The View from Washington Square
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Contents
What You Need to Know Now 9
Faculty Who Will Inspire You 19
Your 1L Year: The Inside Story 27
Charting Your Course(s) 33
Beyond the Books 49
Getting the Career You Want 57
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Welcome Class of 2017
NYU Law is a pacesetter in legal education, from clinical programs to international law. The Law School pioneered the clinical and advocacy program—and now offers 39 clinics, including one focused on government in Washington, DC. NYU is the first truly global law school; our Hauser Global Law School Program infuses an international perspective into everything we do. This spring, the first class of students will take part in NYU Law-designed and -managed programs in Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai.
You’ll get the training you need to compete successfully in the 21st-century legal marketplace. Our revamped curriculum includes financial literacy and leadership training and emphasizes focused study and experience. The 1L year offers electives such as International Law and Corporations, and the Lawyering Program develops students’ practical understanding of the law. Public service is part of our DNA, from our groundbreaking Loan Repayment Assistance Program to our guaranteed summer funding for public interest work. Dean Trevor Morrison (opposite) himself sets the tone—a top constitutional scholar, he served as an associate counsel to President Obama.
Nestled in charming Greenwich Village, NYU Law takes advantage of all New York City has to offer. With access to the very best real-world practitioners and policymakers in the most energized city in the world, NYU Law has the resources and richness of a large law school. Yet we also have the close-knit communities of a smaller one. The relationships our students forge with one another and with faculty create unique and engaging educational experiences more typical of graduate schools than of law schools. 3
Women are admitted into NYU School of Law for the first time. That’s 29 years before Yale, 37 years before Columbia, and 60 years before Harvard.
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New York University creates an unprecedented three-year program of study for prospective lawyers, teaching law by subject areas, such as torts and contracts. This so impressed NYU Law’s William Kent that when he was recruited to teach at Harvard, he took the course method with him.
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The Black Allied Law Students Association (BALSA) is established at NYU School of Law. Today, BALSA is one of more than 200 chapters of the National Black Law Students Association, the largest student-run organization in America.
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NYU Law’s Clinical and Advocacy Programs are pioneered by Professor Anthony Amsterdam. This unparalleled program includes the yearlong Lawyering course, in which students learn real-life legal skills, as well as simulation courses and fieldwork clinics, nine of which focus on criminal issues.
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1981
The first Public Interest Legal Career Fair is held. Currently, it is the largest career fair of its kind in the country. Last year, representatives from more than 200 organizations attended. The Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program, NYU Law’s flagship public interest program that awards full tuition to its scholars, is founded.
The Hauser Global Law School Program officially begins. The first of its kind, the program recognizes that legal education must now transcend national boundaries. It incorporates nonUS and transnational legal perspectives into the NYU Law curriculum, promotes scholarship on comparative and global law, and brings together faculty, scholars, and students from around the world.
1986
1995
LRAP, the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, begins. Today, this postgraduation scholarship continues to provide crucial financial support for our JD graduates working in the public interest. This commitment to easing the burden of student loan repayment allows our graduates the flexibility to pursue a range of careers in nearly every corner of the globe.
A Tradition
NYU School of Law is the first American law school to place clerks at the International Court of Justice.
2000
2003
Guaranteed Public Interest Law Center Summer Funding begins. The most ambitious such program in the nation, it ensures funding for all firstand second-year students who want to get experience working in public interest and government positions. In 2013, 412 students used PILC Summer Funding grants to work in 24 countries.
1L electives are offered for the first time, in response to student petitions. The students asked for just one elective; the dean and the faculty thought it was such a good idea, they offered five: Constitutional Law, Corporations, Income Taxation, International Law, and Property. This academic innovation gives students an early edge in launching their legal careers.
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2007
The Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business is formed. This unique program, which features joint classes of JD and MBA students taught by both NYU Law and Stern School of Business professors, is aimed at training JD students who want to practice at the intersection of law and business.
The Milbank Tweed Forum begins. This weekly lunchtime student event brings together panels of experts to debate issues of the day, from the price of national security to the collateral costs of criminal convictions. The Environmental Law LLM degree program debuts, bringing the number of LLM degrees to nine, including NYU School of Law’s renowned Tax LLM, the oldest and best of its kind in the nation.
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2010
Wilf Hall, a home to many NYU Law centers, opens. It becomes a focal point for faculty, students, and research scholars from an array of disciplines to exchange ideas and, through their work, help shape the public discourse around the leading social and political issues of the day.
The Law School maximizes the value of the third year by launching several initiatives to enhance the curriculum and emphasize focused study and experience. The new NYU Law Abroad program, for example, features NYU Law–designed and –managed programs for 3Ls to study in Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai.
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2013
The Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement is established; a new course, Compliance and Risk Management for Attorneys, will be offered in Spring 2014. The full-tuition Furman Public Policy Scholarship, an experience-based program designed to train and support selected top students interested in pursuing careers in the public policy sector, is announced.
f Innovation
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NYU Law s com public service
412
The number of 1Ls and 2Ls who used PILC Summer Funding grants in 2013 to do public interest work in the US and 24 other countries.
$5 million
The approximate amount spent in 2012 on the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, which eases the burden of debt repayment obligations for those who choose a career in public interest.
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The number of years the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program has been running. NYU’s flagship public interest scholarship awards full tuition to 20 scholars annually for their commitment to working in public service, academic merit, and leadership potential.
$600,000
The estimated amount jointly raised since 2002 by the annual Deans’ Cup basketball game against Columbia Law to fund public interest summer internships and other programs. In April 2013, NYU won 70–67, continuing a five-year winning streak.
m mitment to is unequaled.
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I wanted to go to a law school that was academically rigorous and that would position me well in the job market, but I also wanted a school with a sense of community, one where I would have the freedom to explore a little and make sure that what I thought I wanted to do was actually what I wanted to do. I can say confidently now that NYU was the right choice.
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B r an d i M c N e i l ’13, now an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center
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What You Need to Know Now
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There is no better way to sample all that NYU Law has to offer than to attend our Admitted Students Days. Please save the dates:
March 6–7 March 27–28 April 10–11
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Don’t miss the chance to find out more about the Law School and spend some time with current students, recent alumni, and faculty. At our two-day Admitted Students program, you’ll see firsthand what makes NYU School of Law so special. You’ll hear from 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls at a panel on student life and meet members of our more than 80 student organizations, as well as the editors of our law review and journals. Recent alumni will share their experiences working at public service jobs, at
private firms, in business, and as judicial clerks. In the evening, current students invite you for a night out in Greenwich Village. Dean Trevor Morrison will share his view on the qualities that make NYU Law unique, from our focus on educating lawyers for a global economy to our commitment to public service. You can also sit in on our classes taught by leading faculty,
and attend faculty-led forums on topics such as international law, judicial clerkships, corporate law, and careers in legal academia. There are also plenty of chances to meet the faculty more informally, over lunch and during office hours for admitted students. No matter your area of interest, professors will have their doors open and be waiting to speak with you.
