Columbia Law School Winter 2010

From the Dean

On August 17, 2009, Dean David M. Schizer offered his welcoming remarks to the incoming class of J.D. and LL.M. students at Columbia Law School. An edited version of that address appears below.

This is both an inspiring and a challenging time to come that excellence is measured in many different ways—in to law school. It is inspiring because the world needs you the pride you take in your work, in the reputation you more than ever. We live in troubled times, and many of develop among your peers, and, more importantly, in the great issues of our day are inextricably tied to law. Our the eyes of the people you have helped. But to my mind, financial system has foundered, and we need to respond excellence should not be measured in dollars. with more effective corporate governance and wiser The second fundamental truth to remember is that regulation. Innovation, competition, and free trade need integrity is the bedrock of any successful career. It is a to be encouraged in order for our economy to flourish. great source of satisfaction to know that you have earned Because of the significant demands on our public sector, your successes, that you didn’t cut any corners, and that our tax system needs to collect revenue efficiently and people trust you. fairly. Our dependence on imported fuel jeopardizes our As for the specifics of what career choices to make, national security, and our emission of greenhouse gases you are just beginning that journey. Most likely, there places our environment at risk. Terrorists threaten our will be twists and turns along the way, many of them national security, and our responses need to be effective unplanned. . . . Indeed, if the world pushes you to take and faithful to our core values. Social issues such as risks and move out in new directions—in part because same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and abortion the more familiar paths are harder to navigate than they continue to divide our society. used to be—you may find yourself even more fulfilled, Each of these challenges demands the creativity and and more successful, because you charted a course that rigor of first-rate lawyers. . . . [And] an extraordinarily was best suited to you. The bottom line, then, is that broad range of opportunities is open to you. We are all you have many exciting choices ahead of you. . . . different, and you should take this opportunity to think I want to conclude by quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, expansively about what would be most fulfilling for you. the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Class of 1907. I can promise you that, whatever your dream turns out As Mrs. Roosevelt famously said: “Yesterday is history, to be—whether it involves public interest litigation, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.” So I would academia, entrepreneurship, politics, private practice, encourage you to enjoy your time with us at Columbia or something else—we will prepare you for leadership in Law School, and to appreciate the remarkable gift that any sector, anywhere in the world. we all have been given by being together at this exciting Your goals should be success and happiness, of course, time and in this wonderful place. but the challenge in the coming years is to define what Welcome to the Columbia family! this means for you. As you try to figure this out, keep two fundamental truths in mind. First, excellence is its own reward. You have been blessed with extraordinary ability. You should appreciate what a glorious gift that is, and you should savor it. At the same time, remember

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 1 Tableof Contents:

28 14 departments

4 14 18 19 20 EX POST FACTO SEE ALSO SETTING THE BAR FACULTY FOCUS PROFILES IN Kahlil Williams, Emma Education Policy, Civil Rights, SCHOLARSHIP 5 Neff, Erik Lindemann, James S. Liebman Olati Johnson Jane M. Spinak NEWS & EVENTS Jennifer Sokoler

48 ALUMNI PROFILES 52 Paramount Leadership 48 evolving justice BY Peter Kiefer BY Carl Freire Viacom President Takesaki Hironobu ’71 and CEO Philippe LL.M., Japan’s chief Dauman ’78 remains justice, welcomes at the top of his game changes in the country’s during especially judicial system and sees challenging times for a unique opportunity the media industry. 56 From Professor to Judge for learning. 54 By Debra A. Livingston AT ISSUE ESSAYS A look at how issues of critical importance to leveling the 54 Mediating Medical judges are perceived playing field Conflicts by law professors, and BY Lila Byock BY Carol B. Liebman vice versa. As the driving force behind When addressing a highly successful health care disputes, 58 minority scholarship and the use of voluntary CLASS NOTES mentoring program, Della mediation makes a Britton Baeza ’78 builds on good deal of sense. 76 a hall of fame legacy. IN MEMORIAM 80 QUESTIONS PRESENTED Ruth Bader 50 Ginsburg ’59

2 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 32

features

28 36 FAST FORWARD pulling their BY Ian Daly weight Law School graduates BY Ken Stier working at the intersection With an array of IN SESSION of new media technology international pro bono By Carrie Johnson and the law are helping opportunities in Africa, Columbia Law School has a to reshape the world of Asia, Europe, and beyond, storied tradition of faculty and communications. Alumni the International Senior alumni ascending to important at Google, Microsoft, Lawyers Project enables positions in the judiciary. and Sirius XM Radio alumni with considerable For Law School students, discuss what attracted professional experience this means an unparalleled them to the field and to make a unique impact opportunity to learn from legal how technological in developing nations scholars of the highest order. advancements have around the globe. influenced their careers. 40 32 Marriage THE ROAD for same-sex LESS TRAVELED couples: BY Paula Span A conversation Around the world, and Marriage for same-sex just around the corner, couples is one of the most 22 graduates of the Law talked about legal issues in School are making an America today. Professors immense impact in the Emens, Franke, Goldberg, world of academia. For and Persily cover the issue this group of scholars, from a multitude of angles working to mold the next in a free-flowing discussion generation of intellectual that examines the future leaders and advance of marriage equality. meaningful ideas could not be more rewarding.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 3 Columbia Law School Magazine

Dean david m. schizer Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations bruno m. santonocito Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs elizabeth schmalz Editor matthew j.x. malady Managing Editor joy y. wang Assistant Editor mary johnson Photography Director peter freed Editorial Director james vescovi Copy Editor lauren pavlakovich Design and Art Direction the barnett group Printing maar printing service, inc.

Columbia Law School Magazine is published three times annually for alumni and Summer Issue 2009 friends of Columbia Law School by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. Opinions expressed in Columbia Law School Magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of Columbia Law School or Columbia University. Ex Post Facto This magazine is printed on FSC certified paper.

appeared on page 22 too much on the plates High Hopes of the lawmakers on It seems that the real Capitol Hill to invest any challenge of the climate meaningful time into Change of address information should be sent to: change issue is its this kind of legislation. columbia law school inability to be confined With the current health 435 West 116 Street, Box A-2 to any given border. Even care debate, as well as New York, NY 10027 just addressing the issue the economic crisis, Attn: Office of Alumni Relations in the United States, while climate change policy alumni office certainly a necessary seems like it would just 212-854-2680 and important start, isn’t expend more political enough. Gerrard and capital from the Obama magazine notices Kolbert’s point about administration at this 212-854-2650 [email protected] the need for technology point than can be spared. and cash transfers speaks But this legislation has Copyright 2009, Columbia Law School. All rights reserved. to the underlying more implications for our international cooperation future than anything else that must take place. we currently face. –Anne Gilbert –Narayan Subramanian find us online! Visit law.columbia.edu/magazine Cap and trade sounds appeared on page 32 THROUGHOUT THE MAGAZINE, ICONS ALLOW like a great system on Global Positioning YOU TO SAY, DO, SEE, AND LEARN MORE. paper, but the actual More government is not implementation seems the answer; government is quite difficult, if not the problem. Government impossible. As the forced Fannie and Join the interview elucidates, a Freddie to buy subprime Conversation Go Beyond cap-and-trade system mortgages; government Tell us what Explore you think in our interactives seems ripe for gaming. failed to heed warnings comments section related to And the companies of the problems brewing the articles most affected by the there as a result; system would probably government allowed do everything in their investment banks to power to convince significantly increase the View More lawmakers in D.C. that leverage on their balance Watch videos and browse slideshows the entire idea behind sheets; and government cap and trade is a failure looked the other way Web because it would require while the credit default Exclusives more bureaucratic Read additional swaps market grew to web-only profiles control and would $53 trillion. What’s the and articles cripple our economy point of regulators if Listen In at a time of crisis. Also, they don’t regulate? Download podcasts there seems to be just –John P. Vota ’85 of Law School Events

Send comments, letters, or class notes to [email protected]. Comment on articles online at law.columbia.edu/magazine. Letters and class notes may be edited for length and clarity.

4 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 More Graduates Earn Prestigious News Appointments

Continuing a long legacy of Columbia Law School graduates Events: serving in high-level government positions, Richard Seeborg ’81 and Cynthia L. Quarterman ’87 have recently accepted appointments to distinguished posts. Seeborg, a U.S. magistrate judge, has been appointed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Reunion Brings Crowd of Northern District of More Than 1,100 to Law School California. In addition, Quarterman was This past June, more than 1,100 touch with the Law School,” said James selected to become alumni returned to the Columbia Weinberger ’99, a partner at Fross the administrator of the Pipeline and Law School campus to reconnect Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu in New York Hazardous Materials with fellow graduates at the 2009 and a co-chair of his class reunion Safety Administration alumni reunion weekend. The two- committee. “In your first 10 years out, at the Department of Transportation. • day event offered cocktail socials, it’s all too easy to focus on your career campus tours, and an array of panel and where you’re going without stop- discussions and lectures for mem- ping to consider where you’ve been.” bers of 10 graduating classes: 1959, Alan Bain ’64, the founder of 10 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, World-Wide Business Centres and a graduating 1994, 1999, and 2004. reunion committee member, agreed. classes Briefly taking the spotlight during the “Reunions serve as a catalyst for reunited in June weekend was Supreme Court Associate reflection and, in particular, for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59, who assessing the benefits gained from the “Reunions serve as a catalyst for spoke to a crowd of more than 300 in Law School experience,” he said. “I reflection and, in particular, Jerome Greene Hall about the history derive a great deal of pleasure in bring- for assessing the benefits gained of Columbians on the U.S. Supreme ing together those with whom I have from the Law School experience.” Court. Ginsburg also took a few min- shared an important period in my life.” alan bain ’64 utes to field questions from the crowd, For Nina Appel ’59, a professor expounding on the collegiality of the at Loyola University Chicago School Court, the role of international law of Law who celebrated her 50th in drafting Supreme Court decisions, reunion along with Ginsburg and and how she has always longed to be nearly 100 other classmates, the an “opera diva.” weekend provided time for con- Reunion 2009 at the St. Regis hotel in New York In addition to Ginsburg’s talk, templation. “We are all ‘survivors’ reunion attendees were also treated to of one sort or another and have had various panel discussions focusing on so many experiences—both good issues such as bankruptcy, public service, and not so good—that we could not national security, and artists’ rights. possibly have envisioned all those Each day culminated in an evening of many years ago,” Appel said. “And dinner and friendly conversation. through it all, we remain colleagues “I was looking to get back in touch and friends bonded together in our with classmates, and to get back in memories of the Law School.” •

Visit the reunion site for photo coverage. web exclusive law.columbia.edu/mag/reunion-2009

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 5 news & events

26 George new Canellos ’89 professors to Lead in five years SEC in New York

George Canellos ’89 has been selected to head the New York regional office of the Securities and Exchange Billings- Commission. In his new role, Canellos, Burford ’02 a former partner Three Experts Join at Milbank, Tweed, Leads Hadley & McCloy, Innovative will oversee the SEC’s operations in Law School Faculty Service the region as the Program commission looks to Columbia Law School recently added three renowned increase oversight of professors to its faculty, each of whom brings a Wall Street. level of expertise that will further enhance the school’s position as a leader in legal education. “One of [my Earlier this year, highest priorities] Bert I. Huang, who recently completed a one- New York City Mayor is focusing on the year stint as an academic fellow at the Law Michael Bloomberg examination staff,” said Canellos. “These School, joined the faculty in July as an associate appointed Diahann are the securities professor. Huang is a specialist in federal courts Billings-Burford ’02 professionals who and civil procedure. He plans to create a new to be the head of NYC inspect registered colloquium at the Law School called Courts and Service, the city’s new broker-dealers, the Legal Process, which will allow scholars to investment advisers, initiative to promote Professor present selected works in progress and receive and investment Bert Huang volunteerism. Her companies. And they comments on their research. “The idea is to bring position is the first of are very much on the to life the kind of interplay I’ve found intriguing and enriching, its kind to be created forefront of efforts between what I’ve learned from the judges I clerked for and what’s to prevent and detect being studied by academics,” said Huang. on a city level anywhere illegal practices in Huang, who is co-teaching a law and economics seminar this in the country. the market.” • semester, previously served as a law clerk for retired Supreme “New York City is the Court Justice David H. Souter. first city to strategically Robert J. Jackson Jr., an expert in corporate harness the power of law and executive compensation, will join the its volunteers to solve Law School faculty as an associate professor in its most pressing 2010, after spending this academic year advising challenges, and I am the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. The excited to lead the New York Times, The Economist, and The Wall charge,” Billings- Street Journal have referenced Jackson’s work on executive compensation, which has also been Burford said. Among Professor the subject of rulemaking commentary before the Robert JacksoN its many programs, Securities and Exchange Commission. Recently, Jackson conducted NYC Service provides the first comprehensive study of compensation awarded to CEOs opportunities for vol- who work in firms owned by private equity investors. unteers to deliver meals Thomas W. Merrill, who taught at Yale Law School last year after to the needy and serve spending half a decade at Columbia Law School, has decided to as mentors for middle return to Jerome Greene Hall, beginning in 2010. Merrill, a former school students. • deputy solicitor general in the Justice Department, is an expert in property law, administrative law, and environmental law. •

View a sample of Merrill’s recent work. web exclusive law.columbia.edu/mag/gas-tax-paper

6 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 news & events

Graduate Publishes Courtroom Chinese Judges Observe Memoir In his recently published memoir, Sidney B. Silverman ’57 American Law in Action recalls his 43 years For roughly four weeks this past summer, Columbia as a trial lawyer and Law School helped advance the international legal his desire, upon education of 30 Chinese judges by way of its newly retirement, to indulge launched Chinese Judges Legal Training Program. in the intellectual challenges of For many of these judges-turned- Guangdong Province, for the past 11 graduate school. students, the month abroad marked years. Tian said his court often deals Silverman’s four decades in the law, their first visit to the United States, with international and common law he says, were filled and the Law School filled that time matters, so his training in the U.S. with sturm und drang, with intensive academic study, court legal system will prove a valuable as well as joys and visits, and trips to tourist destinations asset when he returns home. rewards. When he ended his legal career, around New York City. For Huang Rui, a judge who has he opted for a new The new initiative, run by the Law served in Guangxi Province for 10 challenge. In the School’s Office of International Pro- years, time spent at the Law School book, A Happy Life: grams, is a voluntary part of the one- offered her some career perspective. From Courtroom to Classroom, Silverman year LL.M. curriculum sponsored “It seems to me that American judges recalls the decision that by the Supreme People’s Court of sincerely believe that they’re working changed his life: “Was the People’s Republic of China at the for the good of their society,” she said. there a place populated City University of Hong Kong. “Sometimes we might be concerned by gentle people where 30 intellectual activity Throughout their visit, the judges more about our own career than our chinese reigned? I always took courses in civil procedure, social responsibility. That’s what we judges had the idea that a constitutional law, and torts taught should learn from U.S. judges: to care visit Law School university was such by Law School Professors Suzanne more about our responsibility instead a place. Why not spend my retirement Goldberg, Jamal Greene, and Ben- of a personal career.” • in a university?” jamin L. Liebman, respectively. The Suddenly, he says, students also observed proceedings “retirement” was not a dirty word. in New York criminal and civil courts Silverman enrolled and visited the U.S. Supreme Court in graduate school at in Washington, D.C. Columbia University, “My court is very lucky to grasp where he received a master’s degree in the chance to send me here to get philosophy. Following more knowledge and more experi- his graduation, ence in the American common law Silverman briefly system,” said Tian Changqi, who turned to chess, a game he had played has been a maritime court judge in for many years but Guangzhou, the capital of China’s From left: Qian Guan, Xuetao Ma, and Chao Zheng decided he wanted to master. He studied See more photos from the Chinese judges program. under an expert, read view more law.columbia.edu/mag/chinese-judges chess books, and entered tournaments. Although he won some matches, he lost too many to reach his goal. law School Earlier this year, two Columbia Law School graduates joined the growing For the next step group of alumni accepting public service positions within government. in his retirement, Graduates Linda M. Baldwin ’93 will lead the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Silverman has turned Accept Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) as its to writing. Since Key Civil new director. And John H. Guendelsberger ’86 LL.M., ’93 J.S.D. has completing his memoir, become a member of the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is he has begun work Service responsible for hearing appeals of decisions rendered by immigration on another book—this Posts judges or Department of Homeland Security officers. • time, a novel. •

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 7 news & events

Two Alumni Named U.S. 2 Attorneys new The U.S. Senate U.S. Attorney recently confirmed two appointments Columbia Law School alumni to serve as U.S. Attorneys: Preet Bharara ’93 for the Southern District of New York, and Tristram J. Coffin ’89 for the District of Vermont. Forum Bharara left his position as New Analyzes the York Senator Charles Current State Schumer’s chief Professor Sarah Cleveland counsel to take on of Global his new role. Prior to Litigation his work with Senator Sarah Cleveland Schumer, he helped lead the Senate Judiciary Committee Columbia Law School investigation into the and Robert L. Lieff ’61, Earns High State Justice Department’s of Lieff Cabraser firing of eight U.S. Heimann & Bernstein, Attorneys in 2006. sponsored a gathering Coffin joins the of lawyers, judges, Department Post government officials, Vermont U.S. Attorney’s and academics in Professor Sarah H. Cleveland, co-director of Office from the Burling- the Law School’s Human Rights Institute, has been ton, Vt., office of Paul October to discuss appointed to serve as counselor on international Frank + Collins. He global litigation in a law with the U.S. State Department’s Office of previously served as an post–economic crisis the Legal Adviser. In this role, she will advise Assistant U.S. Attorney world. The two-day both the State Department and the executive for the state. • forum focused on branch on issues related to international law. financial fraud affecting investors “Needless to say, we will miss Professor Cleveland during her two-year term across borders, as well of service,” wrote David M. Schizer, Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor as antitrust litigation, mass torts, and class of Law, in an email to alumni. “But we are extremely proud of the important actions. Panelists work that she will do at the State Department.” also discussed the Cleveland, the Louis Henkin Professor in Human and Constitutional Rights, is role of mediation and arbitration in a renowned expert in the constitutional law of U.S. foreign relations, international disagreements human and labor rights, and the interface between human rights and interna- triggered by the tional trade. During her two years at the State Department, her responsibilities economic downturn will include serving as the liaison between the Legal Adviser’s office, the Office of and the growing anti- litigation culture in the Solicitor General, the Justice Department, and the White House counsel. Europe and elsewhere. Although this will be Cleveland’s first formal government post, she has The 200 attendees, long been involved in policy work. As an expert on the Afghanistan Transi- including Professors tional Commercial Law Project Working Group in 2003, she helped draft a George A. Bermann, John C. Coffee Jr., labor code for the country’s post-Taliban regime. After helping to form the Merritt B. Fox, and Detention without Trial Working Group, Cleveland and the new coalition Hans Smit, shared met with President Obama to push for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay a variety of experi- detention center. Several weeks after that meeting, the president called for ences—some from jurisdictions with the controversial facility to be shut down. highly developed torts In addition to her work with the Law School, Cleveland serves on the legal advi- law regimes, others sory board of several human rights organizations and on the board of editors for the from nations where Journal of International Economic Law. She will return to the Law School in 2011. • addressing wrongs with class action suits is a burgeoning idea. • Watch Cleveland’s Senate testimony on detention. view more law.columbia.edu/mag/cleveland-senate

8 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 news & events

Damrosch is one of six Americans to serve as a member of the Institut de Droit International. Professor Damrosch Elected to Top International Law Group Columbians Earn Lori Fisler Damrosch, the Henry topics, makes recommendations L. Moses Professor of Law and to governments in an effort to Posner’s International Organization, has contribute to the development Praise been elected to the Institut de of international law. Damrosch Droit International, which is widely specializes in the field and has In a recent column considered the leading professional made significant contributions for The Atlantic society in the field of international toward promoting U.S. compliance magazine, Richard law. With her election, Damrosch with its international legal obliga- Posner lambasted legal Professor has become one of only six tions. She is also a member of Lori Fisler Damrosch academics for failing Americans to serve as part of the the Council on Foreign Relations to devote more of their renowned, 132-member institute. and serves as co–editor in chief research to “practical The private group, which of the American Journal of solutions to current studies timely and important International Law. • problems.” Posner, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, criticized the profession nearly in its entirety—naming a Columbia Law School professor and graduate Petal Modeste Named among only a few “notable exceptions.” Posner referenced Dean of Career Services Law School Professor Petal N. Modeste, formerly the senior director of Edward R. Morrison, legal recruiting at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, has joined who recently drafted Columbia Law School as its dean of Career Services. a bill for Congress that could help stop In her new role, Modeste intends to address the chal- the rising tide of lenges presented by the current job market. home foreclosures. “The legal profession is in a period of unprecedented The judge also praised transformation,” Modeste said. “Our top priority is to Steven Schwarcz ’74, provide the resources students need to help them the Stanley A. Star consider how to best contribute to the legal profession Professor of Law & while attaining their own personal goals.” Business at Duke Modeste, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, plans to University School expand the opportunities, training, and programs of Law. In the past available throughout the academic year. Her office, year, Schwarcz has Petal Modeste which serves both students and alumni, will also published several provide access to a network of graduates who are eager to offer guidance articles focused on and assistance to those seeking employment. systemic risk In addition, Modeste will serve on a new faculty committee formed to and the subprime assess the legal profession’s future and to determine how the Law School’s financial crisis. • curriculum can adapt accordingly. “Petal will be an invaluable advocate to the Law School community, helping prepare students and graduates for success in the legal and professional worlds,” said Dean David M. Schizer. Modeste began her legal career at Shearman & Sterling. There, she spent web considerable time advocating for international human rights, work that exclusive included a stint with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. At Read Posner’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Modeste focused on recruitment strategies, devel- Atlantic article. oping an expertise that she will now use to enhance the professional lives law.columbia.edu/ mag/posner-atlantic of Law School alumni and students alike. •

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 9 news & events Oxford’s Law and Finance Program Partners with Law School Columbia Law School and the University of Oxford’s Masters in Law and Finance program have announced a partnership that will be the first of its kind for the renowned British institution of higher learning.

