New York Law School in the News
Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports, “Law
professor/historian Gordon-Reed Wins National Book Award”
By Brian Leiter
Friday, November 28, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Annette Gordon-Reed
Subject: National Book Award
“Law professor/historian Gordon-Reed Wins National Book Award”
To view the article in full, click here.
Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports, “NYLS’s Reza Named 2008 Carnegie Scholar”
By Brian Leiter
Friday, November 25, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Sadiq Reza
Subject: 2008 Carnegie Scholar
“NYLS’s Reza Named 2008 Carnegie Scholar”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Washington Times, “Internet firm to reward researchers for patent evidence”
By Joelle Tessler
Monday, November 24, 2008
Subject: Peer-to-Patent
“A start-up company wants to have a say in the high-stakes patent disputes that loom over many industries.
The company hopes to build on the progress being made by Peer-to-Patent, a program run by New York Law School that publishes patent applications online in order to gather prior art to be passed along to the Patent Office during the examination process.”
To view the article in full, click here.
TaxProf Blog, “NYLS Hosts Conference on Representing Non-Traditional Couples”
By Paul L. Caron
Friday, November 21, 2008
Subject: NYLS Conference
“NYLS Hosts Conference on Representing Non-Traditional Couples”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “Book Prizes Awarded With Nod to History”
By Motoko Rich
Thursday, November 20, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Annette Gordon-Reed
Subject: National Book Award for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American
Family
“Annette Gordon-Reed won the National Book Award for nonfiction on Wednesday night for ‘The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,’ a sweeping, prodigiously researched biography of three generations of a slave family owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Ms. Gordon-Reed, who celebrated her 50th birthday on the night of the awards, was the first African-American author to win the prize for nonfiction since Orlando Patterson won for ‘Freedom’ in 1991. ‘I can’t say what a wonderful November this has been,’ she said. ‘It’s sort of wonderful to have the book come out at this time. People ask me if I planned it this way; I didn’t. All of America – we’re on a great journey now and I look forward to the years to come.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The National Law Journal, “Law School Deans, Profs Ponder Reasons for Decline in Minority Enrollment”
By Thomas Adcock
Thursday, November 20, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Dean Richard A. Matasar
Subject: Minority Enrollment in Law Schools
“The controversy surrounding Columbia Law School's documentation of a ‘disturbing’ decline in enrollment of minority students at law campuses around the country has deans and professors in New York state discussing a perceived cultural bias in the LSAT examination, combined with the test's exaggerated importance as an element of the annual rankings of their institutions by U.S. News & World Report.
‘There is a lot of risk aversion in American law schools,’ said Matasar, who acknowledged the steady decline. ‘Schools are much more reticent to take chances for two reasons: fear of the U.S. News rankings and fear of taking more marginal students who might risk the school's bar exam pass rate.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Wired Blog Network, Epicenter, “We Are All Patent Reviewers”
By Jeff P. Howe
Thursday, November 20, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Beth Noveck
Subject: Peer-to-Patent
“In my book I chronicle how Beth Noveck, a professor at New York Law School, was trying to harness the network -- which is to say, all of us -- to improve the process. She launched Peer-to-Patent in June of last year, in cooperation with the USPTO, as well as such companies as IBM and Microsoft, whose outsized patent portfolios exercise a magnetic force for frivolous litigation.”
To view the article in full, click here.
PropertyProf Blog, “Korngold on the Mortgage
Crisis”
By D. Benjamin Barros
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Gerald Korngold
Subject: Mortgage Crisis
“Gerald Korngold (New York Law School) has posted Legal and Policy Choices in the Aftermath of the Subprime and Mortgage Financing Crisis on SSRN.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Scoop Independent News, “US: Keeping Minorities Out Of Law School”
By Lawrence R. Velvel
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Elizabeth Chambliss
Subject: Minorities and Law School Admission
“If law school enrollment today is made up largely of the white and
the wealthy, it is because the American Bar Association, the chief
accreditor of the nation’s law schools, has designed the rules that
produce this outcome.
New York Law School professor Elizabeth Chambliss, author of the
Commission’s report, described law as ‘one of the least
racially integrated professions in the United States ...’ She called
the LSAT ‘one of the main barriers to increasing diversity among law
students.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Popular Science, “Dear Mr. President”
By Daniel Engber
Monday, October 27, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Beth Noveck and Peer-to-Patent
Subject: Information Technology
“Good morning, Senator (or should I say ‘President-elect’?)…
...As the next president, you should strive for something more substantial than online fireside chats, open-ended forums for public comments, and town-hall meetings in streaming video. Instead of devoting resources to these superficial, large-scale interactions, think small. New York Law School’s Noveck has worked to promote a radically different vision of how the opinions and expertise of regular Americans might be tapped to improve government decision-making.
…Her ideas are being tested at a social-networking Web site associated with the U.S. Patent Office called Peer-to-Patent. Here’s how it works: Government employees now spend much of their time checking that the ideas contained in patent applications are sufficiently novel and interesting. Peer-to-Patent allows them to recruit unpaid specialists from around the world by posting the applications online.
…The software behind Peer-to-Patent isn’t especially complicated or new, nor does the site strive for mass appeal. It simply tries to draw in the particular people who might be able to answer a particular question. Now imagine that instead of building some bloated, mass-interaction site like E-Petitions, you set up a multitude of these smaller, special-interest sites. Each government agency could thus reach out to only those users with the expertise relevant to a particular policy.”
To read the article in full, please click here.
Internet Evolution, “Patent Reform Pending”
By David F. Carr
Friday, October 24, 2008
NYLS Staff: Christopher Wong, Project Manager at the Institute
for Information Law & Policy
Subject: Patent Reform
“…Experiments like Peer-to-Patent could be part of the answer. It was launched by the Patent Office and the New York Law School in June 2007 to provide applicants with faster patent reviews. In its first year, only 23 patents passed through the system; a few dozen more are expected in 2009.