Want to see our campus but can’t make an Admitted Students session? Email us at nyulaw-admits @nyu.edu, and we’ll try to arrange a weekday visit for you that includes a tour led by current students and a sampling of classes. You can also take a self-guided tour. Start at the Welcome Desk (in the lobby of Wilf Hall, 139 MacDougal Street).
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Around the Neighborhood Our lively downtown campus is like no other. It is tucked in among an eclectic mix of quaint townhouses and cafĂŠ-lined streets and includes Vanderbilt Hall, Furman Hall, 22 Washington Square North, and Wilf Hall, which was recently awarded a LEED Platinum Standard rating by the US Green Building Council.
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of 1Ls live in affordable, on-campus housing. NYU Law has two high-rise apartment-style residence halls and two low-rise apartment buildings that offer students a variety of smoke-free living arrangements. Students usually have their own rooms in shared twoor three-bedroom apartments, but there are also studio and one-bedroom apartment options. Family housing accommodations (in the form of studios and one-bedroom apartments) are also available but limited in quantity. For more about housing at NYU Law, go to law.nyu.edu/housing.
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Student Housing and Me: A Love Story By Ashley Smith ’12 Read more about our students’ experiences in Life at NYU Law (blogs.law.nyu.edu/lifeatnyulaw). Between graduating from college and matriculating at NYU Law, I lived in a Manhattan apartment. Toward the end of my tenancy, the elevator was frequently out of order, the hot water became unreliable, and I found evidence, shall we say, that I was cohabiting with small, furry creatures. So I began to
think about moving into campus housing. It’s no secret that NYU Law is located in arguably the best neighborhood in New York City. Finding any cuisine you crave is a simple matter of walking a block or two, and the Village is littered with shops of many sorts, a diverse array of bars, and all the necessary stuff like supermarkets and drugstores, too. NYU Law also virtually guarantees housing to its first-year students—in D’Agostino Hall,
conveniently located near the Law School buildings, or Mercer Street Residence, a few blocks’ walk away. I was assigned to a two-bedroom apartment in Mercer with a 1L roommate. I don’t know how they did it, but from a brief housing questionnaire, NYU Law Housing matched me with a roommate with whom I got along famously. And the apartment! It was splendid. Also, security guards are vigilantly on duty 24 hours a day. They make you show your ID, even if they know you—but it made me feel safe. If anything goes awry in your Mercer or D’Ag apartment, you need only submit an online work request and it is attended to in 24 hours or less. Mercer, like D’Agostino, has study lounges, washers and dryers, a recreation room, and even a terrace that is a lovely place to read or socialize. What’s more, the elevators and hot water worked brilliantly, and I never saw a small furry creature. Living in NYU Law housing was so nice, I did it twice—my 2L year I lived in Mercer, too! 15
January 1
March 27-28
The Need Access Financial Aid application and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) become available.
Admitted Students Days
February 3 Housing application for entering students goes live.
March 6-7 Admitted Students Days
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April 1 Recommended deadline for submitting the Need Access Financial Aid and FAFSA applications
Early February to late April Notification of institutional financial aid awards sent out.
May 2 JD deposit deadline
April 10-11 Admitted Students Days
May15 Deadline for priority housing application. Applications received after this date will be assigned on a space- available basis.
June 16 First round of housing assignments completed. Students will be notified through their NYU e-mail accounts.
June 30 Assigned housing cancellations deadline. After this date, late charges are incurred.
Late August/ September
Mark Your Calendar
Orientation begins
In these tough economic times, NYU School of Law is keeping its financial aid promises. The Law School has long devoted a substantial chunk of its resources to scholarship programs, institutional grants, and our vaunted Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), which helps our graduates who choose public service careers by easing their debt burden. Despite the challenging times, this support is unwavering. In addition to an extensive and varied list of full-tuition scholarships, such as the AnBryce Scholarship Program, the Furman Academic Scholars Program, the Furman Public Policy Scholarship, and the flagship Root-Tilden-Kern Program, the Law School awards a significant number of Dean’s Scholarships in amounts up to full tuition, on the basis of need, academic merit, or a combination of the two. Apply for financial aid online at www.needaccess.org/students/ student.aspx.
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The best thing about the NYU Law faculty is that they have an open-door policy. They are leaders in their fields, but they take time out to talk to you and mentor you. They are warm and friendly—and not nearly as intimidating in person as they sound on paper.
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Is i ah H a r r i s ’13 , now pursuing an LLM in Taxation at NYU Law
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Faculty Who Will Inspire You
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No Ivory Tower–and We Like It That Way NYU Law faculty members are not only top scholars, they are also active outside the halls of academia on a broad range of issues. Here are just a few recent examples. Rachel Barkow, a nationally recognized expert on sentencing, was confirmed by the US Senate to the US Sentencing Commission last summer. Barkow, faculty director of
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the Law School’s Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, also testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary’s Task Force on Over-Criminalization on October 30 (below). Appearing before the committee as a legal academic, Barkow gave an overview of the problem of over-criminalization as it relates to regulatory crime.
After defining the issue, she focused on one particular aspect of over-criminalization: cases in which behavior that is either innocent or that is more properly addressed with civil sanctions is treated as criminal. Barkow questioned whether criminalization is the best strategy for addressing violations of regulatory offenses, and asked whether civil penalties could achieve the same levels of compliance. Ryan Goodman, who has written extensively on the issue of targeted killings and detention authority, launched Just Security, a new online forum for the rigorous analysis of law, rights, and US national security policy. Already since its September debut, Just Security has established a reputation for thoughtful and keen analysis, drawing attention from media
outlets including NPR, the Huffington Post, and the Atlantic Wire. “We wanted to create a platform that brings together some of the world’s leading legal experts to provide rapid reactions to tough national security problems facing decision-makers inside and outside government,” says Goodman. Clayton Gillette is working on a project assisting in the revival of Detroit. In a prime example of the kind of studentprofessor collaboration prized at NYU Law, he has enlisted several students to work with him. They have formed what he describes as a kind of “mini student law firm,” working together to think creatively about the legal and political institutions that can help the city recover as well as avoid the recurrence of financial distress.