The key component of what will be referred to as Professor philip hamburger the Columbia-Oxford Alliance in Law and Finance Professor consists of faculty and student exchanges focused Philip on interdisciplinary education. Visiting faculty will Hamburger receive assignments beginning in fall of 2010, and Receives the student exchange will start the following year. Prestigious Professor Merritt B. Fox will serve as Columbia Law Book School’s academic director for the program. Award Professor As many as five Law School students will be merritt fox selected to study at Oxford, where the masters Philip Hamburger, program aims to provide those who already possess a legal the Maurice and Hilda background with in-depth knowledge of financial and economic Friedman Professor regulatory frameworks. Columbia Law School students will be able to of Law, was honored attend core classes on microeconomics and corporate transactions, with this year’s Henry Paolucci/Walter among others. Elective courses offered by the Masters in Law and Bagehot Book Award Finance Program include subjects such as corporate insolvency, for his recent work European business regulation, and international economic law. Law and Judicial Duty. “The program fits into the Global Alliance’s overall theme of Hamburger received oxford giving students the chance to maximize their Law School experi- student the prize from the ence with study at other preeminent institutions,” says Brian exchange Intercollegiate Gibson, Columbia Law School’s assistant dean for comparative begins in Studies Institute in early October. and international programs. “We’re building strength on strength.” In the book, Oxford, in return, will send Ph.D. candidates, who will benefit from the 2011 Hamburger attempts Law School’s rigorous legal curriculum. The Oxford students will audit to counter the widely classes and present papers to the greater Law School community. held view that judicial The Columbia-Oxford Alliance in Law and Finance is a part of review developed from the Law School’s Global Alliance program, which partners with the 1780s through to the Supreme Court top-tier universities around the world, such as the Université de case of Marbury v. Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques. Madison in 1803. He “It’s a way to tap into another school’s comparative advantage,” argues that such notes Gibson. “The Columbia-Oxford partnership is an innovative authority has almost spoke of the Global Alliance concept.” • always belonged with judges as an aspect of their ancient duty to decide in accord with Activist Condemns Iranian Anti-Semitism the law of the land. • Lecturing at the “Hate Speech” and Incitement said Cotler, who became a member of Canada’s to Violence Workshop this past April, human Parliament after serving as that country’s rights activist Irwin Cotler warned that anti- justice minister and attorney general. “This Semitic and anti-Zionist language used by is where the duty to prevent kicks in.” Iranian leaders such as President Mahmoud Cotler’s lecture marked the end of the Ahmadinejad would likely lead to genocide. semester-long workshop, which was sponsored “This is the only instance of state-sanctioned by the Center for the Study of Law and Culture genocide that is foretold—waiting to happen,” at Columbia University. •

10 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 news & events

New network spans Harvey Miller ’59 Finance Political 7 Experts Science regions Discuss Global Organization Credit Honors Doyle Crisis

The American Politi- Wilbur Ross, dubbed cal Science Association the “King of Bank- ruptcy” by Fortune awarded Professor magazine, kicked Michael W. Doyle its off the International 2009 Charles E. Mer- S I Expands Public Insolvency Institute’s ninth annual confer- riam Award in Septem- J ence with a keynote ber. The biennial award speech on the global honors scholars whose Interest Network credit crisis. The written and professional Social Justice Initiatives (SJI) at Columbia Law highly regarded two-day conference accomplishments have School has deep connections to the public interest community in New York. But with more students and drew more than 100 used social science graduates looking beyond the metropolitan area, bankruptcy experts to research to make a sig- SJI has been strengthening Columbia’s ties in other Columbia Law School nificant contribution to parts of the country by creating the Columbia Law this past June. School Faculty-Graduate Social Justice Network. Panels at the con- the art of government. ference covered a Doyle, a leading The largely graduate-led network, faculty members, focuses on seven wide range of topics, international relations which will also maintain a strong New regions around the country: Washing- including the downfall expert, received the York presence, consists of public inter- ton, D.C., northern California, south- of the automotive industry, conflict of award at a luncheon and est–minded students and graduates, as ern California, the Pacific Northwest, interest in insolvency ceremony in Toronto. well as regional “consultant counselors” the South, and the Midwest, as well situations, investing Earlier this year, he who will help build connections as New York. The consultant counsel- in China, and the was elected to join the throughout the country. Their combined ors will help members connect with realities of restructuring multinational American Philosophical efforts augment the work of SJI’s New one another and with Columbia Law corporate enterprises. Society, America’s oldest York–based staff by providing local School faculty members through pro- Harvey Miller ’59, who learned society. • expertise and connections to other fessional and social gatherings, as well oversaw the liquidation of Lehman Brothers, experienced Columbia graduates in as online interactions. The network chaired a panel different cities and states. The over- welcomes all Law School graduates addressing the col- arching goal is to facilitate professional doing social justice work in a wide vari- lapse of the vaunted and personal relationships, working ety of settings, including those working investment house. • collaborations, and continued learning. at public interest organizations, “We are well aware that graduates and government agencies, and law firms. students increasingly would like to Consultant counselors will also help work outside the New York area,” says students and graduates navigate the Ellen P. Chapnick, dean for SJI. “So job market. “In the career search pro- we’re expanding our circle of advis- cess, a far-flung, diversified network ers by hiring graduates who live in can be a vital tool,” Chapnick says. “A different parts of the country and are lot of the public interest and govern- Professor Michael Doyle experts in different areas of practice.” ment job market is informal. We The network, which Chapnick wanted to build a network in which developed in collaboration with Profes- our graduates and students can help sor Susan P. Sturm and several other other graduates and students.” •

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 11 news & events

Dean Schizer Awarded Honorary Doctoral Degree Dean David M. Schizer Dean David M. Schizer was presented with an honorary doctor of laws degree by The Jewish Theological Seminary at that school’s 115th commencement. “Through your edu- Coffee Calls for cational leadership at Columbia Law Vilma School, you have helped shape the Martinez ’67 Accountability from legal landscape of the nation,” seminary Named U.S. Chancellor Arnold M. Ambassador to Eisen said of Dean Credit Agencies Schizer. “You have Argentina been an eloquent In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in August, Professor John C. Coffee Jr. warned voice in stressing the importance of ethical legislators that credit-rating agencies must be In July, the U.S. Senate decision-making and held more accountable for their actions in order unanimously confirmed to avoid a repeat of the ongoing financial crisis. wise leadership by those in the legal field, Vilma S. Martinez ’67 “The credit-rating agencies today do not face and their crucial role as the next U.S. ambas- as guardians of the any meaningful risk of liability,” said Coffee, the rule of law.” • sador to Argentina. Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law. Martinez, who was Companies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, nominated by President and Fitch Ratings came under harsh criticism for Barack Obama, is the assigning their highest ratings to bundles of mort- first woman to serve gage-backed securities, many of which were built in that post. around subprime loans that went into default. Martinez has been Part of the problem, noted Coffee, is that most a litigation partner at Professor John Coffee of the revenue for the rating agencies comes Munger, Tolles & Olson from the issuers of these securities. Although that business model is likely since 1982. Prior to join- to remain intact, Coffee argued that changes are needed or there will be a st ing the firm, she was “persistence of the status quo, dysfunctional and perverse as it is. 1 president and general female “Ultimately, unless the users of credit ratings believe that ratings are based ambassador counsel of the Mexican on real facts,” Coffee said, “the credibility of ratings, particularly in the field of to Argentina American Legal Defense structured finance, will remain tarnished, and private housing finance in the and Educational Fund. U.S. will remain starved and underfunded because it will be denied access to Martinez has also served the broader capital markets.” on the Columbia Law In the weeks following his testimony, Coffee joined the new Credit Rating Agency School Advisory Board. • Task Force, which was established by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The coalition will serve as a technical and creative resource for members of the House of Representa- tives’ Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises as they work to reform credit-rating agencies. •

What other fixes are necessary? join the conversation law.columbia.edu/mag/coffee-senate

12 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 news & events

Lanny Breuer ’85 Promotes Rule of Law Here and Abroad In his work in the United states. Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer ’85 has learned that justice has no boundaries.

In a speech at Columbia Law School on October 7, community from the lawlessness that endangers Breuer detailed how his new job with the Justice basic human rights and, in fact, endangers our Department’s criminal division requires that he national security.” manage more than 400 lawyers stationed in the Throughout his career, Breuer worked in both United States and 37 other countries around the the public and private sectors, with stints in world. Their overarching mission, Breuer said, the New York County District Attorney’s Office remains the same, regardless of where they work: under Robert Morgenthau and at Covington & to promote the rule of law. Burling in Washington, D.C., in addition to “The importance of this work really cannot serving former president Bill Clinton as special be overstated,” said Breuer, whose talk was counsel. Citing his own experiences, he encour- presented by the aged the roughly 100 students in attendance Dean’s Office and to work in the public sector at some point in Social Justice their careers. Professor Initiatives. “Promoting “I’ve never had a job that I haven’t loved,” Wu Wins the impartial admin- Breuer said. “And although I enjoyed my private Travel istration of justice practice at Covington immensely . . . it’s really Writing around the world been my time in the public sector that, for me, Award protects our global has absolutely been the most rewarding.” •

Professor Tim Wu, Download a podcast of Lanny Breuer’s speech. a specialist in listen in law.columbia.edu/mag/breuer-talk lanny breuer ’85 telecommunications law and a pioneer of the “net neutrality” theory, received a top honor this fall—for travel Symposium Honors and Roasts writing. In October, at the Society of Professor Monaghan American Travel Writers Foundation Professor Henry Paul The first panel that he is really com- Lowell Thomas Monaghan celebrated of the day’s mitted to teaching Travel Journalism his 75th birthday this event was titled them law and making Competition, Wu Monaghan year with a special “Current Problems them think.” Several won the top prize in celebrates symposium organized in the Federal of Monaghan’s former the cultural tourism for him by his Law Courts: Habeas, students traveled to category for his School colleagues. The Extraterritoriality, New York to attend article “The Mongolia th name of the event, and ‘Litigation the event. Obsession,” which 75 “The View from the Governance.’” At dinner, speeches appeared in the birthday Curmudgeon’s Lair,” Professors Sarah H. took a more light- online magazine referred to Monaghan’s Cleveland and John hearted turn. Guests Slate last year. • office in Jerome C. Coffee Jr. spoke who spoke included Greene Hall—which on the panel, along Sandra Lynch, who is affectionately with academics from serves as the 1st referred to as “the Harvard and Yale law Circuit Court of curmudgeon’s lair.” schools. Professor Appeals chief judge, The symposium Gillian E. Metzger as well as Professor began with lunch and moderated a second Emeritus Marvin A. two panel discussions panel discussion Chirelstein, whose at the Law School. about constitutional speech took the Then, an array of common law. form of a eulogy for panelists, professors, “[Henry] has this Monaghan. “Marvin academics, and guests curmudgeonly façade had the place in proceeded to Terrace in that he puts on, but stitches,” recalled the Sky restaurant for it’s very clear that Metzger, adding that dinner and a roast of he is a very devoted the good-natured Monaghan, the Harlan teacher and mentor,” Monaghan was among Fiske Stone Professor said Metzger. “His those who most Professor Henry Paul Monaghan of Constitutional Law. students appreciate enjoyed the evening. •

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 13 SeeColumbia Law School students excel outside the classroomAlso: BY MARY JOHNSON & JOY Y. WANG Kahlil Williams Minerva’s Match

While working as a congres- sional fellow in 2006, Kahlil Williams ’11 found out that he had the characteristics of an owl. “We had to take personality tests that determined what kind of animal you are,” Williams explains. “I scored off the charts as an owl, which is supposed to show that I’m really analytical.” The test result surprised him, but in retrospect, it was right on target. “I like to think things through, and I am intellectually curious,” says Williams, who served in the Washington, D.C., office of Pennsylvania Congressman Chaka Fattah three years ago. Academia provided the perfect chance to emphasize his analytic strengths. Now he is simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Williams came to the Law School in part because of Professor Nathaniel Persily, who was his adviser at UPenn. “Nate is a close friend of mine and at the top of the field in election law,” he says. “I’m particularly interested in whether or not we should move toward a color-blind society. It’s an issue at the heart of election law and society itself.” The topic is also the focus of Williams’ Ph.D. dissertation, which he will finish this winter—in whatever time he has between his responsibilities as a student and a member of the Columbia Law Review. “I’ve spent some long nights writing and working with election data,” he says with a smile. “But it’s a labor of love.”

14 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID YELLEN Emma Neff Juris Doctor

As a first-year summer intern at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Grahams- town, South Africa, Emma Neff ’10 was charged with investigating government negligence that may have contributed to the deaths of more than 100 infants. The children had died from exposure to conta- minated water, and Neff’s research showed that three government bodies shared responsibility for the disas- ter—two for distributing the tainted resource and one for failing to respond appro- priately as the situation unfolded. By summer’s end, Neff had amassed enough information to file a legal claim against all parties on behalf of the LRC. “Govern- ment officials clearly should have known about the contamination and should have taken some action,” she recalls. With its human rights and public health components, the tragic controversy tapped into Neff’s dual professional interests: In addition to earning a degree from Columbia Law School, she expects to graduate from Duke University School of Medicine in 2011. An aspiring surgeon, Neff has focused on public interest issues in her studies at the Law School. She analyzed Liberian mining contracts for the Human Rights Clinic, served on the staff of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, and sorted through substantive legal issues for Rightslink, an organization that offers free legal research to nonprofit organizations. Neff hopes to use both her medical and legal training to perform international relief work. “Law makes a difference in big-picture, long-term ways,” Neff says. “And governments and decision-makers listen to lawyers in a way they don’t listen to other professionals, even doctors.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 15 Erik Lindemann Distinguished Service

The daily routine of strolling through metal detectors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York hardly fazed Erik Lindemann ’11 this past summer. After all, six years ago, he had top secret security clearance on one of the world’s largest aircraft carriers, the USS Nimitz. “I’m used to showing up for work and going through several security check- points,” says Lindemann, who worked in the securities and fraud division of the federal prosecutor’s office earlier this year. In less than a decade, the Long Island native has gone from life as a naval officer on the Nimitz—where he slept six inches below a run- way for F-18 fighter jets—to that of a law student working on white-collar crime cases. Although Lindemann’s resume includes an array of adventures and reads like that of a Tom Clancy or John Grisham character, he was excited about returning to academia. “It was thrilling,” Linde- mann says. “While I was in the Navy, I really missed intellectual stimulation.” Since becoming a student again, he has participated in the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and was recently accepted into an LL.M. program at the Lon- don School of Economics. Armed with an impressive legal education, Lindemann hopes to someday work for the International Criminal Court prosecuting genocide cases, but admits that he’s not tied down to one particular plan. “There’s so much you can do with a law degree,” Lindemann says. “I really just want to be pre- pared for the opportunities when they come along.”

16 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Jennifer B. Sokoler Going Places

Jennifer B. Sokoler ’10 traces her penchant for international affairs to her family: As a child, she listened intently to her grandparents’ stories about surviving the Holocaust. Her parents supplemented those impromptu history lessons with annual, month- long vacations to distant countries, where the family sacrificed the comforts of hotels for the authenticity of staying with local families. “It was an incred- ible bonding experience,” Sokoler recalls, “and my parents really made me feel comfortable being in foreign places.” Thanks largely to those childhood experiences, Sokoler grew up idolizing diplomats like Madeleine Albright, rather than pop culture icons. “It was always very important to me how the U.S. was portrayed in the rest of the world,” she says. At the Law School, Sokoler’s interest in international legal studies led her to Tanzania, where she spent seven weeks last summer helping the Inter- national Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda prosecute crimes related to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This fall, she is in Washington, D.C., working in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department. In addition to her focus on global legal issues, Sokoler has also developed an affinity for academia—an interest fueled by stints as a research assistant to Professor Gillian E. Metzger and Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger. In the future, she hopes to satisfy her myriad legal curiosities with a career that encompasses both scholarship and international legal work. “What I love about academia and government,” Sokoler says, “is that the agendas change daily.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 17 setting the bar Columbia Law School Innovations

Higher Standards in a matter of three short years, professor james liebman went from concerned parent to one of the nation’s foremost educational reformers

By amy miller

Like others who came of age in the 1960s, Columbia Law about accountability systems based on a single number or grade, he School Professor James S. Liebman always thought he would “make nonetheless deems Liebman’s achievements “remarkable.” a revolution.” He just never expected to do it as head of account- “I know the ins and outs of what goes on at the board of educa- ability for New York City’s public school system. Nevertheless, the tion, and grand ideas just get ground up,” says Rebell. “Jim took a reforms Liebman put in place at the country’s largest school district lot of heat and a lot of criticism. But he didn’t get ground up. He are changing the way people think about education. “Helping the came up with a very profound scheme, and he got it implemented. city shake up the bureaucracy and motivate and empower educa- It doesn’t always happen like that.” tors to accelerate the learning of all kids is as close as I’ll come to But then again, Liebman isn’t your run-of-the-mill policymaker. that revolution,” he says. He has spent most of his career writing and teaching about inequal- Liebman has returned to the Law School after three years as ity in school and criminal court systems. In the 1980s, he repre- the school district’s chief accountability officer. Thanks to his lead- sented the plaintiffs in a school desegregation case in Kansas City. ership, New York’s school Joel Klein, the future chancellor of New York City Public Schools, teachers have more infor- represented the state of Missouri in the case. mation than ever about In 2002, Liebman and Klein met again, via email, after Klein how much their students became chancellor. Liebman’s children were attending public school are, or aren’t, learning. He on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the concerned father helped develop an $80 mil- emailed Klein suggestions for saving a dual-language program. lion data system to track When they met in person, Klein asked Liebman to work for the school student performance in district. “Of course, I promptly turned him down,” Liebman recalls. minute detail and worked After talking with others in the department about his ideas to create teams of teach- for change, Liebman says he reconsidered. When he completed a ers in every school who are six-year project documenting errors in capital convictions and experts in using the data to sentences, he accepted Klein’s offer and took a leave of absence diagnose and treat student from the Law School beginning in January 2006. needs. Liebman is also Three years and an array of reforms later, Liebman has returned the man behind the city’s to teaching law full time. (While with the school district, he taught A-through-F report cards one or two courses each year.) But he continues to ponder new ways for its schools. The tools he put in place have become models for to improve the country’s public schools, and his ongoing thoughts educators nationwide. “There are precious few systems like this about how best to spur change are not limited to the education anywhere in the world,” he says. realm. Liebman is convinced that lawyers can be invaluable in Liebman faced plenty of criticism from educators and parents efforts aimed at reforming institutions. He hopes to train law along the way. But the results of his ambitious initiatives speak for students to work with professionals in other fields to bring change themselves: Standardized test scores are up, and city teachers now to a range of public entities. “Lawyers,” he says, “have a lot to offer have the tools to figure out which students are struggling, and why. when it comes to institutional reform.” Michael Rebell, director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Columbia’s Teachers College, was pleasantly surprised with what AMY Miller is a staff reporter at Corporate Counsel and The Amer- Liebman was able to accomplish. While Rebell says he is skeptical ican Lawyer magazines.

18 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 illustration by George Shewchuk faculty focus Civil Rights

Addressing Inequality professor olati johnson takes on civil rights issues through a trifecta of scholarship, teaching, and institutional work

By Joy Y. Wang

Sitting in her office on the sixth for Institutional and Social Change. “The floor of Jerome Greene Hall, leading civil idea of the center is to be interdisciplin- rights scholar Olati Johnson points out that ary, to draw from not only the law, but when she was born 41 years ago, the election also the social sciences to understand what of an African-American president was sim- needs to be done around civil rights issues,” ply inconceivable. “Having the first Latina explains Johnson. The difficulty, she adds, is Supreme Court justice is also an amazing that issues such as housing, access to good moment,” says Johnson, whose parents, an schools, and transportation all contribute to economist with the International Monetary poverty and inequality. There is no magic- Fund and a school teacher, settled in the bullet solution. Washington, D.C., area from Sierra Leone In addition to her scholarly pursuits, in 1976. “It’s a testament to what our civil Johnson devotes herself to teaching the next rights laws have done, and how we’ve come generation of legal advocates. Her students, a long way as a society.” Here, she pauses in turn, named her this year’s Public Interest to add an important caveat: “But there’s Professor of the Year. always more to do.” Johnson’s efficacy as a teacher is tied to Johnson notes, for example, that anti-discrimination laws have her success as an advocate. Her lectures present real-life prob- helped a generation of minorities enter the middle and upper classes, lems drawn from time spent working with historically important but the unemployment rate in New York City is still higher for nonprofit organizations such as the Children’s Defense Fund, the African-American males than for any other group. “We still have NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Ameri- severe structural racial inequality, and we need to be rethinking can Civil Liberties Union. After law school, Johnson clerked for issues of civil rights,” she says. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and from 2001 to 2003, Johnson’s area of expertise involves the overlap of housing, race, she served as counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy. and poverty. “I spend a lot of time on integration in housing and “I’m a big advocate of doing government work,” Johnson says. schools,” she says. Currently, her efforts are focused on writing a “Policy work rounded out my skills as an advocate. It gave me paper about ways in which federal spending from the stimulus bill an understanding of the legislative process and about how to can be tracked and used to help those in society who are most disad- frame complex legal and social policy questions in a way the public vantaged. “When you talk about integration, a lot of people say, ‘Are can understand.” we still segregated?’ Not by law, of course, but with housing, there’s a For the time being, Johnson is grateful to have the opportunity city-suburb divide,” Johnson explains. “There is a close relationship to write, teach, and strategize new ways in which to address racial between racial segregation and the concentration of poverty.” equality. “I am trying to shed light on the issue in a way that will be In an attempt to remedy such inequities, Johnson has worked interesting to people in the real world,” she says. Johnson’s ultimate with Professor Susan P. Sturm on various projects for the Center goal is clear: “I want to continue to promote change in a real way.”

“We still have structural racial inequality, and we need to rethink issues of civil rights.” —Professor Olati Johnson

illustration by John S. Dykes LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 19 profiles in scholarship Jane Spinak

The Advocate from her days as a teacher in new england to her position at the forefront of child advocacy, professor jane spinak has kept her sights set on helping kids

by mary johnson

Professor Jane M. Spinak, director with young people,” notes Spinak, a petite of Columbia Law School’s Child Advocacy woman with brown eyes and layers of gin- Clinic, believes in learning by doing. She built ger locks. “It made me realize I didn’t want a career by getting out of her small-town to represent an institution. I’m an advocate comfort zone and diving into the trenches, for individuals.” and she expects her students to take a similar Spinak has maintained that focus ever since. approach. When they do, Spinak says with a The girl from the foothills of the Adirondacks smile, the results speak for themselves. has been a consummate New Yorker for the Last year, a team of students in her clinic past 33 years, and big-city life has won her crafted a thought-provoking letter to the com- over. It has also allowed her to enjoy a remark- missioner of New York City’s Administration able career doing what she loves: protecting for Children’s Services (ACS) recommending the rights of children and families. changes they knew could improve the lives of Almost three decades after she agreed to foster children approaching the age when they would no longer be run the Child Advocacy Clinic at the Law School, Spinak has helped eligible for government-sponsored services. The students’ convic- change public policy, formed innovative advocacy organizations, tion stemmed from their firsthand experiences representing these and inspired students to make public interest law a part of their adolescents, learning about their lives, and listening to their stories future careers. It’s a track record embodied by the student team of struggle. that wrote the letter to ACS last year: They negotiated important, “In the clinic, we spend a lot of time thinking about who these individual results for clients, but their efforts in the clinic also youths are and what communities they come from,” says Spinak, who stand to promote systemic change. The letter caught the attention has taught at the Law School for 27 years. “What are their cultural of several decision-makers at ACS, who suggested a meeting this experiences? What are their life experiences? For many students, fall between the organization and members of Spinak’s clinic. The it’s an introduction to a world they’re not familiar with—as it was for me.” After three decades with the clinic, Spinak Before coming to New York for law school in 1976, Spinak had little knowl- has helped change public policy, formed edge of the poor, abused, neglected, new advocacy organizations, and inspired undereducated, and underserved children who have now become the focal students to pursue public interest careers. point of her life’s work. “I grew up in a small town,” she recalls. “I went to school in a small town. I taught meeting could be the first step in improving the lives of countless high school in a small town.” youths across the city—and that possibility fills the passionate pro- As she learned more about the issues surrounding chil- fessor with pride. dren’s rights, Spinak realized “this was a population that needed “What actually stays with you more is not the results of any indi- advocacy.” She briefly contemplated education law, but a clerkship vidual case, but that as a program, we’ve been able to shape the way with the general counsel of the New York City Board of Education children and adults in the child welfare system are represented,” quickly cured her of that. “It didn’t seem very connected to working Spinak says. “I think, as a program, we’ve really had that impact.”

