Columbia School of Law and former Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

2000 The Hon. Robert L. Carter, Judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District, and close working associate of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, when both were part of the famed NAACP legal team that won Brown v. Board of Education.

2001 Judge Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former African National Congress leader in the struggle for democracy in South Africa.

2001–02 Professor Eric Yamamoto of the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii, civil rights scholar, and litigator of cases on reparations for Asian-Americans in-terned during the Second World War.

2002–03 Professor Camilo Perez Bustillo, formerly of the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores in Monterrey, Mexico, founder of Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy (META), and scholar/activist on international issues of poverty and self-determination.

2003–04 Susan Jones, Clinical Professor at the George Washing-ton University Law School and expert on microenterprise and economic rights.

2004–05 Ida Castro, Commissioner of the New Jersey State Department of Personnel and former Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

2005–06 Professor Paula Johnson of the Syracuse University College of Law, former Co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), a national organization of nearly 800 law professors; she is widely known for her work to advance scholar-ship in the area of race, gender, and the law.

2006–07 Professor Anthony Paul Farley of Boston College Law School, an expert on constitutional law, criminal procedure, and legal theory, and an Affiliated Professor with the Graduate Department of Sociology and African & African Diaspora Studies at Boston College.

2007–08 Richard Abel, Michael J. Connell Professor of Law at UCLA and Faculty Coordinator for the public interest law program; he participated in the founding of the Conference on Critical Legal Studies in 1977, and helped organize the Confer-ence’s meeting titled Law and Racism: The Sounds of Silence.

2008–09 Professor Margaret Montoya of the University of New Mexico Law School, the first Hispanic woman accepted at Harvard Law School, and an expert on race, ethnicity, gender, and language; she received the Harvard University Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship and runs a television roundtable on a local PBS station

discussing the news in New Mexico.

ThE hAYWOOD BURNS ChAIR IN CIVIL RIghTS AT CUNY SChOOL Of LAW

Haywood Burns

SPRING 2010 9

Associate Dean for Clinical Programs Sameer Ashar

for more than a decade, CUNY Law’s signature clinical program has been recognized as a national leader in clinical education. The clinics are structured as an in-house law firm called Main Street Legal Services. Students in the clinic provide direct, super-

vised client representation to more than 1,000 low-income individuals and families through-out New York City.

“The clinics model effective social justice lawyering in a range of areas,” said Associate Dean for Clinical Programs Sameer Ashar. “Our students bring to the program strong commit-ment and, in most cases, directly relevant work experience. We provide them with opportuni-ties to work alongside clients and partner organizations, as they learn to become excellent lawyers for poor people.”

Unlike other law schools, which typically limit clinical experience to eight credits, CUNY re-quires each third-year student to participate in a clinic or clinical concentration for one or two semesters (12 to 16 credits). To prepare students for direct client work, the clinics engage them in a prerequisite lawyering seminar, which uses simulations, mock jury trials, media-tions, arbitrations, and substantive theory as training.

Each CUNY Law clinic and clinical concentration serves a distinct social justice and edu-cational need. We invite you to read more about the amazing students, faculty, and clients at the heart of CUNY Law’s clinical program.

CUNYLaw’s Clinics: Legal Education for Social Justice

INTERNATIONALWOMEN’SHUMANRIGHTSMEDIATIOEQUALITYCONCENTRATIONHEALTHLAWCONCENTRA

IMMIGRANT&REFUGEERIGHTSHELPINGHAITIANSINDEFENSECLINICCOMMUNITY&ECONOMICDEVELOP


Jose and Carmen were getting on a bus back to New York

City after a long day of employment training in upstate New

York. Their journey stopped abruptly, however, when U.S.

Immigration and Customs singled them out at the bus station

for identification to determine whether they were legally al-

lowed to be in the United States.

“Racial profiling has led to the targeting and intimidation of

different communities in this country,” said liliana Yanez, an

instructor in CUNY law’s Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic

(IRRC). “There’s a clear disregard for basic rights under the law,

and many people, as in Jose and Carmen’s case, are being denied

due process,” she added.

This case is among the many addressing the constitutional,

due process, and search and seizure violations that make up the

docket of the IRRC. one of the first immigration law clinics in

the country, the clinic takes a broader approach than most law

schools. It covers areas as varied as national security and de-

tainee rights in the wake of 9/11, battered immigrant women’s

rights, labor rights, and deportation and asylum.

Through the clinic, students act as first chair in represent-

ing clients. They interview witnesses, prepare clients for trial,

gather and submit evidence, craft legal strategy, and brief

issues. “The students are centrally involved in all of the cases,”

said Yanez. “we provide the supervision to support them in

their role as attorneys.”

The clinic’s docket continues to grow as misguided legisla-

tion, passed under the guise of anti-terrorism measures and

immigration reform, further threatens the civil liberties of im-

migrant communities of color. The docket includes cases of legal

permanent residents who have already served their sentences for

misdemeanors committed decades ago but who suddenly find

themselves facing deportation for those long-ago crimes.

“families are being torn apart in the name of ‘immigration

enforcement,’ ” said Yanez. “These punitive laws make every

immigrant vulnerable, including legal permanent residents and

those fleeing persecution from other countries.” The clinic repre-

sents individual clients and also supports a variety of communi-

ty-based organizations to advocate for changes in the law.

Through its national security work protecting the habeas

corpus rights of detainees abroad, the students represent

three detainees in Guantánamo Bay and a detainee at Bagram

airbase in afghanistan who has been imprisoned since 2003

without charges or access to an attorney. In the U.S., students

in the IRRC, in tandem with CUNY law School’s Criminal

defense Clinic, also work with Muslim-based community

groups in Queens whose members suddenly find themselves

approached by law enforcement. “Individuals and families are

facing interrogation at home, at work, and in their places of

worship,” said IRRC director Ramzi Kassem. “The students are

educating people on their rights.”

IRRC students also provide urgent legal assistance to im-

migrant survivors of gender violence. Immigrant spouses of

abusive U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents are easy prey.

“often, women suffer physical and emotional abuse, but if they

leave their marriage before they gain legal status, they could

face deportation,” said CUNY law director of Immigrant Initia-

tives alizabeth Newman. In response, the clinic partnered

with an organization called SePa Mujer in long Island to assist

women in applying for legal status. The clinic provides an

interdisciplinary environment, with the involvement of social

work students and IRRC Social work Supervisor and adjunct

Professor Martha Garcia. This gives law students a broader,

more multifaceted approach to clients, particularly clients who

have experienced trauma.

Some immigrants confront exploitation and abuse not

only in the home, but also on the job. Clinic students represent

domestic workers and immigrant restaurant workers who are

denied wages, hours, or worker protections. “our immigrant

labor docket directly supports low-wage worker organizing in a

range of industries and immigrant communities,” said Sameer

ashar, associate dean for clinical programs. • •

ECONOMICJUSTICEPROJECTELDERLAWIMMIGRANT&REFUGEERIGHTSHELPINGHAITIANSINNEEDCRIM

IMMIgRANT &REfUgEERIghTS

From left, Director of the Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic (IRRC) Ramzi Kassem, IRRC Instructor Liliana Yanez, IRRC Social Work Supervisor and Adjunct Professor Martha Garcia, and CUNY Law Director of Immigrant Initiatives Alizabeth Newman

SPRING 2010 11

When tragedy struck haiti in January, CUNY law stu-

dents took action. “Immediately the students wanted

to use their legal skills to do something to help,” said

CUNY law director of Immigrant Initiatives alizabeth New-

man. “They recognized that many haitians living in the U.S.

could not return home, since their communities were destroyed

by the earthquakes,” she explained. “But the students knew

that legal protection was needed for them to stay here.”

as a result, the students formed a new partnership with

haitian americans United for Progress, helping haitians file

for temporary protected status (TPS). Gaining TPS will enable

haitians living here to stay in the U.S. for another 18 months

while their country is being rebuilt. TPS also provides an op-

portunity for work authorization that serves as a government-

issued Id and entitles the holder to a Social Security number,

so that he or she can work while in the United States.