Washington, DC, Comes to Washington Square— and Vice Versa The distance between New York and the nation’s capital has gotten shorter in recent years, as more and more Washington insiders have been bringing their experiences to NYU Law classrooms. The list includes new dean Trevor Morrison, a former associate counsel to President Obama; Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Senior Lecturer Robert Bauer, former White House counsel; Professor David Kamin ’09, former special assistant to the president for economic policy; Visiting Professor Sally Katzen, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under President Clinton; former White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray; and Amy Salzman ’85, former associate director for policy outreach for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. This stellar group teaches courses on everything from constitutional law to income taxation. This fall, as part of the Law School’s revamped curriculum, Bauer and Katzen established a
Washington-based clinic. The Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic gives third-year students first-hand government experience. Clinic students work four days a week in a federal agency or government office, and they attend a weekly seminar as well as special sessions with senior government officials and guest lecturers. NYU experts even gathered in DC in the midst of the shutdown chaos to discuss the debt ceiling, the shutdown, and the potential effects on the economy and politics of the United States. The panel, moderated by Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor of the Washington Post, included Bauer, Kamin, and Katzen as well as Sean Cairncross ’01, partner at HoltzmanVogelJosefiak and former deputy executive director and general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Michael Waldman ’87, president of the Brennan Center for Justice and former director of speechwriting for President Bill Clinton.
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You only need to glance at some recent books—from Jerome Cohen’s Challenge to China (written with Margaret Lewis ’03) to Jeremy Waldron’s The Harm in Hate Speech—to get a sense of our faculty’s vast array of interests and expertise.
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New Additions to the Roster New York City, a creative center with a surging technology sector, is the perfect setting for the study of innovation and intellectual property. NYU Law has recently snagged three stars in the field.
Jeanne Fromer, who received an inaugural Young Scholars Medal from the American Law Institute for her scholarship, co-teaches the Innovation Policy Colloquium, among other courses. She is fascinated by copyright conundrums such as: Are copyright laws antiquated in an era of streaming videos and downloading music? How does software, an incredibly important but more recent part of the economy, fit into copyright law?
Jason Schultz has a focus on patent reform and a passion for technology. The founder of the Patent Busting Project at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, Schultz joined the Law School this year as director of the new Technology Law and Policy Clinic. His scholarship focuses on the ongoing struggle to balance intellectual property regimes with the public interest.
Christopher Sprigman studies how legal rules affect innovation and the deployment of new technologies. His recent book, The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation, looks at a broad range of fields that innovate in the absence of intellectual property, from fashion to food to football, and makes the provocative argument that copying can actually incentivize innovation.
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Alina Das ’05, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, won the Daniel Levy Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Immigration Law from LexisNexis.
Bryan Stevenson received a Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for his work in the interest of social progress and won the Brennan Center’s Brennan Legacy Award.
“Credit Card Pricing: The CARD Act and Beyond” by Oren Bar-Gill and Ryan Bubb made the Corporate Practice Commentator’s most recent annual “Top 10 Corporate and Securities Articles” list.
José Alvarez was elected to the Institut de Droit International, which adopts normative resolutions on international law that it then brings to the attention of governmental authorities, international organizations, and scientists.
Liam Murphy delivered the Annual Lecture in Law & Society for the Foundation for Law, Justice, and Society at the University of Oxford.
Theodor Meron was reelected by his fellow judges to another two-year term as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 24
Kenji Yoshino was named the Order of the Coif’s Distinguished Visitor for 2013, traveling to three prestigious universities to lecture and participate in academic life.
Robert Bauer was named co-chair of the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration.
As a founding member from North America, Catherine Sharkey presented remarks at the inaugural meeting and first academic conference of the World Tort Law Society.
David Garland was elected to the British Academy as a Corresponding Fellow.
Honors and Accolades Kenji Yoshino Our faculty are leading scholars and practitioners who garner distinctions regularly.
wasDas’s elected to Harvard Here is just a sampling of some recent accomplishments, including Alina award for University’s Board of Overseers.
outstanding achievement in immigration law, José Alvarez’s election to the Institut de Droit International, and Robert Bauer’s appointment as co-chair of the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration.
Arthur Gonzalez LLM ’90 was inducted into the Turnaround Management Association’s Turnaround, Restructuring, and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame.
Jeremy Waldron won an American Society of International Law award for his book Partly Laws Common to All Mankind: Foreign Law in American Courts.
Eleanor Fox ’61 was honored for being a founder of the International Competition Network, a forum for antitrust enforcers.
Jerome Cohen received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Comparative Law. 25
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It’s great that NYU Law lets you take an elective as a 1L. I took Corporations with Jennifer Arlen. She was a wonderful teacher and extremely friendly. For instance, when we were trying to decide on our 2L courses, she had an informal information session at her house and advised people on what courses to take if they were interested in corporate law.
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Coll e e n L e e ’13 , now a corporate associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
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Your 1L Year: The Inside Story
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Lawyering: Real-World Skills NYU Law’s renowned Lawyering Program, pioneered by University Professor Anthony Amsterdam, covers the real-world skills every lawyer needs in order to practice effectively and successfully. The first semester is designed to develop essential skills in legal research and writing, to examine the functions and techniques of several forms of legal writing, and to explore the interplay of law and fact in legal analysis. The second semester concentrates on activities basic to legal practice: interviewing, counseling, case analysis and problem handling, negotiation, informal advocacy, and trial advocacy. Working collaboratively in small teams, the students role-play, then critically review their experiences in each activity. These skills will be indispensable when students take one of NYU’s 39 clinics as a 2L or 3L—and in the future, when they begin their careers as lawyers.
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Leading Experts Teach Your 1L Classes During their first year, students begin to learn to think like lawyers by taking classes in contracts, procedure, torts, and criminal law. These introductory courses are taught by world-class professors such as Richard Epstein and Kevin Davis, who teach Contracts; Alan Sykes, who teaches Torts; Arthur Miller, Burt Neuborne, and Helen Hershkoff, who teach Procedure; and Erin Murphy and Stephen Schulhofer, who teach Criminal Law. In Contracts, students focus on the body of law concerned
with private agreements. In Torts, students analyze civil liability for breach of duty causing harm to persons or property. In Procedure, they examine the rules governing civil litigation, with an emphasis on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and consider constitutional issues relating to jurisdiction and procedural protections. In Criminal Law, they study elements of criminal liability and defenses. Property and Constitutional Law are also required courses but don’t have to be taken in the first year.
