From the Dean

In May, Columbia Law School bid farewell to the Class of 2010. Despite a challenging market, job placement for the J.D. class exceeded 98 percent (including graduates

with deferred start dates), and clerkship There was a time when people and why two situations that at led lives very much like the lives first seem different are actu- placement for the 2010 term increased of their grandparents—living ally similar. . . . Our grad­uates in the same place, doing the know how to parachute into a 52 percent over the previous year. On August 16, same sort of work, and using situation and become experts the same technology. . . . Your in it very quickly, and how to the Law School greeted the J.D. Class of experience over the coming exert leadership in every sector decades, though, will be quite of human ­activity all over the 2013, which was selected from a record 9,012 different. Every few years, the world. These same qualities of world will be transformed in mind will serve you well in a applicants, and an incoming LL.M. class that important ways. This means constantly changing world. . . . that change is a fact of life, and Even as the world evolves, was chosen from a record 1,697 applications. you will need to adapt to it. our core values and principles This is a bit unsettling, I know, must endure. We need to pair An excerpt of Dean David M. Schizer’s but it can also be invigorating. intellectual flexibility with You will have to keep learning moral steadfastness. The ideals welcoming remarks follows. and growing all your life. we live by are, and should Perhaps the greatest value of be, timeless. Our profession a Columbia Law School educa- stands for justice. We aspire tion is to prepare you for this to a world in which excellence active life of the mind. While is encouraged and rewarded, you are here, you will learn to while opportunities and mate- question what you thought you rial well-being are available knew, and to uncover differ- to everyone. Values such as ent perspectives on an issue. freedom, equality, and the rule We will teach you a rigorous, of law need to be maintained analytical style of thinking, in and defended, and you are now which you consider why two part of the profession that is situations that at first seem most profoundly responsible similar are ­actually different, for this mission.

Read full Welcoming Remarks online. web exclusive law.columbia.edu/mag/ deans-welcome-2010

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 1 Tableof Contents:

14 38 departments

4 14 18 19 20 EX POST FACTO SEE ALSO SETTING THE BAR FACULTY FOCUS PROFILES IN Farhang Heydari, Government Service, Health Care Law, SCHOLARSHIP 5 Thorbjorg Gunnlaugsdottir, Sarah H. Cleveland Abbe R. Gluck Thomas W. Merrill NEWS & EVENTS Nona Farahnik, Kristine Saul

48 ALUMNI PROFILES 52 Maine Impact 56 Immigration law BY Sam Shaw By Jeffrey A. Fagan & 48 Robust As president of Tracey L. Meares Leadership Bowdoin College, Legislation in Arizona BY Peter Kiefer Barry Mills ’79 is a aimed at curbing illegal With his recent book on tireless advocate immigration could free press rights in an era for one of the provide police officers of globalization, Columbia nation’s leading broad discretion University President liberal arts colleges. that could threaten Lee C. Bollinger ’71 their legitimacy with discusses the worldwide 54 everyday citizens. Are value of American-style AT ISSUE ESSAYS random checkpoints a press protections. better option? 54 Addressing Extremist Speech 58 On the Rise BY Andrzej CLASS NOTES BY Mary Johnson Rapaczynski In Rising Road: A True Tale Do the rationales 76 of Love, Race, and Religion underpinning America’s IN MEMORIAM in America, Sharon Davies ’87 largely hands-off recounts a fascinating and approach to dealing 80 historically noteworthy with extremist speech QUESTIONS murder case from the 1920s. make good sense? PRESENTED David J. Stern ’66 50