“There are people who were here on a three-month tourist

visa, and suddenly their entire village and families are gone,”

reflected Newman. “others have been here longer, trying to

build a better life. Their options for going back to haiti have

radically, and often irrevocably, changed.”

To support the student-driven initiative, Newman said,

faculty from the Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic (IRRC)

agreed to reconfigure the syllabus, so that Newman could teach

the history, politics, and legal mechanics of filing for TPS. Now,

every Saturday, CUNY law students go on-site to Cambria

heights and screen people for TPS eligibility, counsel them on

the application process, assist them with the paperwork, and

draft affidavits, when necessary, to prove haitian descent.

although this project is being run through CUNY law’s

IRRC, it is not limited to third-year clinic students. first-year and

second-year CUNY law students have also volunteered and are

getting direct hands-on experience serving communities in need.

“we have students acting as assistants and interpreters and have

established a tiered level of supervision and training among stu-

dents,” said Newman. alums from the law School’s Community

legal Resource Network with expertise in immigration law are

also involved.

“CUNY law students and practitioners are linked to dif-

ferent communities, so we can be responsive when something

comes up,” Newman noted. “we are very proud of our students’

initiative, commitment, and savvy in supporting New York’s

diverse populations.” • •

ECONOMICJUSTICEPROJECTELDERLAWIMMIGRANT&REFUGEERIGHTSHELPINGHAITIANSINNEEDCRIM

hELpINg hAITIANSINNEED

Top row, from left: Martin Brown, Talia Peleg, IRRC Instructors Alizabeth Newman and Liliana Yanez, Daniel Debski. Second row, from left: Laura Matthews, Nitin Goyal, Christina Jensen, Mona Patel, Madhuri Kumar. Bottom row, from left: Yasmin Salama, Shirley Lin, Lili Biesemeyer, Disha Chandiramani


Walking down the street on the way to a friend’s house doesn’t sound risky, does

it? It could be, however, if you are african-american or latino. data reveals that

most individuals stopped and frisked, arrested, and locked in holding cells in

New York City’s criminal courts are people of color.

“There are some stops and arrests that would never happen in other neighbor-

hoods. when we have clients who are arrested for trespass while simply trying to

visit a friend’s apartment, it really makes you question the practices and policies that

are being used by the police,” said Nicole Smith, an instructor in the Criminal defense Clinic.

In other scenarios, Smith said young african-american and latino men can suddenly find themselves handcuffed for resist-

ing arrest, simply because they questioned why they were frisked when only cell phones and keys were found.

“Many law school clinics deal with prisoner reentry,” said Clinic director Steve Zeidman. “we’re more concerned with how

and why someone entered in the first place. You don’t have to look too far to see the racially disparate impact of New York City’s

heralded quality-of-life policing,” he explained. “The end results of so-called ‘broken windows’ policing, where police target certain

neighborhoods and aggressively enforce minor infractions, are the harassment and destabilization of families and neighborhoods

of color. If broken windows are the problem, why not just fix the windows?”

Student defenders are wholly involved in their cases. They interview clients and witnesses, investigate the scene, research the

law, file all necessary motions, and advocate on their clients’ behalf in and out of the courtroom. In addition to this aspect of its

docket, the clinic strives to address some of prisoners’ unmet legal needs, including addressing disciplinary hearings that result

in long stretches of de facto solitary confinement, resentencing under Rockefeller drug law reforms, and submitting petitions for

gubernatorial clemency. “Given that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, our goal is to train new lawyers to

help a desperately underserved population and to expose the injustice and absurdity of trying to solve social problems by locking

people up,” said Clinic Professor donna lee.

Recently, the clinic assisted several men eligible for new, lower sentences under Rockefeller drug law reforms. The process

made a deep impression on clinic student Bronyn heubach. “The man we met with had no reason to trust us or to put his faith in

us. But he did, and he opened up his entire life. You just don’t get that in any other context, and it’s powerful to tell someone you

are going to try to help deliver their freedom,” heubach said. heubach and her law student partner argued that the reforms were

meant specifically for someone like their client, a man with undiagnosed mental health problems serving five-and-a-half to 11

years for being peripherally involved in a drug sale. The motion was granted, and their client was released from prison.

In another case, a man with deep community and family ties was serving four-and-a-half to nine years for selling $10 worth

of cocaine. The students filed a motion on his behalf arguing that on every statutory and moral measure, he had already served

more than enough prison time. although the prosecutor argued in opposition, the motion was granted and the client was released.

“The work in the clinic immediately reconnected me to why I wanted to go to law school,” said student Beena ahmad. “from

the initial interaction with a client to seeing a case all the way through, I’ve had the opportunity to tackle the issues of civil liber-

ties and incarceration.” Both heubach and ahmad called it “an honor” to work on these cases. • •

CRIMINALDEfENSEChallenging the Status Quo

CRIMINALDEFENSECLINICCOMMUNITY&ECONOM

Back row, from left: Instructor Nicole Smith, Clinic Director Steve Zeidman, Student Bronyn Heubach Front row, from left: Professor Donna Lee, Student Beena Ahmad

INTERNATIONALWOMEN’SHUMANRIGHTSMEDIATION

SPRING 2010 15

Ramona Ortega’s vision to organize domestic workers in Queens and launch a worker-owned cooperative was met with wide-

spread enthusiasm. “Cooperatives create desperately needed employment alternatives and contribute to the larger workers’

rights movement,” said Ortega, who founded Cidadao Global (CG), the first Brazilian community-based organization in New

York City. “A domestic workers’ cooperative owned and operated by immigrant women guards against the pervasive wage and

gender exploitation that is all too common in the industry,” she added.

“Now that the domestic workers are part of a cooperative, they aren’t just going alone into someone’s house, and that makes

a powerful difference,” Ortega said. “Joining together supports them in negotiating wages and hours and provides them with the

respect that their work deserves and the dignity of being a small-business owner.”

Ortega turned to CUNY Law’s Community & Economic Development Clinic (CEDC) to help the women establish their

business. “I knew that CUNY Law was the place to assist us in develop-

ing the cooperative,” she remembered. “The commitment to public interest

shows in how the students work with the women.” Incorporating a small

business and drafting bylaws are not just legal transactions for the CEDC.

Instead, students get involved with organizations on a much deeper and

more philosophical level.

“We work creatively with nonprofits and cooperatives to help them think

through different models of sustainability and structure,” said CEDC Director

Carmen Huertas-Noble. “The traditional hierarchical and centralized business

models typically don’t represent our clients’ missions, which are based on

diffusing and sharing power,” she added. As a result, students have the op-

portunity to help launch organizations that build collective leadership and are

structured on alternative ownership and governance models. “Typical corporate structures don’t apply neatly to our clients, and

a lot of tailoring needs to be done. It’s exciting and engaging for our students to work on innovative projects that promote social

justice,” said Huertas-Noble.