Several years ago, the Law School introduced a course now called Legislation and the Regulatory State, designed to expose students to the role of the administrative state in our legal regime. Students examine the legislative lawmaking processes, the implementation of statutes by administrative agencies through rule-making and other procedures, and the role of courts in interpreting statutes and reviewing administrative action at the behest of affected private parties. Legislation and the Regulatory State is also taught by faculty who are outstanding in their fields, including Sally Katzen, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under President Clinton; Samuel Rascoff, a former director of intelligence analysis at the New York City Police Department and special assistant with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq; and Adam Samaha, a leading academic whose research focuses on constitutional theory and the role of courts in society. Each approaches the topic from his or her vantage point, but the goal of the course is the same: to introduce the tools that lawyers need in a changing world.
Adam Cox teaches Legislation and the Regulatory State.
Erin Murphy teaches Criminal Law and Evidence.
Richard Epstein teaches Torts and Contracts. 29
Debunking the Law School Misery Myth By Amanda Ploch ’12 Read more about our students’ experiences in Life at NYU Law (blogs.law.nyu.edu/lifeatnyulaw). The summer before my first year at NYU Law, my mom recommended that I read a certain book about law school, to get an inside view into what to expect over the next three years. I’m sure many have read it, and NYU Law even has a copy or two in the library. While it did provide a lot of helpful info, it also made me absolutely terrified to start school and convinced me that law school would be some sort of horrible nightmare that I would somehow survive, yet hate in the process. Fears about roommates 30
shutting off my alarm clock so I’d miss class and students stealing books echoed in my brain as 1L orientation drew closer and closer. And then school started. And the nightmare never actually came true. After three years, I looked back and laughed about the scary law school hype that had invaded my mind. My peers at NYU Law were amazing and went out of their way to help one another—it was a far cry from the sort of sabotaging, scheming environment I had feared I would find. Granted, maybe it’s because I try to find the positive in things, and probably a lot of it depends on the student, institution, and time when you attend, but my
three years at NYU Law brought me some of the greatest times of my life. Sure, there were some really tough moments here as well, but overall, when I look back, I think fondly about my time in law school. Here are three things that I think helped keep that nightmare far, far away: Being part of an amazing law school community: I quickly joined a few student groups as a 1L and also joined a journal, and I met so many wonderful people from those activities. I once told someone that I would do anything for my journal. That’s a stretch, but I sure did enjoy being part of this wonderful community.
Making time for fun: I came to NYU Law convinced that I would spend three years living in NYC and never enjoy any of what the city had to offer. Again, I was so wrong. I made time to go have fun and take advantage of uniquely New York activities. After all, what’s the point of going to school in Greenwich Village if you don’t take some time to go watch the cast of Glee filming in Washington Square Park when the opportunity arises? Taking a deep breath: Law school is a lot of hard work, but in the end you should do the best you can, take a deep breath, and trust that it’ll be OK. Letting some of the pressure off of myself was very helpful. So don’t buy into all the scary law school myths. And to my very dear roommates over the years: Thank you for being people who I know wouldn’t go near my alarm clock.
1L Electives Give You an Edge The Law School introduced Spring electives for 1Ls in 2006. The inspiration came from students who petitioned then–Dean Richard Revesz to offer International Law as an elective, arguing that the course benefited students accepting summer posts with international organizations. He and the faculty took the idea and ran with it, deciding to offer not just International Law but four other electives as well. Students can now choose among Constitutional Law, Corporations, Income Taxation, International Law, and Property. (Those who do not take Property and Constitutional Law in the first year will be required to take them later.) This academic innovation gives students with particular interests a unique opportunity to explore an area of law in more depth and to jumpstart their legal careers in an ever more competitive legal environment. 31
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NYU Law consistently does a great job in the classroom reminding students that it’s worth thinking about the hard questions because we are among the people who will tackle them going forward. Very little in the law is as settled as you expect it to be when you begin your studies.
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Paul B r achman ’13 , now clerking for US District Court
Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. of the Southern District of West Virginia
Charting Your Course(s)
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Amy Adler’s Art Law Class Studies—and Creates—Art Amy Adler published an article in the California Law Review a few years ago, taking issue with a body of “moral rights” law—farreaching in Europe, much less so in the US—that gives visual artists the right to protect the integrity of their creations, even when they are owned by others. Under laws in effect today, for example, Leonardo da Vinci could prevent a purchaser of the Mona Lisa from drawing a mustache on it. But moral rights laws “endanger art in the name of protecting it,” Adler argues in her article, “Against Moral Rights.” “The right of integrity threatens art because it fails to recognize the profound artistic importance of modifying, even destroying, works of art, and of freeing art from the social control of the artist.” As Marcel Duchamp once exhorted, “Use a Rembrandt as an ironing board.” And so it was last March that Adler offered up four bound copies of “Against Moral Rights” for a bit of creative destruction. She distributed them, along with a pair of scissors,
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to students in her Art Law class and let them have at it. The students applied lipsticky kisses to the article, spilled on it, cut it up, drew on it, folded it, wrote on it, added objects, crossed out some portions, and tore up others. Michael Calb ’13 wrote a check to Adler for “minus 1 million dollars” and stapled it to a page. The end result was not confined to the classroom: “Cut Piece(2) by Amy Adler and 109 Art Law students” (the title pays homage to a performance-art work by Yoko Ono) went on display at a nearby gallery staging a show on art and law. Adler notes that the students’ piece was displayed alongside work of important contemporary artists, including Ai Weiwei, Christoph Büchel, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. “Good art lawyers really need to understand contemporary art, and by making this work, the students showed how much they’re learning about art as well as law,” Adler says. “I was so impressed.” She declined to discuss her plans for the negative $1 million.
A Changing Curricu um for Changing Times To ensure that graduates are equipped to compete in the 21st-century legal marketplace, the Law School recently launched several initiatives. NYU Law planted its flag in three countries, setting up Law School–designed and –managed programs for 3Ls to study in Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai during their final semester. “When the Law School announced the new study-abroad program, I knew it was a perfect fit for my goals,” says 3L Shawn Yoon, who is headed to Buenos Aires and has been studying Spanish since spending a summer in Bogotá on a PILC Summer Funding grant. “I will be
joining a firm working on opportunity and have found it cross-border transactions, so to be a terrific experience.” these experiences should be Law School Trustee Evan valuable throughout my career.” Chesler ’75, chairman of CraThe Law School has also vath, Swaine & Moore, headed established a Washington, DC– the committee that was conbased government lawyering vened to initiate the changes, clinic for third-year students which also include increased interested in developing business and financial literacy expertise in the US legislative and leadership training for all and regulatory process. “For students, and faculty-designed aspiring government lawyers “professional pathways” that and others attracted to public guide students as they prepare service, a semester in the for their careers. “With the nation’s capital provides an new initiatives,” says Chesler, invaluable way to gain practi“NYU Law is ensuring that its cal experiences and connecspectrum of offerings is rich tions while learning first-hand and balanced, and that its about the roles lawyers play students will continue to be in our government,” says Eric among the most sought-after Messinger ‘14. “I leaped at the in the legal marketplace.” 35
As globalization reshapes the way people think about the interaction of business and law, NYU Law continues to lead the way in innovative programs and offerings, from the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business to the JD/MBA program with NYU’s highly regarded Leonard N. Stern School of Business to the Pollack Center for Law & Business, plus our unique, team-oriented law and business courses. The bottom line: We get you ready for business.
