New York Law School Welcomes New Faculty Members, Announces Promotions

New York, NY (September 15, 2010)—This fall, New York Law School welcomes three new full-time faculty members, including an alumnus and former staff member who returns to the Law School in a new role, and a visiting professor from Tulane Law School to its renowned faculty of approximately 80 full-time professors. The Law School also celebrates the promotions of two faculty members.

“Our new faculty members are arriving at an especially exciting time for the Law School,” says Stephen J. Ellmann, Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Collaborative Learning. “We’re in the process of charting the course of the School for many years to come. Our new faculty will help us plan, and they will also help us execute, as we initiate our new first-year skills course and continue to build our offerings across the curriculum. We are breaking new ground in education for our students, and these new colleagues will be among the groundbreakers.”

Promotions

Susan J. Abraham, Associate Professor of Law
Susan J. Abraham has been promoted to Associate Professor of Law. She joined the Law School in 2003 and teaches Principles of Legal Analysis, Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Evidence, and Deposition Skills. She practiced law for 20 years as both a trial and appellate lawyer in New York and New Jersey. Her most recent position was with the law firm of Reitman Parsonnet, P.C., where she represented plaintiffs in employment matters and other civil litigation. She also worked as a supervising attorney at the Office of the Appellate Defender and at the New Jersey Public Defender’s Office, and appeared numerous times before the New Jersey Supreme Court. Professor Abraham maintained a private practice for seven years, representing clients in disability discrimination, employment, criminal, pension, and other matters. She also served as a grader of both the constitutional and criminal law essays for the New Jersey Bar Exam. In the early 1990s, she taught English as a Second Language at the American Language Institute at New York University, and Expository Writing at Borough of Manhattan Community College. She is also a poet and has published poems in Poetry, The Paris Review, Tikkun, and other literary journals, as well as appearing in an anthology of lawyer/poets and a number of legal publications.

“This is an exciting time to be at New York Law School, with a state-of-the-art new building and all of the genuine enthusiasm that goes with it—new ideas and new programs, motivated students, and a fantastic faculty.”

Education:
Oberlin College, B.A. 1977
Rutgers Law School, J.D. 1983
Warren Wilson College, M.F.A. 1991

Howard S. Meyers, Associate Professor of Law
Howard S. Meyers, Associate Director of the Center on Business Law & Policy, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Law. He joined the faculty as a visiting clinical professor in 2004 to teach in the Securities Arbitration Clinic. In addition to the clinic, Professor Meyers teaches Accounting for Lawyers, Business Basics for Lawyers, Corporations, Corporate Crime: Challenges for the Practicing Attorney, and Financial Advocacy. Prior to working in education, Professor Meyers was a staff attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement in New York City, where he was responsible for investigating and litigating complex cases involving sales practice abuses committed by stockbrokers, fraudulent financing and Ponzi schemes, accounting fraud, and the sale of unregistered securities by various public companies. He was also previously a senior accountant at the international accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick, where he was responsible for auditing the financial statements of several Fortune 500 companies and regional broker-dealers. His publications include “Recovering Unpaid Bonus Payments in Turbulent Times,” published in the New York Law Journal (June 2008), and “Schedule D: Looking Behind the Numbers to Provide Better Client Service,” published in The Trusted Professional (February 2003). He has appeared as a guest commentator on CNBC, BBC, and FOX News, and is quoted frequently in the financial press.

“I enjoy teaching at New York Law School. It allows me to share my experience in both government and private practice, which enhances my ability to teach students how to think and act like attorneys.”

Education:
Franklin & Marshall College, A.B. 1989 Phi Beta Kappa
Temple University Beasley School of Law, J.D. 1994 cum laude

New Full-Time Faculty Appointments

Melynda H. Barnhart, Associate Professor of Law
Melynda H. Barnhart joins the faculty in the fall 2010 semester and will teach Legal Practice. Her areas of scholarship and teaching also include human trafficking, immigration and nationality law, criminal law, and administrative law. Prior to joining the Law School, she was an Abraham Freedman Fellow at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, where she taught first-year Legal Research and Writing and a writing seminar on Crimes and Immigration. Professor Barnhart has worked as an advocate for many years; she has pressed for greater human rights protections for human trafficking victims before the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and other local, national, and international fora. Before she joined academia, she served as the Director of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives for the International Rescue Committee, where she oversaw a national service program that assisted more than 200 trafficking survivors to rebuild their lives. From 2003 to 2005, she developed and ran one of the first statewide comprehensive service programs for trafficked persons in the U.S., and trained thousands of attorneys, law enforcement personnel, governmental staff, and social workers on how to handle trafficking cases. Professor Barnhart’s article, “Sex and Slavery: An Analysis of State Human Trafficking Laws,” 16 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 83 (2009) addressed the growth of state legislative involvement in combating trafficking.