2 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 22

features

22 38 charging The Estate forward Tax Mess By James Surowiecki BY Daniel Gross On the heels of a financial The so-called “death tax” crisis of epic proportions, on estate transfers has Congress has passed the disappeared from the tax most sweeping overhaul of code but is scheduled America’s financial system to spring back to life Inspiring Minds since the 1930s. Will the in a matter of months. BY Lila Byock 2,000-page behemoth of Billions are at stake, but Columbia Law School graduates a law be enough to fix a uncertainty reigns. What in leadership positions at the flawed system? is going on? American Museum of Natural History, New York City Center, the 28 42 Seattle Opera, and the Houston a drop in Gardner’s Ballet are helping ensure that the the bucket Bounty arts not only survive, but thrive. BY Adam Liptak BY Alexander The Supreme Court’s Zaitchik decision in Citizens Thanks to the successes United v. Federal Election of his former students in Commission has taken a high-powered government beating in Washington service and economic and has been labeled as policy positions all over an absolute game-changer the world, Richard N. by those worried about Gardner maintains a well- 32 corporate influence in the deserved reputation as a American political system. mentor extraordinaire. Perhaps a closer look is in order before forecasting election Armageddon. Cover photograph by Paul Fleet

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 Copy Editor lauren pavlakovich Design and Art Direction the barnett group Printing maar printing service, inc.

Columbia Law School Magazine is published twice annually for alumni and 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.

This magazine is printed on FSC certified paper. Winter Issue 2010

Change of address information should be sent to: columbia law school 435 West 116 Street, Box A-2 New York, NY 10027 Ex Post Facto Attn: Office of Alumni Relations alumni office 212-854-2680 appeared on page 36 Pulling their weight magazine notices 212-854-5833 The Magazine’s recent article on the International [email protected] Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) prompted me to learn more by contacting the staff of ISLP in New York Copyright 2010, Columbia Law School. All rights reserved. and volunteers in Washington who have participated in ISLP programs abroad. As you reported, ISLP has provided important legislative and negotiating help to governments in developing countries in trade and commercial law. It now appears I may be find us online! able to lend a small hand as a volunteer and with Visit law.columbia.edu/magazine fundraising. The is responsible for building THROUGHOUT THE MAGAZINE, ICONS ALLOW Magazine YOU TO SAY, DO, SEE, AND LEARN MORE. this bridge. Many thanks for helping shine a light on the good work of ISLP. –Sherman E. Katz ’69 Join the appeared on page 40 Conversation Go Beyond Marriage for Same-sex Couples: Tell us what Explore A Conversation you think in our interactives comments section related to Opponents of same-sex marriage like to argue articles that gays and lesbians have the same legal right as everyone else to marry someone of the opposite sex. [This claim is] extremely patronizing to gay and lesbian couples. [What about the] much View More Watch videos and clearer equal protection violation, namely that browse slideshows same-sex couples who are already legally married Web in Massachusetts or elsewhere are being denied Exclusives equal protection by the federal Defense of Marriage Read additional Act? [There was a recent federal court case] web-only profiles in Massachusetts, but it has received very little and articles attention in the press. Listen In Download podcasts –Edward S. Meadows 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 fall 2010 News

more than 98 Events: percent job placement for the Class of 2010 Law School Holds Inaugural Private Sector Career Attorney General Commends Symposium Class of 2010 On Friday, May 14, Attorney General Eric H. Earlier this year, Holder, Jr. ’76 congratulated the roughly Columbia Law School held its inaugural 700 J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. students in the Private Sector Career Class of 2010 for successfully completing Symposium. The event three years of intense legal training and featured attorneys urged the newest members of the legal from 36 law firms and community to use their finely tuned skills inspired more than 300 for the betterment of society. students to brave some of the winter’s worst “You are now stewards of our nation’s weather to attend. justice system,” said Holder in his keynote “Private sector law speech. “I believe the privilege of earning practice is undergoing eric h. holder, jr. a Columbia Law degree brings with it an dramatic changes,” ongoing responsibility to use your gifts and training to improve said David M. Schizer, this system.” Dean and the Lucy Dean David M. Schizer joined Holder in commending the G. Moses Professor of Law, in discussing assembled students and echoed the importance of service. “As the symposium. “We graduates of this Law School, you will be called upon over the want to make sure course of your careers to address the most pressing challenges students know about of your time,” Schizer noted. “Sooner than you may realize, others these changes and will depend on you to lead.” are ready to navigate The inspirational words were not lost on the graduates, a diverse the challenges that lie ahead.” • group of students who hail from more than 50 countries. At multiple points during the ceremony, they erupted in cheers and applause as thousands of friends and family members looked on. “Private sector law practice is Before the graduates rose from their chairs to receive their undergoing dramatic changes. degrees, and congratulations from the attorney general, Professor We want to make sure students Alex Raskolnikov offered a bit of advice gleaned from his own successful yet winding career, which has taken him from are ready to navigate the metallurgy to tax law. “Take your time,” said Raskolnikov, this year’s challenges that lie ahead.” recipient of the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching. dean david m. schizer “Do whatever job you happen to start with well, keep an open mind about opportunities, and good things will happen. You’ve accomplished so much during your time at Columbia. You will accomplish much more in years to come.” •

