Albany Law welcomes new Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

Albany Law School announced the addition of Susan Feathers as the assistant dean for student affairs.  In her new position,  Feathers will provide oversight of student affairs activities, including student development, pro bono program and programming issues, she will address all student access and accommodations issues, and work closely with the Student Bar Association (SBA) and member organizations.

Before joining Albany Law, Dean Susan Feathers was the executive director of the Levin Center for Public Service & Public Interest Law at Stanford University Law School, and she has significant experience in management, career counseling and clinical and public interest law.  She earned her Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law, and her bachelor and master’s degrees in sociology from The University of Pennsylvania.   Susan has taught and practiced yoga for 22 years and authored the book, YOGA IN AN ADIRONDACK CHAIR, Boston Mills Press, 2000.

A public interest lawyer and educator with 22 years of experience including Dean Feathers has:

*12 years of leadership experience as the Founding Executive Director of the Stanford Law School Levin Center for Public Interest Law and the Assistant Dean for Public Interest at Penn Law.

*5 years of public interest career counseling experience including serving as the Director of Public Service at both Brooklyn and Yale Law Schools.

*10 years of criminal appellate practice experience including nearly five years at the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Appeals Bureau in Manhattan.

*3 years of teaching experience including work as a Clinical Staff Attorney for Hofstra Law School’s Clinical Programs including the Criminal Defense and Constitutional Litigation Clinics.

Meet Assistant Dean Susan Feathers

Pershia Wilkins, Director of Diversity welcomes Susan Feathers

Albany Law welcomes Summer 2009 NY LEO Fellows to campus

On Wednesday, June 17th, the Diversity Office at Albany Law School will host the Summer 2009 NY Legal Education Opportunity (LEO) Fellows.  Fellows will enjoy a visit and guided tour of the NYS Court of Appeals prior to joining us for a student/alumni luncheon in their honor.        

Recently retired Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye has established the New York Legal Opportunity Program (NY LEO) to help ensure a diverse legal community by promoting academic success for individuals historically under-represented in the legal profession. The program assists minority, low-income and educationally disadvantaged college graduates in acquiring the fundamental and practical skills necessary to succeed in law school.  The program is available to qualified candidates who will attend law school in New York State this Fall.  This is an intensive six-week summer program (beginning June 8 – ending July 17) offered by the New York State Judicial Institute.   The Honorable Robert G.M. Keating, the Dean of the  NYS Judicial Institute, administers the program. Students are required to live on campus and participate in the program full-time. Experienced law professors will provide instruction in first-year law school core courses as well as in legal research, writing and analysis. As part of the program, students will have the opportunity to visit courts in session and meet with members of the judiciary and other legal professionals.

Albany Law School is committed to an educational environment that values, respects and reflects a global view of diversity.   Albany Law School support programs such as the New York Legal Education Opportunity Program and has been a member school in the national Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) summer program for the past decade.  These programs ensure that the legal community reflects the client-base and communities it serves. 

If you would like to join us for lunch from Noon-1pm in the Boardroom (in Building 2000) on Wednesday, June 17th or have questions regarding these students, contact Pershia Wilkins, Director of Diversity, at diversity@albanylaw.edu or (518)445-3284.   

Learn more about the fellows visit, Click Here  for agenda & see below photo gallery:

2008 NY LEO Fellows and Albany Law students

Associate Dean Connie Mayer welcomes the 2009 Fellows to Albany Law School

A Luncheon discussion facilitated by Albany Law Alumna Glinnesa Gailliard, Esq. ‘07

Albany Law welcomes fellows to campus

Class of 2009 (NY LEO Fellows) at Albany Law School

Director of Diversity, Pershia Wilkins and Program Coordinator Ms. Joy Beane, joins the 2009 NY LEO Fellows

Albany Law School Reduces Tuition for Veterans

Albany Law School recently announced that it will offset $10,000 in tuition for up to 10 qualifying post-9/11 veterans during the 2009-2010 school year through participation in the federal Yellow Ribbon Program.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill covers tuition up to the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition.  By volunteering to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program, Albany Law School, a private institution, will directly contribute $5,000 per student toward the tuition difference. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will then provide an additional $5,000 in matching funds for each student.