Students work directly with the members of CG, talking through their vision, facilitating their decision making on the legal

issues, and capturing those decisions when drafting corresponding legal documents. In addition to CG, CEDC clients include

Rehabilitation in Action to Improve Neighborhoods (RAIN), a community land trust on the Lower East Side that provides for sus-

tainable affordable housing, and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-U), which fights for improved employment

conditions for restaurant workers. In this instance, students have counseled ROC-U on its vision of expanding nationally and are

currently drafting an affiliation agreement between ROC-U and its affiliates.

“CEDC clients are advocates against employment abuses, gender exploitation, environmental injustice, and other social injus-

tices. They want to structure their model organizations to reflect their social justice values,” Huertas-Noble emphasized. “Students

work closely with clients to help them navigate their choices on a number of mission-driven subjects in which other attorneys

typically don’t engage. We help our clients figure out who will have what kind of power within the organization and how that

power will be exercised,” she said. “It’s very nuanced in that we help organizations institutionalize their values through the legal

structures we help create.” • •

INTERNATIONALWOMEN’SHUMANRIGHTSMEDIATION

COMMUNITY&ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENTTurning Vision into Reality

From left: Student Thyra Smith, Cidadao Global Founder Ramona Ortega, Student Maggie Sposato, CEDC Director Carmen Huertas-Noble


from its inception as one of the first human rights clinics at a

U.S.-based law school, CUNY law’s International women’s

human Rights Clinic has pursued a multifaceted strategy

to access justice, paying particular attention to the intersections

of race, gender, and class worldwide. The clinic’s innovative legal

advocacy and in-depth collaborations with clients, activists,

and co-counsel in diverse and multicultural settings are dis-

tinct marks of its groundbreaking work in the areas of violence

against women and reproductive, sexual, and economic justice.

A conversation with third-year law clinic students Farnoosh

Moghadassi and Renee Love

What inspired you to choose the International Women’s human Rights (IWhR) Clinic as your clinic placement?

fARNOOSh: I chose to attend this law school specifically for the

IwhR Clinic, as it is one of the few human rights clinics in

the U.S. that focuses on women’s rights. Being from Iran, a

country with an oppressive patriarchy where conservative rul-

ers have stripped women of their basic rights, opened my eyes

to the many injustices faced by women throughout the world.

I wanted to join the IwhR Clinic in order to acquire a founda-

tional knowledge of international law and to gain the capacity

to challenge injustice through creative, strategic thinking. In

addition, I wanted to learn more about particular issues such as

trafficking, gender discrimination, religion, and culture as they

relate to international human rights law.

RENEE: I chose to go to law school after living in an impov-

erished area in the former Soviet Union for two years and

witnessing firsthand what women’s lives are like when they are

not given the same rights as men, or don’t have the same access

as men to a better life. This is also why I chose the Interna-

tional women’s human Rights Clinic. Through the clinic, we

are able to learn about different human rights and different

techniques and venues to advocate for those rights. The clinic

also introduces us to options for fighting for international hu-

man rights laws and norms domestically in the United States,

which hopefully I will be able to do after law school.

What are you working on in the clinic?fARNOOSh: I’m currently working on the case of a young woman who was trafficked to the United States from her home in South america when she was 16 years old. She was falsely promised that she would be paid to take care of her stepsister’s newborn infant and that she would have the opportunity to go to high school in the United States. This action was brought under federal and state wage and hour laws, pursuant to the alien Tort Claims act for trafficking, slavery, forced labor, involuntary servitude, unjust enrichment, and state torts. at this point, we are preparing for oral arguments on a summary judgment motion. This case is important because while trafficking within families is a common occurrence, it has been overlooked by the legal system. This case shows that abuse and exploitation of domestic workers occurs not only in traditional settings but also among family members.

RENEE: My group and I have teamed up with the Nobel women’s Initiative to present the International Tribunal on Crimes against women of Burma, which was held in New York City in March 2010. This project consisted of doing a lot of research on interna-tional human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against hu-manity. we also worked with the judges, who were Nobel laure-ates and human rights advocates, to determine what the findings were and what the recommendations should be for addressing these human rights issues. Currently, we are working on the final judgment, which will explain the facts, taken from the testimonies and human rights reports; the international criminal law and human rights violations that apply to Burma; and the findings and recommendations from the judges. The most memorable part was that we were able to work with the testifiers before the tribunal to make sure their stories were told to the world. • •

EQUALITYCONCENTRATION HEALTHLAWCONCENTRATIONECONOMICJUSTICEPROJECTELDERLAWIMMI

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’ShUMANRIghTSStudents In Their Own Words

Farnoosh Moghadassi

Renee Love

SPRING 2010 17

One of the founding faculty members of CUNY School of law,

Professor Beryl Blaustone is a leading authority in the fields

of alternative dispute resolution and clinical legal education.

Recognized nationally and internationally for her scholarship and

subject-matter expertise, Professor Blaustone has published in the

areas of mediation theory, professional roles, clinical legal educa-

tion, professional skills theory, and evidence law.

What distinguishes CUNY Law’s Mediation Clinic?

Unlike clinics at other other law schools, our Mediation Clinic

is an intensive, full-time semester clinical offering that requires

a prerequisite lawyering seminar in mediation. This mediation

program combines rigorous theoretical study with advanced skills

building. as a result, from day one in the clinic, clinic interns start

observing actual cases and begin their mediation practice in a

number of different venues. They mediate cases in New York State

Civil Court, small claims court, and Queens community mediation

centers. They participate in mediation of employment discrimina-

tion claims and in disability discrimination claims. They learn

through close faculty supervision, intensive debriefing, profes-

sional reflection, and semiweekly rounds. The Mediation Clinic

averages between 55 and 75 cases each fall semester.

What skills do students learn through the clinic?

Mediation Clinic interns become competent problem solvers

in many different contexts within our legal justice system, as

well as in society as a whole. Students learn how to rigorously

investigate the facts, gather information, and problem solve.

Importantly, they also learn active listening, which is the most

fundamental skill to any successful legal interviewing activ-

ity. The students are trained to uncover the essential issues

in a case, so that they are not solely focused on a legal theory.

Rather, they are addressing all the nuances and implications of

the situation for each party involved in the case.

In addition to conducting mediations, students research le-

gal issues, write briefing memos for advocates and mediators,

and advise individuals and organizational clients on adopting

effective institutional decision-making systems. CUNY law

alumni of the Mediation Clinic have gone on to work in a full

range of positions in both the private and public sectors. They

are practicing family law and conducting divorce mediations;

directing community mediation centers; directing specific

mediation programs; serving as law clerks charged with me-

diating cases for their judges; and working as advocates in the

fields of foster care, juvenile justice, and disability rights.