This solves the ‘information deficit’ plaguing areas like software, where the Patent Office often has too little information to make a good decision on whether to issue a patent, says Christopher Wong, a project manager at New York Law School’s Institute for Information Law & Policy, which runs the site. ‘That’s probably the most fundamental aspect of what’s wrong with the patent system,’ he says.
In its first report, Peer-to-Patent cited the Yahoo smart drag-and-drop application as one of its successes because of the number of quality prior art submissions participants provided. A lot of the attention it attracted was because it had a big name attached to it and because of the title,’ Wong says. ‘Bloggers looked at it and said, “Hey, they’re trying to patent drag-and-drop”’
To read the article in full, please click here.
The American Lawyer, “Stealth, Cunning Needed to Land a Job”
By Cameron Stracher
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Cameron Stracher
Subject: Landing a legal job in today’s economy
“…there are a few things you can do to improve your odds and avoid the unemployment line.
…First, don’t despair. As a law professor and practicing lawyer, I have seen my share of downturns. Although the market may be bad, it’s never as bad as they say. The wheels of commerce never stop grinding; they just slow and, occasionally, roll over people.
…‘Make a mental – and financial – plan that the job-hunting process will take six to eight months,’ says Meg Reuter, assistant dean for career planning at New York Law School.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Sacramento Bee, “Fate of 11,000 same-sex marriages uncertain if Prop. 8 passes”
By Jennifer Garza
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Visiting Professor Lawrence Levine
Subject: Proposition 8
“An estimated 11,000 couples have wed since the California Supreme
Court ruled in May that same-sex marriages are legal.
Two weeks before the election, it's not clear what happens to them if
state voters approve Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage.
…‘I can think of no other state where this right has been
taken away retroactively. It would be extraordinary if it happened,’
said Larry Levine, who teaches at McGeorge Law School and is currently a
visiting professor at New York Law School.
The bottom line, said Levine, is that this is uncharted territory.
‘No one really knows what's going to happen.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Legal Times “Supreme Court Stays Above Economic Fray – for Now”
By Tony Mauro
October 1, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor David Schoenbrod
Subject: Supreme Court’s non-involvement in Economic
Crisis
“As the nation’s stunning financial crisis competed with a riveting presidential election campaign for Washington, D.C.’s attention last week, the other branch of government – the Supreme Court – remained blithely uninvolved.
…Handing off huge gobs of power to the executive branch also can raise issues of unconstitutional delegation of authority. After the Depression, the Court invoked that doctrine in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, the so-called ‘sick chicken’ case. The Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act on grounds that it delegated too much power to the executive, declaring that ‘extraordinary conditions, such as an economic crisis, may call for extraordinary remedies, but they cannot create or enlarge constitutional power.’
That was then. The current Court is much more open to letting Congress delegate its traditional powers to the executive branch, says New York Law School professor David Schoenbrod, author of a book on the doctrine. He is also a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.”
To view the article in full, click here.
preLaw, "Best Public Interest Law Schools"
By Michelle Weyenberg
Fall 2008
Subject: New York Law School Named in "Best Public Interest Law Schools" List
New York Law School was recently named as one of the “Best Law Schools for Public Interest Law” in the fall 2008 edition of preLaw magazine; of the 75 law schools that made the list, New York Law School ranked 15th.
From the article:
"Today, more students want to work in the public interest field than in the last 15 years. By the time these students are getting to law school, many are already infected with the 'public interest bug,' said David Stern, chief executive officer for Equal Justice Works.
...To compile the rankings of the Best Law Schools for Public Interest Law, The National Jurist used a scoring system based on a 100-point scale to assign point values to law schools in three equally weighted categories--student involvement, curriculum, and financial factors."
To view the article in full, pick up the Fall 2008 edition of preLaw magazine.
The New York Post, “One Party Wasn’t Always a Problem”
By R.B. Bernstein
Sunday, October 12, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Adjunct Professor R.B. Bernstein
Subject: The possibility of Democratic control in the Presidency and
Congress
“For the first time since 1993, a new presidential term may open with the Presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate in the hands of the Democrats. Although pundits argue that this is a prescription for government run amok, American history suggests that this is not always the case.”
To view the article in full, click here.
BusinessWeek, “Lehman: One Big Derivatives Mess”
By Matthew Goldstein and David Henry
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Kenneth Kettering
Subject: Lehman Brothers
“In 2003, legendary investor Warren E. Buffett called derivatives ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ Buffett predicted that the complex financial instruments would morph, mutate, and multiply ‘until some event makes their toxicity clear.’ The failure of Lehman Brothers (LEHMQ) may have been the disaster he imagined.
…It turns out that Lehman, like other big dealers, was running a perfectly legal but highly risky game moving money from firm to firm. It used the collateral from one trading partner to fund more deals with other firms. The same $100 million collected in one deal can be used for many other transactions. ‘Firms basically can use [the money] as their own collateral for anything they want,’ says Kenneth Kettering, a former derivatives lawyer and currently a professor at New York Law School. But when the contracts terminate as the result of bankruptcy, the extra collateral is supposed to be returned.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Chronicle for Higher Education, “Company’s Lawsuit Over Free Scholarly Organization Tool Generates Buzz”
By Jeffrey R. Young
Friday, October 3, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor James Grimmelmann
Subject: Thomson Reuter’s Lawsuit against George Mason
University
“…Even if the lawsuit has merit, the approach of suing rather than working out a deal with the university is terrible public relations in an academic community that values openness, said James Grimmelmann, an associate professor of law at New York Law School who wrote about the issue on his blog. ‘Using lawsuits like this to squelch a freely shared and very valued piece of software has very terrible PR effects,’ he said in an interview with The Chronicle this week. ‘This is exactly the wrong way to sell to an audience that cares about sharing.’
