Cool & Unusual Advocates
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The The INSIDE Law School Practice Makes Perfect: Clinical training gives students The a professional edge. The Family Guy: One professor | T insists that the legal system can HE HE better serve children. Nine maga Lawthe magazine of the new yorkSchool university school of law • autumn 2007 experts debate his ideas. ZI From understanding contract principles to N “ E deciphering federal, state, and local codes OF T and ordinances to negotiating with various HE N parties, the skills I gained during my years Y EW O at the NYU School of Law were invaluable RK in the business world. UN ” IVERSI In 2005, Deborah Im ’04 took time off to pursue a dream: T She opened a “cupcakery” in Berkeley, California, to rave S Y reviews. When she sold the business to practice law again, C H she remembered the Law School with a generous donation. OO L L Our $400 million campaign was launched with another OF L goal: to increase participation by 50 percent. Members A of every class are doing their part to make this happen. W You should know that giving any amount counts. Meeting or surpassing our participation goal would be, well, icing on the cake. Please call (212) 998-6061 or visit us at https://nyulaw.publishingconcepts.com/giving. Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Buffalo, NY Office of Development and Alumni Relations Permit No. 559 161 Avenue of the Americas, Fifth Floor New York, NY 10013-1205 autumn 2007, volume X volume 2007, autumn vii Cool & Unusual Advocates Anthony Amsterdam and Bryan Stevenson reveal what compels them to devote their lives to saving the condemned. save the date! may 17, 2008 were you in the class of 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 or 2003? Whether you’re returning for your fifth, 10th, 15th or even your 50th reunion this spring, the Law School community looks forward to welcoming you back to Washington Square. Reunion is an opportunity to relive favorite memories, renew friendships and reconnect with the intellectual excitement you felt as an make your mark NYU School of Law student. On Saturday, — May 17, all returning alumni will be able to spend the morning at our thought-provoking Students, faculty, alumni and visitors see our Wall of academic panels featuring esteemed faculty and distinguished alumni, enjoy the annual Honor every day as they enter Furman Hall. alumni awards luncheon that follows, take a The Wall of Honor spotlights firms and companies for tour of the newer additions on campus, and cap it all off at an elegant and festive dinner their extraordinary support of NYU School of Law. dance with classmates. Each institution achieves a place on the Wall of Honor through collective participation in the Weinfeld Look for your invitation in the mail. Please call (212) 998-6470 or send us an email at Program, our premier donor-recognition group. [email protected] with any questions. The following firms have shown outstanding support through the Weinfeld Program: cahill gordon & reindel llp cravath, swaine & moore llp sullivan & cromwell llp wachtell, lipton, rosen & katz weil, gotshal & manges llp willkie farr & gallagher llp and the most recent addition to the Wall of Honor, paul, weiss, rifkind, wharton & garrison llp To find out how your firm can qualify to be listed among these leading supporters of the Law School, please contact Marsha Metrinko at (212) 998-6485 or [email protected]. A Message from Dean Revesz it is a point of pride for me that the nyu school of law, while teaching students how to become exceptional lawyers, makes a concerted effort to instill the value, indeed, the obligation, of public service. Among top law schools, we graduate the most students who go into public-interest law. But that doesn’t even tell the whole story, as graduates who work at firms do pathbreaking pro bono work, and some balance private practice with significant civic engagement. Among the driving forces of public-interest law at NYU are the Clin- death-row clients, Bryan recently petitioned the Supreme Court ical and Advocacy Programs, directed by Professor Randy Hertz. to revisit their right to counsel for appeals. Alabama is the only About half of our students will take at least one of more than two state that denies postconviction legal aid to prisoners facing dozen clinics before graduating. The wide selection of clinics spans execution. Although the Court didn’t grant certiorari, Bryan was criminal and civil prosecution and defense, international hu- supported by the New York Times and five Alabama newspapers; man rights advocacy and environmental law, and nonlitigation that alone is a feat. In “Bryan Stevenson’s Death-Defying Acts” on practices like public-policy reform and mediation. Working on page 32, Paul Barrett reveals the powerful influences that move important cases, the students Bryan to represent the most- provide much-needed legal despised among us. services largely