Public Advocacy Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law | Yeshiva University Center for Rights & Justice
“Students, alumni and faculty at Cardozo School of Law have a long history of using law to achieve justice. The Center for Rights & Justice is the home for these efforts, bringing together the service, advocacy and scholarship that mark the deep engagement of the Cardozo community with protecting rights and securing justice for all.” —Professor Alexander Reinert, Director of the Cardozo Law Center for Rights & Justice
ABOUT THE CRJ The Center for Rights and Justice (CRJ) consists of more than 15 Cardozo School of Law initiatives working to advance justice through scholarly research, public policy reform and client advocacy. The CRJ focuses on themes of access, fairness, equality, accountability and transparency. Consistent with Cardozo’s history, it is the program’s mission to promote these concepts. Cardozo School of Law’s clinics are dedicated to public service. Some clinical accomplishments include: • Cardozo students have helped exonerate more than 200 innocent prisoners with the Innocence Project. • Students in the Civil Rights Clinic have litigated civil rights cases on unconstitutional conditions in prisons. • In the Immigration Justice Clinic, Cardozo students have helped hundreds of immigrants win release from detention or deportation. • In the Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic, Cardozo students have restored rent freeze benefits for elderly and disabled lower-income NYC tenants and represented children in need of speech-generating devices.
Below: Cardozo professors are dedicated to public service. From left, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic; Leslie Salzman, Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic; Peter Markowitz, Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic; Betsy Ginsberg, Civil Rights Clinic; Alexander Reinert, Center for Rights and Justice; Myriam Gillles, Civil Rights Scholar; Barry Scheck, Innocence Project
CRJ-RELATED PROGRAMS CLINICS The Innocence Project Bet Tzedek Legal Services Clinic Civil Rights Clinic Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic FIELD CLINICS
PRACTICAL TRAINING CRJ Moots The CRJ hosts moots on a regular basis each semester, giving students the unique opportunity to attend confidential moot court sessions to observe prominent lawyers preparing for oral argument in important appellate cases, and giving advocates the benefit of receiving feedback from experts in the field. Past moots have included Dempsey Hawkins v. New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, involving whether the Eighth Amendment requires that age at the time of offense be considered at parole; and Daniel McGowan v. United States of America, addressing whether a federal prisoner may bring a damages action to remedy the violation of his First Amendment rights. Cardozo is unique among New York-area law schools in providing this opportunity to our students. RECENT MOOTS Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (argued in U.S. Supreme Court) Abdelal v. Kelly (argued in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) Edrei v. City of New York (argued in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) Hadid v. City of New York (argued in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) City of El Cenizo v. State of Texas (argued in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) Stega v. New York Downtown Hospital (argued in New York Court of Appeals)
Consumer Rights Field Clinic Immigration Law Field Clinic Bronx Defenders Family Defense Field Clinic Special Education Law and Advocacy Field Clinic STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS Cardozo Advocates for Kids Cardozo Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality Cardozo Students for Human Rights Law Students for Reproductive Justice OUTLaw National Lawyers Guild Public Interest Law Students Association Student Animal Legal Defense Fund Suspension Representation Project Unemployment Action Center
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BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW
CARDOZO CENTER FOR RIGHTS & JUSTICE