To view the article in full, click here.
Newsweek, “A Lawyer’s New Jefferson Memorial: The next chapter in the Hemings saga”
By Jennie Yabroff
Monday, October 13, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Annette Gordon-Reed
Subject: Her new book “The Hemingses of
Monticello”
“…That early, firsthand experience with the interplay of race and history informs much of Gordon-Reed’s work, including her compulsively readable new book, ‘The Hemingses of Monticello,’ in which she traces the family history of Sally Hemings, the slave who had a 38-year relationship with Thomas Jefferson. …she is best known for 1997’s groundbreaking ‘Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy,’ which examined historians’ treatment of the Jefferson-Hemings liaison, and made a strong case that Jefferson fathered seven children with Hemings. DNA testing a year after the book came out vindicated Gordon-Reed’s assertion, and made her book a cause célèbre among Jefferson scholars.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Bloomberg News, “UBS Helps Lilly Buy ImClone, Says Price Too High”
By Zachary R. Mider
Monday, October 6, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Jeffrey Haas
Subject: Lilly Purchase of ImClone
“UBS AG bankers helped Eli Lilly & Co. strike a $6.5 billion deal to buy ImClone Systems Inc. while their own research analyst said Lilly was paying too much.
…‘That’s a very odd occurrence,’ said Jeffrey Haas, a securities law professor at New York Law School. ‘What would be troubling to me is if I was on the board of Lilly. I’ve got investment bankers telling me $70 a share makes sense, whereas a research analyst at the same company is saying otherwise.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Bloomberg News, “Bloomberg to Seek Re-election, Term Limit Law Change”
By Henry Goldman
Thursday, October 2, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Ross Sandler, Director of the Center
for New York City Law
Subject: Mayor Bloomberg and Term Limit Law
“New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would seek re-election next year and is working with the City Council to amend a 15-year-old law limiting elected officials to two terms, as the Wall Street slump imperils the city’s economy.
…The City Charter would permit such a change, said Ross Sandler, director of New York Law School’s Center for New York City Law.
‘It’s a local law and can be changed the same way as any other, through council action, public referendum or an act of the state Legislature,’ he said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “Seeing Past the Slave to Study the Person”
By Patricia Cohen
Saturday, September 20, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Annette Gordon-Reed
Subject: Her new book, “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American
Family”
“When, 11 years ago, DNA evidence convinced most experts that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings, many people talked about what the discovery said about Jefferson. Yet few seemed all that interested in what it said about the young girl he owned.
Annette Gordon-Reed was one of those few...Their story is contained in her book “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” (W.W. Norton), to be released on Monday. In nearly 800 pages she follows four generations of Hemingses, starting with their origins in Virginia in the 1700s and continuing through 1826, when Jefferson died and his home, Monticello, was put up for sale.
‘I wanted to tell the story of this family in a way not done before’ so that readers can ‘see slave people as individuals,’ Ms. Gordon-Reed said.
...'Robert, James, Elizabeth and Sally are not concepts but people,’ she added, referring to the Hemings family.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Read the Washington Post article here.
Read the New York Sun article here.
Listen to the NPR segment here.
The Associated Press, “Patent Program Polls the Public”
By Joelle Tessler
Monday, September 15, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Beth Noveck
Subject: Peer-to-Patent program
“Some of the biggest players in the technology industry complain that the U.S. patent system is broken, putting too many patents of dubious merit in the hands of people who can use them to drag companies and inventors to court.
‘The Patent and Trademark Office is the agency of citizen creativity, and it needs more and better information to do its job of awarding patents to those citizens who are truly the most creative,’ said New York Law School professor Beth Noveck, who came up with the idea for Peer-to-Patent. ‘A patent is a pretty significant monopoly, so we want to make sure we are giving it to the right people.’
…But some of the most contentious patents have come out of the tech sector, since software and other-cutting edge technologies are relatively new to the Patent Office and evolving quickly, explained Mark Webbink, director of New York Law School’s Center for Patent Innovations, home to Peer-to-Patent, and former general counsel for Red Hat.
To view the article in full, click here.
The Star-Ledger, “Books: All in the Family”
By Jonathan E. Lazarus
Saturday, September 13, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Annette Gordon-Reed
Subject: Newly published books
“For more than 600 always compelling, sometimes highly disturbing pages, Annette Gordon-Reed animates the saga of an American slave family whose enormous resilience and humanity helped compensate for their status as non-persons and allowed them to cope with the caprices and emotional cruelties of their master, Thomas Jefferson.
Most remarkable of all, however, is Gordon-Reed’s ability to chart the profoundly asymmetrical yet tightly bound-up relationship between master and slaves, leaving one astonished by the degree of interdependence and intimacy in a brutal system that should have engendered none.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Newsday.com, “People on the Move, Sept. 15”
By Laura Mann
Friday, September 12, 2008
NYLS Staff: Alissa Kane
Subject: New Hires
“Alissa Kane has been named center administrator for the Justice Action Center and the Center for Professional Values and Practice at New York Law School in Manhattan. The East Islip resident previously was legislative aide to the Islip Town Board.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “How to Know When Tax Deal Isn’t A Good Deal”
By Lynnley Browning
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Tanina Rostain
Subject: Tax Planning for the Affluent
“You have just left the accountant’s office with a plan to keep more of your hard-earned millions of dollars in your hands, rather than turning them over to the I.R.S.
Smart, legal tax planning? Or the first step toward a nasty audit — one that could cost you seven figures in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties; might get you sued by the agency; and could even end in a perp walk?