What types of issues and cases does the clinic tackle? In addition to working in the courts and with community

mediation programs, we have a special project dedicated to

the mediation of employment discrimination claims and

disability discrimination claims. These cases offer important

professional development opportunities for CUNY law stu-

dents because the numbers of these disputes are increasing,

and these matters demand attention to an individualized

sense of fairness that often cannot be effectively provided

by our courts. Next year, we will begin a pilot program in

mediating special education cases.

how does mediation contribute to social justice lawyering?Many mediation skills are essential for all lawyering in the

21st century because effective legal problem solving requires a

multidimensional approach and not solely an adversarial per-

spective. Mediation can be an empowering experience for all

parties, but especially those from marginalized communities.

our law students support the exercise of self-determination as

well as accountability among conflicting parties by restoring

decision-making authority to all participants in the dispute.

There is great hope for change when people decide what’s in

their own best interests, rather than having someone else dic-

tate it. This creates the possibility for more participation among

disenfranchised voices in public affairs. Mediation can provide more opportunity for balanced

participation because mediators are ethically obligated to guard against overreaching and exploitation. In the Mediation Clinic, we drafted our own governing professional code of ethics, which sets the best standards for mediation practice; our interns operate at all times under these high expectations. This is especially important because many people cannot afford a lawyer. In fact, we are seeing more and more cases of self-representation. we are committed to providing as much access as possible. • •

EQUALITYCONCENTRATION HEALTHLAWCONCENTRATIONECONOMICJUSTICEPROJECTELDERLAWIMMI

MEDIATIONA Conversation with Beryl Blaustone

Professor Beryl Blaustone, Director of CUNY’s Mediation Clinic


The impact of a new local ordinance was clear: It primarily targeted latinos, said third-year CUNY law student Katie Meyers.

Passed in a suburban enclave of long Island, the law banned day laborers, most of whom were latino, from soliciting work.

“I was in the field, meeting with community advocates and brainstorming means by which to organize latinos who were

suddenly prohibited from seeking the work that was so vital to supporting their families. It’s important that people affected by

the law have a voice,” said Meyers, discussing her field placement with latinoJustice PRldef, formerly the Puerto Rican legal

defense and education fund.

Challenging civil rights violations is at the heart of CUNY law’s equality Concentration. Through a range of social justice field

placements, students learn firsthand how to apply constitutional law and civil rights statutes. Meyers said her internship with

latinoJustice PRldef also provided her with an opportunity to brief recent Supreme Court decisions for attorneys, including

analyzing what impact these cases will have on future litigation, particularly disparate impact cases. “The fieldwork gave me an

opportunity to extend the work I did as an undergraduate on contemporary race relations and discrimination.”

Professor Rick Rossein, who runs the equality Concentration, said that

CUNY law’s deep ties to the civil rights and social justice communities

provide ample opportunity for solid, in-depth field placements. Student

experiences might include conducting fact finding on a police brutality case,

investigating discrimination claims, drafting a brief in a gender or race dis-

crimination case, or assisting with depositions. “we have a strong network of

field placements, and CUNY law students are trusted by the organizations in

which they are placed,” said Rossein. “The students’ knowledge base allows

them to be quickly integrated into a field placement and to take on important

responsibilities.”

“Through the years, CUNY law interns have provided valuable legal research, client preparation, and pre-trial preparation in

our constitutional and civil rights litigation,” said Jackson Chin, an associate counsel at latinoJustice PRldef. “we continue to

support the School’s vision of incubating the next generation of public interest law practitioners and leaders.”

other field placements include the Center for Constitutional Rights; legal Momentum; New York lawyers for the Public Inter-

est; the New York State attorney General’s office, Civil Rights Bureau; the U.S. equal employment opportunity Commission; the

New York State division for human Rights; and private firms handling civil rights litigation.

“our goal,” explained Rossein, “is to pair on-site learning with doctrine, theory, and lawyering skills so that students get a well-

rounded and strong knowledge base.” Rossein added that those in the concentration examine racial and sexual discrimination and

harassment in the workplace, in addition to affirmative action, sexual orientation, disability, age, and other potential discrimina-

tion issues. “Part of the pedagogy is to ensure that seminar teachings relate directly to the work the students do in the field. Unlike

other law schools,” he added, “we don’t just outsource our students into field placements. we closely supervise them, pay attention

to their placements, and provide an opportunity for the students to learn from one another.”

In addition to fieldwork and weekly rounds where students talk about the legal issues they are addressing in the field, the con-

centration includes group work, where students are put in small teams that then act as a “firm” on a hypothetical case. Through

the simulations, students collaborate in lawyering exercises including developing the facts of a case, drafting legal memoranda,

preparing discovery plans, drafting court complaints, and conducting examinations in a trial-like setting. “Throughout CUNY

law, whether it is in the clinics or in the classroom, we take a comprehensive approach, using everything from hypotheticals to

field placements, all with the goal of integrating theory and practice,” said Rossein. • •

EQUALITYCONCENTRATIONOn Site, Fostering Justice

From left: Student Katie Meyers, LatinoJustice PRLDEF Associate Counsel Jackson Chin, Equality Concentration Director Rick Rossein

HELPINGHAITIANSINNEEDCRIMINALDEFENSECLIN

HELPINGHAITIANSINNEEDCRIMINALDEFENSECLIN


Callers phoning the New York legal aid Society’s health

law Unit face serious legal problems, including the denial

of life-saving surgery, crushing medical debt, and the

wrongful termination of Medicaid benefits. They’ve called the

unit because they can’t afford a lawyer. for many years, interns

from CUNY law School’s health law Concentration have been

among the people taking their calls.

“CUNY law students are very well-rounded and can hit

the ground running,” said legal aid Supervising attorney lisa

Sbrana, a 1993 CUNY law School graduate who was one of the

first students in the concentration. “CUNY students are good

listeners and make people know that they’ve been heard,” she

added. “They are very adept at sifting through each situation and

making recommendations for potential cases. and,” she noted,

“when CUNY law interns translate a caller’s case into a fair

hearing or an advocacy letter, it isn’t just stilted legal analysis.

They link the law to the facts in a way that’s very compelling.”

In 2009, for Sbrana’s contribution to protecting the health-

care rights of low-income New Yorkers, she was recognized

with the New York City Bar association’s legal Services award.

This year she was honored with the Commission on the Public’s

health System’s 2010 Public health heroes and Sheroes award.

“we have a very dedicated group of field supervisors who

do interesting and important work and who have a real interest

in teaching our students and being role models,” said Professor

Paula Berg, who directs the concentration, which has been co-

taught with CUNY law Professor Janet Calvo. “field opportuni-

ties for students in health law are extremely varied in terms of

substantive law and lawyering skills,” she added.

In addition to the legal aid Society’s health law Unit,

students intern with the attorney General’s health law Unit,

organizations focused on hIV/aIdS and other health issues,

private firms handling plaintiffs’ medical malpractice cases

and suits against health insurance companies, government

agencies that regulate health-care institutions, and hospital in-

house counsel offices.

The curriculum and placements look at health care as a

social justice issue. “one of our main goals is to teach students

how to use the law to secure access to quality health care for

vulnerable populations, such as the disabled, poor people, the

elderly, and those with hIV,” said Berg. Sbrana agrees that the

concentration makes an important contribution to the field

and to academia. “The health law Concentration has a unique

perspective in its approach to health care as a human right and

in the way that it links book knowledge to practical skills and

real life,” observed Sbrana.