The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, passed last year by the federal government to enhance the educational support available for veterans. The program begins on August 1, 2009, and is available for veterans who have served for at least three years since September 11, 2001, or who served for at least 30 days and were disabled during duty.  For  more information on other Veteran Services, Click HERE.

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

Michael Joseph Jackson, an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman passed away today, June 25 in Los Angeles, CA.  Click HERE for a www.cnn.com tribute to Michael Jackson.   Michael was the seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. Referred to as the “King of Pop” in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums are among the world’s best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and Thriller—credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool—helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as “Black or White” and “Scream” made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV in the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced many hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists. 

Supreme Court rules on teen’s school strip search, with help from Albany Law Students

A former middle-school student who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain medication won a partial victory of her Supreme Court appeal Thursday in a case testing the discretion of officials to ensure classroom safety. Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected that she was carrying banned drugs. No medication was found, and she later sued. The justices concluded that the search was unreasonable but that individual school administrators could not be sued. The larger issue of whether a campus setting traditionally gives schools greater authority over students suspected of illegal activity than police are allowed was not addressed fully by the divided court. 

Albany Law appoints four new members to its Board of Trustees

Albany Law School today announced the appointment of James Benedict and Gail Norris as Term Trustees, Ryan Donovan as an Alumni Trustee, and Vonzell Jones as a Recent Graduate Trustee, all effective July 1, 2009.

James Benedict ’74 is the Chairman of the Litigation Department of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP and head of its Securities Litigation Practice Group. He is based in the 650-person firm’s New York City office.

Gail Norris ’83 is the Director for the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Rochester, where she develops strategies for the licensing and commercialization of intellectual property, fosters corporate collaborations and assists in the establishment of start-up companies based on technology pioneered at the institution.

Ryan Donovan ’01 is a founding partner in the Albany-based firm of Harris, Conway & Donovan, PLLC, where he focuses his practice on personal injury and commercial litigation. He is also the Town Justice for the Town of Bethlehem.

Vonzell Jones ’09, who graduated from Albany Law School this past May, will be assuming the position of Associate Director of the New York State Science & Technology Law Center located in the College of Law at Syracuse University in August.

For a complete list of Albany Law’s Board of Trustees, Click HERE.

ALBANY LAW SCHOOL is a small, independent private school in the heart of New York State’s capital since 1851. As the oldest law school in New York and the oldest independent law school in the nation, the institution offers students an innovative, rigorous curriculum taught by a committed faculty. Several nationally recognized programs—including the Government Law Center and the Albany Law Clinic & Justice Center—provide opportunities for students to apply classroom learning. Students have access to New York’s highest court, federal courts and the state legislature, as well as a thriving tech-based economy. With 9,000-plus alumni practicing in every state in the country, and several continents, the employment rate for graduates has been well above the national average for law schools for the past 26 years.

Albany Law student is appointed to the NYS Young Leader Congress

Jeremy Cooney, who is a 27-year-old, third-year student at Albany Law School- grew up in Rochester, NY was appointed in January 2009 to the Young Leaders Congress, which has 17 members.  He concedes that reviving the state’s economy is beyond the group’s scope, but adds that it can push for programs that will make upstate a better place for the young to live. “The best we can do is push issues forward,” he said. “Then it’s out of our hands. It’s up to state government.”

State economic development officials are moving to reinvigorate the effort at combating upstate brain drain launched by former first lady Silda Wall Spitzer.   The Economic State Development Corporation says it will partner with Young Leaders Congress, a group first assembled by Spitzer as part of her “I Live New York” initiative.

Now, ESDC says it will help bring some of the group’s ideas to fruition, such as the launch of a Web site with upstate job listings; a program that will help start young professional groups; and a grant program for efforts deemed likely to combat brain drain. The agency, however, was vague on precisely how it will provide help: “ESD’s role is to manage and facilitate the programmatic aspect on behalf of the governor and the state,” said spokesperson Katie Krawczyk in an e-mailed statement.

Still, members of the Young Leaders Congress said they are relieved by the show of support, especially after a long delay that made them wonder whether state backing for efforts to combat the drain of upstate’s best and brightest would continue. They also said that putting anti-brain drain efforts in ESDC hands makes sense, because economic issues are a leading reason the young leave New York and because the agency might be able to stick with programs over time.

