Albany Law’s Faculty Achievements

Congratulations to:

President & Dean Penelope Andrews discussed Nelson Mandela’s legacy for several media outlets, including WAMC, NPR Boston, NPR Syracuse, the PBS NewsHour, Channels 6, 9 and 13, as well as the Times Union.  Her book, From Cape Town to Kabul was reviewed by CUNY Law Professor Ruthann Robson on JOTWELL, an online journal for legal academics to identify, celebrate and discuss the best new legal scholarship.  Also, on November 29^th Dean Andrews was a panelist at the conference, LEADING IDEAS IN LAW, hosted by the University College Dublin−Sutherland School of Law in Dublin, Ireland.   Her paper was entitled:  Will the Institutional Structure and Culture Of Law Schools Be Able To Meet The Contemporary Challenges In Legal Education? Perspectives From New York’s Capital.

Professor Danshera Cords.  Professor Cords has just returned from Shanghai, where she spent several weeks as part of her year-long appointment as the Foreign Distinguished Professor at the Shanghai University for International Business and Economics.  The appointment is a significant honor, and the folks in Shanghai made sure to take full advantage of her presence.  Over the past month, she taught classes in Tax Law, Legal Writing, and Legal English for both undergraduate and graduate students. Some of the classes were recorded to help teach new faculty how to teach.  She also gave special lectures to the faculty and students on tax policy, mergers and acquisitions, and a comparison of common law and civil law.  She guest lectured in a number of classes.  She also advised the Phillip C. Jessup International Moot Court Team and conducted two workshops for the faculty: placing law review articles in U.S. journals and applications for visiting scholar programs in the US; and a workshop for graduate students on CV writing.  Although her schedule was full, members of the Shanhai faculty ensured that Danshera saw interesting places and sampled some exotic food (ask her about the food!).  Danshera will return to Shanghai at the end of the semester for another visit as Foreign Distinguished Professor.

Anthony Paul Farley, James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence has been appointed to the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools’ Minority Groups Section for a three-year term.  As a member of the Executive Committee, he will play a role in shaping the panels and scholarly projects, and scholarly agendas for the section.  He also gave a talk at the national AALS conference.  He presented, “The 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Examining its Past and Contemporary Effects”  at AALS.  His panel was organized by the AALS Section on Minority Groups, and co-sponsored by the AALS Sections on Civil Rights and Employment Discrimination. Professor Farley was also invited to speak at Osgoode Hall, York University in Toronto, Canada on November 22, 2013.

The month of October was quite busy for Anthony.  He presented his paper, “Epistemology and the Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress,” at the Florida International University College of Law in Miami, Florida, on October, 1 2013.  The following day he traveled to Orlando, Florida to present another paper, “Critical Race Theory Now,” at the Florida A&M University College of Law.  A copy of this essay will appear in the Florida A&M University College of Law’s Law Review this year.  On October 4-6, 2013, he presented his research as part of “The Color of Childhood: A Roundtable Conversation” at the LatCrit 2013 Biennial Conference, “Resistance Rising: Theorizing and Building Cross-Sector Movements” in Chicago.  On October 18, 2013, Anthony joined Walter F. Mondale, former U.S. Vice President, and other experts on Criminal Procedure to speak on the legacy of Gideon v. Wainwright in the University of Minnesota Law School’s Symposium, “Civil Rights & Civil Justice: 50 Years Later: Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory & Practice 2013 Symposium in Honor of Walter F. Mondale.”

Anthony also had a book chapter titled, Sarah Palin – the Last Black President, in Hip Hop and the Law: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, a forthcoming book (anthology) from Carolina Academic Press.  He has two other essays that will be published this year: “Race & the Unreality of Time,” will appear in RACE, LAW, AND THE POSTCOLONIAL (Mark Harris & Denise Ferreira da Silva eds., Routledge: 2014); and  “On Haunting,” will appear in LAW & INEQUALITY.  In addition, Anthony organized an impressive voting rights symposium that will take place at Touro Law Center in NYC in March.  The symposium will feature 40 essayists, and will be published this year in the TOURO JOURNAL OF RACE, GENDER, AND ETHNICITY(forthcoming 2014) and in the BERKELEY JOURNAL OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LAW AND POLICY.  As organizer he has also written the Foreword to “Voting Rights in the Wake of Shelby County v. Holder.”

Professor Mary Lynch  was recently elected co-vice president of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Board of Directors.  Professor Benjie Louis was also elected as an officer of the board.  CLEA advocates for clinical legal education as fundamental to the education of lawyers.  Professor Lynch was also selected to serve on the planning committee of the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Conference.