“The most gratifying thing about teaching this program for

so many years,” said Berg, “is that there are now many, many

health law Concentration graduates who, like lisa, are doing

great work and making a real difference.” • •

COMMUNITY&ECONOMICDEVELOPMENTINTERNATIONALWOMEN’SHUMANRIGHTSMEDIATIONEQUALIT

hEALThLAWCONCENTRATIONIn the Field, Making Change

CUNY alum and Supervising Attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Health Law Unit Lisa Sbrana and Health Law Concentration Director Paula Berg

SPRING 2010 21

In 1996, when Congress enacted federal “welfare reform,”

lives across the country changed, including the lives of

more than 25,000 low-income students pursuing degrees at

CUNY campuses across New York City. large numbers of these

students were single mothers working to obtain the college

degree that would enable them to lift their families out of pov-

erty, but the new law—which mandated harsh new “workfare”

requirements—made it virtually impossible for these students

to continue their education.

Indeed, the federal law, coupled with a particularly aggres-

sive campaign by then mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration

to slash the city’s welfare rolls, forced thousands of low-income

CUNY students to abandon school—and the promise of living-

wage employment—to take up “workfare” positions, raking

leaves in the parks, sweeping streets, and the like. “Not only

did the City’s approach senselessly harm thousands of strug-

gling families,” said Stephen loffredo, director of CUNY law’s

economic Justice Project, “it was also enormously counterpro-

ductive from a policy perspective.”

empirical studies showed that nearly 90 percent of welfare

recipients permitted to earn a baccalaureate degree from CUNY

obtained substantial employment and exited the welfare sys-

tem permanently. By contrast, parents forced out of school and

into the first low-wage job available overwhelmingly remained

in poverty and tended to cycle back into welfare.

In response to this social justice crisis, CUNY law launched

the economic Justice Project (eJP) in 1997. eJP students work

on several fronts, including providing direct representation to

CUNY undergraduates facing challenges to their workfare re-

quirements and pressing for the adoption of more rational and

humane policies. eJP students also work with community anti-

poverty organizations, principally the welfare Rights Initiative

(wRI), an activist organization mobilizing low-income students

that emerged at CUNY’s hunter College.

eJP and wRI’s collaboration has reached more than 1,000

CUNY students and has achieved important successes in shift-

ing public policy, including the work Study and Internship

law. This state statute substantially increased access to college

for people receiving public assistance. Currently, the eJP–wRI

collaboration is focused at the state level on legislation that

would permit four-year college students to count academic

work toward workfare requirements. at the federal level, eJP

and wRI are working on the 2010 Congressional reauthoriza-

tion of the Temporary assistance for Needy families program.

“The mutual reinforcement between legal advocacy, law

reform, and grassroots activism makes it possible to deepen

our impact,” said loffredo. he also noted that the collaboration

offers a new model for social justice movement building. “our

commitment of legal resources to advance grassroots organiz-

ing efforts both borrows from ’60s-era strategies and attempts

to move beyond them. we encourage our students to think

creatively, though perhaps with some humility, about the vari-

ous ways in which law and its practitioners can contribute to

movements for progressive social change.” • •

COMMUNITY&ECONOMICDEVELOPMENTINTERNATIONALWOMEN’SHUMANRIGHTSMEDIATIONEQUALIT

ECONOMICJUSTICEpROJECT

Graduation as an Anti-Poverty Strategy

Economic Justice Project Director Stephen Loffredo

SPRING 2010 23

“Working in the elder law Clinic is like having a regular job with the added advantage

of close supervision and guidance from the professors,” said elder law Clinic student

Maryam arif. “we get direct client contact, go to court, and draft documents that

help ordinary people solve everyday problems.”

aside from physical and emotional issues that may require attention, elders and their families often have to tackle a number of

legal issues, such as planning for incapacity and death, navigating the maze of government benefits, or securing a guardianship as

a last resort for an elder who needs help in managing her personal and property needs. elders also face situations of neglect and

abuse, which require urgent legal intervention.

“Students in the clinic work closely with clients, other professionals, the courts, and families to map out and resolve the elder’s

specific legal needs,” said elder law Clinic director Joe Rosenberg. “The law School curriculum, including clinic seminars and

supervision, provides students with a critical perspective, legal knowledge, and lawyering skills that prepare them for client repre-

sentation,” added Rosenberg, who supervises each case and works closely with students individually and in teams.

The cases on which students work can vary from adult guardianships that involve litigation to estate planning that requires

students to draft wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advanced health directives. In addition, in a testament to the credibility and

reputation of the elder law Clinic, phone calls from courts and prospective clients seeking CUNY law’s assistance in guardian-

ship proceedings are common.

Specifically, courts appoint the elder law Clinic to serve as court evaluator or attorney in guardianship cases to protect indi-

viduals who are alleged to be incapacitated. Students investigate these cases to ensure that the allegations are authentic, and, if a

guardian is appointed, that the guardian is granted only those powers that are necessary.

arif talked about the complexities of these cases. “These cases can determine who may or may not ultimately gain control of

someone’s finances, property, health care decisions, and other personal matters, including where to live,” said arif. “These are ma-

jor life decisions, so it’s critical that we investigate each case thoroughly and protect the rights of the elderly, some of whom may

be vulnerable to financial exploitation and abuse.”

arif is in the process of arguing in support of an elderly woman who contacted CUNY law because a guardian was appointed

to oversee her personal and property needs after a New York Supreme Court in Queens County deemed her incapacitated follow-

ing an eviction proceeding. each month, the caseworker from the guardianship agency gives arif’s client only a small portion

of her Social Security check to live on, while asserting that the remainder is going into a trust. “The client is understandably

distressed and wants to be free from their control,” said arif. “I have been working with her and believe that she is able to care

for herself with the support of friends and family, making a guardian unnecessary. we will go to court on her behalf, should the

guardian refuse to step down,” she added.

In cases in which the clinic serves as court evaluator (the “eyes and ears” of the court), clinic students work with the judge and

attorneys for the parties, and an array of other professionals (including doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and home

care workers) analyze legal and nonlegal issues, outline a series of recommendations in a written report, and testify at the hearing.

although graduating students in this clinic are prepared for elder law practice, they also often apply their clinic experience in

family law and general community-based practices. • •

EQUALITYCONCENTRATIONHEALTHLAWCONCENTR

ELDERLAWProtecting the Aged

Elder Law Clinic Director Joe Rosenberg and Student Maryam Arif


alu

mn

i • new

s


1986ROBERT BANK joined american Jew-

ish world Service as executive vice

president in March 2009. last year,

he received the lifetime achievement

award from Gay Men’s health Crisis

and the Partners in Justice award from

aVodah: The Jewish Service Corps.

In January, he was a featured speaker

at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah,

as part of their Martin luther King Jr.

day celebration. he lives in New York

City with his life partner, alan Cohen.

JANE COLEMAN CAMERON was recently cer-

tified as an advanced Relax and Renew

yoga instructor.

ALICE gADELOff gRAVES writes “The Sec-

ond half,” a column about life after 50,

for the St. Petersburg Times. She is work-

ing on her master’s degree in library and

information science at the University of

South florida.

BRIAN h. LOWY received the President’s

award for excellence in Teaching at the

Queens College faculty and Staff assem-

bly in october 2009.

1987

hON. DORIS gONZALEZ was appointed act-

ing supreme court justice by hon. anne

Pfau in Bronx County in January 2010.

1988

SINCE OCTOBER 2007, JANE JAffE has been

an administrative law judge in Brooklyn

for the New York State office of Chil-

dren and family Services.