With both the I.R.S. and the Justice Department’s tax division widening their crackdowns on questionable tax shelters to include scrutiny of offshore banking services and trusts, the issue of safe tax planning for the affluent has become more urgent than ever.
…‘Here are three warning signs that a tax deal should be avoided,’said Tanina Rostain, a legal ethics scholar at New York Law School: ‘When the tax savings promised are many times the amount of the initial investment, when you are told that there is no financial risk involved and when you are urged not to show it’ to anyone else.
‘When the stakes are big,’ she added, ‘getting a second opinion from a tax expert not involved in the deal is a good idea.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The National Law Journal, “New York Law School appoints new faculty”
By Vesna Jaksic
Tuesday, August 27, 2008
Subject: New Faculty
“New York Law School has appointed five new full-time and three visiting professors, and has promoted an existing faculty member.
…New York Law School has more than 13,000 graduates and enrolls some 1,500 students in J.D. and LL.M. programs.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “LPGA sets our English policy”
By Larry Dorman
Monday, August 26, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Arthur Leonard
Subject: English policy for golf players
“Concerned about its appeal to sponsors, the women’s professional golf tour, which in recent years has been dominated by foreign-born players, has warned its members that they must become conversant in English by 2008 or face suspension.
…Arthur S. Leonard, a professor of law at New York Law School and an expert on employment issues, said that in some states a potential claim of national origin discrimination can be made if the players can show that this rule targets players of Korean origin.
He added that the LPGA ‘would be subject to the New York State Human Rights Law with respect to any tournaments taking place in New York, and it is possible that the public accommodations provisions of that law could apply to this situation.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Vermont Public Radio, “David Johnson on the new virtual headquarters law”
Interview By Jane Lindholm
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
New York Law School Professor David Johnson was interviewed by VPR about a bill recently signed into law by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas that will allow companies to set up virtual businesses in the state. Vermont is the now the first state to have such a law. In the interview, Professor Johnson, creator of the law, discusses the benefits of the law to the state of Vermont and the virtual companies.
To listen to the interview, click here.
Reuters, “Sordid Details on Offer In Celebrity Divorce Cases”
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Richard Sherwin
Subject: Celebrity Divorce
“…New York is the only U.S. state where parties in a contested divorce have to show fault in order to split. And battling spouses' efforts to prove cruel or inhumane treatment, abandonment or infidelity have provided valuable fodder for tabloids, Web sites and television shows.
‘It's the ultimate evisceration of the public/private distinction,’ said New York Law School professor Richard Sherwin, who writes about law and pop culture. ‘Everything that is private is now public.’
‘…The field in which (celebrities) operate involves their own self-interest and unfortunately they're not seeing how kids are injured in the process,’ Sherwin said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Seattlepi.com, “Schultz sticks with Sonics suit”
By Greg Johns
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Marc Edelman
Subject: Legal action to reclaim Sonics basketball team
“While many are ready to dismiss the notion that Howard Schultz has any chance of unwinding the sale of the Sonics to Clay Bennett, the attorney for the Starbucks coffee mogul says there is good reason his client didn't take part in last week's settlement with the Oklahoma City ownership group.
…Schultz's suit is the lone legal weapon left that could bring the former Sonics club back to Seattle. A class-action claim by several Seattle fans still must play out in King County District Court as well, though that suit seeks financial damages instead of challenging the franchise's move.
…Marc Edelman, professor of sports law at New York Law School, said he doesn't believe there has been a single case where a team was ordered to reverse course after being allowed to play games in a new city at any level of professional sports.
‘It's extraordinarily difficult,’ Edelman said. ‘The biggest challenge is not the claim, but the remedy. It's extremely unconventional to unwind a transaction that has been closed for over two years, where the buyer of the team has already substantially performed by paying the purchase price of the team…’”
To view the article in full, click here.
CFO, “Vermont Wants to Be the ‘Delaware of the Net’”
By Alan Rappeport
Monday, June 30, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor David Johnson
Subject: Vermont on the edge for newer tech companies
“A bill signed into law earlier this month positions [Vermont] as a leader in incorporating so-called virtual firms — those without a physical headquarters, actual paper filings, and directors' meetings (they're all online.) If it succeeds, it could emerge with the nation's first virtual tech corridor.
…David Johnson, a professor at New York Law School and head of the Virtual Company Project has lobbied for Vermont to change its rules for Limited Liability Companies (LLC) as a way of adapting corporate structure to the Internet age.
‘People are coming together online to create valuable things,’ says Johnson. ‘They do that for social reasons or reputational reasons, but they find it difficult partly because of traditional barriers in corporate law.’”
To view this article in full, click here.
Computerworld, “eBay backs off controversial PayPal-only plan in Australia”
By Linda Rosencrance
Friday, June 27, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Marc Edelman
Subject: Australia’s competition agency forces eBay to pull PayPal-only plan
“EBay Inc. has, for the moment, backed off a plan that would force sellers in Australia to only use PayPal, which eBay owns, as their online payment method.
…Whether or not such a plan would pass regulatory muster in the U.S. is not so cut and dried, said Marc Edelman, a law professor at New York Law School and a former antitrust lawyer.
…‘If there are companies out there that compete with PayPal and provide the same services, and they feel that this would preclude them from having a real opportunity to compete in the market because eBay is requiring PayPal only, it will be interesting to see if they bring a challenge,’ he said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Metro, “Should psychiatric hospital patients be permitted to have sex?”
By Harlan Spector
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Michael Perlin
Subject: Supervision of psychiatric hospital patients tread on human rights
“A Cuyahoga County court case involving a patient who had multiple sex partners at a psychiatric hospital highlights what one lawyer called ‘one of the most threatening issues’ facing mental health officials.
It may be inevitable that patients engage in sexual relations, particularly in state hospitals where they may live for months or years. But it represents a clinical and legal minefield.
