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Innocence Project Named Program of the Year
(From left) Prof. Peter Neufeld, Elizabeth Fritz, her father Dennis Fritz, and Prof. Barry Scheck.
Yeshiva University bestowed the honor of Academic Program of the Year on
Cardozo's Innocence Project at the 75th Annual Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation
on December 12. In conferring the award, YU President Norman Lamm said,
"The Innocence Project was chosen for its pioneering work in setting legal
standards for forensic applications of DNA technology and its pro bono
representation of more than 300 prisoners each year who believe their innocence
can be proved through post-conviction DNA testing." To date, 36 clients
have been exonerated through the work of the Innocence Project. President
Lamm added, "This public interest law clinic also is commendable for the
real work opportunities it provides for law students and the collaboration
with faculty it fosters."
Innocence Project founders Professors Barry Scheck,
director of clinical education, and Peter Neufeld were in attendance to
receive the honor, which recognizes their outstanding work and dedication.
Also present at the ceremony was Dennis Fritz, an Innocence Project client
and a former junior high school science teacher who was wrongfully convicted
of rape and murder and spent 12 years behind bars. The clinic helped overturn
his conviction last April with DNA testing results.
Each week, hundreds of prisoners and their family
members contact the Innocence Project, which was founded in 1992, for help;
at present, it is the only program of its kind in the United States, although,
with the help of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL),
the Innocence Project and Cardozo are leading the effort to establish similar
programs at law schools across the country.
In addition, the Innocence Project, in concert with
NACDL, is currently working on legislation in states across the country
to allow easier access to
post-conviction DNA testing of evidence when it is probative. To date,
only New York and Illinois have such statutes. Legislation regarding compensation
of wrongly incarcerated citizens is also being drafted and pursued.
Dean Verkuil said, "I am pleased the University
has chosen to recognize this exceptional clinic, imbued as it is with a
powerful and important mission - to free innocent people."
Squadron Honored at Dinner
Howard M. Squadron (seated, second from left), senior
partner of the law firm of Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent & Sheinfeld,
was honored at a dinner that benefited Cardozo's Program in Law, Media
and Society, named for the renowned entertainment lawyer. Mr. Squadron
is former president, American Jewish Congress; chairman emeritus, City
Center; and founding president, International Center of Photography. Nearly
300 guests from the arts, entertainment, media, and legal worlds - all
friends, family, and former clients of Mr. Squadron - attended the
dinner at the Plaza Hotel. Rupert Murdoch, CEO News America (seated at
left); Stanley Pleasent, Squadron's law partner (standing second from left);
and New York Mets president and CEO Fred Wilpon were dinner chairmen. Broadcast
journalist Barbara Walters (standing) was the dinner moderator. Prof. Monroe
Price (standing at left), who was dean of Cardozo when the Squadron Program
was established, is director of the program. Also shown are Earle I. Mack,
chairman, Cardozo Board of Directors (standing at right); Dr. Norman Lamm,
president, Yeshiva University (seated next to Mr. Squadron), and Dean Paul
R. Verkuil (seated at right).
<
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b>Fitzgerald Gives Tenzer Lecture
Dean Brian Fitzgerald
Like a new language, computer software increasingly
is shaping the way we view ourselves and the world, declared Australian
law school dean Brian Fitzgerald, adding that the ability of software to
construct meaning and identity - its status as "discourse" - poses
challenging questions for lawyers and other policymakers in the field of
intellectual property. "As we speed toward the digital millennium, it is
ever more pressing for us (especially as lawyers) to fathom the genetic
structure/code (natural and manufactured) of life," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald, professor and dean of the School of
Law and Justice at Southern Cross University in New South Wales, delivered
the annual Tenzer Distinguished Lecture in Intellectual Property on "Software
as Discourse: The Power of Intellectual Property in Digital Architecture."
David G. Post, an associate professor of law at the Temple University School
of Law and self-described "cyberanarchist," made a brief comment.
Fitzgerald said he did not oppose giving software
developers property rights to their inventions, conceding that it was necessary
to encourage their work. However, he approvingly cited Bernstein v. USDOJ,
176 F. 3d 1132 (9th Cir. 1999), holding that source code of an encryption
software was "expressive" in nature and that the First Amendment prohibited
the government from barring its export. Recognition of software as a medium
of communication "gives us a value to hold in the balance," he observed.
Post indicated that software is a language and that
language has evolved "undirected and uncontrolled" and has the power to
construct social reality. Therefore, he cautioned against government attempts
to control the development of the new software discourse.
Negotiation Competition Team Wins Competition
The team of Margaret Sweeney and Roger Leviton (at
left) won the 12th annual Cardozo/ABA IntraSchool Negotiation Competition,
held at Cardozo this October. The Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution
sponsors the event, in which 48 students competed. Ms. Sweeny and Mr. Leviton
went on to represent Cardozo at the ABA Regional Negotiation Competition
in Boston, where they advanced to the final round. They were the top-scoring
team from the New York/New Jersey region. Lois Martello Penn '92 (at the
head of the table), an alumna of the Mediation Clinic, was a judge.