20 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 illustration by stephen gardner The Advocate

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 21 Thanks to a rich tradition of faculty and alumni serving in the judiciary, Columbia Law School students have an opportunity to learn from some of the nation’s most distinguished judges In

Sessionby Carrie Johnson

22 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY peter freed Appointed to the bench in 2007, Judge Debra Livingston of the 2nd Circuit was previously a full-time professor at the Law School, where she continues to teach an appellate court externship.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 23 ing time dwindled away. Afterward, she critiqued videotapes of the performances, gently pointing out flaws in logic and delivery. “[Justice] Sotomayor found it good to sit with students and think about their questions,” says Ellen P. Chapnick, Columbia Law School’s dean for Social Justice Initiatives, who taught the class alongside her friend for several years. “It was a different way of reflecting. She loves being around students. She loves being challenged by students on questions she hadn’t thought about, hadn’t thought about in a while, or hadn’t thought about in that way.” While Sotomayor recently opened a new chapter in her pro- efore Sonia Sotomayor fessional life, the course she so painstakingly assembled at took her seat this fall as the nation’s first Latina member of the Columbia Law School con- U.S. Supreme Court, the Bronx native spent several years teach- tinues under the watchful Bing Columbia Law School students the ins and outs of appellate gaze of another familiar court practice. face on campus: 2nd Cir- Beginning in 2000, the Manhattan-based federal court judge cuit Appeals Court Judge poured her substantial energy into developing a course for aspir- Debra A. Livingston. ing appellate lawyers, personally selecting as many as a dozen Livingston, who had students each semester to participate in a prestigious externship taught full time at the Law class at the Law School. School before being named Sotomayor handpicked a diverse group of guest speakers to the bench by President ranging from a former solicitor general to young public defend- Ellen Chapnick, the dean for Social George W. Bush two years ers and solo practitioners who represented immigrants. She Justice Initiatives, taught alongside ago, welcomed the chance to also arranged for students to spend one day each week in the Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who, in embark on a new classroom 2000, developed a course at the chambers of her colleagues at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Law School for aspiring appellate endeavor. And, she says, the And she reserved a magisterial courtroom for students to deliver lawyers. (Law School file photo) course provides a wealth of mock oral arguments—replete with judges bedecked in dark unique benefits to those who robes and red lights that flashed on the lectern as allotted speak- enroll: Students learn how to write a “bench memo” for judges under real deadline pressure and get frequent feedback on their writing skills, something that can be unusual in a typical classroom environment. “There are not many contexts in which law students can get this kind of experience,” Livingston says. As it turns out, the benefits accrue in both directions. The course, Jack Weinstein ’48, and all that it demands, has offered Livingston a novel opportunity to examine the more formal role she inhabits each day on the bench. a towering figure in New “In the life of an appellate court judge, you have, as a necessity, to remove yourself from some of your friends, associates, and col- York legal circles, taught leagues,” Livingston says. “It’s great to be back in the classroom where the students are going to be wrestling with the ideas a pro- at the Law School for fessor puts forward. It’s also very exciting to be with students who are hearing the idea of the law for the first time, and particularly two generations and exciting for a judge to reconnect with that experience of what it maintained a presence looked like when it was all new, year after year.” c o l u m b i a L aw S c h o o l has a storied tradition of in the classroom even providing its students extraordinary access to some of the nation’s most prominent judges—both in class settings and informal ses- as he decided a series of sions where such weighty topics as civil rights and national security are discussed over brown bag lunches or hors d’oeuvres. landmark cases. The Ilene Strauss, the Law School’s executive director of academic example he set permeates counseling and judicial programming who has co-taught the externship with Sotomayor since 2007, regularly extends invitations to Jerome Greene Hall. judges to visit Columbia Law School for conversations with students. Earlier this year, for instance, Alabama District Court Judge Myron H. Thompson journeyed to the campus from Montgom- ery to discuss the presidential election. Pennsylvania District Court Judge Anita B. Brody ’58 frequently returns to Columbia Law School

24 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 to give advice about clerkship applications. Kenneth M. Karas ’91, “Every few years, the who now sits on the federal district court in White Plains, N.Y., has spoken with students about his days prosecuting suspected terrorists. style and the Alvin K. Hellerstein ’56 ventured from his district court seat in New York to judge a mock trial last year. And Judge Robert S. Smith ’68, substance of the class an associate judge on the New York State Court of Appeals and a former lecturer at the Law School, makes regular visits to discuss suddenly changes. clerkships and the appeals court. “It’s nice for students to work closely with people who are intel- The students bring lectual powerhouses and also have a really practical take on things, as well,” Strauss says. “It’s real life from successful, smart people.” something new C. Scott Hemphill, who co-chairs the faculty clerkship committee to it all the time.” at the Law School, echoes Strauss’ point. “All these interactions help give our students a better sense of the law in action and practi- —Judge gerard lynch cal advice about how to plan a career that combines practice with public service,” he says. Hemphill has seen firsthand that the judges who teach regularly at the school, as well as those who serve as informal mentors, comprise a valuable network for students interested in working with members of the judiciary. Perhaps the best-known Law School faculty member of the modern era to ascend the ranks of the legal profession is Supreme Court Associ- ate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59, who took time in a recent interview to recall her tenure at the Law School nearly four decades ago. Over a meeting in her expan- sive, temporary chambers on the

view more Watch a video of Justice Ginsburg’s reunion address. law.columbia.edu/mag/ ginsburg-reunion

Court’s second floor, Ginsburg’s eyes shined as she remembered her early days, beginning in 1972, as the Law School’s first tenure- track female faculty member. For the eight years following her arrival, Ginsburg pursued her life’s mission by arguing for gender equality in employment, scrub- bing the U.S. code of language that differentiated on the basis of sex, and appearing before the high court she would eventually join as its second female jurist. All along the way, a team of Law School

Second Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch ’75, an award-winning Law School professor, continues to teach and advise students.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 25 Lecturer-in-law Robert Sack ’63, who sits on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, has taught a media law course at the Law School for the past eight years. students accompanied her to court- rooms in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. “My tenure at Columbia coin- cided with the full flowering of the revived women’s movement, and I was spending a good deal of my time helping to launch the ACLU Wom- en’s Rights Project,” Ginsburg says. “I came to see the value of clinical education in those years because the students were engaged in a way that they wouldn’t be in a setting that was more academic.” More than 30 years later, Gins- burg’s ties to the Law School remain strong. Her former law clerk David M. Schizer became dean five years ago, and he continues to be a valued source of recommendations, helping to identify promising Columbia Law School students who may be good candidates to fill his shoes as a Supreme Court clerk, the justice says. When discussing the judicial heavyweights who have taught at the Law School, Ginsburg seems to hold a special place for senior federal district Judge Jack B. Weinstein ’48, who serves in Brooklyn. Weinstein, a towering figure in New York legal circles, taught at Columbia for two generations and maintained a presence in the classroom even as he wrote academic tracts and decided a series of landmark cases. Among the high-profile disputes that crossed his desk were lawsuits filed by Vietnamese- Americans alleging they were poi- soned by Agent Orange and cases brought by plaintiffs who took aim at gun makers and the tobacco industry. Weinstein, now 88, stopped teaching at Columbia Law School a few years ago. But the example he set permeates Jerome Greene Hall. and Judge Debra Livingston heard an appellate case together on October 1 in Manhattan. G e r a r d E . L y n c h ’ 7 5 , a Law School professor and Lynch, who spent nearly a decade at the Southern District of federal judge serving on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, took a New York before his most recent appointment, is the latest in a course in evidence from Jack Weinstein during his time as a stu- string of 11 past and present 2nd Circuit judges with ties to the dent at Columbia in the early 1970s. And one of Lynch’s first official Law School. The longstanding connection began with Emile Henry appearances since his Senate confirmation in September was an Lacombe, Class of 1865, who was among the first to serve on the all–Columbia Law School affair: He, Judge Robert D. Sack ’63, court when it was established in 1891. Martin Thomas Manton,

26 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Class of 1901, continued the tradition, as did Leonard Page “When you’ve had that kind of example before you,” Lynch notes, Moore ’22 and Harold Raymond Medina ’12, who served as an “it’s inspiring. You don’t cut your ties to the teaching life.” assistant professor at the Law School from 1915 to 1940. In the 2nd Circuit’s 118-year history, there have been only 14 years in which it Judge Robert Sack ’63 , a member of the 2nd Circuit has been devoid of Law School graduates or professors. Court of Appeals since 1998, says that as a lecturer-in-law at the Law Lynch ascended to the 2nd Circuit post with not only a wealth of School, he has always advocated for strong ties between Columbia and experience gleaned from serving at the district court level, but also the courts. an array of scholarly accolades from years spent teaching at the Law “If anything, I’ve thought they should be closer,” Sack says. “I can’t School. In 1994, students voted to give Lynch a teaching award for think of a better way to teach the law to students than to take them his engaging lectures, and he later won a University-wide teaching down to a court and watch.” prize, in part for his first-year Introduction to Criminal Law course. Soon after arriving on the bench, Sack found that, as a sitting “The principal thing is just that I enjoy teaching,” Lynch says. “It judge, he missed the chance to reflect on the latest developments is my favorite part of being an academic. [I enjoy it] even more than in the legal areas that most interested him as a practitioner. To stay the research. Every few years, the style and the substance of the class sharp, for the past eight years Sack has co-taught a Law School suddenly changes. The students bring something new to it all the time.” course in media law, one of his first professional loves. Lynch had no desire to stop teaching after being named to “It lets me keep up an expertise,” reports Sack. “As a judge, I’m a the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 2000. He and generalist. I went from being an Livingston continue to maintain their office spaces at the Law expert to, at the flick of a switch, School and make time to meet with students in Jerome Greene becoming a generalist.” Hall as their schedules permit. For her part, Livingston says go beyond There, the judges say, they encounter gifted students who often she regrets not attending more Browse a timeline of Law make good candidates for clerkships in their chambers. Livingston faculty lunches during the School alumni and faculty on the 2nd Circuit. just welcomed former criminal procedure student Matt Gurgel ’09 decade when she taught full law.columbia.edu/mag/ as a new law clerk after Labor Day. Nick Boeving ’05, who now works time at Columbia Law School, 2nd-circuit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York where she could soak up know- handling a variety of civil matters, served as a clerk for Livingston ledge from experts with diverse interests. Nearly every week, the Law two years ago, after enrolling in her national security seminar. School offers a smorgasbord of lunchtime seminars where faculty As faculty members who are sitting judges, Lynch and Livings- members and other scholars present papers and debate ideas—a buzz ton constantly balance competing demands on their time. But the of activity from which many appellate judges are cloistered. energetic career of Judge Weinstein, they say, sets a high bar. Yet, after more than two years on the appeals court, Livingston says her tenure there has influenced, in subtle ways, her suggestions to Law School students. “I think I always stressed lawyering skills, but I stress more these days the need to speak clearly, to answer questions that are being asked to you directly,” she says. “As a judge, I think I may have a “I think I always stressed special expertise.” Livingston’s former student and law clerk Nick Boeving says that lawyering skills, but I watching the judge in the classroom, and later during his clerkship, helped him appreciate the attention to detail that is required of a stress more these days good attorney, as well as the ability to carefully consider both sides of an argument. the need to speak clearly, Those skills will be focal points of the appeals court externship course that Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently handed off to to answer questions that Livingston. Students will learn the ins and outs of writing memos for judges and may even help draft opinions, according to faculty are being asked to you members who have co-taught the course. Friends and colleagues say that Sotomayor was so delighted by directly. As a judge, I her experience with the appellate class at the Law School that she think I may have a made certain, behind the scenes, that it would proceed without a hitch this autumn. special expertise.” “From the moment she was swept up, she’s always taken the time to help us work on our end to make sure the course keeps —Judge Debra Livingston going,” says Ilene Strauss. “The students who take the externship, they just love it.”

Carrie Johnson covers the Justice Department as a staff writer for The Washington Post.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 27 8Fast Forward Columbia Law School graduates working at the intersection of new media technology and the law are helping to reshape the world of communications By Ian Daly

28 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 In 1985, during the early days of MTV, when “Careless Whisper” by Wham! dominated Billboard’s top 100 charts and Nintendo released Super Mario Bros., a 8 fresh-faced Columbia Law School graduate named Brad Smith ’84 set off for his first day clerking for Judge Charles Metzner at the Southern District of New York. It would turn out to be a memorable occasion—not just for Smith, but for everyone who caught a glimpse of this redheaded native Wisconsinite ascending the steps with an unwieldy object that, back then, was virtually unheard of within the hallowed halls of Foley Square: a personal computer. “It was a new experience for the courthouse,” Smith recalls. “I’m not sure they knew quite what to make of me.” He used this odd device to draft memos and opinions for the judge. To Smith, the benefits seemed Adam Barea ’99, pictured on the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif., saw obvious: Here was a tool that could get things done better early on that internet-based technology would challenge the boundaries and faster. Strange looks notwithstanding, the young clerk of intellectual property law. (The knew he was on to something. And in short order, his hunch background artwork commemorates Google’s Android mobile operating would be proven correct. system and its “Cupcake” update.)

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE Photographed by Andy Freeberg 29 he says. “One lesson I frequently apply is one I learned in my very first semester at Columbia, in the Legal Methods class. The course showed how specific aspects of product liability law changed almost 180 degrees over a 45-year period, influenced in substantial part by the rise of the automobile and modern manufacturing. I find myself talking frequently with our lawyers about the need to focus not just on the law as it exists today, but to anticipate where it is heading. I even find myself illustrating the point with a couple of the cases from that course. I have to admit that I never imagined that when I was a 1L.” During Smith’s first semester at Morningside Heights, it would have been similarly impossible to predict the tidal wave of changes that would take place over the next quarter-century in new technology, in media, and in how the two intersect. Along with “personal computer,” we have added “internet,” “email,” “cable television,” “Facebook,” and “satellite radio” to our expanded lexicons. But these aren’t just words anymore. They are aspects of our quality of life that have become so quickly and deeply ingrained that most of us can no longer imagine life without them. As the sands shifted, many As the head of Microsoft’s department of legal and corporate Law School graduates, like Smith, have found themselves at the prec- affairs, Brad Smith ’84 emphasizes that lawyers need to anticipate how the law will change to accommodate emerging technology. ipice of these new ideas—among them, Adam Barea ’99, who works at Google, and Dara Altman ’83, who has taken on an executive role at Sirius XM Radio. While the rest of us reap the benefits of this On November 20 of that same year, a little company out of rapidly changing landscape, these alumni have actually shaped it. Washington called Microsoft launched a product known as “Windows.” Twenty-four years later, that company has grown erhaps no company symbolizes the scope of into one of the most influential in the world. new technology’s changes, and their attendant Even those who snickered at Smith in ’85 would now agree improvements to our everyday lives, more than that the personal computer was as important as electricity or the P Google. Back in 1996, when a couple of Stan- automobile in revolutionizing our world and the way we experi- ford grad students named Sergey Brin and ence it. It is perhaps not surprising then that Smith’s decision to Larry Page were just getting acquainted, New York City native become an early adaptor led him down a path that resulted in his Adam Barea was entering his first year at the Law School. His tim- rising to the position of senior vice president, general counsel, ing turned out to be perfect. and corporate secretary for the Microsoft Corporation, overseeing Barea’s Law School experience came at a time when much of the attorneys in 44 countries. world was encountering “the internet” for the first time, and the “It’s an interesting lesson,” Smith says, looking back. “You always legal world was scrambling to figure out how to regulate it. Here have to think about what you’re about to be branded as—but I was an entirely unknown animal—a vast network of information think in this case, there was a lot of upside to being branded as that was growing at a rate of more than 100 percent a year and someone who was interested in, or knew a lot about, computers.” yet, in the strictest sense of the word, didn’t even exist. In a place Now, Smith manages a staff of roughly 1,000 as the head of with no real geographical representation, just figuring out what Microsoft’s department of legal and corporate affairs. Because belonged to whom was an incalculably daunting task. Microsoft is such a high-profile company, bringing accordingly Barea had shown a passion for intellectual property that dated back high-profile issues to the fore, Smith says he probably has a more to childhood. “My mother sometimes teases me because I used to get public role than many of his contemporaries in the computer so upset when people would steal my ideas and claim them as their industry. These days, he is just as likely to be giving speeches as own,” Barea says. That personality trait translated to a near-obsession, he is to be overseeing big negotiations. He is also the company’s later in life, with the challenge of assigning value and proprietorship chief compliance officer and is responsible for the expansion of to abstract ideas. “What started me down this path was the realization Microsoft’s philanthropic activities. that a single word carries so much meaning,” he recalls. “That’s what I Though he wears many hats, Smith says the ability to take a love most about trademarks. I can say ‘McDonald’s’ to you, and there forward-looking approach is the common strain tying together are experiences shared by everyone relating to that one word.” each of his responsibilities at Microsoft. At the Law School, Barea was already being seduced by the “A constant feature of my job is the degree to which the law is chance to be in the driver’s seat when trademark and copyright laws changing to adapt to the various societal impacts of new technology,” “established in the brick-and-mortar world” needed to be rewritten

“I find myself talking frequently with our lawyers about the need to focus not just on the law as it exists today, but 8 to anticipate where it is heading.” —Brad Smith

30 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Photographed by Rich Frishman to accommodate cyberspace. In 1998, during his third year, Congress hile Brad Smith and Adam Barea seem almost passed the single most important piece of legislation related to the destined for tech law positions, Dara Altman internet: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Finally, landed at the cutting edge of new media as the some questions regarding how copyright laws would be applied on W result of a happy detour from Wall Street secu- the web were being answered. rities law. The daughter of one of New York’s After law school, Barea served as a judicial clerk to Maryland most influential theatrical lawyers, Floria Lasky (whose clients District Court Judge Alexander Harvey II before joining Drinker included Tennessee Williams and Jerome Robbins), Altman figured Biddle & Reath’s intellectual property group in Washington, D.C. that after graduating from Columbia Law School she might some- He then moved to the D.C. offices of Cooley Godward Kronish, day fill her mother’s sizable shoes. In the meantime, however, she where he represented Mozilla, developer of the Firefox browser. In put in her time working on IPOs and mergers and acquisitions. 2007, after four years at Cooley, Barea packed his bags for Califor- That all changed the day she got a chance to work in the realm of the nia and began working in-house at Google. surreal—as senior counsel at HBO monitoring the compliance Right away, Barea’s fascination with the frontiers of IP law between HBO and GE to build a satellite. would be tested. That March, media giant Viacom sued Google- “The great thing about being a lawyer is that you realize you owned YouTube for damages in excess of $1 billion after more than can learn anything,” Altman says, laughing. “I had always said I 160,000 clips of Viacom’s entertainment programming appeared was not good at math, but by the end of my time working on that on the free site. It remains one of the most high-profile DMCA satellite venture, I was fighting for launch insertion accuracy in cases to date. “Luckily, in 1998,” he says, “[Columbia Law School our Arianespace launch contract. You realize that everything is a Professor] Jane Ginsburg spent a week talking to us about this stuff vocabulary to learn.” in copyrights class. That gave me an early introduction to some- Altman learned fast. After HBO, she managed all business and thing that would play a big role in my job at Google.” legal affairs for Request Television and then moved on to Discovery In his current position, Barea’s passion for defending intellectual Communications, where she oversaw $750 million in program- property combines with his desire to help advance a company he truly ming for the company’s TV networks. respects. He is well aware of the all-powerful, Big Brother reputation In 2006, Altman’s former boss and then-CEO of XM Satellite Google maintains among some internet users. (Law School professor Radio called and asked her to join him in a company that was and telecommunications law expert Tim Wu efficiently summed up charting new territory in an old medium. She accepted and became this sentiment when he told The New York Times Magazine last year: XM’s head of legal, business affairs, and public policy. Almost “To love Google, you have to be a little bit of a monarchist, you have to immediately, Altman immersed herself in what ultimately became have faith in the way people traditionally felt about the king.”) But Barea a successful battle with government regulatory agencies over XM’s believes first and foremost in Google’s ability to improve the lives of plans to merge with Sirius Radio. Now, as chief administrative offi- internet users, and he gets an inside look at those efforts on a daily basis. cer of the satellite radio powerhouse, she’s part of the five-person “Because Google is successful, some people think we’re basically like Mis- executive team that reports to Mel Karmazin, the company’s CEO. ter Burns [the greedy old mogul character from The Simpsons],” he says. “I thought that satellite radio was in the beginning stages, “But the reality is quite the opposite. Our driving principles are to do the way premium TV was before it really got going,” Altman good and to make things open. If you’re good to users, users come back.” says. What most compelled her, though, was the opportunity to transform a medium that many considered to be “old media” into something that, like the internet, was potentially limitless. “What’s Pictured at the Sirius XM Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C., Dara Altman ’83 helped XM merge with Sirius in 2006 and now fascinating about satellite radio’s potential,” she says, “is that, where serves as the company’s chief administrative officer. radio used to be a one-to-many distribution platform, because of the depth and breadth of the content that we can provide web exclusive Read a profile of Match.com in this generation—which, as CEO Greg Blatt ’95. everyone writes, is turning into law.columbia.edu/mag/ greg-blatt a generation where people want what they want when they want it—we have the unique ability to provide an almost one-to-one solution tailored to individual taste, while still allowing for the marvel of discovery.” Taking on her new role at XM three years ago meant Altman was headed for a new specialization and, once again, a new vocabulary. “Everybody asks me why I left television,” she says, “because everybody thinks television is so sexy.” Altman, though, couldn’t be happier with her decision. And if the breakneck pace of this new media era has taught us anything, it’s that those doubters—just like the ones who watched a young Brad Smith drag his personal computer up the steps of Foley Square 24 years ago—might just have to rethink what’s sexy.

Ian Daly is a senior writer at Details.

Photographed by Robb Scharetg LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 31 3232 COLUMBIA COLUMBIA LAW LAW SCHOOL SCHOOL MAGAZIN MAGAZINe e fall WINTER 2009 2010 Illustration by brad yeo the road less traveled

For Law School graduates making an impact in academia, working t is not uncommon to hear lawyers remark that, even early in law to mold the next school, they could spot which classmates seemed destined for academic careers. The future professors were ambitious students, of course—the intensifying com- generation of petition for faculty positions virtually demands stellar grades and enthusiastic recommendations—but they were also, somehow . . . distinctive. intellectual leaders “Sometimes, you could see it,” recalls Frederic White ’73. “You noticed someone asking especially thoughtful, probing questions, being really serious about them. and advance And you’d say to yourself, ‘He’s probably going to be a teacher.’” Bill Flanagan ’89 LL.M. has noticed another identifying characteristic. “Stu- dents drawn to an academic career are particularly interested in the intellectual meaningful aspects of the study of law,” he says. “They have a real passion for it.” Flanagan was likely one of those whom peers could envision presiding over scholarship classrooms. He had won admission to Columbia Law School’s two-year Associ- ates-in-law Program, designed to prepare participants for legal academia, and could not be was already writing journal articles and leading seminars in legal writing and research. A Canadian, Flanagan had spent a couple of summers at prominent more rewarding Toronto law firms, and though he found working there “great fun,” the experience confirmed that the academic aspect of law was always what interested him most. By Paula Span, So it is probably unsurprising that Flanagan is beginning his 18th year at the with additional reporting by Mary Johnson Faculty of Law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he has served as dean since 2005. But the proposition that future professors are identifiable early on does not always hold. Consider that Frederic White had no intention of joining the legal

Illustration by brad yeo LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 33 academy. A self-described “blue-collar kid” Ohlin, who specializes ning a move to the Senate from Ohio, and the first in his family to grad- in international criminal Judiciary Committee when uate from a four-year college, “I was going to law, took advantage of go beyond the 1980 election replaced be the first black partner in one of those big every guidance opportun- Explore a world map Chairman Edward Ken- Cleveland law firms,” he recalls. “Be a trail- ity the program offered of Law School alumni nedy with Chairman Strom in academia. blazer. And also, make a lot of money.” and credits the CILTP law.columbia.edu/mag/ Thurmond. Johnson quick- Invited to interview for a position at Cleve- for his landing a teaching alumni-academia ly exited government and land State University’s Cleveland-Marshall position. “I attended the joined the law faculty at College of Law after five years as a munici- seminars, lectures, and panel discussions George Mason University. He then moved on pal finance associate at Squire Sanders & about an academic career from my very first to Howard University, and later became presi- Dempsey, White remembers facing a semi- week of law school,” he recalls. “I was proba- dent of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis. circle of professors. He answered the usual bly the only 1L to attend those sessions. And In 2006, he joined the inaugural faculty at Elon opening question—“Why do you want to I completed the law school experience while University School of Law in North Carolina, teach here?”—with a blunt, “I don’t. You called always keeping an academic career in mind. where he rose to the position of dean this year. me. You tell me why I want to teach here.” So I was able to make very smart and strate- Thirty-one years later, White not only gic decisions from the beginning.” Graduates making their way in teaches law, he heads a law school. In July 2008, Of course, not everyone enters the acad- academia report a variety of rewards and sat- he became dean at Texas Wesleyan School of emy straight from law school. isfactions. But most cite the unparalleled level Law in Fort Worth, after four years as dean at A majority of Law School graduates segue of intellectual freedom, the stimulating nature Golden Gate University School of Law in into teaching from private practice or public of a scholarly community, and the ability to San Francisco and—despite that rocky first service. And their varied pathways to aca- interact with and guide students as central encounter—26 years as professor and associate demia indicate that there is truly no typical components of what makes the job satisfying. dean at Cleveland-Marshall. “It was the best approach to entering the field. Jennifer E. Jennifer Laurin realized the unique ben- career decision I ever made,” White says. Laurin ’03, another recent CILTP participant efits of an academic career from her very