Sociologists and economists debate why many young people leave places like upstate New York, and have questioned whether the outflow from New York is higher than in other parts of the country. The economist Richard Florida, now a professor at the University of Toronto, notes in his research that the young have always been drawn to big cities, and says today’s youth place particular emphasis on living in creative, diverse and interesting cities.

But few doubt that the sagging economy in much of upstate New York causes many younger residents to leave. “It’s coming down to jobs, and it’s coming down to educational opportunities, and it’s coming down to debt payments,” said Jeremy Cooney,  he continued to say: “They’ve got $100,000 in debt, and they say, ‘I have to take that job in Philadelphia because I can’t wait 30 years to pay this off.’”  Source: Times Union

Law student commentary on Obama’s Policies; & New Federal Govt. Publication on Muslim Americans

On Saturday, May 30th, Albany Law School student Ali Chaudhry was invited for a media interview concerning President Obama’s policy on Pakistan/Afghanistan, and the current situation in Pakistan.  It was conducted by Mr. Vikram Chandra, the CEO of New Delhi TV (NDTV), India’s largest news network. The show is called “The Big Fight” which enjoys a viewership of 35 million. Other co-panelists include Dr. Stephen Cohen from the Brookings Institute, Former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Hon. Nicholas Platt, Former Ambassador to India Hon. Frank Wisner, Prof. Arvind Panagariya from Columbia University, and Mr. Shuja Nawaz from the The Atlantic Council of the U.S.  The main themes of the interview were whether or not the United States has a new policy dealing with Pakistan and whether the U.S. is too soft on Pakistan.  To hear interview Click Here.

Also, the U.S. State Department has released a new publication, Being Muslim in America, aimed at rebutting worldwide slanders about U.S. “persecution” of Muslims.  The purpose of publishing “Being Muslim in America” is “to disabuse people of wildly false myths of the United States — that ‘Muslims are repressed, marginalized, fill in the blanks,’ ” according to Michael Friedman, division chief of print publications with the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs, which is overseeing distribution of the publication. For complete 36-page brochure, Click Here  NOTE: See page 6, Class of 2009 alum, Umair Khan is photographed).  

However, this publication has been met with criticism. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix, Arizona doctor who heads the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, likened the booklet’s depiction of Muslim life in the United States to Cold War-era propaganda falsely portraying Communist dictatorships as “worker’s paradises” in which everyone was working toward a common goal and factionalism didn’t exist. American Muslims are divided between Islamists seeking to establish a caliphate and non-Islamists who want to live under the American Constitution on equal terms with non-Muslims, Jasser said. And similar divisions exist in the Middle East between non-Islamists and Islamists.  For commentary on the publication of this brochure, Click Here.

Albany Law School’s First Women Professors to Retire

The School’s first two female professors are retiring this year: Professor Sandra Stevenson, who graduated from Albany Law in 1971 and joined the faculty in 1974; and Professor Katheryn Katz, who was hired in 1975, and the first professor to hold the Kate Stoneman Chair in Law and Democracy.

Click HERE to view the bios of our current professors. 

Four years after joining the faculty as the lone woman, Stevenson served as the first director of Albany Law’s new Government Law Center, the first of its kind in the nation. She is also largely credited for

President Obama nominates New York State Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court

Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor knew she wanted to go into law from an early age.  As a child, she aspired to be like Nancy Drew, the detective in the popular children’s mystery series. But at the age of 8, she was diagnosed with diabetes and told she would not be able to pursue that line of work.   Sotomayor said it was another fictional character that inspired her next choice. “I noticed that [defense attorney] Perry Mason was involved in a lot of the same kinds of investigative work that I had been fascinated with reading Nancy Drew, so I decided to become a lawyer,” Sotomayor told the American Bar Association publication in 2000.  “Once I focused on becoming a lawyer, I never deviated from that goal.”

Sotomayor’s parents came to New York from Puerto Rico during World War II. Her father who had a 3rd Grade education worked in a factory and didn’t speak English.  She was born in the Bronx and grew up in a public housing project, not too far from the stadium of her favorite team — the New York Yankees. Her father died when she was 9, leaving her mother to raise her and her younger brother on her own. Her mother, whom Sotomayor describes as her biggest inspiration, worked six days a week to care for her and her younger brother, and instilled in them the value of an education. Sotomayor later graduated