LL.M. Enrollment Doubles
Students from Asia, eastern and western Europe,
South and North America, and the Middle East - a total of 35 - enrolled
in Cardozo's year-old LL.M. program. The number, divided equally between
those in the General and IP programs, is double the number of students
who participated in the inaugural year. Dean Verkuil noted, "I would like
to see the number of students in these programs double again. They bring
cultural and intellectual diversity to the Cardozo community that both
LL.M. and J.D. students benefit from." Students study full and part-time
for the LL.M. degree, with several joining the program in January.
Constitutionality of Copyright Legislation
Debated
The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998,
which added 20 years to the terms of copyrights, was debated by four legal
scholars at "The Constitutionality of Copyright Term Extension: How Long
is Too Long?" They covered topics ra
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nging from Lockean principles of property
rights and the history of US copyright law to what lies behind the creative
process. Organized and moderated by Prof. William Patry (at right), the
panel featured Professors Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School, who is one
of the lawyers involved in a constitutional challenge to the act; Arthur
Miller (far left), also of Harvard, who filed an amicus brief supporting
the legislation; Jane Ginsburg (at center), Columbia Law School; and Wendy
Gordon, Boston University School of Law.
Justice Englard of Israel Gives Bauer Lecture
Gaming is the Focus of Conference
(From left) James Hurley, Cardozo Board Director Arthur Goldberg, and Cardozo Adjunct Professor David Boies.
Leading academics and national leaders in the areas
of American Indian reservation gaming, casino resort gaming, state-sponsored
lotteries, Internet gaming, and sports betting discussed and provided analyses
of new and pending federal and state gaming laws at a two-day conference,
"Betting on the Future: Taking Gaming and the Law Into the 21st Century."
Panels and conversations also took place around the issues of international
gaming laws and the Gambling Impact Study Commission Report.
According to Cardozo Dean Paul R. Verkuil, "The
law of gaming is emerging as a unique legal subject that cuts across many
disciplines and many areas of the law. Problems of federalism, state and
tribal authority, the morality of governmental participation in games of
chance, structuring financial arrangements, tax liability, regulation of
the Internet, and a host of others come together in a fascinating combination."
Speakers included David Boies, Boies & Schiller;
G. Michael Brown, Brown, Michael & Carroll, P.C.; Frank J. Fahrenkopf,
Jr., president and CEO, American Gaming Association; Arthur M. Goldberg,
president and CEO, Park Place Entertainment; Ray Halbritter, CEO, Turning
Stone Casino Resort; Hubert H. Humphrey III, former attorney general of
Minnesota and James R. Hurley, chairman, NJ Casino Control Commission.
New Dean Leads Center for Professional Development
Paulsen Moot Court Competition Competitors
Students participating in the intramural Monrad
G. Paulsen Moot Court Competition this year argued the timely issue of
the use of excessive force by law enforcement officials and the issue of
qualified immunity. Presiding judges for the final round were
Prof. Michael Ross; (from left) Honorable Samuel A. Akito, Jr., United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, and Dean Paul Verkuil. Aglaia Davis '01 won
Best Oralist and Rob James '01 won Best Brief. The runner-up in both categories
was Gordon Novod '01.
Freeman '00 Spends Semester at University of
Havana School of Law
James Freeman, class of '00, spent the fall semester
at the University of Havana School of Law, making him the first American
law student to study in Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. US
citizens have previously been admitted to study at the University of Havana
in the areas of mathematics and philosophy but not at the law school, which
is considered the most political area of study offered at the University.
To gain admittance to the University, obtain the
travel license, and guarantee that the formal course of study in Cuba would
be accepted for credit, Mr. Freeman sought and received approvals from
the US Department of Treasury, the American Bar Association, the New York
State Board of Law Examiners, the Appellate Division's Committee on Character
and Fitness, and Cardozo's administration, among others. According to Dean
Paul R. Verkuil, "With increased globalization of the legal field, we felt
that it was important to make every effort to insure that Mr. Freeman would
be able to pursue this unique and exciting opportunity."
Mr. Freeman began his studies in early September
and enrolled in the courses of his choice, selecting intellectual property,
private international law, property, and jurisprudence/theory of Cuban
Law. At Cardozo, Mr. Freeman has focused on the area of intellectual property
law.
According to Mr. Freeman, "While the administration
at the University of Havana has expressed concerns about any political
discourse that I might engage in during classroom hours, overall, the dean
and the faculty appear to be enthusiastic about my matriculation. The dean
has also indicated that he wishes to make my experience here positive and
rewarding, in the hope that othe
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r American students will gain interest
in studying at the law school."
This past summer, Mr. Freeman was an associate at
the New York law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP, and has accepted an offer
to return upon his graduation from Cardozo in June 2000. While there, he
worked with litigator Charles S. Sims, who represents the Cuban government
and its French partner, Pernod Ricard, in a long-standing dispute with
Bacardi Rum Company over the trade name or trademark "Havana Club" rum.