Michael Perlin, a New York law school professor and legal-rights advocate for the mentally ill, argues that ‘the fact someone is in a psychiatric hospital is in itself not reason to rob them of their sexual autonomy.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Managing Intellectual Property, “Peer-to-patent increases prior art submissions”
By Eklavya Gupte, London
Monday, June 23, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Beth Simone Noveck and Mark Webbink, Executive Director of the Center for Patent Innovations
Subject: Peer-to-patent project
“The USPTO’s peer-to-patent project has led to a big increase in prior art submissions but has failed to bring in fresh patent applications in its first year, according to a report.
…Mark Webbink, executive director of the Center for Patent Innovations at the New York Law School, who was also one of the authors of the report, said it revealed some pleasing statistics.
‘The level of users was very satisfying. The sheer volume of prior art that was being generated showed that people were actively engaging in the pilot. We were very happy to get a good response from people outside of the US like the UK, Canada, Europe, and even in Japan. It was good to know that people outside of the US were paying attention to this development,’ he said.
…Beth Simone Noveck from the New York Law School, who helped launch the project with the USPTO, said: ‘As the first example of harnessing public knowledge to improve a government process, the first year of peer-to-patent was an unquestioned success.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Weekly News Digest, “Peer-to-patent Pilot Releases Report on Pilot Project”
By Paula J. Hane
Thursday, June 19, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Beth Noveck
Subject: Peer-to-Patent
“Peer-to-Patent (www.peertopatent.org), the web based government social networking project, has released a report on the results of its 1-year pilot. Peer-to-Patent seeks to improve patent quality by connecting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to an open network of scientific and technical experts to enhance the patent examination process.
Launched on June 15, 2007, by New York Law School Professor Beth Noveck together with a network of corporate and academic collaborators and in cooperation with the USPTO, Peer-to-Patent is the first networking project with a direct link to decision-making by the federal government…”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Wall Street Journal, “Notes From China: Legal Education Playing Catch-Up, in a Hurry”
By Ashby Jones
Thursday, June 5, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Brandt Goldstein
Subject: Legal Education in China
“Editor’s Note: Brandt Goldstein, a visiting associate professor at New York Law School and author of the book, Storming the Court, is on a Ford Foundation travel grant speaking at several Chinese universities. He will file occasional dispatches with the Law Blog during his journey. Below is his first.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Cybercast News Service, “High Court Unlikely to Settle ‘Gay Marriage’ Issue, Experts Say”
By Pete Winn
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Albert Leonard
Subject: Supreme Court on Gay Marriage
“Last week’s decision by the California Supreme Court establishing homosexual marriage there has raised a number of questions, one of them being whether the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue. Some of the nation’s top legal experts disagree on whether that will happen.
…New York Law School professor Albert Leonard, editor of Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, meanwhile, told Cybercast News Service that marriage is almost always regarded as a question of state law, and the Supreme Court is unlikely to pass judgment on the California’s court’s decision.
‘If the secretary of state out there in California certifies the initiative that has been submitted to amend the state constitution, and it goes on the ballot in November and it passes, it could be challenged as a violation of the federal constitution,’ Leonard said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
New York Post, “Groveling For Office”
By R.B. Bernstein
Sunday, May 25, 2008
NYLS Faculty: R. B. Bernstein
Subject: Presidential Candidates Sacrifice Dignity for Votes
“It's hard to say what it takes to be president, but it's easy to figure out one thing you don't need: Shame.
From Hillary Rodham Clinton's and John McCain's stilted appearances on "Saturday Night Live," to Barack Obama's reading the "Top 10 list" on Dave Letterman, this campaign season is less Lincoln-Douglas than torch council on "Survivor." Is anything beneath a candidate in these pop culture-obsessed times?
R. B. Bernstein, distinguished adjunct professor of law at New York Law School, is completing his new book, ‘The Founding Fathers Reconsidered.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The National Law Journal, “New York Law School creates Center for Financial Service Law”
By Leigh Jones
Thursday, May 22, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Ronald H. Filler
Subject: Center for Financial Service law
“New York Law School has created a Center for Financial Service Law, led by Ronald H. Filler, managing director of Lehman’s Brothers’ capital markets prime services division.
…Filler, who joins the law school as a professor of law, will serve as the center’s director.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Boston Globe, “Access to excess”
By Ross Kerber
Thursday, May 15, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Jeffrey Haas
Subject: Fidelity traders receiving gifts for business
“New government documents filed this week detail the extent to which financial firms jostled to win the lucrative trading business of mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments of Boston.
‘There seems to be a historic tradition of broker-dealer firms engaging in these types of an old-boy system of compensation that loses sight of who the ultimate client is,’ said Jeffrey Haas, who teaches mutual fund regulation at New York Law School.
The filings also suggest how routine the practice was at the time. Haas, the New York Law School instructor, said the large number of firms vying for Fidelity's business may explain why Jefferies was so aggressive in dispensing benefits, to stand out from competitors.
‘It sounds like Jefferies calculated that because others are doing it, that this was going to be a cost of doing business,’ Haas said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Law Journal, “The Next Big Thing: Young Attorneys Envision Golden Future in Virtual Law”
By Thomas Adcock
Friday, May 16, 2008
NYLS: Institute for Information Law & Policy, Adjunct
Professor S. Gregory Boyd, and 2L Brian Pyne
Subject: Virtual Law
“‘Virtual Law,’ as specialists call it, is not your father’s law. And according to some aspiring lawyers, it is the next big thing.
…To that end, Mr. Pyne, a second-year student at New York Law School, works at the campus Institute for Information Law and Policy. He has also secured a summer associate job with Drakeford & Kane, a small Manhattan firm with a growing practice in virtual law.