Columbia Law School graduates are helping to shape legal education as teachers, scholars, and administrators, working in Careers in Law Teaching Program nearly every state and on dozens of campuses internationally—from Florence to Nairobi, The Law School’s Careers in Law Teaching Program (CILTP), co-chaired by Professors Carol Sanger and Vincent A. Blasi, seeks to assist students and New Delhi to Sao Paulo. Stretching back alumni who are interested in becoming law professors. Throughout the year, to the Law School’s earliest days, through CILTP hosts seminars, workshops, and panel discussions that offer advice the era when Milton Handler ’26 offered about the academic job market and outline what students can do while still in Law School to develop scholarly pursuits. These events, which occur masterful displays of Socratic inquiry in throughout the year, also encourage participants to develop a research Morningside Heights, to the achievements methodology and produce meaningful scholarship. To further those efforts of more recent standouts such as criminal even after graduation, the Law School offers several fellowship programs. Each program requires participants to engage in serious scholarship, and law legend Yale Kamisar ’54 and current some offer the opportunity to gain teaching experience. In addition to faculty member Theodore M. Shaw ’79, the resources and training, fellowships also provide access to the Law School’s Law School has placed hundreds of influen- distinguished faculty members, who can offer guidance and mentorship to the next generation of Columbia’s academics. tial scholars in the ranks of the academy. Some graduates, like Bill Flanagan and Jens Ohlin ’05, a second-year, tenure-track professor at Cornell Law School, moved and a past Law School Teaching Fellow, prac- first day on the job—which happened to take almost seamlessly from Columbia Law School ticed civil rights law for several years before place only a few months ago, when she began to junior faculty positions. And because of the deciding to pursue a career in academia and leading a course in criminal law at Texas. Careers in Law Teaching Program (CILTP) at landing a tenure-track job at the University “The ability to share a discipline and a sub- Columbia Law School, which Professor Carol of Texas School of Law. “As much as I felt ject matter that I care so much about with Sanger has directed since 2000, such success passionately about vindicating the particular people who are just encountering all of that stories are becoming more common. The pro- claims of my clients, I was really hungry for an for the first time is exciting,” she says. “And it’s gram provides an array of tools and support opportunity to step back from any individual been a huge relief to find that I am really, really for those interested in legal teaching, and, in case and think across cases, to think more sys- enriched by being in a scholarly community.” just the past five years, its participants have tematically,” she says. “I was feeling that drive Laurin enjoys the support of her col- earned faculty positions at to ask bigger questions.” leagues and finds it gratifying to know she more than 50 law schools George R. Johnson Jr. ’76, will have the capacity to affect important throughout the country, meanwhile, came to aca- debates in criminal justice happening at the including tenure-track jobs web exclusive demia by a bit of politi- law school, in the state of Texas, and beyond. at the University of Chica- Read more profiles of alumni cal happenstance. He was “That was a big draw for me,” she says. in academia. go, the University of Texas, law.columbia.edu/mag/ serving in the Carter Also high on the list of what attracts Law and Boalt Hall. academia-profiles administration and plan- School graduates to academia: intellectual

34 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Frederic White ’73 had no intention of joining the legal academy when he graduated from law school. Thirty-six years later, White, the dean of Texas Wesleyan School of Law, refers to entering academia as “the best career decision I ever made.”

autonomy. As Sienho Yee ’93, professor and insisted on first-year “core courses” in the But Ohlin also says that being a truly chief expert at the Wuhan University Institute liberal arts, fewer teaching hours so that fac- great professor takes even more work than of International Law in central China, puts it: ulty members could pursue research, and an he expected—what with the lecture prepa- “The academic track allows one to pick one’s approach that encouraged student analysis rations, scholarship demands, and every- own battles in the field, rather than having to and participation. “If your ideas are good,” he thing else involved with being a reliable do whatever people pay one to do.” says, “some day people start to accept them.” colleague. “And there is no partner calling Expected to devote much of their time At a more micro level, the ability to shape you at 5 p.m. saying, ‘Where’s the memo?’” to scholarship, professors have the freedom the future of the profession by influencing he notes. “All you have is your own ambi- to pursue whatever strikes them as “most young scholars constitutes one of the most tion. And it can be tough to know when to intellectually fascinating,” says Bill Flana- appealing aspects of their careers, aca- stop, because there’s always the next book, gan of Queen’s University, who is a good demic lawyers say. That process begins in or the next article.” case in point. He grew deeply concerned the classroom and continues as professors Of course, no one ever said that life as an about the then–newly recognized disease advise, mentor, and recommend students. academic would be devoid of drawbacks, AIDS while still a law student in the late Jens Ohlin, who holds a Ph.D. in philoso- and those who have chosen the field seem ’80s. Twenty years later, HIV and AIDS phy from Columbia University in addition in accord about the most obvious one. “As a have remained an important focus of Fla- to his degree from the Law School, says his law dean, I’m aware of how well our alumni nagan’s research and publishing, which favorite part of the day occurs when stu- are doing in large firms,” Flanagan says. “The have taken him to conferences around the dents drop by his office to discuss an interest gap is enormous. They’re making three, four, world and led to leadership roles in AIDS in one of his specialties or to ask for career or five times what a law professor makes. projects involving Russia and Brazil. advice. “It can be very moving,” he adds. “The non-pecuniary benefits of an aca- As an academic, “You’re free to challenge demic career have to be quite meaningful conventional views; you’re almost expected to make up for that loss of income,” he adds. to,” he says. “And you’re doing it because “And they are, to me.” you think it’s important, because you think The Presidents Those benefits are sufficiently meaning- you can make a contribution.” ful that Law School alumni who serve as Perhaps not surprisingly, several Law For Tug˘rul Ansay ’55 M.C.L., ’56 LL.M., School alumni oversee vast educa- professors encourage some of their most who spent nearly 30 years as a professor tional institutions. E. Gordon Gee ’71, promising students to also consider aca- and administrator at Ankara University’s for example, has held more American demic careers. Several of the lawyers who college presidencies than anyone law school in Turkey, the scope of influence else and is occupying the top job at George Johnson trained at George Mason afforded academics was always a major Ohio State for the second time. He and Howard are now themselves teaching draw. As a professor and dean, he introduced chats sometimes with his classmate law, he says. Frederic White also strives to Lee C. Bollinger ’71, who joined the a number of innovations at Ankara and University of Michigan Law School recruit the best and brightest. emphasized an “American way of teaching” faculty shortly after graduation, As a professor, “you get to impart infor- that favored the Socratic method over “one- distinguished himself as a First mation to smart young people,” White tells Amendment scholar, and became its sided, 45-minute lecture[s].” In 2003, years dean and then University of Michigan his students. “You get to help them along in after Ansay had retired from the university president. He assumed Columbia their careers. Sometimes you get a chance and was lecturing and writing in Germany, University’s presidency in 2002, join- to straighten them out a little. ing a select group that also includes he was asked to apply the principles he had former Law School dean Michael I. “You’re running a relay, and you hand off long espoused to a new law school underwrit- Sovern ’55, who is still teaching at the to somebody else, and you hope they’re bet- ten by one of Turkey’s wealthiest business- Law School today. Meanwhile, about ter, faster, stronger, and smarter than you are.” 30 miles east of Columbia, at Hofstra men as part of a wave of private law schools University, Stuart Rabinowitz ’69 being established across that country. has served as president since 2001. PAULA SPAN teaches at Columbia University’s The law school, housed at Koc Univer- And Barry Mills ’79 has been presi- Graduate School of Journalism and is the dent of Bowdoin College for the past sity atop a wooded hillside, admits only 50 eight years. author of the recently published book students a year. As founding dean, Ansay When the Time Comes.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 35 Richard Spencer ’69 teamed up with the International Senior Lawyers Project to address pressing environmental issues in Mongolia and assist local advocates in preserving natural resources. In this picture, three horsemen try to tow a van ashore after Spencer’s driver attempted to navigate a river swollen from snowmelt.

36 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 pulling their weight Thanks to the International Senior Lawyers Project, Law School graduates with considerable professional experience are able to make an impact in developing nations around the globe By Ken Stier

he seeds for the legal adventure Richard Spencer ’69 recently experienced in Mongolia were planted in 2001 during a torren- tial rainstorm in Darhad Valley near the Russian border, where he was befriended by a group of nomadic herders—but he would not know this until some five years later. That is when Spencer contacted the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), a global pro bono organization founded by a group of public service–minded lawyers aiming to marry two trends: the vast need throughout the developing world for highly skilled legal assistance, and the swelling ranks of experienced attorneys, near or at retirement, who want to stay professionally active. Initially, ISLP staff offered Spencer an assignment in India. “I thought about it,” he says, “but concluded that, as a country lawyer from Maine, I would not have the slightest idea how to have any impact on a country with a billion people.” Undeterred, ISLP Executive Director Jean Berman called back a year later with an offer to work on environmental issues in Mongolia, where rivers were being polluted by unregulated mining triggered by the collapse of the economy after the Soviet Union’s downfall. Contamination of rivers and aquifers was making herding increasingly difficult and had driven thousands of traditional herders to the already overcrowded capital city of Ulan Bator. This offer was more appealing to Spencer, who, as an attorney with Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon, cut his professional teeth during the 1970s-era environmental movement. Plus, Spencer fondly recalled his 2001 holiday to Mongolia, and the warm hospitality of the herders who sheltered him in their yurt. Through a skilled translator, he had traded stories with his hosts while waiting out the storm. After learning Spencer was a lawyer representing Maine dairy farmers, the herders asked him to

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 37 Richard Spencer ’69 return and help them with an array of a new environmental coalition that successfully lobbied for min- worked with the Centre challenges—legal and otherwise—that ing law amendments. for Human Rights and [ Development to protect they faced on a daily basis. “ At the a part of the Gobi Desert time], I couldn’t quite imagine how ichard Spencer’s work in Mongolia that contained rare plants that would happen,” Spencer says. provides just one example of the mission undertaken by and archaeological sites. The second phone call from ISLP ISLP, which last year deployed 57 volunteers to work on Dinosaur eggs and fossils provided his answer and set the stage 76 projects in 22 countries from Afghanistan to Zambia. were found in the area pictured here. for Spencer to spend four months That level of activity marked a 50 percent increase from the previous working in Ulan Bator with the Centre year and reflects a growing interest in global pro bono work among for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), a small public inter- baby boomer–generation lawyers reaching retirement age. In mon- est organization that would become a leading player in Mongolia’s etary terms, ISLP volunteers and their law firms donated 30,800 nascent environmental movement. hours of legal assistance last year worth more than $12.5 million. Spencer arrived as an ISLP volunteer just as mining damage to In several African nations, ISLP volunteers have trained govern- the environment was rising to the top of the national agenda. (Yurts ment officials to craft intellectual property laws and negotiate better would soon sprout on the national parliament grounds, housing trade deals with international partners. In Bulgaria, ISLP sent a herdsmen on a hunger strike.) Soon he was helping lead strategic veteran public defender to launch the country’s first public defense litigation workshops for advocates hoping to protect the rivers. training project, and in China, the organization has focused on the Then, on a six-day tour into the Gobi Desert, Spencer witnessed juvenile justice system. Elsewhere, ISLP has set up websites and the environmental devastation for himself. In what could have dou- funded lawyer-bloggers to cover important international court cases, bled for a scene from a Hieronymus Bosch painting, hundreds of such as the trial of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori. unregulated “ninja miners,” carrying green wash tubs and children Volunteers work on discrete legal issues, but also strive to develop on their backs, stood in freezing cold water and used highly toxic the capacity of locals, lawyers, and nonprofit organizations to meet mercury to separate out gold from gravel. He also visited an area specific community needs—which can run the gamut from human where the Ongi River had dried up as a result of climate change, rights litigation to developing advanced dispute-resolution proce- deforestation, and mining near the headwaters. dures. Participating lawyers are carefully chosen for relevant skills Back in the capital, Spencer used a moot court exercise to teach and often make an incalculable difference in their host countries, his CHRD colleagues potential strategies for contesting a request even when challenged with significant language and cultural barriers.

by the country’s largest mining company for a license to excavate The genesis of ISLP can be traced to a 1999 lunch between Anthony P a river bed for gold. Passions on the issue were already high; a few Essaye and Robert Kapp, two wizened Washington, D.C.–based hotos months earlier, local herders had formed a human chain to block international lawyers with activist track records. Approaching

courtesy company dredgers before police intervened. retirement age, the two yearned to stay active and make a global One of Spencer’s proudest career moments, he says, was when a impact. They recruited cofounder Richard Winfield, a media law

Mongolian judge agreed to invalidate that mining license. It was a specialist and a lecturer-in-law at Columbia whose firm, Clifford of

victory celebrated with vodka and fermented horse milk. Chance, has hosted ISLP, rent-free, in its New York City offices R Soon after, Spencer helped CHRD renegotiate two additional since the organization opened its doors in 2001. ichard mining licenses to protect “special-needs areas” containing dino- Winfield’s contributions have been mostly in the realm of media S saur bones, rare plants, and the remains of a Mongolian royal law reform, first in East and Central European countries as they pencer compound. Before heading home to Maine, he gathered an array emerged from Soviet domination, and more recently in the Mid- of best mining practices from around the world, helping to inspire dle East. “[These countries] are not likely to become Jeffersonian

38 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 democracies any time soon,” says Winfield, who spent more than new level of legitimacy, and it really changes the quality of what you three decades as general counsel for The Associated Press. But he is can do in a room.” confident that even limited media reforms are having some positive impact. “We wouldn’t be doing this stuff if we didn’t believe there or ISLP lawyers like Brian Fix and was improvement, that there was progress, and that this is a valuable Stephen Stein, drawing up more equitable contacts is service that we offer,” he adds. “And you can’t beat our rates, either.” only the first step in bringing about positive change. “More favorable contract terms are only as valuable as n recent years, Africa has emerged as a the capacity and determination of the government to implement sort of pro bono ground zero for ISLP, especially places like them,” explains Fix. “It is fine to say that the ministry shall have the Malawi and Zambia, where people need help negotiating better power to issue regulations re: (a), (b), or (c), but unless the ministry trade deals and devising more favorable natural resources con- takes that power seriously, and acts upon it, you do not have the tracts. In Liberia, the organization has spearheaded nearly a dozen compliance you asked for.” development projects. There, ISLP lawyers renegotiated a rubber Richard Winfield echoes the importance of follow up. “A model agreement with Firestone and an iron ore mining agreement with or form will take you just so far,” he says. “You have to recognize steel behemoth ArcelorMittal that together will yield the nation a political, cultural, historical, not to mention religious realities. The net gain of hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few decades. best we can do is describe what we understand to be the interna- ISLP’s achievements have triggered a flood of requests to work tional norms, the best practices, and then encourage the men and similar wonders for countries such as Tanzania, Sierra Leone, women we work with to see if they can convince the policymakers Mozambique, and Rwanda. Brian Fix ’68, a partner at Salans and to adopt as close to the international norms as possible.” an ISLP volunteer who had done legal work in West Africa since Of course, no one said making change on an international level would the 1960s, is now helping Sierra Leone improve its standing in be a breeze. And, ultimately, the challenge is part of the appeal for those contracts involving diamond mines (once the source of the infa- working with ISLP. For participants, the program provides a level of mous “blood diamonds” that fueled that country’s civil war). While satisfaction and accomplishment that is meaningful on a host of levels. it is early in that process, Fix notes that these contract revisions “It’s gratifying work,” says Stein, “and a bit of an ego trip, because are raising the bar throughout the region. “There is now more of you are doing good things. But mostly it is very interesting work, an effort to compare government policies and analogous contract and there is a feeling that you are helping people who might other- terms within the African continent,” he says. wise not get the help they need.” The World Bank has also taken notice of ISLP’s work and asked the The organization’s executive director, Jean Berman, hears similar organization to review foreign contracts exploiting methane gas at the comments often. “Volunteers have told us over and over that their bottom of Lake Kivu, which is shared by the Congo and Rwanda. The appreciation of the importance of law has been renewed,” she says. gas could be used to power turbines to make electricity, a vital goal in “They are blown away by the courageous and hard-working people

“It’s gratifying work, but mostly it is very interesting work. And there is a feeling that you are helping people who might otherwise not get the help they need.” —Stephen Stein ’62

Rwanda, where only 6 percent of people have access to electric power. they meet and are thrilled to be able to help out where they can.” “[The agreements] were terrible, very unfair to the Rwan- And, she says, participants tend to request repeat assignments. dans,” says ISLP attorney Stephen W. Stein ’62, a partner at Richard Spencer may end up being one of those repeat volunteers, Kelley Drye & Warren. Stein and his fellow ISLP volunteers thanks to how much he enjoyed his ISLP experience in Mongolia. drew up a legal memo explaining the contract deficiencies Spencer and his wife, an artist who taught a course in printmaking at and how they could be addressed. As a result, the Rwanda the university in Ulan Bator, arrived in Mongolia in time for festivities Ministry of Infrastructure asked the ISLP team to work with centered on the 800th anniversary of Genghis Khan’s unification of the

P them on drafting new contracts—recently signed—for Mongol tribes. They enjoyed a spring filled with plays, concerts, and hotos the construction of a power-generating plant that will more than art exhibits celebrating Mongolia’s history and the achievements of its double the number of citizens in Rwanda with access to electricity. 13th century empire. When he returned home, Spencer learned that, courtesy Improvements along those lines are no accident, either. Colum- in a way, he had been following a path set by Mongolia’s most accom- bia Law School Professor Peter Rosenblum ’92 LL.M., who has plished—and, to be sure, most controversial—nation builder. Genghis

been active in an array of human rights issues in Africa for 20 years, Khan was, after all, Mongolia’s first noted environmentalist, Spencer of

R says he gets more traction when he teams up with ISLP lawyers. explains. The ancient ruler promulgated a safe drinking water law (by ichard “People like me are used to being the kind of goody-goody at the making it an offense to use one’s bare hands to fetch it) and prohibited table, and when the real people who make the economic decisions the hunting of animals and birds during the breeding season. S

pencer come in, you [often] got pushed aside,” he says. “But the ISLP lawyers, people who are deeply knowledgeable commercial lawyers KEN STIER is a New York–based freelance writer who has contrib- with a sense of commitment to development issues, bring a whole uted to Time and Miller-McCune, among other magazines.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 39 Marriage for Same-Sex Couples*

*A Conversation

40 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 h as b e e n a landmar k y e ar for marriage equality advocates. In April, Iowa legalized marriage for same-sex couples. Vermont and New 2009 Hampshire soon followed suit, as did Maine—if only to have residents vote to repeal the right in November. The news did not stop there. In the same month, a narrow majority in Washington, D.C., chose to grant same-sex couples the state-sanctioned benefits of marriage, but not the title. ¶ These developments, along with a host of individual triumphs and setbacks, sparked intense debates that echoed through the halls of Columbia Law School. Discussions were particularly pointed within the Gender and Sexuality Law Center, which offers the only curriculum of its kind at any law school in the country. ¶ Taking note of the variety of well-reasoned arguments, Columbia Law School Magazine approached four professors of varying backgrounds with an idea: They would document their thoughts on marriage for same-sex couples in a series of back-and- forth emails—no moderator, no referee. The scholars could drive the free-flowing conversation in any direction and expand on any thoughts that they found particularly compelling. ¶ In addition to Professors Suzanne Goldberg and Katherine M. Franke, the directors of the Gender and Sexuality Law Center, the Magazine invited constitutional law and public opinion expert Nathaniel Persily to join the conversation, as well as Professor Elizabeth F. Emens, a noted scholar on discrimination and marriage. Each approached the issue with a unique perspective shaped by their legal expertise and differing experiences. Together, they discussed the future of marriage for same-sex couples in America. An edited version of the conversation follows.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 41 Katherine Some have argued that mar- Franke riage rights for lesbian and gay couples is the preeminent civil rights “If present trends continue—and issue of this era. A long shot even five years ago (and a productive wedge issue for the that is not a big ‘if’—a majority Republicans in the 2004 presidential election), we’ve seen the tide turn in the of Americans within five years last couple years such that the injustice of the issue has become more apparent to a will support the right of gays larger section of the American people. To be honest, I didn’t see it coming quite so and lesbians to marry.” quickly. Did any of you?

nathaniel The rapid and radical shifts persily in attitudes toward same- sex marriage since 2003 may possibly be unprecedented among so-called “moral values” issues that deal with family, Professor sexuality, or intimacy. Let me begin by discussing the state of American public Nathaniel Persily opinion on same-sex marriage. If present trends continue—and that is not a big “if”—a majority of Americans within five years will support the right of gays and lesbians to marry. the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event that sparked In the wake of Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and the Massachusetts a movement calling for a broad range of sexual rights and liberties court’s decisions legalizing same-sex marriage in that state, the that were in so many ways much more radical than today’s gay public did indeed backlash on both gay rights generally and mar- rights and marriage rights politics. ACT UP [the AIDS Coalition riage in particular. Since that time, however, the issue has become to Unleash Power] deployed tactics and strategies in the late 1980s fully “ideologized,” meaning that self-described liberals have largely and 1990s that were designed to bring aid and attention to the moved strongly in the direction of marriage equality. AIDS epidemic by upending the medical establishment. These “in your face” forms of politics find little relation to

suzanne We can also see a trend in the conversation—both in today’s couples lining up at city halls across the country asking goldberg public and in court—that now takes seriously the ques- for the state’s blessing. Today’s younger cohort of lesbian and gay tion whether same-sex couples should be able to marry. Twenty years people have few contemporary examples of what the sexual rights ago, when same-sex couples first brought their marriage equality movement once was. claims to court, they were essentially laughed off, dismissed based on the dictionary’s definition of marriage as a relationship between a nathaniel Katherine is right about the attitudinal patterns man and a woman. Now, same-sex couples have begun to win their persily among gays and lesbians: Priorities vary consider- right to marry—both in legislatures and courts, including the unani- ably by age. Patrick Egan and mous ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court last spring. Kenneth Sherrill have done the In addition, more and more people recognize that, whatever most extensive analysis of pub- their views about the word “marriage,” there is something unfair, lic attitudes of gays, lesbians, web exclusive even distasteful, about laws that privilege heterosexual couples and bisexuals. They find, for ex- Explore Egan and Sherrill’s while treating their gay neighbors as legal strangers to one another. ample, that gays, lesbians, and research. law.columbia.edu/mag/ bisexuals of all age groups place egan-sherrill nathaniel Most of the present attitudinal change is now being protections against workplace persily driven by cohort replacement—that is, older folks discrimination and anti-hate crimes legislation above marriage. with more conservative views on gay rights dying off and younger But for the youngest respondents (ages 18 to 25), marriage comes people, a majority of whom already support marriage equality, tak- third in their list of priorities—whereas for those over the age of 45, ing their place. it does not make the top five.

Katherine Nate’s observation about cohort replacement is suzanne But I would have to disagree, somewhat, with Kath- Franke intriguing. I wonder if there isn’t something similar goldberg erine’s characterization of marriage as the issue for going on in the lesbian and gay community that I regard as some- up-and-coming activists, and Nate’s data likewise confirms that what more troubling. marriage, though important, is not the sole, or even the top, prior- Over the last several years, marriage rights have become the most ity for many LGBT people today. It is no doubt true that many are prominent issue in the struggle for lesbian and gay equality and embracing marriage as one of the important civil rights issues of freedom, eclipsing a broader kind of politics that was more promi- the moment—perhaps with good reason, in that it is one of the nent in the community 10, 15, or 20 years ago. This year marked few areas in which inequality is written formally into law. But at

42 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 the same time, we have seen tremendous attention to the pervasive suzanne To me, the dignity claim is rhetorically powerful violence that continues against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and goldberg because of its connection to equality: When we, as a especially transgender individuals, as well as significant activism society, deny some people equal access to state-sponsored institu- for antidiscrimination laws and against another major area of for- tions, whether marriage or anything else, we, in effect, treat the mal inequality—the military. denied group as less worthy than the others. At the same time, Katherine’s question illustrates the tremendous power that gov- nathaniel It should also be noted that gays, while much more ernment regulation has to sanction, or not, individual choices persily supportive of marriage equality than heterosexuals, about intimate relationships. have not been uniform in their support.