Professor Donna Young has been named to Lawyers of Color’s 2014 “Fifty Under Fifty List,” a comprehensive catalog of the most influential minority law professors fifty years of age or younger.  The “Fifty Under Fifty” will appear the magazine’s 2014 Diversity Issue on April 7, 2014.  Professor Donna Young was on the planning committee for the annual Northeast People of Color Conference at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, and hosted the awards luncheon in December.  She was also elected by a majority of faculty members to be the President of the Law School’s new Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Professor James Redwood held a reading from his book, Love Beneath the Napalm (2014) at the New York State Writers Institute on February 18^th.  His book is the inaugural winner of the Notre Dame Review Book Prize.  More information is available here.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Intellectual Life, Alicia Ouellette was invited to speak later this spring at Yale Law School at a roundtable titled “Intersections in Reproduction: Perspectives on Abortion, Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Judicial Review.”  Alicia’s paper on disability and reproductive technology will be published with the rest of the symposium pieces in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics.  Alicia have also accepted an invitation to serve as guest blogger for the HealthLawProf Blog for the month of June.

Upon the recommendation of the Presiding Justice of the Third Department,  Professor Michael Hutter, was appointed to the New York CLE Board by Chief Administrative Judge Gail Prudenti.  He has also published two Evidence columns in the New York Law Journal.  One discussing NY’s missing witness rule as applied to expert witnesses and the other discussing the professional reliability basis for expert witness testimony.  Both columns were written in the context of two significant NY Court of Appeals’ decisions on these matters.  Additionally, he was directly involved in the drafting of New York’s new Not-for-Profit statute recently signed into law by Gov. Cuomo through his status as a Commissioner of the NY Law Revision Commission which drafted the statute. Mike has also presented at several conferences/meetings, including NY Evidence Developments and Basics before the Association of City Court judges, NY Judge School conducted by the office of Court Administration, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Supreme Court Law Secretaries of NY County Association; electronic evidence before the Third Department Office of Child Guardians; and NY Torts before the Defense Research Institute of New York.

Professor Ira Bloom submitted his manuscript for the 4^th edition of Federal Taxation of Estates, Trusts and Gifts (LexisNexis).  The course book will be published this spring.

Professor Christine Chung presented a paper at a symposium to be held at Boston University School of Law on February 7^th.  The symposium was titled Distressed Municipal Financing, and features an all-star panel of speakers from top law schools, the government, and private firms. Her paper on pension benefits and derivatives in municipal bankruptcy will be published in The Boston University Review of Banking and Finance Law.

In addition, the Institute for Finance Market Regulation, of which Christine is a co-director, hosted a conference in November in Washington DC.  The conference focused on recent changes in finance, technology, market structure, and regulation that have fundamentally altered financial markets.  The conference was designed to define a research agenda addressing challenges in information sharing and coordination in financial market regulation.

This past semester, Professors Dorothy Hill and Pamela Armstrong created, launched, and oversaw a pilot Peer Writing Assistance Program (PWAP).  The Program brought together faculty, students, and the Career Center to help students better communicate in writing.  The program was staffed by three outstanding upper class Peer Writing Assistants.  Professors Hill and Armstrong trained these Peer Writing Assistants to work with other students to strengthen student writing, self-editing, and revising skills in one-on-one conferences and in small group sessions.  The Writing Assistants were trained to focus on helping students to better assess their own writing for how well it conveys the analysis, information, and argument intended.  Writing Assistants were also prepared to give feedback on common grammar problems and citation issues.  Finally, the Career Center trained the Peer Writing Assistants on how to guide students with cover letters and writing samples.

Professor Vincent Bonventre published an article on the best of the Court of Appeals in the Oct. 30, 2013 Special 125 Anniversary Issue of the NYLJ.  You can access the article here.

Professor Patrick Connors has been busy.  He publications include: New York Practice (5th ed), January 2014 Supplement (West; also available on Westlaw ); 2013 Supplementary Practice Commentaries, CPLR Article22, Stay, Motions, Orders and Mandates; CPLR Article 23, Subpoenas, CPLR Oaths and Affirmations; CPLR Article 30, Remedies and Pleadings, CPLR Article 31: Disclosure, McKINNEY’S CONSOLIDATED LAWS OF NEW YORK (also available on Westlaw);  2013 Supplementary Practice Commentaries on New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, Articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 MCKINNEY’S CONSOLIDATED LAWS OF NEW YORK (also available on Westlaw).

Patrick also moderated a Fan Forum of the New York State Racing Fan Advisory Council at Saratoga Raceway and Casino in Saratoga Springs on November 24^th.  In addition, he presented a program on recent developments in New York ethics to the Chaminade High School Alumni Lawyers Association in Mineola, N.Y. on December 5^th;  a New York Civil Practice Update and an Ethics Update to the New York State Bar Association’s Trial Lawyers Section at its Annual Summer Meeting in Killarney, Ireland on July 30^th ; presented an Ethics Update for the Albany Law School CLE in the Saratoga Series in Saratoga Springs on August 9, 2013; an Ethics Update to the Federation of Bar Associations of the Fourth Judicial District at its Summer Meeting in Saratoga Springs on August 16^th; a presentation regarding the activities of the New York State Racing Fan Advisory Council at the New York Racing Association’s Board of Trustees Meeting held in Saratoga Springs on August 28^th; and a New York Civil Practice Update presentation at the Annual New York Court of Claims Judges’ Association Meeting in Cooperstown, on September 27^th.