…Among Mr. Pyne’s mentors is S. Gregory Boyd, a 34-year-old associate at Davis & Gilbert… ‘These numbers tell a story greater than the interest in the virtual world among most attorneys,’ said Mr. Boyd, an adjunct professor of intellectual property law at New York Law.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “The Serene Life of a Fighter for Civil Liberties”
By Robin Finn
Friday, May 16, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Nadine Strossen
Subject: Leaving the ACLU
“Even before she exercised her civil liberties and resigned this week as president of the American Civil Liberties Union after an 18-year incumbency – somewhat spoiled by internal sniping in the past two years – an ‘On Golden Pond’-ish serenity was inescapable in Nadine Strossen’s weekend house at the Sedgewood Club, a bucolic 92-home enclave tucked into a Putnam County hillside.”
To view the article in full, click here.
New York Daily News, “DA boosts ranks of boro’s litigators”
By Nicole Bode
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Subject: New York Law School Alumni Named as New Prosecutors in Queens
“The Queens District Attorney’s office has added a slate of new prosecutors to its staff.
…‘It’s a kind of whirlwind,’ said Regan, a 2006 graduate of New York Law School.
…Dmochowski, a 2005 New York Law School grad, worked as an attorney for the NYPD.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Computerworld, “Sizing up Microsoft and Yahoo: Did anybody win?”
By Linda Rosencrance
Sunday, May 4, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Marc Edelman
Subject: Microsoft/Yahoo
“Microsoft gave up its effort to acquire Yahoo because the software company decided it wasn’t worth the cost and potential negative publicity involved with a proxy fight, said Marc Edelman, a law professor at New York Law School and a former antitrust lawyer, in an e-mail. Either that, or Microsoft figured it couldn’t win in a proxy fight, he said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
American Lawyer Daily, “Shearman Eliminates General Counsel Post”
By Susan Beck
Friday, May 2, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Elizabeth Chambliss
Subject: Elimination of Position at Shearman & Sterling
“Elizabeth Chambliss, a law professor at New York Law School who has written about law firm general counsel, says that Shutkin’s ouster surprised her, especially since so many firms are creating general counsel positions. ‘They’re swimming against the tide to some extent. It’s clear that the full-time professional model [for a general counsel], where it’s a separate job, is taking hold.’ Chambliss notes that Shutkin was respected in the law firm general counsel community and that the elimination of his job ‘raised eyebrows.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
National Law Journal, “Program allowing public review of patent applications on Net speeds the process”
By Sheri Qualters
Monday, April 14, 2008
Subject: Peer-to-Patent
“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that a pilot program involving public review of patent applications over the Internet has helped it quickly reject claims that are obvious or not novel in more than a quarter of the pilot’s patent applications. The USPTO has issued non-final rejections of at least one claim in five out of the first 19 patent applications in the…Peer-to-Patent pilot program, which it launched last June with New York Law School.”
Subscribers to the National Law Journal may view the article in full by clicking here.
BNA, “Peer-to-Patent Project Has Already Produced Results, Sponsors, PTO Say”
Monday, April 28, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Beth Noveck
Subject: Peer-to-Patent
“Prior art and commentary submitted by members of public under the nine-month old Peer-to-Patent examination project have already weeded out five patent applications that might otherwise have been mistakenly allowed, according to an April 25 statement by New York Law School, which initiated the project in cooperation with the Patent and Trademark Office.”
This article is only available by subscription to BNA.
Privacy & Security Law Report, “Class Complaint Alleges Blockbuster Violated Video Privacy Act in Facebook Data Sharing”
By Susan Pagano
Monday, April 28, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor James Grimmelmann
Subject: Lawsuit against Blockbuster
“New York Law School intellectual property and Internet law associate professor James Grimmelmann told BNA April 22 that he has expected lawsuits like Harris’ to be filed and was eager to see Blockbuster’s reply to the complaint.
…Grimmelmann said that when an individual rents or buys a movie from Blockbuster online, ‘Blockbuster sends a message to your computer that causes your computer to tell Facebook that you rented that movie.’ He said that ‘Facebook will then send an announcement to your friends that you rented or purchased this movie.’ ‘I am still puzzled as to what Blockbuster’s defense is going to be,’ Grimmelmann said. He did not see anything in the text of the Video Privacy Protection Act that would ‘give them an out.’”
This article is only available by subscription to Privacy & Security Law Report.
The New York Times, “The Verge of Expulsion, the Fringe of Justice”
By Adam Liptak
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
NYLS: The New York Law School Law Review
Subject: Federal Immigration Caseload
“…the Second Circuit is struggling with the output of prolific immigration lawyers like Frank R. Liu. In the last three years, Mr. Liu has filed more than 50 appeals in federal courts, most of them to the Second Circuit, in New York.
…Other immigration lawyers handle even more preposterous caseloads than Mr. Liu. Seven small immigration firms each had more than 100 appeals pending in the Second Circuit in the spring of 2005, according to a study published in The New York Law School Law Review. One of them had more than 300. These appeals are part of a yet larger phenomenon. In recent years, the number of immigration appeals has more than quintupled, a consequence of revisions to the way immigration cases are handled.”
To view the article in full, click here.
To view Law Review article, click here.
Government Executive, “Senator urges agencies, Congress to hire more disabled employees”
By Alyssa Rosenberg
Monday, April 14, 2008
Subject: Fourth Annual Tony Coelho Lecture in Disability Employment Law and Policy
“The federal government must hire more people with disabilities to meet its obligation as a model employer, said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., in a Monday lecture at New York Law School. ‘We should show employers by example why it makes good sense to hire and promote people with disabilities,’ he told students and professors during the fourth annual Tony Coelho Lecture in Disability Employment Law and Policy in New York.