Watch video coverage of the ceremony. view more law.columbia.edu/mag/grad-2010-video

Introducing DICTA, from Columbia Law School Magazine online, offering timely commentary, fresh insight, and faculty opinion.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 5 news & events

Professor philip hamburger

philip hamburger professor brett dignam Examines Review Board Brett Dignam Impact Professor Philip Hamburger believes Launches Federal academic freedom is in serious peril and that institutional review boards are a primary threat. Hamburger, the Strauss Elected Prisoners’ Law School’s Maurice to Academy and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law, of Arts and recently expounded on Sciences Rights Clinic this position at a panel this fall, Brett Dignam, a forceful advocate for discussion held at prisoners’ rights, brings her TWO decades of Columbia University’s experience in the field to columbia law school, Heyman Center for Professor Peter L. where she has launched a new clinical program. the Humanities. Strauss was recently Institutional review selected to join the Dignam’s new clinic will allow stu­ says, adding that she received 40 boards were created American Academy of by federal law in dents to provide legal assistance to student applications for eight avail­ Arts and Sciences, one the 1970s to review prisoners held in federal incarcera­ able slots. research involving of the country’s most tion facilities, as well as to state pris­ Given Dignam’s plans for the clinic, human subjects, prestigious honorary oners litigating in federal court. those students can count on having but the scope of societies. The organiza­ Dignam, who once served as an ample opportunity to assist affected their influence has tion is a nonpartisan been problematic, attorney in the Justice Department clients. Over the past several years, research center that according to was founded during the and as a clerk to Judge William H. Dignam has worked with inmates at Hamburger. “These American Revolution. Orrick of the U.S. District Court in the all-female Federal Correctional are committees that have been given the “I am deeply honored, San Francisco, has participated in Institution in Danbury, Conn. Her power to bar inquiry a feeling rooted both more than 30 federal and state cases efforts there have included handling and to bar publication, in knowing how in the area of prisoners’ rights. Her federal tort claims, religious rights and they do it on a important AAAS was work has involved issues ranging cases, and a variety of medical claims, massive scale,” he to my mentor here, said. “It’s probably from inadequate housing conditions as well as investigating allegations the most widespread Walter Gellhorn ’31, and poor medical care to immigra­ of sexual assault. Dignam intends to violation of the First and in gratitude to the tion and civil rights violations. continue that work with her students Amendment in our colleagues and others The curriculum for the new clinic at the Law School. She also hopes to nation’s history.” • who thought me worthy will be determined largely by the partner with the Prisoners Rights of joining the academy,” said Strauss, the Betts cases that prisoners decide to pursue, Project at the Legal Aid Society of Professor of Law. • Dignam notes, but even without a New York, a relationship that will firm docket in place, student interest allow students to gain experience has soared since she led an informa­ interviewing prospective clients. In tion session about the clinic in early addition, Dignam will explore legal spring. “The demand has been grati­ issues at the Metropolitan Correc­ fying-slash-overwhelming,” Dignam tional Center in lower Manhattan. •