1990EDWARD A. SQUILLANTE JR. is registered

to practice before the U.S. Patent and

Trademark office and received an ll.M.

in intellectual property law from the John

Marshall law School in January 1999. he

has been working at Unilever USa since

1998 as associate general counsel, and

patents and regional patent director of

Northeast asia.

hON. ThOMAS J. WALSh was sworn in as a

superior court judge for the State of New

Jersey in January 2010. he was assigned to

the family Part of the Chancery division

in Union County Vicinage in elizabeth.

1991

ELLEN pOBER RITTBERg has published 35

Things Your Teens Won’t Tell You, So I Will.

The book describes her techniques, such as

guerilla parenting, using stealth, express-

ing love, and assuming the proper stance

and position. Visit www.ellenpoberritt-

berg.com for information on readings.

1992MARYBETh ROgERS has been named a

superior court judge of the Civil division

in hudson County, N.J.

1993EVE ROSAhN continues to serve as the di-

rector of the Parole Revocation defense

Unit of the legal aid Society, a position

she has held since 2008.

ROgER SChRADINg continues as a public

defender in the homicide Unit of the de-

fender association of Philadelphia. he is

also an adjunct professor at Temple Uni-

versity’s Beasley School of law. he lives

in northwest Philadelphia with REBECCA BAEhR (’93) and their two daughters.

1994ANN fAWCETT AMBIA and hARVEY EpSTEIN

(’94) were honored at the New York City

Chapter of the National lawyers Guild’s

2009 Spring fling for legal work in the

tenants’ rights movement. Now with

the administrative law Unit at dC 37

MelS, fawcett ambia is also doing

some temporary protected status appli-

cations for undocumented haitians.

KATYA pLOTNIK announces the birth of her

daughter, Tara Sophie, born in december

2009. She has started a solo immigration

practice in forest hills, New York.

hON. TODD M. TURNER was elected to a

third term in November as council mem-

ber in the City of Bowie, Maryland, and

was recently selected to serve as second

vice chair of the washington Council of

Governments Transportation Planning

Board as the Maryland representative.

1995ChARLES CASOLARO was recently asked

by the new Nassau County execu-

tive, edward Mangano, to assist in the

revamping of the Nassau tax/property

assessment system.

JUDITh fLAMENBAUM closed her private prac-

tice in 2002, in which she had represent-

ed women who were victims of domestic

violence. She then became the director

of the Contested Matrimonial Program

at the association of the Bar of the City

of New York (aBCNY). Now retired, she

volunteers at aBCNY on publication

divorces and is on the legal advisory

Committee for Sanctuary for families.

DR. SAM OAKLAND, though no longer

with the Siberian law Institute at

Novosibirsk State University (NSU),

Ellen Pober Rittberg

alumni News

SPRING 2010 25

allu

mn

i • news

still writes recommendations for his

former NSU & Belarus State economic

University law students in Russian law

practice in the former Soviet Union.

he also continues his work as a U.S.

forest park ranger.

LINDA h. SChWAgER, who has a solo practice

in oakland, New Jersey, was reappointed

as a prosecutor in the Bergen County

Central Municipal Court in hackensack

and nominated to become treasurer of

the Bergen County Bar association.

ROSINA TAffURI was a staff attorney at

the administration for Children’s Ser-

vices through 2000 and then a court at-

torney for the New York State office of

Court administration through 2008. In

2009, she was appointed deputy chief

court counsel to the New York City

family Court and also appointed direc-

tor of the access to Justice Volunteer

attorney Program for the New York

City family Court.

1996JOSEph B. MAIRA invites inquiries con-

cerning cases in any New Jersey county.

Information at www.mairalaw.com.

1998KAThLEEN E. MCLAUghLIN continues the

general practice firm she established in

2004 and also works part-time as an eR

nurse and as a staff pool attorney for

the Monmouth County Public defenders

office’s Juvenile division.

KEVIN K. TUNg’S practice, Kevin Kerveng

Tung, P.C., established in 1999, has

grown to 10 attorneys and specializes

in civil and criminal litigations, real

estate and business transactions, securi-

ties compliance filings, business merger

and acquisitions, bankruptcy filings

and litigations, and immigration. Infor-

mation at www.kktlawfirm.com.

1999pEggY fARRELL, who held the maiden

name Jacobson, and then later Roman-

Jacobson, and who now goes by farrell,

was featured in the California employ-

ment lawyers association bulletin. her

organization, the hIV/aIdS legal Ser-

vices alliance, seeks fundraising support

and publicity to continue its programs in

light of government budget cuts.

2000ANgELA M. REDMAN is now a court attorney

for the honorable Tanya R. Kennedy in

Kings County family Court.

hAEYOUNg YOON began work at the

National employment law Project in

february, working on low-wage and

immigrant worker issues. e-mail

[email protected].

2002MARK S. SILVER recently published

Handbook of Mitigation in Criminal and

Immigration Forensics: Humanizing the

Client Towards a Better Legal Outcome.

2003

MIChAEL hUghES has been appointed to

the position of principal court attorney

in the Criminal division of the New

York State Supreme Court.

DEIRDRE O’BRIEN was a panelist on “war

Crimes Trials: lessons for the future” in

february 2010 at NYU law School. She will

be an adjunct professor at the NYU School

of Continuing and Professional Studies

teaching conflict resolution in May 2010.

AZALIA VOLpE (nee lopez) gave birth to a

son, Vespasian amand Volpe, in Novem-

ber 2009.

2004

IRMA E. DOMINgUEZ and her husband,

John Volpe, expect the birth of Benjamin

Santiago dominguez-Volpe in June 2010.

dominguez has cofounded and directs

a community organization, CaMINoS,

aimed at providing legal advocacy to

victims of domestic abuse.

EVA gOLINgER, in Caracas, Venezuela, investigates U.S. strategies of interven-tion in latin america. She published two books last year on developments in Bolivia, honduras, and Venezuela. She is now editor-in-chief of Venezuela’s first and only english-language newspaper, the Correo del Orinoco International. e-mail: [email protected].

2005E. MIChELLE ANDREWS was appointed to serve on the Committee on Interna-tional human Rights of the associa-tion of the Bar of the City of New York for the 2009–2011 term. She is also a new member of the Blue hill Troupe, a performance group that raises money for New York charities. Information at www.bht.org.

DAVID MICKENBERg has been named a

partner at the law firm of Mickenberg,

dunn, lachs, hazel & Smith, in Burling-

ton, Vermont, handling labor relations,

civil litigation on behalf of not-for-

profits, and workers’ compensation

claims made by union members. Infor-

mation at www.mickdunn.com.

Antonio, first son of Irma Dominguez and John Volpe

Christina (Trihas) Tsevoukas (’03) at her wed-ding in September 2009. Classmates from left: Allegra Santomauro (’03), Tsevoukas, and Deirdre O’Brien (’03)


alu

mn

i • new

s


MEAghEAN MURphY and AARON AMARAL (’09) helped win a four-week extension on the recent layoffs of 530 school aides across Manhattan and Brooklyn. as part of the department of education employ-ees local 372 and district Council 37’s legal team, they are preparing a new case in an effort to have the aides rein-stated as soon as possible.

NASOAN ShEfTEL-gOMES continues as

a staff attorney for the Community

development Project at the Urban Justice

Center, providing direct legal services to

low-income New Yorkers with consumer

debt issues. She is engaged to be married

to painter/sculptor Navin June Norling

on october 10, 2010.