Close-Up
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Law and Business
Two Takes on Corporate Governance In the post-Enron era, the governance of corporations has assumed increasingly greater importance as companies juggle the needs of shareholders, employees, and a growing number of stakeholders. Professor Helen Scott, co-director of NYU Law’s Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business, and Clinical Professor of Business Karen Brenner, executive director of law and business initiatives at NYU, address this evolving landscape head-on in their class, Law and Business of Corporate Governance. The course, which has students from both the Law School and Stern, begins with foundational questions about a corporation’s societal role and purpose before zeroing
in on the rights and responsibilities of the board, management, and other stakeholders. “What we’re really trying to do is have students cultivate judgment,” says Brenner. “It’s about their ability to make judgments where the law doesn’t prescribe a simple answer, or a simple answer is not sufficient to do what we perhaps think is right or best in the circumstance.” The course agenda includes not only a range of legal and business cases and current news coverage but also a spectrum of expert guest speakers, such as Ben Heineman, former senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary of General Electric. During his class visit, Heineman described
what he had learned in his career about the essentials of good corporate governance: cutting through clutter, both supporting and checking management, and having a strong board leader. The major cultural differences between legal and business education figure largely into the classroom dynamic, Scott explains. “Law students look for rules,” she says. “We tell them, ‘OK, here’s the rule, this is where the rule ends. Now you’re in the decision-making mix, and now you have to figure out a framework in which to make these decisions that is not unhinged from the rule but that goes to the next level.’” Brenner adds: “Business school students may be very
comfortable making judgments but may not at times think deeply about what is informing their judgment. We have to unearth those assumptions and decide whether that’s a sound basis for making a judgment.” Individual and group projects on companies grappling with governance matters allow students to exercise their discretion. The interaction between Scott and Brenner works well for Alex Gorman ’14. “They’ll react to things that students say in different ways, and they’ll also bounce ideas off of each other,” says Gorman. “It’s a good dynamic. They’re not afraid to challenge the students as well. If you raise your hand, you can expect you’ll get a follow-up question. It teaches you how to think on your feet and how to think like a business lawyer.” 37
Law and Business I applied to the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business during the law school decision-making process. I had an interest in corporate law from the beginning—deal work appealed to me—and that ended up influencing a lot of the courses I chose to take.
Co r po r at e L aw
1 L H i ghl i ght
Community The biggest thing I took out of my 1L year was the people I met, many of whom are great friends today.
1 L S umm e r
Rob Hilton My Story
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Market Watch I worked at the New York Stock Exchange in the Regulation and Enforcement Division. Helen Scott and Gerald Rosenfeld, the directors of the Jacobson Program, were very helpful in my getting this job. I believe they learned of the position through Richard Ketchum ’75, who was then head of enforcement at the NYSE. It was an amazing learning experience.
Coursework I took a range of courses focusing on corporate and transactional law, including Bankruptcy, Real Estate Deals, Mergers and Acquisitions, Restructuring Firms and Industries, and Securities Regulation. In Real Estate Deals, we were given the deal documents and asked to dissect what went wrong and what went well. After you presented to the class, either a businessperson or a lawyer who worked on the deal reviewed your presentation and answered questions about the deal.
A ca d e m i cs
2 L S umm e r
Firm Ground I worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in its corporate department during my 2L summer. I found this job with the help of the Office of Career Services.
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A Turn at Stern Law students are allowed to take classes at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and as a third-year I took Negotiating Complex Transactions with Executives and Lawyers. I worked hand in hand with the business school students, and it gave me insight into how business students think, which I knew would be helpful in my future career.
3 L H i ghl i ght
M e nto r s
Real-World Role Models One thing that I really enjoyed about the Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business is that they arranged mentors for students in the program. The first year I had Gary Bettman ’77, the commissioner of the NHL. My second mentor was NYU Law Trustee Brian Schorr ’82, the chief legal officer at Trian Partners, a hedge fund in New York.
Wise Counsel Helen and Jerry helped me navigate law school from the very first day, providing both academic and career advice. They’re two of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Jerry, who is a strategic adviser and vice chairman at Lazard, has a business perspective, and Helen, a former corporate lawyer, has a legal perspective. They make quite an interesting duo.
Faculty
Post-Graduation I’m currently an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City, the firm where I worked for my 2L summer. I am doing corporate work, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions.
O n th e J ob
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I knew I wanted to study law and business and go to law school in New York City, so the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business at NYU was the perfect fit.
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The Law School offers an unsurpassed array of courses in international, comparative, and foreign law. In fact, there are more than 60 courses typically taught in these areas each year, and International Law is a first-year elective. Students develop crosscutting expertise among areas that were traditionally studied separately, such as trade and environmental law, intellectual property and human rights, and global antitrust and international labor law. Opportunities for students extend far beyond New York. NYU Law Abroad offers specially designed programs in Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai.
