The 2013 Annual Meeting was held on February 21, 2013 and was a chance to celebrate a number of alumni who have one above and beyond in supporting Cardozo and to hear several of Cardozo's professors discuss major cases before the Supreme Court this term.
Each year, the Alumni Association presents two awards. The Young Leadership Award is given to someone who has graduated within the last ten years and who has shown continuous support to Cardozo in an effort to make Cardozo a better school. The Volunteer Service Award recognizes alumni, faculty, staff and/or friends of Cardozo whose dedication and volunteer commitment has significantly enhanced the goals and mission of the law school and alumni association.
This year’s Young Leadership Award was presented to Douglas Schneider ’05. Since graduating, Doug has consistently given back to Cardozo by serving on the Junior Advisory Board and the Executive Committee. Doug also spearheaded the Small Firm Networking Event which was a tremendous success and will become an annual event. He has truly demonstrated continuous support of Cardozo and we look forward to his continuing to do so in the future.
The Volunteer Service Award had a three-way tie this year among Executive Committee voters and we could not be more proud to bestow the award on such well-deserving people, Harris Sufian ’79, Muriel Kaplan ’80 and Stephen Cooper, Parents Council and Board of Overseers. As a member of the first graduating class, Harris Sufian has consistently supported Cardozo by serving on the Executive Committee both as a member and as an officer and for the last two years he has co-chaired the Dinner Committee.
Muriel Kaplan ’80 is also an officer of the Executive Committee and co-chair of Cardozo by the Bay, our regional club in San Francisco. This year, Muriel had the innovative idea of asking the Regional Clubs to gather for dinner in November so we could all celebrate our Alumni Annual Dinner together. (Of course, Hurricane Sandy messed up our timing a bit, but many regional clubs did get together anyway.) We hope to make the regional dinners part of our regular calendar in the future.
Stephen Cooper is the founding chair and currently co-chair of the Parents Council, a proud parent of alumna Samantha Brand ‘08 and a member of the Board of Overseers where he chairs the Development Committee and is the past chair of the Nominating Committee.
Muriel, Harris and Stephen have all significantly enhanced the goals and mission of Cardozo and the Alumni Association.
A lively panel discussion entitled The Future Landscape of Civil Liberties: Voting Rights, Marriage Equality and Gene Patenting followed the awards presentation. The panelists were four of our faculty members who have all been Supreme Court clerks: Kate Shaw, Alexander Reinert, Richard Bierschbach and Deborah Pearlstein. Dean Matthew Diller will moderated the panel.