As of 2004, for example, when faced with three options—mar- elizabeth Katherine highlights the longstanding debate among riage, civil unions, and no legal recognition—half of those who emens LGBT folks about the degree of prominence that called themselves gay, lesbian, marriage should have in movement politics—a debate that raises or bisexual said “they should interesting questions about the value of marriage more generally. be allowed to legally marry,” Nearly 10 years ago, I wrote an article about multiparty relation- join the conversation 31 percent said “they should be ships, or “polyamory.” The article grew out of an oddity about the Give your take on marriage for allowed to form civil unions but same-sex marriage debate: Although the left and right were deeply same-sex couples. law.columbia.edu/mag/ not marry,” and 17 percent said divided about same-sex marriage, there nonetheless seemed to be discuss-marriage “there should be no legal recog- near-consensus against multiparty marriage. nition of their relationships.” I That article didn’t argue for multiparty marriage, but after I suspect the preference for marriage has grown by between 10 and wrote it, a lot of people asked me whether I thought multiparty 20 percentage points since then (as it has with the population in marriage was a realistic possibility. I do not see any sign of a general), but the 2004 poll gives a sense of the diversity of views political move in this direction, but thinking about multiparty within the gay community, as well. marriage does highlight some interesting questions about the function and value of state-sponsored marriage.

suzanne As these numbers suggest, many same-sex couples are goldberg seeking to be treated much like their straight neighbors, nathaniel In response to Liz’s comment with respect to poly- much like many (though not all) gay activists in the 1970s sought to be persily gamy, there are few family values issues for which seen as just as “normal” as their heterosexual counterparts. the national consensus is more uniform. More than 90 percent More generally, the words of Jus- of Americans consistently say tice [Anthony] Kennedy when he polygamy is “morally wrong,” wrote the opinion striking down as compared to a little less than Texas’ sodomy law in 2003 are both half who say the same about “gay instructive, and possibly predictive, “Many are embracing and lesbian relations.” Although I about the future of laws excluding haven’t seen polling on legaliza- same-sex couples from marriage: marriage as one of tion of polygamy, I suspect the The framers “knew times can blind figures are comparable. In fact, a us to certain truths and later genera- the important civil poll of Canadians found that 85 tions can see that laws once thought rights issues of the percent oppose legalization of necessary and proper in fact serve polygamy, and they tend to be a only to oppress.” moment—perhaps bit more liberal on such issues with good reason, in than their neighbors to the south. Katherine But liberty and equal- Franke ity aren’t the only that it is one of the elizabeth One objection to rights being argued in the marriage emens multiparty marriage cases. In many of them, the primary few areas in which is that marriage brings with it argument being made is that exclu- inequality is written privileges that the state would be sion from marriage creates a dignity hard-pressed to extend to groups harm by refusing to acknowledge formally into law.” of more than two. Many people that same-sex unions are entitled think of marriage as primarily to the same dignity and respect as important for the social recog- different-sex unions. Yet to do so is nition that may accompany the to take for granted that marriage is state’s stamp of approval, and for something sacred, something to be private benefits, such as access to honored, and something that dig- employer-provided health care. nifies those who earn its blessings. Professor But marriage also usually brings But doesn’t it, at the same time, risk Suzanne Goldberg with it some legal privileges that implying that there is something only the state can provide. undignified about a sexual relation- In particular, the state often ship outside of marriage? grants, as part of marriage, three

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 43 things that seem to overlap with common conceptions of inti- little. Allowing same-sex couples to marry holds little comfort for macy: testimonial privilege (the ability to share secrets with a the large group of people who need access to health insurance and partner); untaxed transfers of wealth (the ability to share money other forms of legal and financial security but can’t, or won’t, get freely); and automatic immigration priority (the ability to share married to get them. I’m thinking, for instance, of two sisters who bodies). In each of these, the state gives up something: full inves- rely on each other as “domestic partners” but can’t marry to gain tigative powers, tax revenue, and flexible authority over national financial security or get on one another’s employment-related borders, respectively. health insurance policy. I have long questioned the value of having the state involved in the marriage business at all, but only the state can grant these nathaniel If we were writing on a clean slate, I think get- items, which are considered by many to be important for certain persily ting the government out of the marriage business kinds of closeness. So what do you all think? Should these benefits altogether makes sense. However, our legal regimes, be conditioned on marriage, as they are now? at all levels, are so enmeshed with assumptions and requirements based on marital status that this alternative is

Katherine Liz’s comments reveal how the marriage equality simply not feasible or realistic. That then puts advocates in the Franke movement may, in important respects, aim for too difficult position of carving out a different status (in law and/or norms), or of trying to open up an existing category (i.e., marriage) to those who have not had access previously. It will be interesting to see whether allowing gays and lesbians to marry will necessarily lead to a devaluing of non-marital relationships—same-sex or opposite-sex. The trends in the Gallup polls “I have long have been in the opposite direction: Majorities now say sex before marriage, and even having a baby outside of marriage, is “morally questioned the acceptable.” A majority (57 percent) also believes that “an unmarried couple that has lived together for five years is just as committed in value of having their relationship as a couple that has been married for five years.” My guess is that opening up marriage to same-sex couples will the state involved have less of an effect on attitudes and more of an effect on stultify- ing legal developments that would have extended marriage-like in the marriage benefits to unmarried couples.

business at all, but Katherine One remarkable sign of the recognition of the “right- Franke ness” of this cause reaching out well beyond the gay only the state can and lesbian community is the lawsuit filed in federal court in Cali- fornia by David Boies and Ted Olson challenging the legality of grant key Proposition 8, the amendment to revoke marriage rights for same- sex couples. Boies and Olson, two very prominent heterosexual privileges that lawyers who seem to agree on nothing else but this issue, have pushed ahead with the lawsuit over the strong objections of many are considered by leaders in the LGBT communities—including the communities’ lawyers, who have been think- many to be ing hard about strategy and important for venue for years. This case raises some tough web exclusive questions: Who “owns” the Read more about Prop 8 on the certain kinds of issue? What are the stakes for Gender and Sexuality Law Blog. law.columbia.edu/mag/ people who are not gay or les- gslaw-blog closeness.” bian? And what sort of ethical obligations do lawyers in cases like this owe to the communities most closely impacted by the outcome of the litigation?

suzanne As Katherine’s questions suggest, the Boies/Olson goldberg lawsuit raises the stakes of marriage litigation dra- matically. Their lawsuit turns on federal constitutional claims, Professor unlike nearly all of the marriage equality suits brought by the long- Elizabeth Emens standing LGBT rights litigation groups, which have sought—and won—marriage equality based on state constitutional guarantees. This framing means that the case could potentially (though not necessarily) have far-reaching, national impact on the rights of same-sex couples to marry.

44 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 After Boies and Olson raised the stakes in this way, they should not, in my view, have blocked the LGBT advocacy organiza- “The lawsuit filed in California tions from joining the lawsuit and sharing their substantial expertise with the court. federal court by David Boies and It is not at all certain that the case will reach the Supreme Court, and if it Ted Olson challenging the legality does, there may be other suits already there, as both gay married couples in of Proposition 8 raises some tough Massachusetts and the state of Mas- questions: Who ‘owns’ the issue? sachusetts itself have challenged por- tions of the Defense of Marriage Act What are the stakes for people that ban federal recognition of same- sex couples’ marriages. who are not gay or lesbian?” nathaniel It is possible that a persily Supreme Court decision in a case, such as the one brought by Olson and Boies, might lead to an acceleration or reversal of the trajectory of opinion, but I think it is unlikely. The structure of opinion appears to follow other Professor equality issues (e.g., school integration Katherine Franke and interracial marriage), as opposed to liberty issues (e.g., abortion). We see about a 1.7 percentage point shift each year in favor of marriage equality. More importantly, since the 2004 election, when the backlash cally, allow for more departures from the role-based expectations was at its peak (or trough, if you prefer), no events, such as court that have historically accompanied marriage. decisions, appear to have had any effect on public opinion. The These arguments don’t counter the concern that the Boies/Olson trajectory of opinion in states litigation is a strategic mistake if it causes the Supreme Court to hear where courts have legalized the issue too early—and I don’t mean to speculate on why Boies and same-sex marriage mirrors the Olson brought this litigation—but these arguments do highlight some web exclusive trajectory in all other states. of the substantive reasons why straights who favor gender equality Persily’s research on public In other words, although dif- may have something to gain from same-sex marriage. support for marriage equality. ferent states and regions vary law.columbia.edu/mag/ persily-poll greatly in the share of their suzanne I would add that while today’s conflicts regarding mar- population that supports goldberg riage equality have their most immediate and personal same-sex marriage, in all states the trends are going in the same effect on couples who would want to, but cannot, currently marry, direction: toward allowing gays and lesbians to marry. the public debate also tells us a lot about ourselves as a nation. In that sense, I have often thought that we might describe the nation as elizabeth Katherine’s comments about the Boies/Olson litigation in something akin to an adolescent phase with respect to marriage emens also asked about the stakes for straights in the same- equality for lesbian and gay couples. From my perspective, as a sup- sex marriage debate. Some scholars have argued that same-sex mar- porter of equal marriage rights, we seem to be maturing, slowly but riage might actually improve straight marriages, or at least make surely, by increasingly recognizing the importance of equality in this them more equal—by, for instance, modeling relationships in which area—although at times, we (or, more accurately, a significant segment roles are not divided according to sex and family responsibilities are of Americans) want to slam the door shut in the face of this movement shared more equally. toward equality. Mary Anne Case of the University of Chicago Law School has argued, We see ads supporting California’s amendment to revoke marriage more specifically, that the legalization of same-sex marriage is better rights that aim to stir up long-debunked fears about gay people as for straight people (or at least for straight women) than the creation predators of children, and other ads that aim to treat gay people’s claim of same-sex civil union or domestic partnership regimes. Most civil to equality as a danger to society’s well-being. And, as in California union or domestic partnership regimes require partners to engage and now in Maine, we see virulent fights to strip away equal marriage in traditional marital behaviors, such as living together and sharing rights gains that have been made. bank accounts. My strong sense, as confirmed by Nate’s data, is that we will move Marriage, by contrast, has few requirements for entry and successfully through this adolescence and ultimately recognize that, largely allows the parties to devise their own relationship model. like it or not, the state should not be in the business of having two Thus, Case suggests, adapting marriage to include same-sex cou- sets of relationship rules, one for same-sex couples and another, more ples, rather than creating new institutions for gays, may, ironi- protective set, for everyone else.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 45 46 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Questions Presented: Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59 in 80 focus: The people, personalities, and perspectives making an impact this season

alumni profiles

Sections: 48

at issue essays 54

class notes 58

in memoriam 76

questions presented 80

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution photographed by Peter Freed LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 47 takesaki hironobu: Evolving Justice

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan Takesaki Hironobu ’71 LL.M. has high hopes that the country’s new lay judge system will help citizens better understand the work of jurists and help legal professionals see their world in new ways BY Carl Freire

This August, Japan watched, general public,” says Takesaki, ences at Columbia Law School played in each. To this day, I still transfixed, as for the first time sitting back to sip coffee as he are a case in point. cannot help but see the Japanese in more than 60 years, a trial considers his words. “If the pub- “I was most struck by the great legal system in relative terms.” in which lay judges partici- lic feels it doesn’t really under- differences between Japanese Takesaki is now at the apex of pated with professional judges stand how judges reach their and American society,” he says a judicial career that began in proceeded under the glare of decisions, then it may lose faith of his time in New York City. 1969. The western Japan native intense media scrutiny. The lay in the courts. With this [new sys- “[The Law School] really made divides his time between his offi- judge experiment (a modified tem], we can show them: ‘Here’s me look closely at each society cial residence in Tokyo and the form of the jury system in which what we do. Here are the prin- and examine what role the law city’s suburbs, where he spends jurors deliberate with profes- ciples by which we operate.’” every weekend with his wife and sional judges to determine the Better understanding goes Given that one daughter. Despite a demanding verdict and sentence length) both ways, adds Takesaki, who of Takesaki’s schedule, he still makes time to marks a sea change for a system is seen as a key figure to watch boyhood dreams cultivate English roses in his gar- sometimes criticized as opaque as the system evolves. Just as den on weekends and, above all, was to become an and undemocratic, and perhaps the public will learn about to read. Takesaki counts works no one has followed the shift the judiciary, judges, too, may astronomer, it is in the natural sciences, and espe- with greater interest than one come to better understand no surprise that cially history, among his favorites, of its shapers, Japan’s Supreme ordinary citizens. seeing the world and values them as much for the Court Chief Justice Takesaki “Scholars argue that one in a new light has pleasure he gets from the subject Hironobu ’71 LL.M. problem with our courts is the matter as for the depth they give been a running Takesaki, who became the tendency to issue extremely him as a jurist. country’s top jurist last Novem- detailed decisions understand- theme throughout “The law has its logical and ber, freely admits he was skepti- able only to professionals,” he his life. scientific side, but we [judges] cal when legislators first vetted says. “By working side by side also face the problem of under- the idea a decade ago. His main with lay judges, jurists will get a standing human beings, which concern was that its proposers better sense of what the public is why history interests me,” themselves had not fully sorted wants to know and understand, he says. “Trying to understand out what they hoped it would and learn how to better direct any crime or incident without accomplish. But the criminal their questioning and write knowing the background is law expert came to realize the their rulings accordingly.” inconceivable to me. Every legislators’ ambiguity reflected Given that one of Takesaki’s social phenomenon has to be real uncertainty among the Jap- boyhood dreams was to become seen in its historical context. anese public about the process an astronomer, it is no surprise History is fundamental.” by which justice is administered. that seeing the world in a new “There is a need to close the light has been a running theme CARL FREIRE is a Tokyo-based gap between professionals and the throughout his life. His experi- writer and translator.

48 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY Benjamin Parks LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 49 della britton baeza: Leveling the playing Field

As head of one of the nation’s most successful minority scholarship and mentoring programs, Della Britton Baeza ’78 builds on a hall of fame legacy By Lila Byock

As a young girl growing up in sub- you do, and doing it as well as where he worked,” Baeza says. has been a corporate litiga- urban Pittsburgh, Della Britton you can.” When her mother protested tor at Covington & Burling, an Baeza ’78 was a swimmer and a The foundation aims to foster that she had six children to feed, attorney for ABC News, and a cheerleader. “There weren’t many leadership; to this end, students her father shrugged and replied, music business executive, not to options for girls’ athletics,” she receive mentorship and life- “There are some people who mention a mother of three—but explained recently in her sunny skills instruction through college need it more.” Baeza credits her background SoHo office. But as the only sis- and beyond. A new initiative After college at Princeton, as a lawyer with helping her ter among five athletic brothers, called Extra Innings supports where Baeza was a member of navigate the increasingly com- “there was always the drive to be those students who go on to only the third graduating class plex nonprofit sector. “There is able to compete and interact with pursue graduate or professional to include women, she enrolled a direct parallel between gener- my brothers.” Her role models school. Ninety-seven percent at Columbia Law School. “Not a ating clients in a corporate con- weren’t pop singers or matinee of scholarship recipients earn day goes by that I don’t draw on text and generating donors in a icons; they were women who at least a college degree—more my fundamental legal training,” nonprofit context,” says Baeza, had scaled the peaks of male- than twice the average gradu- she says. Her career trajectory who is now in the throes of a dominated fields—Constance ation rate for minorities. In has been enviably eclectic—she campaign to build the Jackie Baker Motley ’46, the first black addition to excelling academi- Robinson Museum in New woman appointed to the federal cally, the foundation’s scholars Baeza is fond of York City to further extend the bench, and Golda Meir, whose must also perform substantial quoting Jackie baseball icon’s impact. photo graced a poster in the community service. Baeza is Robinson, who More and more Jackie Rob- office of Baeza’s mother. The fond of quoting her organiza- said: “A life is not inson Foundation scholars are poster’s caption read: “But can tion’s namesake, who said: “A pursuing nonprofit careers right she type?” life is not important except in its important except out of school, a trend that Baeza These days, as president and impact on other lives.” in its impact on reports with evident pride. “We CEO of the Jackie Robinson Baeza comes by this credo other lives.” want them to be ambassadors Foundation, which grants naturally. Her father was a drug of Jackie Robinson’s legacy and scholarships to high-achieving rehabilitation counselor, and her of the values he embodied,” she minority youths, Baeza fre- mother, a social worker, eventu- says. The students, she adds, quently finds herself attending ally became Pennsylvania’s dep- very often remind Baeza of her- star-studded benefits with the uty secretary of welfare. “I have self. “These young people learn likes of Bill Cosby and Derek a vivid memory of my mother at an early age: To whom much Jeter, but she remains unfazed. putting away groceries, and my is given, much is expected.” “When you go back to work the father coming in and taking one next day,” she says, “it’s about of the bags and beginning to fill LILA BYOCK is a member of the that daily process of doing what it to take it to one of the centers editorial staff at The New Yorker.

50 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY Patrick Harbron LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 51 philippe dauman: Paramount Leadership

As Viacom president and CEO, Philippe Dauman ’78 works to guide the venerable media company through especially challenging times BY Peter Kiefer

Ask any mergers and acquisi- asked me to have meetings with nology,” he says. “As a content form of viewing, and we are in tions attorney about a Schedule him to see if we could work out a producer, we like changes in the early days of that.” 13D report and they will explain deal. It got to the point where he technology, because they can Dauman’s negotiating skills that it is a routine filing required was unhappy when he couldn’t provide more opportunity for have proven an important by the Securities and Exchange reach me whenever he wanted the consumer to interact with advantage in navigating the Commission when an inves- to. So as the discussions with our content. We have people increasingly complicated and tor seeks more than 5 percent Paramount got more serious, he spending more of their day global marketplace. He says he ownership in a company. Ask asked me over and he said: ‘You looking at our programming, falls back on skills learned in the Philippe Dauman ’78, the presi- have to come work for me.’” so the biggest single challenge classroom at the Law School and dent and CEO of Viacom, and Dauman agreed, complet- is how do you monetize the new in less-traditional educational he’ll tell you it changed his life. ing a seven-year courtship. The settings, like friends’ poker It was 24 years ago when, as a rest is history still currently Dauman oversees tables during his card-playing senior associate in the New York in production. one of the days as a Yale undergraduate. office of Shearman & Sterling, As president and CEO of Via- largest media These days, Dauman, who Dauman was pulled aside and com, Dauman oversees one of was raised in New York and portfolios in told that a client—described only the world’s largest media port- is married with two children, as “a theater operator from Bos- folios—a stable that includes the world. That maintains a sharp focus on ton”—needed some help. That Paramount Pictures, MTV, stable includes growth, with a negotiator’s eye: client was Sumner Redstone. VH1, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount, MTV, A few years ago, he traveled to Thus began a relationship, and Nickelodeon, among oth- VH1, BET, Comedy India to hammer out a joint and a career in media and enter- ers. His job is not an easy one, venture with Indian media tainment, that has spanned more especially at the moment. While Central, and conglomerate Network 18 that than two decades and many of the global market for entertain- Nickelodeon. yielded Colors, a new general the most important and trans- ment content continues to grow, entertainment broadcast net- formative events in the indus- sweeping technological changes work. In just 24 months, Colors try. Along the way, Dauman are impacting the media indus- has become one of the highest- has steadily expanded his role tries at a time when traditional rated broadcast networks in from legal adviser to board advertising dollars are in scant India. “No matter the loca- member to chief executive, a supply and significant revenues tion or the platform,” he says, position he took on in 2006. from fast-growing new media “the primary strategy has to be “It was Sumner’s dream to ventures remain elusive. satisfying consumers.” buy Paramount,” Dauman Yet Dauman, the son of a Life recently explained at his immac- magazine photographer, seems to PETER KIEFER is a New York– ulate 52nd-floor office in Times be taking these challenges in stride. based journalist who has writ- Square. “As his chief legal coun- “What this industry has been ten for the Rome bureau of sel at Shearman & Sterling, he good at is adapting to tech- The New York Times.

52 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 53 at issue: mediating medical conflicts

Voluntary mediation is especially well-suited for resolving disputes that arise in the context of health care provision By CAROL B. LIEBMAN, Clinical Professor of Law

The American health care system is an incubator for conflict. Patients and physicians exist in a setting where many people are involved in delivery of care, patients’ conditions change rapidly, decisions are complex, and there is often no “correct” choice. Time pressures, stress, and emotion all make communication difficult and frequently lead to conflict. Mediation, a confidential, voluntary process in which an impartial third party helps the participants negotiate their differences and make informed choices, is being used to resolve two very different kinds of health care conflicts: bioethics disputes, which most often arise around decisions to continue or end treatment at the end of life, and medical malpractice claims. A mediation approach also is being used in some hospitals to facilitate disclosure conversations with patients who have been harmed by medical care.

The general benefits of using mediation takes place early in health care professionals or non-malfeasance, and distribu- mediation are now well known the litigation process, some or all among the family members or tive justice—recommend a in the legal world. It is a process of the emotional and financial within the health care team— course of action. Other bioethics that allows parties and their costs of litigation can be avoided. about how to manage treatment committees have discovered the lawyers—not judges or arbitra- Early mediation also provides decisions, they have called on benefits of a mediation approach tors—to control decision mak- injured parties the opportunity bioethics committees to help in which a bioethics mediator ing and the shape of any resolu- to receive fair compensation seek resolution. Some bioethics convenes a meeting of all stake- tion. Participants in mediation relatively soon after harm. committees act as consultants. holders and facilitates a conver- have the opportunity to discuss Mediation offers special Taking a quasi-adjudicatory role, sation with the goal of reaching all issues important to them, not benefits in the health care set- they review the medical records, a consensus. A major benefit just those that are relevant to the ting, where stakes are high and meet with physicians, other of bioethics mediation is that it legal claims. In addition they emotions can be overwhelm- health care professionals, and allows the family and the health can speak in a less guarded way ing. Traditionally, when hospi- the patient and family members care team to share the burden of during mediation because the tals have been confronted with and—applying bioethics prin- painful and profound decisions process is confidential. When conflicts—between families and ciples of autonomy, beneficence, about treatment at the end of life.