to disadvan- I am enormously proud of all taged clients in New York and, our faculty and pleased to wel- increasingly, in communities come four new members, whose throughout the nation and the profiles begin on page 66. world. Each year, we examine an On a more personal note, area of law in which I am con- having reached a five-year mile- fident that a peer review would stone, I’ve had a chance to reflect say we lead the way among the on the incredible privilege of top law schools. You can read being dean of this outstanding about the genesis and growth law school. The students, faculty, of this year’s example, the clini- centers, programs and institutes cal program, in “Bringing the continue to amaze me with their Law to Life” by Clint Willis and energy, ideas and influence. In Suzanne Barlyn, on page 20. the past year, Fed Chairman Ben Behind the success of the Bernanke spread his free-market clinics is a talented and devoted message, Archbishop Desmond faculty. These 15 full-time profes- Tutu remembered the truth com- sors share a deep commitment missions, retired Justice Sandra to helping their fellow human beings. In fascinating in-depth pro- Day O’Connor defended the judiciary, and dozens of influential files of two of them, Anthony Amsterdam and Bryan Stevenson, you policymakers and lawyers spent time on our campus. Our students get a sense of why and how they do it. Tony is a legend among death- organized a school-funded alternative spring break, performed penalty opponents for his argument in Furman v. Georgia that spectacularly in moot court competitions, and one even argued reversed capital punishment in the early 1970s. Now in his 70s, he and won a Minnesota Court of Appeals case. At convocation, I was remains one of the busiest attorneys I know, but has been working moved by the speech given by Omer Granit, an Israeli, and Rayan quietly out of the public eye. Nadya Labi has produced a lucid por- Houdrouge, a Lebanese, both LL.M.-degree recipients, who shared trait of Amsterdam’s influence on and enduring contribution to the how their unlikely friendship developed here. law and to history. “A Man Against the Machine” begins on page 10. I spoke with reporter Kelley Holland about my first five years The Law School has a unique relationship with as dean and my future plans in this issue’s “Dean’s Bryan, who teaches a capital-defender clinic that Discourse,” on page 52, but to get the full flavor of takes place in both New York and Montgomery, the accomplishments, activities and scholarship Alabama, where Bryan’s Equal Justice Initiative is a of the Law School’s talented members, you’ll really sorely needed resource. On behalf of several indigent Richard REvesz have to read the whole magazine. Enjoy! AUTUMN 2007 1 The Law School the magazine of the new york university school of law • autumn 2007 SENIOR DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Elyse Mall Klayman 4 113 MANAGING EdITOR Jeanhee Kim Notes & Around the CREATIVE DIRECTOR Renderings Law School David Niedenthal The Carnegie Foundation holds up the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke encourages a AssISTANT MANAGING EdITOR Law School as a model; Oxford names a free-market economy; Al Gore stays green; Elizabeth Rohlfing building for Jerome Bruner, a 3L wins a Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor SENIOR DESIGNERS Fourth Amendment appeal in Minnesota... defends the judiciary, and much more. Michael Bierman, Karin Wood GRAPHIC DESIGNER Nathan Coates 58 131 WEB CONTENT EDITOR Jill Rachlin Marbaix Faculty Focus Alumni Almanac Richard Stewart and Benedict Kingsbury New York’s Chief Judge Judith Kaye ’62 SENIOR WRITER Graham M. Reed succeed Joseph Weiler as director of the shares her life’s lessons; NYSE general Hauser Global Law School Program and the counsel Rachel Robbins ’76 is Law Women’s EdITORIAL PRODUCER chair of the graduate division, respectively; Alumna of the Year; relive Reunion ’07... Atticus Gannaway Nancy Morawetz, nominated by current and DESIGN COORDINATOR former students, wins Levy award, Sterling Talob Waters and more. 143 CONTRIBUTORS Making Beth Arky, Suzanne Barlyn, Daniel Benjamin, additions to the roster Wendy Davis, Diane Elliott, Gretchen Feltes, 66 Jennifer S. Frey, Kelley Holland, Joanne Kaufman, The Law School welcomes four new the Grade Nadya Labi, Michael Lindenberger, faculty members and 45 visiting Newark Mayor Cory Booker implores Dody Tsiantar, Clint Willis faculty and fellows. graduates to be mavericks; LL.M. graduates PHOTOGRAPHERS Omer Granit and Rayan Houdrouge share Cover photograph by John Earle faculty scholarship 80 the tale of their unlikely friendship... Alessandro Chiarini, Bruce Cook, Lily Batchelder, Rochelle Susan Cook, Dan Creighton, Will Crocker, Dreyfuss and Richard Pildes Mark Finkenstaedt, Annemarie Poyo Furlong, Phil Gallo, Rosapaola Lucibelli, Elena Olivo, share excerpts from recent 152 Don Pollard, Debra Rothenberg, Leo Sorel, academic work.