“I am enthusiastic about teaching a comprehensive skills course for first-year students at a law school that truly appreciates the importance of the practical side of legal education. I look forward to sharing my practice experience with students as well as my love for making a difference in people’s lives through the law.”

Education:
Vassar College, B.A. 1994
Northeastern University School of Law, J.D. 2001
New York University School of Law, LL.M. 2009

Kirk D. Burkhalter ’04, Associate Professor of Law
Kirk D. Burkhalter ’04 joins the faculty in the fall 2010 semester and will teach Legal Practice. Previously, he was the Visiting Assistant Professor of Academic Support at Hofstra School of Law, where he taught Legal Methods. In addition, Professor Burkhalter helped Hofstra students adjust to the academic demands of law school and develop the skills to enable them to realize their full academic potential through workshops, seminars, and individual counseling. He also conducted workshops and seminars that focused on the analytical and organizational skills specific to preparation for the New York State Bar Examination. Professor Burkhalter was formerly the Associate Director of Academic Affairs and an adjunct professor at New York Law School, where he provided academic counseling and taught The Principles of Legal Analysis. He has also taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Before working in academia, he was an associate in the Corporate Securities and Finance practice group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Professor Burkhalter also served 20 years in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), retiring as a detective first grade. He spent the majority of his career with the NYPD conducting long-term investigations into organized criminal enterprises and domestic, ecological, and industrial terrorism.

Education:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, B.A. 1999
New York Law School, J.D. 2004 (New York Law School Law Review)

Daniel A. Warshawsky, Associate Professor of Law
Daniel A. Warshawsky joins the Law School in the fall 2010 semester and will teach Legal Practice. Professor Warshawsky comes to the Law School after 15 years at the Office of the Appellate Defender (OAD), New York City’s second oldest provider of appellate representation to indigent people convicted of felonies. As the Deputy Attorney-in-Charge of OAD, Professor Warshawsky helped structure and run the office and its training program, while representing hundreds of clients on appeal in serious felony cases, including homicide cases. Professor Warshawsky has appeared before courts at all levels of the state court system, and has appeared before New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, numerous times. Professor Warshawsky trained and supervised scores of staff attorneys, volunteer associates from many of New York City’s largest firms, and students from New York University Law School, in all aspects of criminal practice and appellate advocacy. Prior to joining OAD, Professor Warshawsky was an Assistant Deputy Public Defender in New Jersey at both the trial and appellate levels. Among his proudest achievements was the reversal of a capital conviction that he won in the New Jersey Supreme Court for a client who had been on New Jersey’s death row. Professor Warshawsky was also a graduate fellow and Staff Attorney at Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation.

Education:
University of Rochester, B.A. 1980
George Washington University National Law Center, J.D. 1985 with High Honors, Order of the Coif (George Washington Law Review, Notes Editor)
Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M., Advocacy 1987

Visiting Faculty

Mark B. Wessman, Visiting Professor of Law
Mark B. Wessman joins the Law School for the fall 2010 semester and will teach Bankruptcy and Secured Transactions. He is currently a professor at Tulane University Law School, where he has worked since 1987. His principal teaching and research interests are in contracts, secured transactions, and related areas of commercial law. At Tulane, Professor Wessman has twice been the recipient of the Felix Frankfurter Award for Distinguished Teaching. He has also held visiting positions at both the University of North Carolina and University of South Carolina’s Schools of Law. Prior to working in academia, he practiced law in Atlanta with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP, where he specialized in commercial litigation. He was also a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer in Los Angeles. He is co-author of Secured Transactions: Problems and Materials, (West 2003) (with Paul Barron).

Education:
St. Olaf College, B.A. 1973 summa cum laude
Oxford University, M.A. 1976 First Class Honors
Harvard Law School, J.D. 1980 cum laude