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International
Getting the Global Perspective At the core of NYU School of Law’s continued innovation in international law are several important and extremely active centers. The Center for Constitutional Transitions, directed by Professor Sujit Choudhry, supports constitution-building through agenda-setting research and the education of the next generation of constitutional advisers. The Hauser Global Law School Program, launched in 1995, has moved NYU School of Law beyond the traditional study of international law to systematic examination of transnational issues and new ways to train 21st-century lawyers. The program, directed by Professor Gráinne de Búrca, brings more than a dozen leading foreign law professors and judges to research and teach at the Law School
each year. Hauser Scholars add their energy, insights, and perspectives to the community—and to every classroom. At the Institute for International Law and Justice, directed by Professor Robert Howse, students collaborate on research papers and organize conferences and workshops with faculty. Topics include the role of international courts and international administrative tribunals and whether national courts should extend judicial review to cover international bodies. The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice makes substantive contributions to scholarship and advocacy on human rights issues including caste discrimination, unlawful detention and rendition, racial profiling, extrajudicial executions, and transitional justice. Professor Philip Alston, the
former UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, co-chairs the center with Professor Ryan Goodman. The Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice, directed by University Professor Joseph Weiler (on leave to be president of the European University Institute), fosters cutting-edge scholarship on issues of international, European, and other regional law and policy. The Center on Law and Security, led by Faculty Director Samuel Rascoff and Executive Director Zachary Goldman ’09, is a nonpartisan research and policy program for examining the legal dimensions of counterterrorism and peacekeeping nationally and internationally. Dorit Beinisch, former president of the
Supreme Court of Israel, was a Weinstein Family Distinguished Fellow at the center this fall. The Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law, led by Professor Franco Ferrari, was launched in 2010 to advance the study and practice of international business transactions and ways to solve related disputes through either litigation or arbitration. The US-Asia Law Institute (USALI), directed by Ira Belkin ’82 and Professors Jerome Cohen and Frank Upham, seeks to promote the rule of law and human rights in Asia, including both domestic and international law. USALI is especially known as one of the preeminent research centers in the US for the study of law in mainland China and Taiwan. 41
Faculty Collaboration Professor Frank Upham needed an RA to write a paper with him about law and development in Cambodia, and I applied. He then helped me get a job as a legal intern in the Land Law Program at Legal Aid of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. As part of the research, I did interviews with advocates and technical advisers in the field and co-authored the paper. We later presented the paper at a conference in Florence and worked together on editing the piece for publication.
NYU for International Law I knew I was interested in international law—I had just completed a master’s in international affairs at Columbia University—and I was paying attention to where key professors in international law were teaching. I was impressed that NYU had a lot of new faculty in that area, such as José Alvarez.
W hy N Y U L aw
Student Organizations My favorite part of my 1L year was being part of student groups. I did a pro bono advocacy project for Law Students for Human Rights. It was great to be able to do something meaningful, even though I was just starting to learn about the law.
1 L S umm e r
Leah Trzcin My Story
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1 L H i ghl i ght
Law and Economics I was a Lederman Fellow; I was interested in the program as an opportunity to discuss issues of law and economics in a small community and to get additional feedback on my own writing. Clinical Experience I enjoyed the collaborative small-group environment of the Global Justice Clinic, led by Professor Margaret Satterthwaite ’99. It was nice to utilize more practical advocacy and legal strategies skills as applied to a specific real-world issue.
2L YEAR
Favorite Course My favorite class was Financing Development with Professor Kevin Davis, because I liked the mix of law with practice. He set up the class as a series of case studies on specific transactions, and invited practitioners to come and speak about their experience working in law and development.
2 L h i ghl i ght
2 L S umm e r
Summer in the City I worked as a summer associate in the Project Development & Finance and Bankruptcy groups at Shearman & Sterling in New York. I got the offer through Career Services.
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Journal Editor I was editor-in-chief of the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics. It was a great experience to collaborate with other students, put out a concrete product, and learn about aspects of international law and politics that I wouldn’t have been exposed to in the classroom.
After Law School I returned to Shearman & Sterling to do project development and finance. I’m interested in emerging markets and infrastructure; it brings together my background in investment banking and international studies.
3L year
C A REER
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NYU Law has an amazing faculty. I was really impressed with how approachable they are. They were always willing to take time to talk, not only about topics related to school and law but about career goals, too.
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Four hundred students participate in our 39 clinics each year; that’s almost half the upper-JD student body. NYU Law has one of the largest clinical faculties in the country and keeps the teacher-student ratio very low (1:8) to ensure that the faculty can devote enough time to supervising all aspects of students’ work on cases and other fieldwork projects.
Close-Up
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Clinics
The Constitutional Transitions Clinic visited Tunisia last spring, presented their research at the University of Tunis, and met with President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki.
Leading by Example In windowless offices in Montgomery, Alabama, 200 yards from where slaves were auctioned off 150 years ago, Professor of Clinical Law Bryan Stevenson and students in his Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic work with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a national organization that Stevenson founded and directs, to represent death-row prisoners in post-conviction proceedings and individuals sentenced to life in prison without parole for crimes they committed as adolescents. The state of Alabama, where Stevenson started EJI, has no public defender system. “I’m not just bringing students down here for the sake of training them,” says Stevenson. “We’re meeting a critical legal need.” EJI has obtained relief in the form of new trials, reduced sentences, or exoneration
for more than 100 death-row prisoners. “The clinic,” notes Stevenson, “is the perfect nexus of legal training and education while helping defendants who are literally dying for representation.” Students frequently travel the state interviewing death-row clients and family members, reviewing local court files and state evidence, and gathering information from jurors, trial lawyers, and witnesses. They also help prepare briefs, petitions, and motions, and they even work on litigation designed to reform the legal system. For many, the experience is life-changing. “It’s a privilege to work on these cases and to serve these clients and their families,” says Aaryn Urell ’01, who became so involved in the clinic that she eventually went to work for EJI.
The past two years have been truly momentous for Stevenson, who argued successfully before the Supreme Court in March 2012 that mandatory life-without-parole sentencing schemes for juveniles convicted of homicide are cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional. The Court’s 5–4 combined decision in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, released in June 2012, builds upon earlier Eighth Amendment arguments Stevenson has been making for nearly his entire legal career against capital punishment and what he calls death-in-prison sentences. Stevenson, who has addressed the United Nations on the problem of racial bias in the criminal justice system, has consistently been recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America.
He has won numerous awards, including the Olof Palme Prize for international human rights, the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation’s Justice Prize, a Ford Foundation Visionaries Award, and, most recently, the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in social progress and the Brennan Center’s Brennan Legacy Award.
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Why NYU Law I came to NYU Law because I thought that the public interest community would be a great fit for me. There are a lot of clinics, which help prepare you for the real world, and the faculty are very supportive of public interest students and are happy to take them under their wing. That’s what I think is most positive about NYU: I had— and still have— so many mentors!
P ubl i c Int e r e st
My Story
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Root-Tilden-Kern One of my favorite aspects of the Root-Tilden-Kern Program is the student mentorship program. When I was a 1L, I was assigned a 3L mentor, who was really fabulous for me. We are still friends today. It was so important to me that I cofounded the Public Interest Mentors Program, which provides that same kind of mentorship for all public interest students.