“The collapse of the climate change bill in Congress this year means that efforts to regulate greenhouse gases will be more chaotic and less efficient than comprehensive legislation, but that is a direct result of Congress’ abdication of its responsibilities.” —Professor Michael B. Gerrard

6 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 news & events

9,012 applications to the India Endows Chair class of 2013 and Fellowship

Chinese Law at Law School This spring marked a significant milestone in Colloquium Columbia Law School’s longstanding relationship Draws Crowds with the government of India. Meera Shankar, the Indian ambassador to the United States, visited the Law School in April to announce Scholars specializing that the country would endow both a professorial in law, history, and chair devoted to Indian constitutional law and a the social sciences fellowship named after Professor Jagdish Bhagwati. recently drew The title of the new chair, the B.R. Ambedkar standing-room-only Professorship in Indian Constitutional Law, refers crowds to Jerome to the architect of the Indian Constitution, Bhimrao Greene Hall for the Ramji Ambedkar, who graduated from Columbia Chinese Law and University in 1915 with a master’s degree before also professor Jagdish Society Colloquium. Bhagwati earning a doctoral degree from the University. The interdisciplinary “[Ambedkar] is remembered today as a symbol series featured of social change, as a vigorous advocate of social justice in India, and lectures on law, as an architect of the world’s longest and most comprehensive national history, literature, and constitution,” Shankar said. The inaugural chair will be Visiting Professor of political science by Law Akhil R. Amar. China experts from As a second gift, the Indian government will underwrite the Jagdish Fudan University, MIT, Bhagwati Fellowship program, which was created to support the studies and the University of at least two Law School students annually. of Michigan Law Fellows will likely be Indian residents who are at School, among other the Law School studying trade, public interest, preeminent institutions. or human rights law. Bhagwati is the senior “There is a lot of fellow in international economics for the Council view more exciting work being on Foreign Relations. Browse a slideshow of done by scholars on “I feel flattered,” Bhagwati, a world-renowned the ambassador’s visit both contemporary economics, international trade, and globalization to the Law School. law.columbia.edu/mag/ law and society and expert, said of having his name affixed to indian-fellowship on Chinese legal the fellowship. “There is something in being history,” said Benjamin recognized, not just by . . . peers, but also by your own country. I feel very L. Liebman, director happy about that.” of the Law School’s The Indian government’s gifts enhance the Law School’s role as a leader Center for Chinese in international law and reinforce its scholarly focus on India. Legal Studies. “This “In the 21st century, India will play an increasingly important role as the world’s colloquium is one step most populous democracy,” Dean David M. Schizer said at the announcement toward fostering cross- ceremony. “From India, the world has much to learn about pluralistic democracy disciplinary dialogue.” • and about successful economic development in a democratic system.” •

Wu Holds Mock Trial Based on Craigslist Case

Professor Tim Wu recently held a two-day mock trial based on the case involving Philip Markoff, a Boston medical student who became known as the “Craigslist Killer.” Students in Wu’s criminal law course served as jurors, attorneys, and witnesses for the trial. While the jury deliberated, Wu opened the floor for discussion on the intricacies of arguing the case and the potential outcomes. The end result: a deadlocked jury. •

Watch a video of the mock trial proceedings. view more law.columbia.edu/mag/wu-mock-trial Professor tim wu