54 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 web exclusive For a version of this essay including end notes, download the ebook. law.columbia.edu/ mag/at-issue

physicians continue to say as little as possible after an adverse event and rarely apologize or offer compensation. The tendency to close down communication after an error deprives patients and physicians of the sorts of healing conversations that they both need. In addition, hospitals and health care providers may miss the opportunity to learn things In medical malpractice blame for a bad outcome. And In medical from the patient and family that cases, mediation provides a in both types of conflict, media- malpractice might prevent future errors. forum where both economic tion agreements can include In the past few years some cases, mediation and non-economic goals of provisions that a court could not hospitals have begun to take patients harmed by medical order. For example, in a bioeth- provides a forum a different approach. They care can be realized. Research ics case, the agreement might where both encourage disclosure after an shows that when patients are include continuing life support economic and non- adverse event and, when appro- harmed by medical error, they long enough for relatives to economic goals of priate, offer apologies and com- want to know what happened, gather or, in a medical malprac- pensation. Because it can be patients harmed by why it happened, the implica- tice case, a memorial lecture or difficult for physicians to talk to tions for their health, how the staff training that gives meaning medical care can patients who have been harmed problem will be corrected, and to terrible loss. Finally, in both be realized. by their medical care, especially how future errors will be avoid- types of mediation, the media- when that harm is caused by an ed. They are also, of course, tion process can encourage error, some hospitals are devel- concerned about the financial healing conversation. oping teams of expert commu- impact of the error, and they Hospitals and physicians also nicators to help plan and facili- want an apology. Apologies can are using a mediation approach tate disclosure conversations be offered during mediation to improve communications and provide debriefing and because mediation communi- between the health care team emotional support to the health cations, by agreement, statute, and patients and their families care providers. These commu- or court rule, are confidential. when a patient has been harmed nication experts use mediator In addition, if either the physi- by medical care. Hospitals are skills to ensure that patients cians involved in the patient’s required by regulation, ethical and their family members but and physicians hear each other care or a physician with super- standards, and, in some states, also health care providers suffer. and that the concerns and fears visory responsibility for patient by law to disclose “adverse Too often physicians and of the patient and patient’s fam- care comes to the mediation events”—that is, injuries resulting other health care providers react ily members are recognized. table in malpractice cases, from medical management—to to adverse events by distancing Trust is at the core of the doc- patients or their family mem- patients. Adverse events may be themselves from their patients. tor-patient relationship. When bers may learn for the first time the result of appropriate care but Rather than providing informa- conflicts arise, that trust is dam- exactly what happened to them frequently result from prevent- tion and spending time with aged, causing distress for all. It is or their loved ones in a way that able medical errors, many of the patient, the members of the not easy to rebuild that trusting they can understand. them life threatening. health care team—responding relationship following an error In both bioethics and medi- When an adverse event perhaps in part from a sense of or a dispute about treatment, but cal malpractice mediations, occurs, the trusting relationship failure, shame, or guilt and, in mediation, with its ability to facil- patients and family members at the heart of the physician- part, from fear of possible litiga- itate communication, can help. may come to understand the patient relationship is strained; tion—pull back and shut down complexities and uncertainties when that event is the clear communication at a time when This essay was reprinted of medical care. This under- result of an error, the relation- communication is most needed. from the recently published standing may allow them to ship is ruptured. And when an Poorly advised by lawyers, insur- Sesquicentennial Essays of the realize that often no one is to error occurs, not only patients ers, and risk managers, most Faculty of Columbia Law School.

ILLUSTRATION BY James Yang LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 55 at issue: From Professor to Judge

Factors of critical significance to judges are often less important to law professors, and vice versa By DEBRA A. LIVINGSTON, Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law

Shortly after becoming a judge, I was invited to speak at the annual Columbia Law Review banquet, held on March 27, 2008, in honor of the 107th volume of the Review. This invitation gave me the opportunity to reflect on my transition from academia to the bench. This is a distillation of my remarks.

There is a difference of per- many at Columbia, perhaps, but it means 35 as the number of Constitution now has age 50 as spective between judges and a lot around the country—would revolutions of the world around a minimum), or as a minimum law professors—between those find this proposition troubling, the sun, as a percentage of aver- number of years after puberty charged with the responsibility if not outright scandalous. The age life expectancy (so that the (so the minimum now is 30 or of decision and those charged focus of much legal scholarship so). Each of these treatments with critiquing, understanding, is precisely on demonstrating Law professors has some rational set of rea- or explaining the decisions. And the indeterminacy of language have a big sons, goals, values, and the like this results in different points of and the inability of a text to say appetite for that to recommend it. If the mean- emphasis—in different views, what it means and mean what ing of language depends on a perhaps, about what is impor- it says. This habit of thought is last morsel of community of understanding tant and what is relatively less sometimes associated with the indeterminacy in among readers, none is ‘right.’” important in the consideration political left among academics. a seemingly clear Law professors—even Profes- of legal matters. So let me iden- But I’m not sure that’s right. The text. Judges and sor Easterbrook—spend a lot of tify, if I can, three common focus on indeterminacy may be lawyers, less so. time demonstrating for us the sense ideas that have proven just what law professors do. ways in which words aren’t clear extremely important to me in Consider Professor Easter- and don’t control. And maybe my early days on the bench, but brook’s famous argument—not there’s a simple enough reason that are not always held in high one he endorsed, but one he for this fixation: No one ever regard in the law schools. elaborated—for the indeter- became famous as a scholar by Idea number one: Legal lan- minacy of the provision in the pointing out that the text of a guage matters, whether it is the Constitution that the president statute cleanly answered some text of a statute, or the words of must be at least 35: “When question at hand. a regulation. the Constitution says that the The experience of judges, I A substantial number of my president must be 35 years old, think, is different. The text does academic colleagues—not so we cannot be certain whether decide an awful lot of cases. And,

56 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 one of the most serious intellectual challenges they face is deciding on an agenda. Many an academic career has suffered from unwise judgments about what to focus on. The challenge is different for a judge. Next year the judges on my court will each sit about 45 days apiece, and will also decide a large number of appeals on the non-argument calendar. That translates roughly to about 370 to 400 appeals per judge, each year. More than 65 percent of these cases will probably be decided by summary order, but the rest will require published opinions. The challenge for the judge on a busy court like this is in allocating time among these many and varied matters, so that the difficult cases get their due without sacrificing the time needed to decide the simpler matters well, and on a timely basis. The case or controversy requirement sets my agenda. So what’s my bottom line? I’ve certainly loved my life as a law professor, and I still do. It’s frankly, these are the cases that Take Chevron—that text- in an area of law. The case may a job that gives you the free- judges often like best—where book administrative law case be a necessary part of the equa- dom to think about law in the Congress has provided a clear that holds that when the text tion, but for many academics abstract, and surrounded by answer so that the judge knows of a statute is ambiguous or that’s a little unfortunate, to be law students who are thinking what to do. For judges and for silent on the question at hand, perfectly frank. about some of the issues for the lawyers, the text matters, as argu- the court should defer to the This, too, is just not true for first time, with all the excite- ments begin and often end there. agency, so long as the agency’s the judge. It makes a difference ment that comes from that. Law professors have a big appe- interpretation of the statute is that you’re deciding a concrete My first year on the bench tite for that last morsel of inde- reasonable. Chevron is extraor- has been an extraordinary expe- terminacy in a seemingly clear dinarily important to the judge rience for me in a different way. text. Judges and lawyers, less so. charged with decision in an I leave for work in the morn- The second idea: The stan- agency matter. I just finished web exclusive ing feeling very happy to have dard of review matters. A noted saying words decide cases. But For a version of this essay this new set of responsibilities administrative law scholar once we know this isn’t always true. including end notes, and this new set of challenges. download the ebook. said that the standard of review There are hard cases. There are law.columbia.edu/ Although putting it this way is like the core of a seedless judgment calls to be made. In mag/at-issue may sound mundane, I like the grape—there’s nothing there. these cases, it matters a lot who task of working out the ways in Terms like clear error or abuse bears the burden of persuasion dispute between real parties. which laws framed by others of discretion are just the words and how heavy that burden is. It That reality sharpens and focuses resolve the concrete disputes the judge employs in explaining matters who gets to decide. the judicial senses, especially that come before courts. To the result he or she otherwise Finally, there’s the case or the sense of responsibility. me, this feels like an extremely wants to reach. But that’s just controversy requirement. Now, What judges do—and what rewarding and very consequen- wrong, from the perspective of to the law professor—and I’m lawyers do—is not abstract, tial way to make a living. the person who must decide the perfectly serious about this—the but immediate, with real case. To the judge charged with case or controversy requirement consequences for real people. This essay was reprinted the responsibility of decision, can be thought of as something Let me explain this distinc- from the recently published the standard of review means of a nuisance. The professor tion another way. I think almost Sesquicentennial Essays of the an awful lot. And it should. wants to rethink the landscape all professors will tell you that Faculty of Columbia Law School.

ILLUSTRATION BY Jim Frazier LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 57 class notes: Staying in Touch

Columbia Law School alumni from around the world share news of their professional and personal accomplishments

1959 William J. Allingham is a served as a pro tem judge in Roger F. Bloom is a partner Charles J. Egan is a co-trustee regent emeritus of Saint Peter’s Arizona’s Maricopa County in the New York City office of the Stanley H. Durwood College in New Jersey and Superior Court. Bernstein of Warshaw Burstein Cohen Foundation, which supports devotes a significant amount of and his wife, Alice, have four Schlesinger & Kuh, where he a variety of initiatives at the time to an array of philanthropic children and six grandchildren. specializes in real property mat- University of Missouri–Kan- commitments. He retired from ters. Bloom funds a fellowship sas City. Previously, Egan was the practice of law in 1989 and at Columbia Law School that the vice president and general from the Army Reserve in 1980. supports research on the links counsel at Hallmark Cards, as between law and economics. well as counsel to the Hall fam- Joshua J. Angel joined the ily. He retired from Hallmark New York City office of Herrick, Harold C. Costello lives in a in 2004. Feinstein as senior counsel. 400-year-old farmhouse located in the Italian hill town of Asolo, Stuart M. Glass received a Greer M. Arthur serves on where he grows grapes and certificate in archival manage- the board of the San Francisco makes his own wine. ment and historical editing Opera, on the Columbia Law from New York University’s School Advisory Board, and on Adele M. Blong visits medical Daniel I. Davidson teaches Graduate School of Arts and the Lafayette College Athletic facilities with her family’s dog constitutional law at Goucher Science in 2003. He has since & Student Affairs Council. as part of a volunteer program. College in Maryland. Davidson served as an assistant archi- He is the founder and former Blong also runs an after-school also writes book reviews for The vist at the New York Stock owner of the Trans Ocean program that teaches children Economist, The Washington Exchange and as a consultant Distribution Company, which about animals, and she serves Post, and other publications. archivist at the Lincoln Center transports bulk liquids in rubber as a reading tutor for students for the Performing Arts. bladders placed inside maritime in Washington, D.C.–area containers. Following the 2004 public schools. Before begin- Alvin M. Glazerman is a tsunami in Asia, the company ning her volunteer work, Blong board member of Roxbury shipped containers filled with was a lawyer in the public Youthworks, a Massachusetts water to villages left with no sector for 36 years, working nonprofit organization that access to the resource. in the Department of Health, monitors and counsels chil- Education, and Welfare, as well dren who have spent time in Irwin L. Bernstein retired as with the organization that juvenile detention centers. from his family law practice in is now the National Center for Glazerman and his wife, 1999 and has since conducted Law and Economic Justice in Phyllis, have three children family law mediations and New York City. and 15 grandchildren.

58 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 class of: ’69

Stuart Rabinowitz Making the Grade

Stuart Rabinowitz ’69 was the first in his family to attend In 1989, Rabinowitz became dean of the law school. He a four-year college. More than 40 years later, he’s running used that platform to secure merit-based pay for faculty one—and in the process, he is turning that institution into members, promote professorial scholarship, and raise $20 a major player in the world of academia. million in his first capital campaign. His successes caught Rabinowitz became president of Hofstra University in the attention of the university’s board of trustees, which 2001. Since then, he has launched an honors college, bro- offered Rabinowitz the chance to alter the course of the ken ground on a new medical school slated to open in entire institution as its president. 2011, and attracted a presidential debate to his school’s “Someday, Hofstra is going to be recognized for its Long Island campus. excellence in all areas,” he says. “The question in my mind “I kept trying to run away from being an administrator,” is always, ‘How can we become great?’” says Rabinowitz, who harbored academic aspirations as early as his first In Rabinowitz’s tenure as president, Hofstra year of Law School. “But I kept getting has broken ground on a new medical school called back a number of times.” and attracted a presidential debate. Hofstra recruited Rabinowitz in 1972 when it was searching for professors to join the faculty of its law school, which was then just 2 years old. “I had offers to teach at established law schools,” he recalls, “but I was so excited to play a role in building something.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 59 Edmund M. Kaufman and his representing management exclu- labor relations, and employment wife, Jeannie, own a bookstore sively. For more than 20 years, law, as well as trusts and estates. in downtown San Mateo, Calif., he has served as a member of the called “M” is for Mystery . . . board of editors for The Labor William A. Carmell is a Ira S. Novak, a member of and More. Kaufman serves on Lawyer, a quarterly scholarly partner in the New York office Norris McLaughlin & Marcus the Los Angeles Opera board of journal produced by the Ameri- of Ford & Harrison, where he in Bridgewater, N.J., has been directors and is also a Medal- can Bar Association’s Labor and specializes in labor and employ- selected for inclusion in the lion Society member of the San Employment Law Section. ment law, representing manage- health care section of New Jersey Francisco Opera. ment. Carmell was selected for Super Lawyers, which recognizes 1964 inclusion in the 2008 Best Law- the top attorneys in the state. Lewis Kruger is president of Thomas H. Barnard Jr. is a yers in America publication. Novak has been included in the the Museum of Arts and Design shareholder at Ogletree, listing every year since 2005. His in New York. Kruger contin- Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart King-Yuh Chang, M.C.L., practice focuses on health care ues to practice law full time as in Cleveland, where his practice teaches courses at Tamkang and hospital law, general busi- the co-chair of the financial focuses mainly on employment University and National Cheng- ness and commercial matters, restructuring group at Stroock litigation and traditional labor chi University, both in Taipei. and real estate, including land & Stroock & Lavan, where he is law work. Barnard is also an Previously, Chang served as the use and development. also a member of the firm’s adjunct professor of employment government spokesman and senior executive committee. law at Case Western Reserve director general of Taiwan’s Eugene A. Rostov retired University School of Law. Government Information from the Miami office of Baker Harvey Miller, a partner at Office. He was also the minister & McKenzie last year. Rostov Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New of state and chairman of the now runs a consulting firm that York, was recently honored with Mainland Affairs Council prior advises on the business aspects the American Jewish Com- to his retirement from public of mergers and acquisitions out- mittee’s Judge Learned Hand service in 2000. side the United States. Award for outstanding service to the legal profession. In addition, John F. Crawford is of coun- Elizabeth Giavani Verville The American Lawyer maga- sel in the Paris office of Jones is the deputy assistant secretary zine named Miller one of the Day, where his areas of practice for international crime in the “2009 Dealmakers of the Year” Norman W. Bernstein is a include corporate transactions, U.S. State Department, where for his leadership role in han- member of N.W. Bernstein & American investment in Europe she is working to implement the dling the $639 billion Lehman Associates in Rye Brook, N.Y., and vice versa, as well as transat- first-ever global treaties against Brothers bankruptcy. where his legal work focuses on lantic commercial transactions. transnational organized crime, the intersection of finance and Crawford is also involved with including human trafficking Jack L. Most is counsel at the environment. the American Chamber of Com- and corruption. Goetz Fitzpatrick in New York, merce in France, the United where he focuses on branded Lawrence W. Boes retired States Council for International 1965 consumer products in the food, after 35 years with Reavis & Business, and the International Michael Marks Cohen, of beverage, cosmetics and toilet- McGrath in New York and is Chamber of Commerce, among counsel at Nicoletti Hornig & ries, and apparel industries. now practicing law in Westbury, other organizations. He has Sweeney in New York, recently N.Y., where he has served the been awarded membership in published an article in the Ford- Evan J. Spelfogel is a partner town in various legal capacities. the French Legion of Honor and ham International Law Journal and shareholder in the New York Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun. titled “Ethics in the Multijuris- office of Epstein Becker & Green, dictional Practice of Admiralty where he focuses his practice Richard P. Lerner is the Lawyers.” The article, which primarily on labor relations, managing partner of the New appeared in April, focuses on employment discrimination, York City–based Lambos Firm, activities by admiralty lawyers and employee benefits law, which specializes in labor law, that could be regarded by some

60 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 class of: ’70

Barbara Eisenberg The Perfect Fit

When a Chinese manufacturer began producing and sell- initiatives and its social compliance programs. “I think it’s ing non–Ann Taylor clothing under the Ann Taylor brand key in today’s complex, global world that lawyers focus name, Barbara Eisenberg ’70 knew she had to go on the on the integrity and long-term success of the company,” offensive. What would be clearly illegal in the U.S. was says Eisenberg. perfectly legitimate behavior in China. But as general Her success validates the choice she made years counsel for the women’s apparel powerhouse, Eisenberg ago to abandon the partner track at a law firm. “It was had to find a solution. After six long years, she did. at the stage where you start to say, ‘Is this what I want In July, Eisenberg and her legal team secured a deal to do with the rest of my life?’” Eisenberg recalls. She in which the American apparel company acquired the realized her future was in blending business and law, and Ann Taylor trademark in China. “It was certainly challeng- she launched her in-house career, which, she says with a ing from a legal perspective, but the cultural differences smile, “is where the fun is.” made the negotiations even more so,” Eisenberg says. “We’re thrilled that we “I think it’s key in today’s complex, global have the name where it belongs. It’s world that lawyers focus on the integrity back home.” and long-term success of the company.” Trademark protection is just one of —Barbara Eisenberg Eisenberg’s myriad responsibilities, which include counseling Ann Taylor’s senior management and board, as well as staying ahead of dynamic challenges to minimize risks. In addition, she is also responsible for the company’s green

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 61 courts or licensing authorities as Law School students. Berg William P. Dietrich has been the unauthorized practice of law. continues to practice law in the actively involved in local and New York office of Russin, Vec- regional land-use planning, 1967 chi, Berg & Bernstein, where zoning, and environmental Roderick L. Ireland is a Richard Ben-Veniste recently he focuses on commercial real protection matters in New justice on the Massachusetts published a book titled The estate transactions and con- Hampshire since receiving a Supreme Judicial Court. Emperor’s New Clothes: Expos- struction projects in the New master’s degree in environ- Ireland also teaches at North- ing the Truth from Watergate York metropolitan area. mental law from Vermont Law eastern University’s College of to 9/11 (Thomas Dunne Books: School several years ago. Criminal Justice. He has been 2009). Ben-Veniste previously John M. Brickman is a member an adjunct faculty member at served as chief of the Watergate of Ackerman, Levine, Cullen, Robert A. Freedberg was Northeastern for 30 years. Task Force of the Watergate Brickman & Limmer in Great appointed by Pennsylvania Special Prosecutor’s Office, as Neck, N.Y. Brickman serves on Governor Edward G. Rendell Edward M. Kabak is the chief well as chief counsel for the the New York State Commission to serve on the state Superior legal officer for the Promo- Senate Whitewater Committee. on Public Integrity and recently Court, the intermediate appel- tion Marketing Association, a Most recently, he was one of 10 finished a term as chair of the late court of the Commonwealth Manhattan-based national trade commissioners on the biparti- Correctional Association of New of Pennsylvania. Freedberg has association for promotion and san 9/11 Commission. His new York, a 165-year-old nonprofit served as a trial court judge integrated marketers. book is a “memoir of investiga- organization that seeks to since 1980. His daughter, Debra tions” into some of the most create a more fair, efficient, and Freedberg Baker ’96, is a gradu- Howard J. Kaufman is a notorious political scandals in humane criminal justice system. ate of the Law School, and his founding partner of Kaufman, American history. son is a biology professor. Coren & Ress, a Philadelphia Frederic E. Brown serves law firm that primarily handles Vilma Martinez has been on the Alaska Democratic John A. Golden continues to complex commercial litiga- named the U.S. ambassador to Party’s Central Committee. practice law with his New York tion. Kaufman also manages a Argentina. Previously, Martinez Brown recently completed his City boutique investment firm, racing stable of standard-bred was a partner at Munger, Tolles term as president of the Arctic John A. Golden Associates. harness horses. & Olson. She also served as head Amateur Radio Club board Golden established the firm of the Mexican American Legal of directors. The club serves after leaving a partnership posi- Edith M. Novack maintains Defense and Educational Fund. Alaskans during emergency tion in mergers and acquisitions a private law practice in New situations, including floods at Goldman Sachs. He serves York and New Jersey, handling 1969 and earthquakes. as a governor of Hebrew Union banking transactions, corporate Mark L. Amsterdam is a College, and both he and his matters, and commercial and senior partner at Amsterdam & wife, Suzanne, have been active residential real estate transac- Lewinter, a boutique law firm in organizations addressing tions. Novack also occasionally specializing in real estate litiga- mental wellness issues, as well performs adoption and special tion. Amsterdam has served as other health-related groups. education advocacy work. on the board of directors of the Columbia Law School Associa- Leonard B. Pack is a solo tion and is currently president practitioner in New York City, of the Columbia University Robert D. Croog is a visiting specializing in business and Club of New York. professor at Rochester Insti- employment law. Pack also vol- tute of Technology, where he unteers as a moot court judge at J. Frederick Berg is a mem- teaches advertising, public Columbia Law School. ber of the Columbia Law relations, and media law. Croog School Board of Visitors and and his wife, Ellen, have two Day L. Patterson is general devotes time to meeting, advis- grandchildren, Wyatt (pictured counsel of HITN, a Spanish- ing, and mentoring Columbia above) and Elias. language public TV station

62 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 James L. Lipscomb Advocate for Inclusion

In the early 1970s, the relatively new Black Law Students MetLife, the employees prefer to have an “inclusive” office Association (BLSA) asked to be included in discussions atmosphere as a way to recognize the many dimensions to hire Columbia Law School’s first tenure-track African- of diversity. For instance, the employees initiated ethnic American professor. After the hiring took place without food tastings—an endeavor that has resulted in a law consultation, the task of expressing BLSA’s dismay fell to department recipe book. Another program engages pres- association president James L. Lipscomb ’72. idents of diverse bar associations in discussions that have “While praising the selection of Professor [Kellis] Parker, been effective in helping MetLife attract people of color, we expressed disappointment about being excluded from says Lipscomb. the process,” says Lipscomb. “I believe I did that with “The initiatives are employee-driven,” he adds. “My job some spirit.” is to foster an environment for them to move forward.” Lipscomb has continued to exercise that spirit during his 37-year career with insurance giant MetLife, a company Lipscomb is proud that, at he joined as an attorney after graduation. He currently metlife, employees prefer an serves as executive vice president and general counsel, “inclusive” work environment. though he has played a variety of roles over the years. As CEO and president of then-subsidiary Conning Corpora- tion from 2000 to 2001, Lipscomb was responsible for highly regulated investment activities. “I did not act as my own attorney, but I did give my in-house lawyers quite a rough time as a client,” he says. Lipscomb believes in allowing employees to create their own work environment. He is proud of the fact that, at

class of: ’72

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 63 1972 based in New York City that Robert J. Jossen, a partner at Washington Law & Politics, as reaches 30 million homes Dechert in New York, was hon- well as Seattle Business Monthly. across the United States. ored with The Jewish Theologi- He is a fellow of the American cal Seminary’s 14th annual Judge Arnold N. Bressler is a College of Trial Lawyers. Stephen R. Shestakofsky is Simon H. Rifkind Award at a partner in the New York City the director of state legislation luncheon in May. Jossen focuses office of Moses & Singer, where Stephen L. Dreyfuss, a for the Massachusetts Medical his practice on securities and he focuses on corporate and partner at Hellring Lindeman Society, the professional asso- white-collar criminal defense, securities law. Bressler is also a Goldstein & Siegal in Newark, ciation for physicians in Mas- complex commercial litigation, member of the board of trustees N.J., is vice president and legal sachusetts and the publisher of and legal ethics. For nearly 20 of Congregation Rodeph Sho- counsel to the French-American The New England Journal of years, he has served as general lom in New York and a member Chamber of Commerce. He Medicine. In this role, Shesta- counsel to the Rabbinical of the board of directors of the also serves as an executive kofsky has advocated for legisla- Assembly, an international Association of Reform Zionists committee member of the Paris- tion aimed at improving access association of conservative rabbis, of America. based Union Internationale to health care. His successful and as a member of The Rabbini- des Avocats, the world’s oldest campaigns include the estab- cal School advisory board. Alvin H. Brown is the head association of lawyers and bars. lishment of a Patient’s Bill of of the executive compensation Rights, the creation of smoke- 1974 and employee benefits practice James Gadsden heads the free workplaces, and the recent William J. Barker Jr. runs group in the New York office of bankruptcy and creditors’ rights landmark health reform law a small manufacturing busi- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, practice group in the New York that has reduced the number of ness in the Philadelphia area where he has been a partner for City office of Carter Ledyard & uninsured patients in the state with his two brothers. The 20 years. Milburn. Gadsden began his by more than half. company designs and builds career as a summer associate trade show exhibits. Ernest J. Collazo celebrated with the firm in 1973. Anthony L. Wagner is the the 17th anniversary of his director of the National Security S. Anthony (Sal) Bianco is boutique New York City law Law Office in the Department a New York–based partner, vice firm, Collazo Carling & Mish. of the Air Force General Coun- president, and general counsel of The firm represents employers sel in Washington, D.C. Wagner Booz & Company, a global man- in labor relations matters and and his wife, Pat, have two chil- agement consulting firm. Bianco employment litigation. Collazo is dren and five grandchildren. is responsible for providing a member of the Departmental worldwide legal and risk-man- Disciplinary Committee of the 1970 agement services to the firm. He Appellate Division for the First David S. Gordon, a share- also provides counsel in connec- Judicial Department. He is also holder with Wilentz, Goldman tion with the firm’s private equity a member of the New York State & Spitzer in Woodbridge, N.J., and due diligence work. Bar Association House of was selected for inclusion in Delegates and the Federal Kenneth K. Lehn is a prin- the 2009 New Jersey Super William Boone Bonvillian, Defenders of New York. cipal in Winne, Banta, Heth- Lawyers list, as designated by director of the Washington, erington, Basralian & Kahn, Law & Politics magazine. D.C., office of the Massachu- Kelly P. Corr is a partner at the oldest law firm in Bergen setts Institute of Technology, Corr Cronin Michelson Baum- County, New Jersey. co-wrote Structuring an Energy gardner & Preece, a boutique lit- Technology Revolution (MIT igation firm in Seattle. The firm Richard G. Liskov is special Press: 2009). Bonvillian is also has handled several high-profile counsel in the New York office an adjunct faculty member at lawsuits, such as Courtney Love of Chadbourne & Parke, where Georgetown University and v. Nirvana and the Washington, he heads the insurance regula- teaches at The George Wash- D.C., sniper civil litigation. Corr tory practice. Liskov returns ington University and at MIT. has been featured on the cover of to Columbia Law School occa-

64 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Shelley Fischel Stay Tuned

Several years ago, Shelley Fischel ’77 discovered a relic the dark. “I had never heard of HBO when I took the job,” from 1979 hidden in an office drawer. It was a list that pitted says Fischel. “And I just did it.” the pluses and minuses of the job she had then—associate Over the course of her 30-year career at HBO, Fischel at Sullivan & Cromwell—against the job she had just been has risen from labor lawyer to executive vice president of offered at a startup with an uncertain human resources and administration. Her work has varied future. That company was HBO. widely, from supervising multimillion-dollar construction Fischel was torn. She had intended class projects to protecting HBO from would-be antitrust viola- to be a litigator after law school (“I of: ’77 tions that threatened the then-nascent pay-TV industry. wanted to be Susan Dey in L.A. Law,” Those efforts have been peppered with perks: Fischel has she recalls with a laugh), but her law talked politics with Bill Maher at the Emmys, traded phone firm job was not what she had hoped. calls with Cynthia Nixon about educating LGBT youth, and HBO, on the other hand, was a shot in looked up from her desk to find James Gandolfini standing in her office doorway. Fischel has talked politics with After three decades at Bill Maher and traded phone one of the world’s most suc- calls with Cynthia Nixon. cessful media companies, Fischel will retire in Decem- ber. But she still intends to check in on HBO—both as a consultant and as a viewer. “I feel strongly about what we do,” Fischel says. And, she adds with a smile, “I love True Blood. I do.”