…‘Congress, we should look at ourselves,’ he said. ‘We honestly don’t know how many people with disabilities work in Congress. In the Senate, each office is its own little kingdom. There is no central effort to engage more people with disabilities.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Law Journal, “Toward a Progressive Green Policy”
By Thomas Adcock
Friday, April 11, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor David Schoenbrod
Subject: Breaking the Logjam Conference
“More than 40 attorneys from across the country, drawn from academia as well as government and private practice, assembled in Manhattan for a recent symposium aimed at urging next year’s new president and Congress to end partisan squabbling and enact fresh policy for addressing a host of environmental problems from climate change on down. The symposium, titled ‘Breaking the Logjam: an Environmental Law for the 21st Century,’ was held at New York University Law School, in cooperation with New York Law School and the NYU Environmental Law Journal.
…A ‘big fat book’ aimed at ‘an intelligent public,’ according to New York Law School Professor David S. Schoenbrod, will follow next spring, with the intent of stoking public demand for policy progress. ‘The current structure of environmental law is anti-innovation because so much is based on centralized, highly restrictive controls,’ said Mr. Schoenbrod, who as a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in the 1970s led efforts by the nascent environmental bar to force restriction of lead in gasoline. The symposium last month, said Mr. Schoenbrod, was ‘about finding ways of protecting the environment, while at the same time liberating the private sector to find smarter ways of making things.’ He added, ‘We think a law-making moment is coming.’”
New York Law Journal subscribers may view the article in full by clicking here.
Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports, “New York Law School on the Move: Bonfield, Chused, and Tracht”
By Brian Leiter
Thursday, April 10, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professors Lloyd Bonfield, Richard Chused,
Marshall Tracht
Subject: New Hires at New York Law School
“In addition to Gerald Korngold from Case Western, New York Law School has also made (or recently made) tenured hires of…”
To view the article in full, click here.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Other Web giants crowd Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo”
By Todd Bishop
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Marc Edelman
Subject: Bid for Yahoo
“Microsoft Corp.’s bid to acquire Yahoo Inc. has suddenly become a lot more competitive, or at last a lot more crowded.
…It’s not uncommon for one acquisition bid to spark a wave of industry consolidation, said Marc Edelman, a New York Law School professor. What’s unusual about this situation, he said, is the array of companies and markets involved in the possible alliances – including online services, Internet and social networking markets.
‘The net effect of all of this is going to be very complicated, and something presumably the Department of Justice, as well as possibly the Federal Trade Commisssion, is going to need to take a very close look at,’ he said. ‘It’s going to take very detailed economic analysis – more so than your traditional two-companies-into-one merger.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
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The American Lawyer, “Commentary: There Are Only Two Kinds of Law Schools”
By Cameron Stracher
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Cameron Stracher
Subject: Law School Rankings
“What’s in a number? For law schools – and the students who love/hate them – everything. We’re talking rankings, and from the attention paid to the annual lists (the most prominent of which is U.S. News & World Report’s), it would appear that the only thing better than attending a school in the single digits is a U.S. Supreme Court clerkship. But do the numbers really matter? Put in a different way, will it change your life to claw a few more rungs up the rankings ladder?
…It turns out there are really only two tiers of law schools – those where students decide which firms they want to interview at and those where the firms decide. Most law schools belong to the latter group.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Washington Internet Daily, “Law School Project Seeks to Bridge E-Government, Grassroots Sites”
By Louis Trager
Wednesday, April 8, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Beth Noveck
“A Chicago civic-improvement site, meant as a model for bridging e-government and complaint sites, is planned this year by the creator of Web 2.0 collaboration tools for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Libya’s Gaddafi Foundation. Beth Noveck, the director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School, said she’s raising money to start the site within six months.
She spoke Friday at a Stanford University seminar on human-computer interaction. Noveck said she wants to use advanced visualization technology and social-psychology concepts in the planned Green Chicago site. Those elements would make it an example of how much more effective online civic efforts can be if they break down the separation of government and activist work, she said.
Noveck’s work is based on principles of open-source software, she said: Groups are smarter than individuals, open processes work better than closed ones—so collaboration is preferable to people voting and commenting individually as in conventional civic action.”
New York Times, “Cleaning up the Environment in D.C.”
By John Tierney
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professors David Schoenbrod and Ross Sandler
Subject: Breaking the Logjam Conference
“…That message comes from scholars who met at the New York University School of Law last weekend for a conference titled “Breaking the Logjam.”
…Similar reforms of the Clean Air Act was proposed at the conference by David Schoenbrod and Ross Sandler of New York Law School, who represented the Natural Resources Defense Council in its lawsuit to take lead out of gasoline three decades ago, and by Joel Schwartz of the American Enterprise Institute, who was formerly with the Clean Air Coalition.
“We call for building on the parts of the Clean Air Act that have been most successful in reducing pollution,” Mr. Schoenbrod said. “All involve Congress taking responsibility for direct federal regulation of important sources with the sources given flexibility on how to achieve congressional targets.”
To view the article in full, click here.
New York Law Journal, “Ruling Says Divorce Available for Lesbian Canadian Union”
By Noeleen G. Walder
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Arthur Leonard
Subject: Same-sex marriage
“A woman’s claim that her partner could not divorce her because their same-sex marriage was void under New York law has been rejected by a Manhattan judge.
The court also held that the woman’s partner, who was neither the biological nor adoptive parent to two children born right before and during the couple’s marriage, was entitled to a hearing on her continuing custodial rights.
Arthur S. Leonard, a New York Law School professor and expert in lesbian and gay legal issues, said that to his knowledge this case is the first time a same-sex couple married in Canada has attempted to invoke jurisdiction of the New York courts in a divorce proceeding.”
New York Law Journal subscribers may view the article in full by clicking here.