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 7 news & events

27 new faculty recruited since 2005 New Scholarship professor harvey j. goldschmid Honors Judge Ifrs Appoints Goldschmid Wilfred Feinberg ’43 as Trustee This past spring, more than 100 former clerks of judge wilfred “bill” feinberg ’43 of the 2ND circuit After a worldwide court of appeals came together to establish a public search, columbia law school student scholarship in his name. the International Financial Reporting The Wilfred Feinberg Scholarship in Law will provide support to a Standards (IFRS) student based on academic achievement and financial need. Foundation recently Feinberg, who turned 90 this past June, spent more than a appointed former decade in private practice before receiving a judicial appointment SEC Commissioner to the Southern District of New York in 1961. Also a graduate of Harvey J. Goldschmid to serve as one of Columbia College, Feinberg later ascended to the 2nd Circuit the organization’s Court of Appeals, where he served as chief judge from 1980 to trustees. Goldschmid, 1988. He assumed senior status on the court in 1991. the Law School’s Every year during his almost 50 years on the bench, Feinberg Dwight Professor of has selected at least one Columbia Law School graduate—and often Law, co-chaired an more—to serve as a law clerk in his chambers. Those clerks have international group included Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger ’71, Home that worked with the International Depot CEO Francis S. Blake ’76, 2nd Circuit Court Judge Gerard E. Accounting Standards Lynch ’75, and Stanley Lubman ’58, who spearheaded the effort to Board and the establish the scholarship. Financial Accounting “Judge Feinberg presents an unusual mixture of intelligence, Standards Board to poise, dignity, quiet confidence, warmth, and a sense of humor,” determine whether said Lubman, a distinguished resident lecturer at the University of flawed accounting standards contributed California, Berkeley School of Law. “I am delighted to have helped to the financial energize his clerks to establish a scholarship that might enable crisis. Goldschmid is a Columbia [Law School] student to pursue an innovative and currently one of five rewarding career.” • U.S. trustees. •

corporate law expert joins law school faculty

This fall’s curriculum includes a new course by Associate Professor Robert J. Jackson Jr., the newest member of Columbia Law School’s world-renowned group of faculty specializing in corporate law. Jackson, who will teach a course on corporations, as well as a seminar titled The Law, Economics, and Regulation of Executive Compensation, during the current year, joins the Law School following a year spent as an adviser with the Treasury Department. His most recent scholarly work has focused on the issue of executive compensation, including a comprehensive study of compensation provided to CEOs at firms owned by private equity investors. In addition to being featured inThe Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and a range of other publications, Jackson’s work has been the professor robert J. jackson jr. subject of rulemaking commentary before the Securities and Exchange Commission. •

“[Justice Ginsburg’s opinion in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez] reflects a new point in how the Supreme Court thinks about gay people. The Court has begun to understand that being gay is simply part of who someone is.” —Professor Suzanne B. Goldberg

8 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 news & events

State Department aLUMNI GATHER FOR A reunion 2010 event at casa italiana Officials Visit HRI U.S. Attorney takes on Columbia Law crime at School’s Human Home and Rights Institute (HRI) hosted a fact-finding Abroad visit by officials in the The focus of Obama administration prosecutors in the earlier this year. Southern District of State Department New York is no longer representatives spent limited to the five the day touring public boroughs. In a speech housing locations in at Columbia Law Harlem and speaking School, U.S. Attorney with human rights Preet Bharara ’93 Graduates Return advocates at the Law discussed how the School. Discussions Southern District’s focused primarily on 200-some prosecutors housing, as well as to Law School for have traveled to 42 on education, health, countries in recent employment, and years, investigating criminal justice. crimes and forming The consultation trip Reunion Weekend alliances with foreign was part of the United law enforcement On a warm, sunny weekend in early June, nearly 1,000 Nations’ Universal officials. “It would be a Columbia Law School alumni returned to Morningside Periodic Review, which form of prosecutorial Heights for Reunion 2010. requires member malpractice not to be nations to submit thinking about how The jovial gathering featured an Following a panel discussion on reports to the Human we go after criminality array of events, including festive current topics in gender and sexuality Rights Council. • and people who receptions, elegant luncheons, law, as well as a panel on environ­ want to do us harm and panel discussions focused on mental law, graduates gathered on the outside our country,” controversial legal topics. Most 18th floor of the Waldorf=Astoria for said Bharara. “We are importantly, the weekend allowed a reception welcoming all Reunion pursuing crime and criminality wherever time for reflection and reminiscence classes. “It’s always lovely to see people we can find it.” • as the Law School honored those you haven’t seen in a couple of years,” who graduated in 1960, 1965, 1970, said Michael Bogner ’05, who was able 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, to reconnect with a former professor and 2005. of his, Lecturer-in-Law John Sare ’90. listen in Professor Michael I. Sovern ’55, “I kept calling him ‘professor,’ and he President Emeritus of Columbia kept saying, ‘Please, call me John.’” Download a podcast of Bharara’s speech. University, kicked off the celebration On Saturday, graduates took part law.columbia.edu/ with an address for the Class of 1960. in campus tours, a family picnic, and mag/bharara-speech Sovern welcomed the Reunion week­ two more panel discussions, during end’s honored guests to the distin­ which alumni and professors debated guished group of Law School alumni the health care reform law and plans who graduated at least 50 years for financial reform in the wake of the ago, one affectionately known as recent banking crisis. The weekend the Stone-Agers. “You are the junior drew to a close when graduates from all Stone-Agers,” Sovern announced. classes took to the floor of Lerner Hall “And I invite you to do what I do, to enjoy dessert and dancing in celebra­ which is convert my age to Celsius.” tion of their return to the Law School. •