Susan Waltman In Good Hands

Susan Waltman ’77, executive vice president and gen- “I love health eral counsel of the Greater New York Hospital Associa- care, and I love tion, describes her position as one that puts her in the what it can do “guts of hospital operations.” She is charged with man- for all of us.” aging legal, regulatory, and professional affairs issues —Susan Waltman that impact the association’s 250 member hospitals and continuing care facilities, focusing on everything from dramatic changes in health care laws to emergency preparedness. Never has that role been more fraught with controversy and excitement than now. Waltman, who is a third-generation graduate of Columbia Law School, finds herself entrenched in the health class specially trained judges and experts to help determine reform debate that has captured of: ’77 liability and compensation in malpractice suits. The asso- national attention. “What our associa- ciation has also pushed for the establishment of clinical tion has done is to say, ‘Let’s all work together to identify guidelines, which, if followed, would ensure quality care ways to reduce the cost of the health care system, rather while protecting doctors from non-meritorious lawsuits. than simply impose cuts in reimbursement,’” she explains. “Parts of these initiatives have gained some traction As part of the national debate, the association has “taken because they’re middle of the road,” she says. “I love the position that the medical malpractice system should health care, and I love what it can do for all of us. I also be reformed,” she says. Her organization advocates also appreciate the value of the broader application the implementation of “health courts” that would enlist of public health.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 65 sionally to serve as a judge for York. Lindsey is a member of Donald L. Drakeman is a moot court. the partner practice group. venture capitalist with Advent Sharon J. Handler has been Venture Partners, which an independent international Susan J. McCone, a graduate 1976 focuses on business endeavors business adviser since 2000. In of Yale Divinity School, is the Joel R. Glucksman, a partner in the life sciences. Drakeman’s that capacity, she helped estab- director of mission funding for in the Lyndhurst, N.J., office third book on church-state lish the Jerry S. & Marilyn C. the national Episcopal Church of Scarinci Hollenbeck, was topics, Church, State, and Handler Endowment for in New York City. McCone is recently selected for inclusion Original Intent, is scheduled to Integrative Medicine at the also the executive director of in New Jersey Super Lawyers, be published later this year by Albert Einstein College Affirming Anglican Catholi- which recognizes the top attor- Cambridge University Press. of Medicine. The endowment cism, a religious nonprofit orga- neys in the state. Glucksman enables medical students to nization, and the board director specializes in the representa- Philip N. Feder recently study complementary medi- of the Anglican Centre in Rome. tion of secured lenders and relocated with his wife and one cine as an integral part of their other creditors in complex law- of his daughters to London, traditional medical curriculum. Robert L. Meyer has lived in suits and bankruptcies. where he continues to serve as Handler also assisted French Hong Kong for more than 30 a partner with Paul Hastings scientist and Nobel Prize winner years. Meyer owns Pharmalink Kay Murray was awarded Janofsky & Walker. Feder will Dr. Luc Montagnier in creating International Limited, which the Barnard College Medal of work to build the firm’s prac- a U.S. base for medical research manufactures Lyprinol®, a natu- Distinction at the 2009 Barnard tice throughout Europe and and development activities. ral anti-inflammatory substance College commencement the Middle East. extracted from New Zealand’s ceremony in May. Daniel F. Miranda is the green-lipped mussel. It is used Stuart M. Feinblatt is a president of HSA Commercial for treating arthritis, asthma, 1977 partner with Sills Cummis & Real Estate, which is based in and other chronic human Carol Stokinger has been Gross in Newark, N.J., where Chicago. Miranda develops inflammatory conditions. appointed supervising judge for he specializes in defending and acquires industrial, retail, the Queens County Family Court. pharmaceutical and medical office, and medical buildings Joan Shufro Silverman Stokinger has been a judge on device companies in products in 15 states. maintains a private legal the family court since 2000. liability cases. practice in White Plains, N.Y., Antoine N. Paszkiewicz, where she specializes in trusts 1979 LL.M., is a partner in the Paris and estates, including estate Arthur J. Bousel has office of Kramer Levin Naf- planning; estate, gift, and gen- relocated his legal career- talis & Frankel. Paszkiewicz eration-skipping transfer tax; coaching practice to Philadel- also serves as president of the probate; estate administration; phia, after spending the past Chopin Society and the Chopin and trust administration. Sil- 17 years in Chicago. Bousel Festival in Paris. He and his verman is also a board member coaches lawyers on developing wife, Ariel, have four children. of the Summit Music Festival in clients, client service, and Cathy A. Fleming is a partner Westchester County, New York. securing a more rewarding in the New York office of Nixon The festival helps train young career experience. Peabody, where she works in musicians from the United both the business litigation States and abroad and presents Arthur A. Cohen is a partner and white-collar departments. a concert series at Manhattan- with Haynes and Boone in Fleming has been active in ville College each summer. Washington, D.C., where he women’s issues throughout focuses on mergers and acquisi- her career, and in 2006, she 1975 tions and project finance. Cohen served as the president of the Jon Lindsey has been appointed also teaches a course on project National Association of Women office managing partner at finance at the Georgetown Lawyers, the oldest and largest Major, Lindsey & Africa in New University Law Center. women’s bar association.

66 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 become a learning specialist at University School of Law in Livia M. Corredor is associ- the Washington International Indiana and as chair of law ate general counsel at Forest School in D.C. at LaTrobe University School City Ratner Companies in New Ilan K. Reich founded Vizio of Law in Australia. Andrews York, where she practices both Medical Devices in 2007 to Maura J. Wogan is a partner continues to publish in the area real estate law and structured develop a new technology for at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & of international human rights finance law. Corredor and her kidney dialysis. He and his wife, Selz, where she specializes in law, focusing specifically on husband, David Duffee, have Ilene, welcomed a daughter, intellectual property and women and South African three children. Haley Elizabeth, last October. entertainment litigation. constitutional law. She is also Wogan also counsels clients involved with the Human Rights John J. Hansen is an inde- Mark B. Rotenberg is gen- in the publishing industry, Watch Africa Committee. pendent lawyer and consultant eral counsel at the University of including traditional and for technology companies, Minnesota and teaches at the online publishers, literary primarily working in the areas university’s law school, as well as agents, writers, and illustrators. of contracts and transactions. at its College of Liberal Arts. Previously, Hansen worked for Martin J. Yudkovitz is the LightSurf Technologies, which Paul N. Samuels is the direc- senior vice president for cor- developed and deployed the first tor and president of the Legal porate strategy at The Walt camera phone system in the Action Center, a nonprofit pub- Disney Company. United States. lic interest law firm in New York City and Washington, D.C., that 1983 Mark D. Hostetter is CEO provides free legal services to Craig Gurian is executive of Vinik Asset Management, a people with histories of alcohol director of the Anti-Discrimi- private investment firm based and drug problems, individu- nation Center. The center in Boston that he started in als with HIV/AIDS, and people recently received a settlement 1996 with his best friend from with criminal histories who from a case it brought against Lana L. Cartlidge-Potts is high school. Hostetter is also experience discrimination or Westchester County, which the director of music, worship, a third-generation ordained violations of privacy. is now required to develop at and arts at Travis Park United Presbyterian minister, serving least 750 housing units in its Methodist Church in San as pastor for the mission to the Edwin B. Sterner is general most residentially segregated Antonio, Texas. corporate world at First Presby- counsel to Astronics Advanced white municipalities. The terian Church in New York City. Electronic Systems, an aero- county must also institute Mark A. Cohen is of counsel in Hostetter’s charitable projects space company in Redmond, housing desegregation policies. the Beijing office of Jones Day, include the creation of Summit Wash. Sterner is also of counsel where he focuses on intellectual Preparatory School in Kalispell, at Monahan & Biagi, where he Ruth Fleet Thurman, LL.M., property issues. Cohen and his Mo., one of the first nonprofit works with venture capital firms retired from her full-time wife, Elissa, have four children. therapeutic boarding schools. and coaches companies in the position as a professor at early phases of development. Stetson University College of David J. Mangefrida Jr. is Law in Gulfport, Fla. Thur- the senior vice president and Donna L. Tesiero teaches man was the first female ten- director of tax for Calamos fifth grade at an independent ured law professor at Stetson, Investments in Naperville, Ill. school in Brookline, Mass. where she now holds the title Previously, Mangefrida was of professor emeritus. a partner in the national tax Sylvia S. Winik received a department of Ernst & Young in master’s degree in learning 1984 Washington, D.C. disabilities and then conducted Penelope E. Andrews, LL.M., her training at The Lab School holds a joint appointment as a Marc R. Packer, a partner in of Washington. She has since professor of law at Valparaiso the mergers and acquisitions

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 67 group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Jane E. Scott is an assistant Stone, was recognized as a man of China for Citigroup Meagher & Flom, recently professor of legal writing at St. certified franchise executive Global Markets (Asia) Ltd., moved back to New York City. John’s University School of Law. by the Institute of Certified where she was responsible for Packer spent the previous eight Franchise Executives. Schochet the securities and investment years working in the firm’s Palo 1985 completed the advanced course banking businesses in that Alto office. Richard H. Kreindler, an of study in franchise manage- country. Christianson and her international arbitration part- ment in order to enhance her husband, Jon, live in Beijing ner at Shearman & Sterling understanding of the industry. with their three children. in Frankfurt, Germany, was named an honorary professor 1989 Matt J. Epstein is a partner of law at the University of Mün- Catherine Albisa is the founder in the Valley Cottage, N.Y., ster in recognition of his years of the National Economic and office of Mandel, Katz & of teaching at the university and Social Rights Initiative. The Brosnan, a 30-lawyer firm that his academic achievements. organization brings human focuses on distressed corporate rights law, strategies, and bank debt trading. 1986 standards to social movements Matthew L. Miller is scheduled and seeks to reposition the law Ben A. Firschein is director to deliver the 14th Annual as a tool to ensure the well-being of government affairs for the Jill E. Pilgrim is general Governor’s Lecture in the of all people. United States Pharmacopeia, counsel and drug-testing Humanities this November at an international, official program administrator for the the Joslyn Art Museum in standards–setting organization Ladies Professional Golf Asso- Omaha, Neb. A senior adviser in the pharmaceutical arena. ciation in Daytona Beach, Fla. to the global management In his position, Firschein works Pilgrim developed the first drug- consulting firm McKinsey & closely with policymakers to testing program for professional Company, Miller is a best-selling promote public standards for golf, and she represents women’s author and a freelance writer drug and food purity, as well as golf on the International Golf who also hosts Left, Right & quality care. Foundation’s Olympic Anti- Center, National Public Radio’s Doping Committee. week-in-review program. Steven I. Frenkel is a principal in the litigation group Robert J. Potts Jr. is the 1988 Marjorie E. Berman is a of Cummings & Lockwood in president of the Dixon Water Edwin Rekosh, a New York– member of Krantz & Berman in Stamford, Conn. Frenkel focuses Foundation, a private foundation based international human New York City. The firm focuses his practice on asbestos and supporting river conservation rights lawyer, was honored on commercial litigation, white- toxic tort defense litigation, cred- through good land management. with the 2009 International collar criminal defense, and itors’ rights, foreclosures, and Human Rights Award from employment litigation. Berman general commercial litigation. the American Bar Association’s is also president of Families Litigation Section. Rekosh, with Children from China of Dror M. Futter is general who is also the founder and Greater New York, a nonprofit counsel of New Venture Part- executive director of the Public organization made up of families ners, a venture capital firm that Interest Law Institute, received in the New York area who have specializes in corporate spin- the award because of his work adopted children from China. outs. Futter recently completed on behalf of victims of human his ninth marathon. rights abuses around the world. Wei S. Christianson is a managing director and the Linda A. Ginsberg and Amy P. Rivka Schochet, a prin- China CEO of Morgan Stanley. Schramm Peluso ’99 founded cipal in the Detroit office of Previously, Christianson was a Ginsberg Schramm Inc. last Miller, Canfield, Paddock and managing director and chair- year. Their executive legal

68 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 class of: ’94

Andrew Shapiro Political Drive

During the legal quagmire following the 2000 presidential Shapiro detailed his intentions for the Bureau of Politi- election, Andrew J. Shapiro ’94 found himself trailing a cal-Military Affairs, which include controlling the trade of yellow Ryder truck up the Florida peninsula. The truck was defense materials and services, countering the prolifera- chauffeuring roughly half a million contested presidential tion of conventional weapons, and combating piracy at ballots. Shapiro was there on behalf of then–presidential sea. But before Shapiro could begin laying out his plans, candidate Al Gore to ensure that nothing on that 450- his 2-year-old son, Zach, silenced the hearing with his mile journey could taint the vote recount. unbridled enthusiasm. “Daddy! Daddy!” he cried. The “I was there to the bitter end,” Shapiro recalls of the proceedings came to a brief, amused halt, and Zach was controversial election. “And then I was unemployed.” promptly whisked from the room, Shapiro recalls with a But Shapiro’s joblessness did not last. In 2001, then- laugh. “He was just so excited to see me up there.” Senator Hillary Clinton scooped him up to serve on her staff as senior defense When Senator Hillary Clinton became and foreign policy adviser. Eight years secretary of state, Shapiro was appointed later, when Senator Clinton became to serve as her assistant secretary for Secretary of State Clinton, Shapiro was political-military affairs. appointed to serve as her assistant secretary for political-military affairs. “You don’t work for someone for eight years unless you enjoy the work and admire the person,” says Shapiro. “Secretary Clinton allowed me to take on more responsibility and to grow.” In testimony before the Senate Com- mittee on Foreign Relations in June,

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 69 search practice recruits part- the vice president and general Guy A. Reiss is a partner at Janet L. Weiner recently ners and groups nationwide counsel for Sesame Workshop, Wuersch & Gering, a boutique celebrated her 18th year with for placement at the country’s the nonprofit group that law firm on Wall Street that the Environmental Protection leading law firms. produces the children’s TV focuses on the representation Agency. During her tenure at program Sesame Street. of foreign businesses with the EPA, Weiner has served in Joseph C. Hill is senior respect to their U.S. activities. a wide variety of legal, budget- associate general counsel and ary, and program management regional head of Latin America Mark A. Robertson is a part- positions in the Superfund, oil at MetLife, where he is respon- ner in the New York City office spill, emergency response, sible for overseeing the legal of Fulbright & Jaworski, where indoor air, and water programs. operations of the company he has been practicing law Weiner and her husband, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, since graduation. Robertson Harvey, live in the Washington, and Mexico. Hill and his wife, serves on the Pi Kappa Alpha D.C., suburb of Vienna, Va., Cathy, have two sons. Educational Foundation board, with their two children. Marilyn C. Kunstler is a on the alumni board of South- Nicholas J. Kabcenell is partner in the New York City ern Methodist University, on 1990 a managing director at Darby office of Boies, Schiller & the Human Rights Campaign Nina Perales, regional coun- Overseas Investments. He Flexner, where she specializes board of governors, and as sel for the Mexican American works on the company’s Central in securities and business an elder at First Presbyterian Legal Defense and Educational European Mezzanine Fund, litigation, internal investiga- Church in New York City. Fund, served as the attorney which invests in the subordi- tions, and corporate gover- for three intervenor-appellees nated debt of leveraged buyouts nance issues. Kunstler is on the Patrick J. Sullivan oversees in the Supreme Court case of and in expansion capital trans- board of the New York Wom- the Law Offices of Patrick J. Northwest Austin Municipal actions. Kabcenell and his wife, en’s Bar Association Founda- Sullivan in Mineola, N.Y. His Utility District No. 1 v. Holder. Orsolya, live in Budapest with tion, the New York State Fair practice focuses on commercial The case involved the consti- their three young sons. Trial/Free Press Conference, law and litigation, bankruptcy, tutionality of Section 5 of the and the Government Ethics trusts and estates, probate, real Voting Rights Act. Committee of the New York estate, employment law, risk City Bar. She is also a founding management, and personal 1992 member of the advisory group injury law. Sullivan’s firm also Caroline Fredrickson joined of the New York State-Federal serves as local counsel to out- the American Constitution Judicial Council. of-state firms for actions pend- Society for Law and Policy ing in federal district courts as the organization’s new Brian P. Lee is general coun- in the Southern and Eastern executive director. Previously, sel for Nexion Health, which, districts of New York. Fredrickson was the director through its affiliates, operates of the American Civil Liberties Myung Kang-Huneke has 40 nursing facilities. Lee and Union’s legislative office in been appointed to the Over- his wife, Stacey, are the parents Washington, D.C. sight Council for the Toy of 2-year-old twins. Industry Association’s new Toy Robert Steinbuch, an associ- Safety Certification Program Hester A. Lessard, LL.M., is a ate professor at the University (TSCP). The council will be law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock responsible for overseeing the of Victoria Faculty of Law in William H. Bowen School of TSCP, which will help verify British Columbia, Canada. Law, received national acclaim that toys entering the U.S. Her research and teaching for his recent article “Mere market comply with all rele- focus on constitutional law, Thieves,” which will now be vant safety standards and regu- feminist legal theory, and republished in West’s 2009 lations. Kang-Huneke is also human rights. Securities Law Review as one

70 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 of the top 10 securities law Territories and Canada stars in various regional pro- articles of 2008. (IATSE) in New York City. ductions of The Buddy Holly With a membership of more Story, a play based on the life 1994 than 110,000, the IATSE is the of the late singer. Carmen Twillie Ambar was largest labor union in the enter- inaugurated as the 13th presi- tainment industry. Dulaney’s David Shawn Rich became a dent of Cedar Crest College work focuses on every facet of partner at Lax & Neville in New in October. Ambar previously labor law, including negotiat- York City last year. At the firm, served as dean of Douglass ing contracts with some of the Howard D. Geneslaw is a Rich litigates and arbitrates College at Rutgers University, country’s largest entertainment director at Gibbons, where commercial, labor and employ- where she was the youngest industry employers. he practices zoning, land use, ment, and securities cases in dean in the university’s history. and redevelopment law in New York and New Jersey. New Jersey, New York, and Rich also recently published Laura M. Bednarski is the Connecticut. Geneslaw repre- an article titled “Terminated associate general counsel at sents applicants in the develop- Employees in the Investment U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis, ment approval process, in land- Banking and Financial Services Minn., where she heads the use litigation, and in zoning Industries May be Entitled to public companies practice due diligence. Recover Their Unpaid Bonuses” and provides legal support for in the American Academy of mergers and acquisitions. Massimo Galli is counsel in the Lisa Gersten is the senior vice Financial Management’s global London office of White & Case, president of business develop- online journal. Laura Brill formed the where he focuses on capital ment for Elaine P. Dine Inc., a boutique law firm Kendall, Brill markets and banking matters. legal staffing company in New & Klieger in Los Angeles, with Galli and his wife, Simona York City. partners Richard Kendall and Spazzini, have two daughters. Robert Klieger. Brill focuses her Denise L. Gilman is a clinical practice on complex litigation, Daniel K. Gamulka is a professor at the University of including intellectual property, partner at Gross, Kleinhendler, Texas School of Law, where she First Amendment, and appel- Hodak, Halevy, Greenberg & teaches an immigration clinic. late matters. Co., one of Israel’s largest law firms. He specializes in Mark E. Palmer recently Michael D. Coughlin Jr. is international corporate trans- became an investment partner Steven S. Spitz is the vice an assistant general counsel actions, as well as mergers at MatlinPatterson, a private president and general counsel at Johnson & Johnson in New and acquisitions. equity fund in New York City of Natrol Inc., a manufac- Brunswick, N.J. that pursues control investments turer and distributor of dietary in distressed companies. supplements. Spitz is an avid David H. Dreier is a tax part- Previously, Palmer was a age-group triathlete and is ner in the New York office of partner and head of the private scheduled to compete in the White & Case. investment funds practice at 2009 Ford Ironman World Bracewell & Giuliani. Championship in Hawaii. Samantha Dulaney, LL.M., was appointed the first Anthony Joseph Rella is Theodore N. Stern is in-house counsel in the general a partner at Lawlor & Rella associate general counsel office of the International in New York City. When not for the online division of The Alliance of Theatrical Stage practicing law, Rella produces Washington Post Company, Employees, Moving Picture and performs in a Beatles where he works primarily on Technicians, Artists and Allied tribute show titled Yeah, Yeah, digital content and technology Crafts of the United States, its Yeah! Rella also directs and licensing transactions.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 71 Wendy Haller Verlander Norman S. Posel founded Child Exploitation and Obscenity is a partner in the intellectual Blazing Wisdom Institute, an Section of the U.S. Department property department of educational nonprofit organiza- of Justice, where she prosecutes WilmerHale, where she tion dedicated to the promo- Amie K. Riggle Berlin is the federal child exploitation crimes, focuses on patent litigation. tion of physical and mental senior trial counsel for the including child pornography Verlander and her husband, well-being through Tibetan and U.S. Securities and Exchange and sex trafficking cases. Gelber Peter, have a 2-year-old daughter Chinese healing practices. Posel Commission. Berlin lives in also works on related policy and named Olivia. also wrote a memoir, A Path Miami with her husband, Bret, legislation matters. Strewn with Flowers & Bones, and their two children. 1995 which was published in August. Colin Y. Goh, LL.M., is a film and A. Michelle Clemon is vice media producer. His most recent president of human resources film,Singapore Dreaming, and community affairs at won several awards, including McWane Inc., a pipe, valve, the Montblanc Award for New and steel fabrication company Screenwriters at the San Sebas- in Birmingham, Ala. tian International Film Festival, the Audience Award–Narrative Inigo De Luisa, LL.M., recently Feature Award at the Asian returned to Madrid after spend- American International Film ing three years in London. In Festival in New York, and the Valerie Demont, LL.M., joined Spain, De Luisa will continue Best Asian Film Award at the the New York office of Pepper his corporate finance practice at Tokyo International Film Fes- Hamilton as a partner in the Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira. tival. Goh is now preparing to mergers and acquisitions and Benjamin A. Powell joined direct and produce two new securities practices. Demont the Washington, D.C., office Maurice R. Dyson is an films—one in New York and will also serve as co-head of the of WilmerHale as a partner in associate professor at Thomas one in China—and his first firm’s practice in India. the regulatory and government Jefferson School of Law in graphic novel is scheduled to be affairs department. He will San Diego. Dyson has served published soon. 1996 also serve as a member of the as the national chairperson of Ronald Israel, a partner in defense, national security, and the Association of American Mark L. Greenblatt is the the litigation group at Wolff & government contracts practice Law Schools (AALS) Section chief counsel and staff direc- Samson in West Orange, N.J., group, as well as a member on Education Law, a national tor to the minority of the U.S. and New York City, has been of the firm’s government and executive board member of “Senate Permanent Subcom- named one of New Jersey’s regulatory litigation group. the AALS Section on Minority mittee on Investigations, 2009 “Forty Under 40” award Previously, Powell was general Groups, a member of the board which is the investigative arm winners by the weekly business counsel at the Office of the of directors of the Mildred of the Senate. In that capacity, journal NJBIZ. Israel specializes Director of National Intelligence. Quinn Foundation, and the Greenblatt has led investiga- in commercial litigation, with a New York program coordina- tions into homeland security particular emphasis in the areas 1999 tor of the Merrill Lynch vulnerabilities, Medicare fraud, of intellectual property, enter- Alexander C.B. Barnard Philanthropic Foundation. and international abuses in the tainment, securities, corporate joined Credit Suisse Securities U.N. Oil-for-Food Programme. governance, and employment. in New York last year as Lauren Freeman-Bosworth Outside of his government director and counsel, with is an in-house litigator at work, Greenblatt recently responsibility for employment- Schering-Plough Corporation obtained a black belt in tae related litigation in the in New Jersey. kwon do and plays the drums Americas. Barnard and his in a cover band that performs wife, Anne, recently welcomed Alexandra R. Gelber is an at numerous venues around their second daughter. assistant deputy chief for the the Washington, D.C., area.