Commun i ty
Student Organizations I was involved with the Women of Color Collective, the Multiracial Law Students Association, and the Coalition for Legal Recruiting, among other student organizations. Later, I was an articles editor of the Law Review.
schola r sh i p
Julia Sheke
Client-Centered As a legal intern with the Foreclosure Prevention Project of South Brooklyn Legal Services, I worked directly with clients facing foreclosure. Amicus Brief As a legal intern with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Criminal Justice Practice, I worked on an amicus brief for the Supreme Court.
S umm e r s
Favorite Course Criminal Procedure with Professor Barry Friedman. He is charismatic and puts a ton of effort into teaching. He cares a lot about why something is true and about the principles underlying a decision, not just about teaching the rules. The class was engaging and dynamic.
A ca d e m i cs
C l i n i cs
Hands-On Learning I took the Immigrant Defense Clinic and the Juvenile Defender Clinic. I had my own cases and even got to go to trial. It was nice to be able to help people— to start to do the work you came to law school to do.
toff 10
After Law School I always knew I wanted to do a clerkship. The Clerkship Office was great. I ended up with two clerkships, for former Chief Judge David B. Sentelle of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and then for Judge John Gleeson of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. When my second clerkship ended, I took a job at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, a small public interest firm in New York with a lot of NYU Law alums.
C l e r ksh i p
Next Stop, Supreme Court Clerk Professor Rachel Barkow, who had been a Supreme Court clerk herself, suggested that I apply to be one, too. I did, and I was offered a clerkship with Justice Stephen Breyer. I just started in July.
S CO T U S
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At NYU, professors are invested in students. Professor Rachel Barkow, who is the faculty director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, was a wonderful mentor to me. She was my Criminal Law professor and I was her research assistant. As a fellow at the center, I helped work on an amicus brief for the Supreme Court and got to see the oral argument. It was one of my favorite law school experiences.
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The kind of student that comes here selfselects for the excitement and challenge of living in a big city and the fun of the Village. It’s such a unique experience to go to law school in New York. There is no other city like it, with so much going on at any moment. Law school can feel isolating, but not NYU.
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Ev e lyn M alav é ’1 3 , now clerking for US Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York
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Beyond the Books
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10 81 journals
give students with varied interests a chance to hone their scholarly writing
student groups connect students with shared interests so that they can work together
32 10 centers
encourage the exchange of ideas through conferences and programs 50
colloquia
bring together world-class scholars to analyze their works in progress
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Brown Bags and WhiteCollar Crime
Lunchtime and the law converge at the Milbank Tweed Forum, where students listen to experts debate issues of the day. An intriguing trend—the targeting of hedge funds in insider-trading prosecutions— was the focus of one of the Law School’s Milbank Tweed Forums last fall. The weekly program typically draws more than 100 students to Greenberg Lounge to
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munch on sandwiches and listen to experts discuss legal issues from environmental regulations to international law and corporate tax policy. It inspires lively debates among students and fosters a deeper sense of community at the school.
This particular forum, which also served as a leadoff event for the new Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, directed by panelist Professor Jennifer Arlen ’86 (left), featured New York Times DealBook reporter Peter Lattman; Bonnie Jonas, deputy chief of the Criminal Division and assistant US attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; and John Nathanson, a partner at Shearman & Sterling who has defended numerous clients in insider-trading cases. The panel was moderated by Vice Dean Kevin Davis. When it comes to hedge funds, Davis said, a certain fine line comes into play.
While no one wants a market in which the big players have an unfair advantage with insider information, hedge funds do need to dig up valuable information—legally—in order to invest successfully. Arlen pointed out that, by their very nature, hedge funds operate at the edge of legality by seeking information their competitors lack, creating the danger of breaking the law either by accident or by design. She also explained two different ways in which the threat of corporate criminal liability could be used: to bring the firm to the government’s side in working to prosecute individuals in exchange for greater leniency toward the overall firm, and, conversely, to bring to account the leadership of a firm by prosecuting the entire organization when the evidence does not allow for individual prosecution of those at the top. In the end, the panelists suggested, whatever one’s view of recent insider trading prosecutions, a more robust compliance culture has been a positive result, with innovative use of wiretapping and the collection of digital evidence creating new deterrents for potential insider trading.
Vibrant Intellectual Life Throughout the year, international leaders, prominent thinkers, and accomplished practitioners come to campus. Among the recent visitors: former President Bill Clinton, President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki of Tunisia, and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Signature events at the Law School this fall include the Leadership in Law and Business Series, at which NYU Law Trustee Sara Moss ’74 interviewed PepsiCo’s Larry Thompson; the Global Economic Policy Forum, which featured William Dudley, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and the Center on Law and Security’s Fall Conference, with John Inglis, deputy director of the National Security Agency, and Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
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Last summer, 412 first- and secondyear students used PILC Summer Funding Grants to do public interest work within 24 countries, including the US. Nearly 100 of those students interned with the federal government.
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Amy Wolfe ’15 (second from left) spent her 2L summer working at Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) in Dhaka. “BLAST’s aim is to make the Bangladeshi legal system just and accessible to the poor and marginalized, especially women and children,” she says. “Their approach is
comprehensive, in that it involves direct legal aid services, including mediation services, coupled with reform initiatives both inside and outside the legal system. The BLAST staff is positively delightful, and they are part of one of the most respected NGOs in Bangladesh. Working there opened many doors.”
A New Assistant Dean for Public Service Six questions for Deirdre von Dornum
Q. Dean Morrison has called you “a brilliant lawyer and inspiring leader.” When did you know public service law was for you? After graduating from law school, I clerked for three federal judges. During my clerkships, I saw every day how desperate the need was for engaged, smart advocates for people that society doesn’t care much about— such as poor people, immi-
grants, the elderly, and those accused of serious crimes. I decided to commit myself to public service. Q. What was your first job after clerking? I started at a law firm where I could get great training while also doing a substantial amount of pro bono work. I even worked on a death penalty appeal in a case that ended the death penalty in New York. From there, I joined the Federal Defenders of New York, where, for 11 years, I fought every day for the rights of poor people charged with every possible federal crime. Q. Did you really represent the Somali pirate currently featured in the movie Captain Phillips? Yes, I did. I also represented teenage single mothers from the Bronx who had been recruited to swallow drugs, and an indigenous Mexican man whose following of a traditional marital practice led him to be accused of buying a child bride. Q. What appealed to you about public service at NYU Law? I came to the Law School because of its strong educa-
tional and financial support for public service work across every sector: government, legal services, public policy, etc. I want to help NYU Law students discover what type of career will make them love being lawyers while doing good for others, whether as full-time careers or as pro bono work. The new dean has made clear his unwavering commitment to NYU continuing to be the leading public service law school, and I am proud to join him in this mission. Q. How do you see public service at NYU Law evolving in the coming years? The first major development I see is enhanced programming for students interested in public policy work, through the newly announced Furman Public Policy Scholarships. Q. What advice do you have for students considering a career in public service? Think about what issues make you mad or frustrate you; follow your passions; and know that there are many ways to serve, and your way can change over the course of your career. 55
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Clerking makes you a much better lawyer and can influence your career in ways you never imagined. I did two clerkships, one on the district court and one on the court of appeals. They were great complements to one another and gave me the insight that will allow me to practice the full gamut of litigation in the future.