Patrick’s Committee, NY Racing Fan Advisory Council, submitted its report on December 31, 2012.  Unfortunately, some other matters going on that day led to it being missed by the media.  This report, a significant contribution to developing a comprehensive plan to ensure NY’s prominence in the racing industry, can be accessed through this link:http://www.racing.ny.gov/pdf/123112_RFACReport.pdf.

Professor Deborah Kearns is a Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section, Pro Bono & Tax Clinics Committee, and planned the Low Income Taxpayer workshop entitled “Tax and . . .” in Washington, D.C. on December 9, 2013.

Professor Benjie Louis published Reflections Upon Transitions: An Essay on Learning How to Teach after Practicing Law, and it will be published in the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education’s Dec./Jan. edition.

Professor Christian Sundquist’s article, My Genetics, Race and Substantive Due Process, will be published in the Washington & Lee Journal of Civil Rights next Spring.  His autobiographical essay, “Resisting Post-Oppression Narratives” was published in this month’s edition of Tikkun Magazine.  A print copy of the magazine can be found in the faculty lounge or an electronic copy can be found here. 

Professor Timothy Lytton presented a paper titled “Oversight and Accountability in Private Food Safety Auditing” at the University of Wisconsin Law School Symposium on Safety and Sustainability in the Era of Food Systems: Reaching a More Integrated Approach in Madison, Wisconsin.  On December 31^st, Tim delivered a lecture entitled “Kosher Certification: A Model (But Not Necessarily a Means) For the New Food Movement” at the annual Hazon Food Conference at the Isabella Freidman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT.  He also held a book signing at this conference.

Professor Sarah Rogerson  has a chapter forthcoming in Hip Hop and the Law: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement.  Her chapter is titled Using Hip-Hop’s Lyrical Narrative to Inform and Critique the Family Justice System.
Professor Keith Hirokawa presented a seminar to the EPA on January 21^st.

Professor Evelyn Tenenbaum’s article: The Union of Contraceptive Services and the Affordable Care Act Gives Birth to First Amendment Concerns, 23 Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology 539 (2013) was published this month.  It has been cited in SSRN’s Top Ten download lists for the following e-journals: Employee Benefits, Compensation and Pension Law; Other Anthropology of Religion; Medical Anthropology; Women, Gender and the Law; Health Care Law and Policy; Insurance Law, Legislation, and Policy; Health Care Approaches; Health Care; Health and Illness; and Employee Benefits.  Evelyn was also one of three featured speakers at the 2013 Clinical Ethics Conference at Albany Medical Center in November, and presented Medicine, Ethics and the Law at Albany Medical College on December 18, 2013.

Visiting Professor Benjamin Davis’s paper, “AMERICAN DIVERSITY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 2003-2013 (PRE-PUBLICATION DRAFT)”, was recently listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download list for: International Economic Law eJournal, LSN: Dispute Resolution (Topic) and LSN: International Arbitration (Topic).

Professor David Pratt has a new article in the Journal of Pension Benefits, Focus On… The Retroactive Effect of IRS Regulations And Rulings Affecting Qualified Plans.

Professor Joseph Connors has a new blog post, “Resilience: Weathering The Survivorship Vortex With Clients Living With Cancer.”  It can be read here.

Professor Stephen Clark posted a terrific blog entry that accurately predicted how Utah will recognize pre-stay same-sex marriages.  To read more click here. 

Professor Paul Finkelman is the author of Francis Lieber and the Modern Law of War, which has been published in the University of Chicago Law Review. The cite is 80 U of Chi. L. Rev. 2071-2132 (2013).  On January 9^th and 10^th, Paul commented on sessions on “Federalism” and “Politics and Race in the South” at the Southern Political Science Association annual conference.  He also published “The Origins of Colorism in Early American Law,” in Kimberly Jade Norwood, ed., Color Matters:  Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Post-Racial America(New York and London:  Routledge, 2014) 29-43.  On November 12^th Paul also gave the Biever Guest Lecture at Loyola University, New Orleans School of Law.  The title of his talk was, “How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln and the Constitutional Limitations on Emancipation.”  He also gave a faculty workshop on Frederick Douglass’ Constitution.  On October 31^st at St. Louis University, Paul gave a talk on the public display of religious monuments.  On November 1^st he also spoke at the annual Childress Symposium at St. Louis University.  Other speakers at the symposium included Randall Kennedy (Harvard), Gerald Torres (Texas), Jill Hasday (Minnesota), and the keynote speaker Sanford Levinson (Texas).  The symposium was on the topic “Who Counts” in American politics and law.  On November 29 he published an op-ed in the Albany Times Union entitled “The States Does Religion No Favors.”  It can be accessed through this link here. On December 31^st he gave a CLE on the Dred Scott Case for Garden State CLE, and noted at least one Albany alum was there.  On December 13^th he gave a talk entitled, “Is the Supreme Court a Friend of the Jews?” at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, New Jersey.  On November 22^nd he gave a talk at Temple B’nai Shalom in Albany on Religious Monuments in public spaces.

This semester Paul is visiting away to serve as the Justice Pike Hall, Jr. Visiting Professor of Law at the Paul M. Hebert School of Law at Louisiana State University.