72 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 David P. Cohen A Home Run

For lifelong baseball fan David P. Cohen ’95 LL.M., an office Initially, Citi Field was meant to double as an Olym- overlooking the pristine outfield at Citi Field in Queens is pic venue if New York had won its bid to host the 2012 pretty much as good as it gets. summer games. New York ultimately was not selected, “I pinch myself every day,” says a smiling Cohen, who is but the Mets franchise charged ahead with the ballpark’s the executive vice president and general counsel for the construction. Cohen and his legal team spent a year wran- Mets. “My favorite sport was always baseball.” gling with municipal financing details and addressing an Cohen grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan. When he moved to array of city, state, and federal legal and tax issues, in Atlanta after law school, he started rooting for the Braves. But addition to preparing for the colossal building project to neither allegiance could withstand the pull of the Mets: The begin in the summer of 2006. “For that year, the project team offered Cohen an internship during his LL.M. studies at was all-consuming,” Cohen says. “Now, it’s just another Columbia Law School. When Cohen graduated, that intern- part of the day.” ship turned into a full-time job. “I had to flip a switch,” recalls Cohen, pictured be- “I pinch myself every day. My favorite sport low with his two sons. “I stopped rooting was always baseball.” —David Cohen for the Braves and became a Mets fan.” Cohen now stands at the helm of the Mets’ in-house legal department, a four-person team of heavy hitters who most recently shepherded the franchise through the construction of the $800 million replacement for Shea Stadium.

class of: ’95

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 73 Commission in New York. Previ- Benjamin J. Shin, an associate intervenor-appellees in the ously, she was an attorney with at Sabin, Bermant & Gould in Supreme Court case of North- Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss, New York City, married Susie west Austin Municipal Utility where she represented unions Lee in August of 2008. When District No. 1 v. Holder. and individual workers in a wide not practicing law, Shin plays variety of matters. Malloy and the guitar in various bands. 2002 her husband, Andrew Poje, have Anurima Bhargava, co- Zohra A. Hamirani opened two children. Catherine A. Silburn is a director of the education The Knightsbridge Nursery partner at O’Dell & Silburn in practice group at the NAACP in Dubai. Hamirani and her Simone M. Manigo-Truell dos Golden, Colo., where she Legal Defense and Educational husband, Rahim, welcomed Santos is the executive direc- specializes in estate planning, Fund in New York City, served their second daughter, Zeynah tor of Levantamos: The Center elder law, and commercial as the counsel of record on Jaide, last December. for Afro-Brazilian–American litigation. Silburn also works an amicus brief filed with Cooperation, a nonprofit part time as a hospice chaplain the Supreme Court in Horne Monica L. Holland is a part- organization she founded in for The Denver Hospice. v. Flores. The brief supports ner in the New York City office 2004. The center developed the respondents’ argument of Shearman & Sterling, where and maintains two exchange Terra N. Smith is the CEO of that states should be required she focuses her practice on lev- programs partially funded Compendium Business Solu- to help students overcome eraged finance. Holland and her with grants from the U.S. State tions, a consulting firm in language barriers in order to husband, Alex, welcomed their Department. Levantamos also Miami, that helps entrepre- ensure equal access to educa- first daughter, Monica Priscilla funds grassroots organizations neurs start businesses and tional opportunities. Robinson, last December. in Brazil and operates a num- provides solutions for exist- ber of educational programs in ing business owners looking 2003 Michael W. Jones is a partner the United States. to strengthen infrastructure. Myrna Pérez is counsel for in the corporate department Smith also serves as a board the Brennan Center for Justice of Katten Muchin Rosenman member and president of The at New York University School in Chicago. Jones focuses his Giving Fund Incorporated, a of Law. The center filed an practice on mergers and acquisi- nonprofit organization that amicus brief in the Supreme tions, principally representing assists local charities with incor- Court case of Northwest Austin private equity firms in acquisi- poration, application for tax- Municipal Utility District No. 1 tions for and dispositions of exempt status, strategic planning, v. Holder, in which it defended their portfolio companies. marketing, and fundraising. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. In a statement, Pérez Cynthia Y. Lee works part Stephen F. Reed is a professor Jonathan Todres is an called the provision “essential time as special counsel in the at Northwestern University associate professor of law at in preserving the voting rights employee benefits group at School of Law. When he is Georgia State University of minorities and deterring Faegre & Benson, the largest law not teaching or spending time College of Law in Atlanta, states and local government firm in Minnesota. with his young daughter, Zella, where he focuses on children’s from taking actions to disen- Reed is involved in Chicago’s rights law, as well as health law. franchise people of color.” Enoch H. Liang founded Lee improvisational comedy scene, Tran & Liang in Los Angeles. performing regularly at various 2000 Liang’s practice focuses on venues around the city. Kristen Clarke, co-director Become a fan of business and intellectual of the political participation Columbia Law School Alumni on property litigation. Emmanuelle Rouchel, LL.M., group at the NAACP Legal Facebook to an in-house lawyer at Petro- Defense and Educational Fund receive updates and news online. Margaret A. Malloy is a Canada in London, and her in Washington, D.C., was part facebook.com trial attorney at the Equal husband, Jean-Renaud, wel- of a team of attorneys who Employment Opportunity comed their first child in June. filed a brief on behalf of several

74 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 2004 Seth I. Appel is an attorney at Baker Botts, a Texas-based Amy Terry Sheehan and her Susan Wall Ylitalo practices Harvey Siskind in San Fran- energy firm. husband, Colin, welcomed their trusts and estates law at Day cisco. His practice focuses on daughter, Lucia Helen, in July Pitney in Stamford, Conn. trademark and copyright law. Ludovica Maglione of 2008. Sheehan is an associ- Ylitalo and her husband, Nels, Piromallo, LL.M., and ate at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips welcomed their second son Leopoldo Laricchia Robbio in New York City. in January. welcomed their second son, Ignazio Eduardo Laricchia Robbio, in September of 2008. please email your news to [email protected] with the heading “Class Notes Submission” in the subject Maia Sevilla-Sharon is an line. Please be certain to include your year of graduation in associate in the New York office of the email. Photo attachments are welcomed, but due to space limitations, the Magazine cannot guarantee publication Arnold & Porter, where she prac- of submitted photographs. tices general litigation. Previously, Class Notes submissions may be edited for clarity and space. Columbia Law School Aras Berenjforoush, LL.M., Sevilla-Sharon was an attorney Magazine cannot guarantee publication of all items. joined the Dubai office of at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 75 in memoriam:

The Columbia Law School community extends its deepest sympathy to the loved ones of recently deceased alumni

ure continue to influence the 1940. She passed away on July interest in the field led her to Arthur A. Gladstone ’34 industry today. 27, 2009, at the age of 93. submit a well-regarded amicus May 8, 2009 In addition, Gladstone lec- Wechsler, also one of the first brief for the 1973 case Roe tured on administrative law at women to be admitted to the v. Wade. For the majority of Judge Arthur A. Gladstone ’34 The National Judicial College in New York state bar, recalled her career, however, Wechsler contributed significantly to the Reno, Nev., for 28 years. Glad- in an interview years later the focused on representing development and regulation of stone was self-taught in Indian difficulty of finding a job as a publishers, authors, agents, the telecommunications industry tribal law and eventually became woman in the 1940s: “At one and literary estates. during his 31-year career with an Indian tribal judge and an firm, the receptionist told me “Nancy was one of the fin- the Federal Communications Indian Appellate Court judge. He they’d hired female stenogra- est, most ethical, and brightest Commission. He passed away on was also a designated settlement phers only two years ago, and individuals I have had the plea- May 8, 2009, at the age of 97. judge for the Nevada Supreme they were not about to hire sure and honor of knowing,” Gladstone, who was born Court, before retiring in 1997. women lawyers,” she said. said her colleague David Blas- in New York City, served in Gladstone is survived by two Nonetheless, Wechsler perse- band, a partner at McLaughlin the U.S. Army and the Coast sons, Kenneth and Donald. vered. She spent six years work- & Stern. “Her dedication to her Guard during World War II. ing for several federal agencies clients could be the subject of a After graduating from Colum- and, in 1946, was selected to law school textbook on a law- bia College and earning an serve as counsel to President yer’s responsibilities.” LL.B. from Columbia Law Harry Truman’s Committee on Wechsler was the sister- School in 1934, he went on Civil Rights. The move allowed in-law of constitutional law to serve as an attorney with her to follow in the footsteps of expert Herbert Wechsler ’31, the Federal Power Commis- her father, Osmond Fraenkel, a Law School professor who sion in Washington, D.C. In who served as counsel for the passed away in 2000. She is 1941, Gladstone left to join the American Civil Liberties Union. survived by a daughter and FCC, where he rose to become In 1948, Wechsler joined three grandchildren. chief of the domestic radio Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, division. He was named chief where she specialized in copyright administrative law judge in and intellectual property law. The Theodore Fuller ’48 1969. In that role, Gladstone Nancy F. Wechsler ’40 firm represented the Planned june 20, 2009 oversaw proceedings on many July 27, 2009 Parenthood Federation of landmark telecommunications America at a time when con- Theodore Fuller ’48 was the cases, including the breakup Nancy F. Wechsler ’40 was a traception and abortion were president and CEO of Savings and reorganization of AT&T. noted champion of civil liberties essentially outlawed. “We were Bank Life Insurance Fund, as He was instrumental in spear- and a prominent intellectual really the specialists in the well as a decorated World War heading the regulation of pub- property expert. She was one law of birth control,” Wechsler II veteran. He passed away on lic radio and public television, of the first women to attend recalled in an oral history June 20, 2009, at the age of 90. and many of the precedents Columbia Law School, gradu- about the first women to attend Born in Yonkers, N.Y., Fuller established during his ten- ating at the top of her class in Columbia Law School. Her graduated cum laude from

76 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 Princeton University with a to attend Columbia Law He passed away on March 22, Reavis in Cleveland. In 1959, degree in economics. He was School. Upon her graduation, 2009, at the age of 79. Jones joined the Law School commissioned as a lieutenant she joined the Copyright Office Conway attended Manhat- faculty, focusing on antitrust commander in the U.S. Navy and of the Library of Congress and tan College and served as an law, contracts, defamation, served on a submarine chaser began a 31-year government officer in the U.S. Navy, spend- regulated industries, and torts. during World War II. Fuller career peppered with monu- ing several tours of duty aboard Throughout his tenure at the returned to the service during mental achievements. the USS Yorktown. Law School, Jones remained the Korean conflict to teach Ringer spent two decades Conway eventually rose to actively involved in public ser- classes on naval intelligence. working to revise the 1909 partner at Cahill Gordon & vice. He was an adviser to the After World War II, Fuller copyright law, an effort that Reindel. He was “a leading Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, and began working at the Savings included drafting legislation finance practitioner who Carter administrations. From Bank Life Insurance Fund, and lobbying Congress. “The helped the firm define and 1970 to 1974, he served as the where he served successively as basic human rights of indi- distinguish its prominent cor- New York state public service house counsel, secretary, and vidual authors throughout the porate and securities practice,” commissioner. In that position, executive vice president. In 1964, world are being sacrificed more members of the firm recalled he was responsible for regulat- he became president and CEO of and more on the altar of . . . in an obituary submitted to ing the gas, electric, telephone, the company. Twenty years later, the technological revolution,” The New York Times. “We are and water utilities. he retired as CEO emeritus. Ringer warned in a 1975 speech proud to have been his part- In 1977, Time magazine Fuller maintained numerous quoted in The Washington Post. ners, friends, and colleagues.” named Jones one of the top 10 hobbies and interests outside When the Copyright Act Conway is survived by his law school professors in the coun- the boardroom. He was an passed in 1976, it established wife, Mary Louise, four chil- try. He retired from the Columbia accomplished sailor, golfer, the principle of “fair use,” dren, and 11 grandchildren. Law School faculty in 2001. downhill skier, and croquet extended copyright ownership “What I remember of Kenny player. In addition, Fuller from 28 years to the length of a was his extraordinary integ- enjoyed collecting and restor- creator’s life plus 50 years, and rity—a man of unflinching ing classic cars, specifically included provisions to protect principle who never hesitated those from the 1930s. He was authors from any technological to put his strong views before also a gardener known for his media yet to be devised. us, often enough in isolation,” prize-winning orchids. “It brought an essentially 19th said Peter L. Strauss, the Betts Fuller was actively involved century law up to date with the Professor of Law. “And yet he in the Retired Men’s Associa- late-20th century and 21st centu- was the colleague we invariably tion and Big Brothers Big ry,” Arthur S. Levine, a copyright trusted to recall faculty history Sisters in Greenwich, Conn. lawyer who worked with Ringer and practice, to count and He is survived by his “little at the Library of Congress, said report our secret ballots, and brother,” Ben Spradlin, and his in an interview with the Post. “I in so many other ways to caregiver, Dawn Spradlin. don’t believe there would have Professor William represent our highest aspira- been a Copyright Act if there Kenneth “Kenny” tions for ourselves.” hadn’t been a Barbara Ringer.” Jones ’54 Barbara Aronstein Black ’55, Barbara A. Ringer ’49 Ringer retired from her posi- July 28, 2009 George Welwood Murray April 9, 2009 tion as register of copyrights Professor Emerita of Legal His- in 1980 and went into private William Kenneth “Kenny” tory, was a year behind Jones at Barbara A. Ringer ’49 was the practice. She continued to pub- Jones ’54 was a member of the the Law School and joined the lead proponent and architect lish frequently on the issue of Columbia Law School faculty Columbia Law Review when he of the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright law. for 42 years. He passed away was editor in chief. which brought about the first “Her contributions were on July 28, 2009. “I was in awe of this brilliant major change in copyright law monumental,” said Marybeth Jones was the valedictorian young man,” Black said, “and in 70 years and helped establish Peters, the current register of of Columbia College’s Class of well remember occasions on stronger protections for authors copyrights, in an interview 1952. At the Law School, he which a group of us would be and their works. In 1973, she with the Post. “She blazed served as editor in chief of the sitting around the outer office, became the first woman to serve trails. She was a heroine.” Columbia Law Review before chewing over some knotty prob- as register of copyrights. Ringer graduating in 1954. lem, unable quite to untangle it passed away on April 9, 2009, After Law School, Jones all. Then someone would yell, at the age of 83. Joseph P. Conway ’54 clerked for U.S. Supreme Court ‘Hey Kenny!’ and he’d come out Ringer was born in Lafay- March 22, 2009 Justice Tom C. Clark and of his office, listen to us, and give ette, Ind., and received both worked in the Office of General us an instant analysis, by which her undergraduate and her Joseph P. Conway ’54 was a Counsel for the Secretary of the everything fell into place.” graduate degrees from The partner at Cahill Gordon & U.S. Air Force. He then entered Jones’ wife, Bunny, passed away George Washington University. Reindel and a generous bene- private practice as an associ- in 2004. He is survived by three She was one of the first women factor of Columbia Law School. ate at Jones, Day, Cockley and children and five grandchildren.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 77 Fischer attended the High 1969, becoming a partner at Saul Cohen ’37 Myron I. Mandel ’56 School of Music and Art in New the firm in 1978. He devoted July 11, 2009 June 3, 2009 York City, where she became an his career to domestic and Alfred L. Schindler ’41 accomplished classical pianist. international finance, among April 9, 2009 Myron I. Mandel ’56 practiced She received a degree in politi- other corporate matters. Richard Ristine ’44 municipal law for more than cal science from Cornell Uni- Bianco is survived by his June 20, 2009 50 years and was extremely versity before graduating from wife, Judy. Robert M. Kelly ’47 active in the civil rights move- Columbia Law School in 1959. November 19, 2008 ment. He passed away on June Fischer began her career as a Philip J. Albert ’48 3, 2009, at the age of 77. lawyer practicing civil rights law, Shaun A. Campfield ’07 March 25, 2009 During the 1960s, Mandel poverty law, and criminal law. May 28, 2009 Laurence E. Deutsch ’48 founded the Rockland County But in the late 1960s, she left August 29, 2008 Conference on Religion and the legal profession to join the Shaun A. Campfield ’07 was Henry deLeon Race, the Fair Housing Council Canadian Broadcasting an associate at Skadden, Arps, Southerland ’48 of Rockland County, and the Corporation. Fischer covered Slate, Meagher & Flom. He April 26, 2009 Rockland branch of the Ameri- the Israeli Six-Day War and passed away on May 28, 2009, Lester Dolin ’49 can Civil Liberties Union. produced radio documenta- at the age of 28. March 30, 2009 Mandel spent the majority ries on Paul Robeson, Martin Born and raised in Madison, Rubin H. Marcus ’51 of his career in New City, N.Y., Luther King Jr., and Robert Wis., Campfield received a May 27, 2009 where he enjoyed being a small- Frost, among others. Then, in bachelor’s degree in both Eng- William F. Crandall ’53 town lawyer with two partners. the early 1970s, she opened the lish and political science from March 28, 2009 In his suburban practice, New York City office of NPR, the University of Wisconsin– John M. Joye ’53 Mandel practiced municipal where she continued to pro- Madison. He came to Columbia December 23, 2008 law. He represented planning duce radio features. Law School in 2004 and served Richard Koch ’54 and zoning boards, was counsel Throughout her adult life, as a summer associate in the June 20, 2009 to a small bank, and served as Fischer was active in Demo- New York office of Paul, Weiss, F. Robert Wheeler ’54 a regional attorney for a public cratic reform circles in New Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. May 28, 2009 employees’ union. York City and New York state. At the Law School, Campfield Edward G. Coleman ’56 LL.M. Of his time at Columbia Law She was a devoted Mets fan and was also involved in the May 19, 2009

School, Mandel later recalled read The New York Times every creation of an online system John S. Twomey ’58 particularly enjoying the lec- day. She will always be remem- that will allow the legal April 20, 2009 tures of the late Professor bered for her lucid, inquiring community to assess the poten- Tore Sverdrup Engelschion Willis L.M. Reese. Other mind and lively sense of humor, tial collateral consequences of ’59 M.C.L. memorable moments included as well her vast contributions to crimes. In 2007, he graduated April 23, 2007 “being called on the first day the fields of law and journalism. as a Kent Scholar and joined John L. Hawkins ’59 in Professor Powell’s Trusts & the Wilmington, Del., office April 11, 2007 Estates class” and “contemplat- of Skadden, Arps. Karl I. Honeystein ’59 ing the purpose of Professor Alfred Bianco ’66 LL.M. Family and friends will July 30, 2009 Goebel’s alphabetical list of the June 5, 2009 remember Campfield for his Stephen R. Wiener ’59 kings and queens of England.” easy-going and fun-loving Unknown Mandel married Norma Haft, Alfred J. Bianco ’66 LL.M., a nature, as well as for his willing- Alan Gluckman Marer ’61 his wife of 56 years, during his partner at Kaye Scholer, was ness to help anyone in need. He is September 19, 2008 first year at the Law School. recognized as one of the lead- survived by his parents, Alan and Daniel Hirsch ’63 Mandel is survived by his wife; ing finance, restructuring, and Sue Campfield, and five siblings. March 8, 2009 his children: Francie, Michael, financial derivatives lawyers in Philip A. Rabenau ’63 Joshua, and Nina; two daughters- the country. He passed away on May 27, 2009 in-law; and six grandchildren. June 5, 2009, at the age of 69. Andrew S. Krulwich ’65 Bianco grew up on Long May 10, 2009 please email Island and received his bach- Shephard W. Melzer ’67 In Memoriam notifications to Eleanor S. Fischer ’59 elor’s degree from Georgetown March 13, 2009 [email protected] August 7, 2008 University. In 1964, he gradu- with the heading Philippe Stephen Eric ated from Fordham Univer- “In Memoriam” Schreiber ’67 Eleanor S. Fischer ’59 was a sity School of Law, where he in the subject line. February 14, 2009 foreign correspondent for the served as comments editor As part of this email, please Richard Cairns Jr. ’70 Canadian Broadcasting Cor- of the Fordham Law Review. be certain to include the May 5, 2009 full name of the deceased, poration and the founder of Bianco received an LL.M. the year of graduation from William M. Vazquez ’84 National Public Radio’s New from Columbia Law School in the Law School, and the July 24, 2008 approximate date of death. York office. She passed away on 1966 and then joined the New Adam C. Henry ’96 August 7, 2008, at the age of 73. York office of Kaye Scholer in May 13, 2009

78 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 79 Questions presented alumni spotlight Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59

Over the course of five decades, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has cracked long-solid glass ceilings as a civil rights advocate, a tenured Law School professor, and the second woman to serve on the country’s highest court

Who has been your greatest inspiration? My greatest supporter was first my mother, who sadly died when I was 17. For most of my adult life, my dear husband, who has been the best life companion anyone could have.

How do you define success? The satisfaction of knowing that you have done the best you could with whatever talents God gave you. And that you have used those talents not simply to be paid for the work you do, but to contribute to repairing the tears in your society, in your local community, your state, your nation, your world.

Why did you go to law school? I was in college during the heyday of Senator Joseph McCarthy, when there was a huge Red Scare in the country. We were straying from our most cherished value about people’s right to speak their mind without fear of repression by their government. I came to appreciate that there were valiant lawyers representing people called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Internal Security Committee. Those lawyers reminded the country, through their representation and in their writings, what our values

80 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe WINTER 2010 photographed by peter freed