2006RIChARD ANThONY CELESTIN became the

program manager for the Criminal

Justice agency’s Supervised Release

Program in Queens in January 2010. The

program targets persons at arraignment

assessed to be a moderate risk of failure

to appear and likely to be held on bail,

and provides supervision and support

services while their cases are pending in

court.

NAThANIEL E. DEAKINS works as a deputy

state public defender in the appellate

division of the office of the Colorado

State Public defender in denver.

SINCE 2007, NEIL gILLESpIE has been a staff

attorney at the warren County, New

Jersey, office of the Public defender,

handling all the juvenile cases, some adult

indictable crimes, and violations of proba-

tion. he and wife, Janne, had their first

child, annika Claire, on January 22, 2010.

CARLA p. MONIZ was recently named one of

the Boston Bar association’s 2009–2010

top 15 up-and-coming public interest

leaders.

ELIZABETh pALOMBO is employed as the

director of administration/staff writer

for the president of the New School in

Greenwich Village.

LARA RABIEE is employed in Melbourne,

australia. She and her partner, Mark,

had their first child, named ava, in Sep-

tember 2009.

2007SIENNA BASKIN went from equal Justice

works fellow to interim co-director of

the Sex workers Project at the Urban

Justice Center, where she advocates for

the rights of sex workers and survivors

of human trafficking. She lives with her

partner, ChRISTA DOUAIhY (’08).

KIRSTEN fENIK is now living in Tucson,

arizona.

ISIDRO “SID” gARBANZOS started his own

law practice in January 2009. he was

admitted to the d.C. Bar on motion in

december 2009.

JESSICA REED works as a housing staff at-

torney at the Bronx aIdS Services legal

advocacy Program.

2008Since october of 2009, MATThEW BARTOLINI has been the housing attorney for the

homelessness Prevention and Rapid

Rehousing Program of the legal aid

Society of Northeastern New York in

albany.

LISA DAVIS is drafting a shadow report

on women’s human rights violations

in response to the Colombian govern-

ment’s periodic report to the U.N. hu-

man Rights Committee. She provides

technical assistance to the University of

los andes Public Interest law Clinic in

framing prisoner human rights abuses,

including gender-based abuses, for U.N.

submission.

JULIETTE fORSTENZER ESpINOSA completed

her ll.M. at Georgetown law in 2009.

She was married last year and started

health Care Rights Initiative, a new

nonprofit. forstenzer espinosa is also

program consultant for the alliance

for ethnical International Recruitment

Practices at academy health in wash-

ington d.C.

MUL KYUL KIM works as health policy

counsel at the d.C.-based National Cen-

ter for Transgender equality on health-

related issues that the lGBT popula-

tion faces, with a particular focus on

transgender people.

DEJANA pERRONE and MASSIEL ZUCCO (’08)

have joined ClRN’s Incubator for Jus-

tice to start a small firm, Perrone

& Zucco, PllC, focusing on direct

low-bono representation in immigra-

tion law.

2009JAMES ALEX BARRON was admitted to the

New York Bar on January 27, 2010, and

is currently awaiting admission to the

d.C. Bar. Though still unemployed, he

participates in the Pro Bono attorney

Volunteer Program with the New York

State Courts and the Consumer debt

attorney Volunteer Program at the New

York Civil Court in Manhattan. • •

Lara Rabiee and Ava

Neil Gillespie and Annika

SPRING 2010 27

Fac

ulty

• nOtes

MIChELLE ANDERSON moderated a panel at

the women’s leadership Conference at

hunter College in November 2009. also

that month, she made a presentation at

CUNY law on her work to reform rape

law, and she moderated a dialog, “out-

sider/Insider Strategies to Build Peace

and Create Social Change.”

SAMEER AShAR completed his term as

chair of the association of american

law Schools Section on Poverty law

by organizing a program at the January

2010 aalS Conference in New orleans

titled “The New anti-Poverty advocacy:

Constructs, Strategies, and Tactics.”

CAITLIN BORgMANN’S article “The Mean-

ing of ‘life’: Belief and Reason in the

abortion debate,” was published in the

Columbia Journal of Gender and Law

(2009).

REBECCA BRATSpIES’ recent publications

include: “Regulatory Trust” in the 51

Arizona Law Review (2009) and “Biotech-

nology, Sustainability, and Trust” in the

18 Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy

(2009). She presented “Stewardship,

Global Public Goods, and GM Crops” at

the CGIaR Strategic Study of Steward-

ship and liability Meeting in November

2009. Bratspies also presented “what

are environmental Rights?” at the Uni-

versity of Connecticut’s human Rights

in the USa conference in october 2009

and “Trust and Regulation” at the aalS

annual Meeting in January.

RhONDA COpELON was honored with the

Crossing Borders award by CUNY’s

feminist Press in october 2009 at its

39th anniversary gala. The Crossing

Borders award recognizes individuals

whose leadership promotes women’s

equality and who themselves have not

only crossed the border delineating

equal opportunity but have opened it

up for others to follow. In November

2009, Copelon and the International

women’s human Rights Clinic were

also honored for their visionary work

at a reunion of more than 100 former

students and colleagues, some of whom

came from as far away as washington

State and latin america.

fRANK DEALE’S article “Jurisdiction, Trans-

fer, and Pretrial: Using federal Rules

of Civil Procedure 16 to Resolve forum

Convenience disputes,” was published

in the Howard Law Journal. he was also

asked and has agreed to serve on the

Professional Staff Congress’s CUNY and

Race Committee.

pAMELA EDWARDS authored the chapter

“Non-Mainstream Religions and the

law” in the book Law and Magic: A Col-

lection of Essays, recently published by

Carolina Press (2010).

JULIE gOLDSChEID presented “ending Vio-

lence against women: The Utility and

limits of the Gender framework,” at the

Violence and Vulnerability Conference

at emory law School last November.

She also presented “Reconsidering State

accountability for domestic Violence”

at the latCrit XIV annual Conference at

american University in october 2009.

Goldscheid was a panelist for “The last

Thing hanging in the Closet: lGBT Inti-

mate Partner Violence” at the lavender

law Conference in September 2009

and was a panelist at a Columbia law

School discussion, “domestic Violence

in the lGBT Community,” in recogni-

tion of domestic Violence awareness

week in october. Goldscheid published

“Gender Violence and work: Reckoning

with the Boundaries of Sex discrimina-

tion law” in the Columbia Journal of

Gender and Law.

CARMEN hUERTAS-NOBLE and BERYL BLAUS-TONE co-presented their article, “lawyer-

ing at the Intersection of Mediation and

Community economic development:

Interweaving Inclusive legal Problem

faculty Notes

Professor Frank Deale

Professor Julie Goldscheid

28 CUNY SChool of law • www.law.CUNY.edU28 CUNY SChool of law • www.law.CUNY.edU

Fac

ult

y • n

Otes

Solving Skills in the Training of ef-

fective lawyers,” at the washington

University Scholarship Roundtable on

New directions in dispute Resolution

and Clinical education in November

2009. The article will be published in

volume 34 of Washington University

Journal of Law & Policy. huertas-Noble

was also a panelist for CUNY law’s

CloRe fall 2009 film program screen-

ing of Whose Barrio? The Gentrification

of East Harlem.