Constitutional Scholar Visits Cardozo
Class of 2002 Begins Legal Studies
Dean Verkuil with members of Class of 2002
As in years past, the Student Bar Association hosted
a boat trip around Manhattan for the entering class. With an almost equal
number of men and women, the Class of 2002 has 267 students, which despite
national trends is up from last year. Other indicators are up as well;
the median LSAT of the fall entrants improved one point to 158, and the
median GPA is the highest in the Law School's history, at 3.36. Minority
enrollment is up, with 22 percent of the class identifying as students
of color. Another 26 students enrolled in the LL.M. Program. Students come
from 24 states; 120 are living in the Cardozo Residence Hall.
Heyman Lecture Series Features Milken, De Sole,
Krueger, & Weiss
Israel's development as an "independent economic entity.
A brutal American-style takeover battle for a legendary European
purveyor of luxury goods.
The promise of new technology and the threat of revolution when
most people "do not share the American dream.
The role of private litigation in keeping business honest.
Those were a few of the issues covered in The Samuel
and Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance fall lecture series, which
featured Harvey M. Krueger, vice chairman of Lehman Brothers, "40 Years
of Investment Banking: A Lawyer's Perspective"; Domenico De Sole, chairman
and chief executive of Gucci, "Gucci's Strategy in Resisting Louis Vuitton's
Hostile Takeover Bid"; philanthropist and entrepreneur Michael Milken,
"The Promise of the 21st Century"; and Melvyn L. Weiss, senior partner,
Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, "Should the Courts Play a
Major Role in Fighting Fraud?"
Prof. Lawrence A. Cunningham, director of The Heyman Center, says that
one theme that has emerged from this year's and last year's lectures "is
the globalization of the marketplace, both corporate and intellectual,
and a resulting explosion of new opportunities for lawyers and business
leaders to help pioneer new markets, new products, and new ways of thinking."
Harvey M. Krueger, vice chairman of Lehman Brothers
"There is no longer any geography to ownership,"
said Krueger, who discussed his own experience in attracting foreign investment
to Israel. Krueger, who first came to Israel in 1961, nurtured his company's
relationship with the Jewish state into what he called "an unparalleled
franchise for Lehman Brothers," which has managed almost $3 billion of
Israeli equity offerings. For years, no banker "could make a living in
Israel," Krueger said. However, as the result of reforms begun in the mid-1980s,
Israel has become a "modern state É its equity offerings are received
on the market like those of any other country."
If American bankers played a large role in the economic growth of Israel,
American lawyers and American tactics helped Gucci, a Dutch company with
most of its operations in Italy, fend off a hostile takeover by LVMH, a
larger rival.
Domenico De Sole, chairman and chief executive of Gucci
De Sole said the American lawyers Gucci recruited
did a "superb" job helping the company to craft imaginative defensive strategies.
The takeover contest was "really brutal," De Sole said. "We lived
like we were in an Army barracks. It was the first time such a nasty battle
had occurred in Europe." But Europe is becoming more like America, and
more such battles can be expected. "In every situation, American
lawyers are very prominent," De Sole said.
Milken met with Heyman Scholars prior to his speech. Prof. Larry Cunningham, director of The Heyman Center, is at center of photograph.
Milken offered a survey of the world economy that touched on topics
ranging from capital access to the promise of technology and medical research.
He noted that the American economy has produced 53 million new jobs since
1970, when the population was 200 million; Europe, by contrast, has produced
only 12 million new jobs starting from a year in which its population was
400 million. What makes America different, Milken said, was that entrepreneurs
have "the chance to fail."
The development of new forms of capital in the 1970s
and 1980s gave the entrepreneurs that chance, Milken argued. "You no longer
were dependent on banks for financing," said Milken, who became a celebrity
at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert during the 1980s by promoting what some market
observers derided as "junk bonds." He served two years of a 10-year prison
sentence for securities law violations. Today, he runs an economic think
tank called the Milken Institute and a nonprofit association that fights
cancer of the prostate, with which he was diagnosed after leaving prison.
Milken has been banned from securities trading, but his Knowledge Universe
has been busy acquiring education-related companies.
Milken told his Cardozo audience that "we live in
a world that's a human and social resource world." Brains are more important
than steel. He is optimistic about the potential of technology and medical
research but worried because he says that 70 percent of the population
is making less money than 25 years ago. "We don't know what's going to
happen in the next 20 years when the majority doesn't share in the American
dream," he said.
Melvyn L. Weiss, senio
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r partner, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP
Weiss participated in some of the litigation spawned
by Milken's activities. He said that fraud - a global "growth industry" - is
the greatest threat to the American economy. Pointing to the current experience
in Russia, he reminded his audience that fraud "can threaten the very idea
of the nation." He scoffed
at the notion - "PR from corporate America" - that there
has been a "litigation explosion."
"Fraud is proliferating because we don't have enough
litigation," Weiss said. Class action suits filed in federal courts helped
reform the insurance and accounting industries, Weiss said. "Only the persistence
of private litigators forced out the information" that discredited the
tobacco industry. In fact, "class actions provide a private means to pursue
private goods." Public regulators don't have the resources to do the job.
Class action lawsuits drive away "bad apples" and deter future wrongdoing.
They help provide the confidence in the marketplace necessary for investment.
Litigation actually is "good for business," Weiss
insisted.
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