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J onathan B a r b e e ’11 , now an associate at WilmerHale specializing in intellectual property litigation
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Getting the Career You Want
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The NYU Law degree opens up a world of professional possibilities. No matter what your career goal, you’ll find the support and direction you need. Learn about both traditional and nontraditional career paths. In 2012-13, 59 firms hosted receptions and informal luncheons for 1Ls. Throughout the year, students meet alumni from corporations, finance, consulting, and industry at panels, Dean’s Roundtable events, luncheons, and visits to their offices. At the Career Educational Fair, held annually, students meet lawyers from two dozen legal specialties. Our Public Interest Legal Career Fair is the nation’s largest event of its kind, attended by 200 employers and more than 2,000 students from 21 law schools. Early Interview Week (EIW) is NYU Law’s largest private-sector recruiting event. Held every August, this year EIW featured 372 legal employers—primarily law firms, with some representation from other private-sector employers and government organizations. The On-Campus Interview Program is conducted every fall. Approximately one-third 58
of the employers who participate are public interest and government organizations. Last year, 83 percent of the students who participated in these interviews obtained private-sector summer positions. The Public Interest Law Center’s Summer Funding Program, the most ambitious such program in the nation, guarantees funding for all first- and second-year students who want to work in public interest and government positions. Graduates have gone on to work at the American Civil Liberties Union, the Environmental Defense Fund, Human Rights Watch, and the US Department of Justice, to name just a few. Individual attention is the cornerstone of our career services strategy. Last year alone, the eight-member counseling staff of the Office of Career Services arranged 2,580 counseling appointments and held drop-in sessions. PILC has six counselors— skilled public interest attorneys dedicated to helping students achieve their career goals.
From the Office of Career Services to the Public Interest Law Center to the Judicial Clerkship Office to the Academic Careers Program, the Law School has the most extensive advising and recruiting program in the country. During 2013, 600 private law firms, public interest organizations, government agencies, corporations, and public accounting firms visited NYU School of Law to interview students. The interviewers came from 29 states and seven foreign countries; 71 percent were from outside New York. Despite a challenging economy, nine months after graduation the employment rate for the Class of 2012 was 96.9 percent (1.5 percent of the class enrolled in full-time degree programs). Irene Dorzback, associate dean for career services, makes time for early morning walks with students who want to discuss career options outside of office hours. 59
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Thanks to the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, I have been able to provide for my family without sacrifice, just by doing work I can be proud of.... Thank you for your support of public interest law.
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K e v i n B lack ’99, who, since graduation, has worked as a public defender in Seattle; fought against capital punishment at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama; represented the Washington State Mental Health Division as an assistant attorney general; and is now staff counsel for the Human Services & Corrections Committee in the Washington State Senate. 60
From Policymaker to Professor: David Kamin ’09 In early 2012, when President Obama’s economic team was putting together the 2013 federal budget, then–Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Jack Lew, then–director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), were debating how much money would be saved by ending the Iraq war and how it should be accounted for. They turned to the young assistants at the side of the room, zeroing in on David Kamin ’09. Kamin gave the number and an explanation. Everyone took it as fact and moved on. “David Kamin’s deep knowledge of the numbers and intricacies of the budget has helped win him the respect of the entire economic team,” said Geithner at the time. Kamin, who left his position as special assistant to the president for economic policy last year to join the faculty of his alma mater, began his career in Washington in 2002 at the Committee for
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Economic Development, where he worked on projects with Peter Orszag, then at the Brookings Institution. He attended NYU Law in part because he was offered a Furman Academic Scholarship, an opportunity that provided an intellectual community and support system for those preparing to enter academia. Thirteen fellow Furman Scholars have also secured tenure-track professorships at leading academic institutions nationwide. Sitting in class during his final semester in the fall of 2008, Kamin received a phone call. It was Orszag, newly appointed director of the OMB, asking him to serve as his special assistant. “Some people dream to be an astronaut,” says Kamin, whose scholarship is an outgrowth of his real-world work. “I dreamed to be a public policy wonk, and I got to live that out.”
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Lauren Burke ’09 was one of three alumni named to Forbes’ 2012 list of the “30 Under 30: Law and Policy.”
The US Senate confirmed Raymond Chen ’94 to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Hakeem Jeffries ’97, who was elected in 2012 as the US representative for New York’s Eighth Congressional District, spoke at the Law School’s annual Alumni Luncheon.
Rajeev Goyal ’06 and Winston Ma MCJ ’98 were included in Asia Society’s Class of 2013-14 Asia 21 Young Leaders, a prestigious group of the region’s emerging leaders under 40.
Sherrilyn Ifill ’87, who was recently named president and directorcounsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, spoke at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Kent Hirozawa ’82 was confirmed to the National Labor Relations Board.
Steven Hawkins ’88 was named executive director of Amnesty International USA. 62
Jonathan Mechanic ’77, a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, was named No. 1 on the list of Top 100 Super Lawyers in New York.
Vijaya Gadde ’00 was selected as the new general counsel of Twitter.
Jenny Rivera ’85 was confirmed to the New York State Court of Appeals.
Alumni in the News
Kenji Yoshino was elected to Harvard Whether it’s Vijaya Gadde ’00 becoming the new general counsel of Twitter, Anthony Foxx ’96 University’s Board of being confirmed as the secretary of transportation, or Jenny Rivera ’85 being confirmed Overseers.to
the New York State Court of Appeals, NYU Law alumni are frequently in the spotlight.
Vilas Dhar ’07, who founded Dhar Law, a socially conscious law firm in Boston, was the subject of a profile in Forbes.
James Silkenat LLM ’78 is the new president of the American Bar Association.
Jessica Rich ’87 was named director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Anthony Foxx ’96, former mayor of Charlotte, NC, was confirmed as US secretary of transportation. 63
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Office of JD Admissions 139 MacDougal Street, Suite C-20 New York, NY 10012-1076 Telephone: (212) 998-6746 Fax: (212) 995-4527 nyulaw-admits@nyu.edu
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