Visit the Reunion site for photo coverage. web exclusive law.columbia.edu/mag/reunion-2010 preet bharara

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 9 news & events

professor Theodore m. shaw

Shaw Supports 9/11 Civilian Graduates and Fellows Trials Professor Theodore Earn New Faculty M. Shaw ’79 recently weighed in on the desire of Attorney General Eric H. Appointments Holder, Jr. ’76 to try Columbia Law School offers several programs and fellowships that the men accused prepare prospective professors for careers in the legal academy. from of plotting the 9/11 2008 to 2010, more than 30 graduates and legal fellows have secured attacks in civilian teaching appointments at prestigious institutions of higher learning. court, instead of in a military tribunal, and Jessie Allen ’06 J.S.D. Marc DeGirolami ’06 LL.M. Saira Mohamed ’05 the White House’s Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor indecision on the University of Pittsburgh School of Law St. John’s University School of Law UC Berkeley School of Law matter. This spring, Daniel Austin ’86 Michael Halberstam (Junior Law Caren Myers Morrison ’97 Shaw addressed the Associate Professor & Economics Fellow with the Center for Assistant Professor subject with journalist Northeastern University School of Law Law and Economic Studies) Georgia State University College of Law Kennisha Austin ’05 Associate Professor Michael Murray ’90 Roland S. Martin University at Buffalo Law School on Tom Joyner’s Clinical Assistant Professor of Law Associate Professor Fordham Law School State University of New York Valparaiso University School of Law nationally syndicated Meredith Johnson Harbach ’97 radio show. Noa Ben-Asher (Associate-in-Law) Camille nelson ’00 LL.m. Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Dean “We can do this; Pace Law School University of Richmond School of Law Suffolk University Law School we’re strong enough to Caroline Bettinger-López ’03 Ori Herstein ’04 LL.M., ’08 J.S.D. jason parkin ’04 do this,” Shaw said. “It’s Associate Professor of Clinical Legal Visiting Assistant Professor Robert M. Cover Clinical Teaching Fellow not a question of where Education and Director of the Human Cornell University Law School Yale Law School [the civilian trials] are Rights Clinic Christopher Hines ’02 Jayesh Rathod ’01 held—it’s whether they University of Miami School of Law Assistant Professor Assistant Professor are held.” • Sean Bettinger-López ’03 Northern Illinois University College of Law American University Washington Two-year academic research fellowship Joshua Karton ’05 College of Law University of Miami School of Law Assistant Professor Jessica Roberts (Associate-in-Law) Babette Boliek ’98 Queen’s University Faculty of Law Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Ramzi Kassem ’04 University of Houston Law Center join the Pepperdine University School of Law Assistant Professor Bertrall Ross (Kellis Parker conversation Samuel L. Bray (Associate-in-Law) City University of New York School of Law Academic Fellow) Executive Director and Research Fellow Catherine Kim ’02 Assistant Professor Should 9/11 trials be Stanford Constitutional Law Center Assistant Professor UC Berkeley School of Law held in civilian court? Stanford Law School University of North Carolina at Chapel Laurent Sacharoff ’97 law.columbia.edu/ Khiara Bridges ’02 Hill School of Law Assistant Professor 9-11-trial Associate Professor Jodie Kirshner ’06 University of Arkansas School of Law Boston University School of Law University Lecturer in Corporate Law Colin P. Starger ’02 S. Todd Brown ’99 and Fellow, Peterhouse College Assistant Professor Associate Professor Cambridge University Law Department University of Baltimore School of Law University at Buffalo Law School jessica kiser ’07 James G. Stewart (Associate-in-Law) State University of New York Westerfield Fellow Assistant Professor Sam Brunson ’04 Loyola University New Orleans University of British Columbia Assistant Professor Joseph Landau (Associate-in-Law) Ben Walther ’02 Loyola University Chicago School of Law Associate Professor Visiting Assistant Professor Michael Burger ’03 Fordham Law School Michigan State University College of Law Associate Professor Jennifer Laurin ’03 Saul Zipkin ’03 Roger Williams University School of Law Assistant Professor Visiting Assistant Professor Tucker Culbertson (Fellow at the The University of Texas at Austin Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz Center for the Study of Law and Culture) School of Law College of Law Assistant Professor tamara lewis ’91 Syracuse University College of Law Researcher and Lecturer Universiteit Maastricht Faculty of Law