Daily News, “Law students help small investors”
By Phyllis Furman
Monday, February 18, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Howard Meyers
Subject: Securities Arbitration Clinic
“For years, Jacoby did nothing until she heard about free legal advice offered by New York Law School’s securities arbitration clinic. Teams of third-year law students supervised by the clinic’s co-director, Howard Meyers, they took on her case. Recently, they reached a settlement with brokerage firm that sold Jacoby the annuity, and a check arrived in the mail.
…Over the last two months as the Dow has tanked, the clinic at New York Law School has seen inquiries surge by 50%. ‘It’s a great feeling to apply what you have learned and help someone out,’ said third-year New York Law student Lucas Charleston, 26, of Red Bank, N.J., who worked on Jacoby’s case.
…The clients of New York Law School’s arbitration clinic generally earn less than $75,000 a year. The damages in their cases often range from $5,000 to $75,000, though there are no limits. ‘We evaluate each client on a case by case basis,’ Meyers said. ‘We’re extremely cautious – we won’t take frivolous suits.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
Omaha World-Tribune, “New lethal injection protocol is possible”
By Henry J. Cordes
Sunday, February 10, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Robert Blecker
Subject: Lethal Injection
“As Nebraska now considers moving from electrocution to executing its convicted killers by lethal injection, it could be trading a legally rejected form of execution for a legally suspect one.
…New York Law School professor Robert Blecker is a strong death
penalty supporter. He has no problem with painful executions, asking,
‘can’t some killers deserve a quick but painful
death?’
But even Blecker accepts that the way states are administering lethal
injection today ‘is replete with problems.’
‘It really does require a lot of skilled and trained personnel to
administer,’ he said, ‘and there are so many ways it can be
botched.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “Always on the City’s Side in Court, and Without a Good Nickname”
By Clyde Haberman
Friday, February 8, 2008
NYLS Center: The Center for City Law
Subject: City Law event
“…The reason for bringing this up is that the department commanded the limelight at a symposium the other day at New York Law School, in TriBeCa. The occasion was the publication of “Fighting for the City,” by William E. Nelson, a law professor at New York University. His book is a history of the law office, written with its cooperation and published by the New York Law Journal. The main event was a panel discussion among seven men who served the last four mayors as corporation counsel, the cumbersome title assigned to the chief city lawyer, reflecting the fact that he represents the city in its capacity as a corporate entity.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “We Do, Says NY Appellate Court”
By Ryan Thompson
Monday, February 4, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Arthur Leonard
Subject: Gay Marriage
“New York must recognize same-sex marriages that are legally performed outside the state, according to one state appellate court. And perhaps most interesting, the appellate court that decided this on Friday sits in Rochester, not in New York City.
…“It’s interesting that it’s unanimous,” said New York Law School Prof. Arthur Leonard. “The Fourth Department in general tends to be more conservative.”
To view the article in full, click here.
The New York Times, “Ask About Tenant-Landlord Issues”
Thursday, January 24, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Adjunct Professor Lucas A. Ferrara
Subject: Tenant-Landlord Issues
“Lucas A. Ferrara, a partner at Finkelstein Newman Ferrara, is taking questions from readers through Jan. 30 on tenant-landlord issues. Readers are invited to submit their questions using the comment box below.
…In 2002, Mr. Ferrara was appointed an adjunct professor of law at New York Law School.”
To view the article in full, click here.
Tucson Citizen, “Noteworthy new paperbacks”
Thursday, January 24, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor James F. Simon
Subject: His book, Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery,
Secession, and the President’s War Powers’
“Simon, a professor at New York Law School and the author of six previous books, examines the passionate struggle that existed between these two men during the worst crisis in American history, the Civil War.”
To view the article in full, click here.
National Post, “Real life economic woes come to Second Life”
By Craig Offman
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor James Grimmelmann
Subject: Second Life
“While the bricks-and-mortar world reels from the subprime mortgage crisis, the imaginary universe of Second Life is suffering from its own easy-money schemes.
…‘This is just another phase in the site’s maturity where it’s affecting the real world,” said James Grimmelmann, a professor at the New York Law School and an expert on internet law. ‘There is now enough money flowing through that it shows that is significant. If it were Monopoly money people were losing, no one would care.’”
To view the article in full, click here.
The Wall Street Journal, "Tracking Stocks Are Now a Relic"
By Palash R. Ghosh
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Jeffrey Haas
Subject: Tracking Stocks
“Tracking stocks, once a popular innovation on Wall Street during the halcyon 1990s, now appear to be on the verge of extinction. Jeffrey Haas, a professor at New York Law School, estimates that at their peak there were about 40 tracking shares in the late 1990s.
‘The demise of tracking stocks is closely related to the demise of the dot-com boom,” Mr. Haas said. ‘Many of the trackers established back then were designed to take advantage of the tremendous valuations foisted upon anything related to dot-coms. So, any traditional conglomerate that had some kind of Internet-related business—whether an online brokerage or online travel—wanted to exploit the incredible price multiples that the market was giving to these unproven businesses.”
Subscribers to the Wall Street Journal may read the article in full by clicking here.
National Journal, “Legal experts, labor leaders decry e-mail ruling”
By Aliya Sternstein
Monday, January 7, 2008
NYLS Faculty: Professor Carlin Meyer
Subject: Labor Law
“A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that lets employers block employees from using company e-mail for ‘non-job-related solicitations’ flies in the face of a labor law meant to protect democracy in the workplace, some professors argue. N
ew York Law School professor Carlin Meyer said the board’s finding contradicts the labor act, which was supposed to guarantee a fair shot at unionizing.
‘This is one more decision that tilts against that goal and creates even more employer-dominant workplaces,’ Meyer said.”
To view the article in full, click here.
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