RAMZI KASSEM was quoted in a range of

media outlets, including TIME, The New

York Times, The Miami Herald, MSNBC

World News, and The San Francisco

Chronicle on military detentions in

Guantánamo Bay and Bagram airbase

in afghanistan and on law enforce-

ment’s racial profiling of the Muslim

community in Queens, New York. In

January, the d.C. Circuit heard oral argu-

ments in Al-Maqaleh v. Gates, the first

legal challenge on behalf of detainees at

Bagram airbase, in which CUNY law’s

Immigrant & Refugee Rights Clinic was

co-counsel.

JEff KIRChMEIER’S article, “The Undis-

covered Country: execution Compe-

tency and Comprehending death,” was

published in the Kentucky Law Journal

in January. he also coauthored First

Year Law School Flash Cards, which

was published by Barron’s educational

Series, Inc. in January. Kirchmeier gave

a Cle presentation called “foundations

of habeas Corpus” at the annual ha-

beas Corpus Training Program for Pro

Bono attorneys at the New York City

Bar association in october 2009.

ShIRLEY LUNg presented “The four-day

work week: But what about Ms. Coke,

Ms. Upton, and Ms. Blankenship?” at the

Symposium on Redefining work: Impli-

cations of the four-day work week in

october 2009. her discussion addressed

the exclusion of poor and low-income

women of color from discussions about

work/family conflicts based on rising

hours of work.

ANDREA MCARDLE was awarded a Ph.d. in

american studies from New York Uni-

versity Graduate School of arts and Sci-

ence, department of Social and Cultural

analysis, in January 2010, after defend-

ing her dissertation, “Jersey Justice and

discourses of Power: Consumer Rights,

Good-Mother Citizenship, and the Cold

war” the previous November. She re-

cently published “legal Texts as Cultural

Narratives of Postwar Suburbia: Gender,

Power, and Consumer Protection,” in the

anthology Redefining Suburban Stud-

ies: Searching for New Paradigms (2009)

and “The Socioeconomics of Justice:

The Perspective from the law School

Classroom,” in International Review of

Constitutionalism 193 (2009).

JENNY RIVERA received the New York State

Bar association’s Kay Crawford Murray

award in January 2010. She was also

awarded the hispanic National Bar asso-

ciation (hNBa) President’s award in Sep-

tember 2009, and has been appointed to

a one-year term to the hNBa’s Com-

mission on women in the Profession.

Rivera, YVONNE ChERENA-pAChECO, and

pAMELA EDWARDS participated in panel

discussions at the hispanic association

of Colleges and Universities 23rd an-

nual Conference, “Pathways to a Career

in the legal Profession,” in November

2009. Rivera also participated in the

roundtable discussion “outsiders Inside:

Critical outsider Theory and Praxis in

the Policymaking of the New american

Regime” and moderated the roundtable

discussion “In Search of a wise latina: a

discussion on the Nomination and Con-

firmation of the first latina Supreme

Court Justice,” at the latCrit XIV annual

Conference at american University in

october 2009.

RUThANN ROBSON completed her three-

part series, “Before and after Sappho,”

which interweaves ancient Greek figures

with contemporary writers and legal

controversies. Part one, “logos” (focus-

ing on helen of Troy), is now available

at the online journal Trivia: Voices of

Feminism; Part Two, “eudaemonia”

(focusing on artemis), is now published

in Law and Literature; and Part Three,

“demokratia” (centering on antigone),

appears in the law and literature issue of

Stetson Law Review. In November 2009,

she organized and moderated the Third

annual distinguished Professor Conver-

sation, “Translating equality,” at CUNY

School of law, with JENNY RIVERA and

poet and Queens College distinguished

Professor Kimiko hahn. The conversa-

tion will be published in the New York

City Law Review. Robson spoke at the

aalS panel “on the Cutting edge: Chart-

ing the future of Sexual orientation and

Gender Identity Scholarship” in January

and at the lavender law Conference in

Professor Andrea McArdle

Distinguished Professor Ruthann Robson

Use the enclosed envelope or visit www.law.cuny.edu

Fac

ulty

• NOTES

September 2009. Robson continues to

work on a three-volume, edited anthol-

ogy on global sexuality and law issues

for Ashgate Publishers and a forthcom-

ing book on sexuality and democracy

for Cambridge University Press. She

also continues to comment on the Con-

stitutional Law Prof Blog.

FRANKLIN SIEGEL and three co-counsel to

the class in Handschu v. Special Services

Division received a ruling in January

2010 concluding their challenge to a

2004 NYPD policy allowing police to

videotape and photograph participants

at lawful demonstrations and political

gatherings. U.S. District Judge Charles S.

Haight reaffirmed that the NYPD must

follow the Modified Handschu Guide-

lines, part of a court decree protecting

First Amendment expression in New

York City from unauthorized Police

Department political surveillance.

RICHARD STORROW’S essay, “The Right to

Procreate,” was published in The Child:

An Encyclopedic Companion by the

University of Chicago Press (2009). He

also appeared on the National Adoption

Day edition of the Bronx Legal televi-

sion show to discuss adoption law in

New York.

LILIANA YANEZ appeared on CUNY TV in

November 2009 to discuss the implications

of a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration

Service policy for temporary workers.

DEBBIE ZALESNE and DAVID NADVORNEY

coauthored the article “Why Don’t They

Get It? Academic Intelligence and the

Under-Prepared Student as Other,” which

was accepted for publication by the

Journal of Legal Education. Zalesne and

Nadvorney presented their paper “Making

Academics Explicit: An Integrated Skills/

Doctrine Contracts Syllabus,” at the Fifth

International Conference on Contracts in

February. Zalesne was also on the Steer-

ing Committee for that conference.

STEVE ZEIDMAN assisted with an amicus

brief filed on behalf of the plaintiffs in

the New York Civil Liberties Union law-

suit, Hurrell-Harring v. New York, against

New York State, alleging systemic, state-

wide violations of the right to counsel.

He drafted the law professors’ statement

of interest for the brief and collected

signatories from faculty members across

the state. He served as a moderator at the

Department of Justice National Sym-

posium on Indigent Defense, “Looking

Back, Looking Forward, 2000–2010,”

in Washington, D.C. Zeidman was also

selected, with ANDREA MCARDLE and JOE ROSENBERG, to participate in and present

at the Experiential Renaissance Round-

table, “Challenges in Constructing and

Reconstructing Experiential Education

Programs,” at the University of Minne-

sota Law School in April. • •

65-21 Main StreetFlushing, NY 11367

Postmaster, Contains DateD material

Please Deliver PromPtly. thank you.

the school of law is

Non-Profit

Organization

U.S. Postage

Paid

Flushing, NY

Permit No. 517

Front row, left to right: Ayesha Yasmin, Dorothy Matthew, Alixson Silva; back row, left to right: Bernice Cohn, Marcela Reglis, Cheryl Schwetz, Verleatha HillPh

oto

by A

nsle

y D

aven

port

"When CUNY Law alums reflect on their experiences in the clinic, they often think about their interactions with the staff. Members of the clinic staff serve our clients, students, and faculty every day. Their hard work enables us to advocate for justice and to remain on the cutting edge of clinical legal education."

— Associate Dean for Clinical Programs Sameer Ashar

check out cidadao global's work on pg. 15: 10 spring cunylaw

Documents