10 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 news & events

Graduates clerkship Examine placement up Judicial Roles in 52 Economic percent Crisis for 2010 term Capital Markets Law Journal recently published an article by Jeffrey B. Golden ’78 that examines the preparedness of U.S. courts in dealing with

the financial crisis. In professor michael b. the piece, Golden, a gerrard Law School visiting professor at the London School Gerrard Named of Economics and Political Science, Leading Trains Iraqi suggests that global Environmental financial markets would be better served Lawyer by a world court similar Practitioners to the World Trade Organization tribunal. Golden, along with The legal publication Sarah Newton ’10 and Best Lawyers recently in Arbitration Suyash Paliwal ’10, named Professor As part of Iraq’s efforts to rebuild its economy, prepared an expanded Michael B. Gerrard version of the article 20 lawyers, engineers, and economists from the the 2010 New York embattled country spent three days at Columbia Law that will appear School this past spring studying best practices for in The Future of Environmental Lawyer alternative dispute resolution. Financial Regulation of the Year. Gerrard, (Hart: 2010). • the director of the Law In recent years, Iraq has begun issuing agreements with foreign investors concerning the country’s oil fields, and the process of building connections School’s Center for Cli­ across borders prompted officials in that country to reach out for mate Change Law, was arbitration training in order to best facilitate those business relationships. selected for the honor “In today’s world, arbitration has become a vehicle of enormous practical based on peer-review importance in terms of international dispute resolution,” said George A. Bermann, the Jean Monnet Professor in EU Law and the Walter Gellhorn surveys. He has been Professor of Law. “Iraq is a war-torn country. It needs to make investors listed in Best Lawyers feel comfortable, and one of the ways you make investors feel comfortable since 2005. is to agree that you will resolve disputes outside of your own courts.” During the last three Iraqi officials wanted to learn alternative methods for dispute resolution, as well as techniques that can help prevent conflicts from arising. With decades, Gerrard has that request in hand, the U.S. Commerce Department asked Bermann to established a reputation help create the customized program. as one of the nation’s “What we’re trying to do is offer them choices, offer them expertise, leading environmental and say, ‘This is what is happening in the international setting, and here’s what you can learn from it,’” said Stephen D. Gardner, chief counsel for lawyers and experts the Commerce Department’s Commercial Law on climate change. He Development Program. joined the Law School In the end, Bermann deemed the training faculty last year. • a great success. “The participants from the ministry were extremely receptive, extremely focused, and asked a lot of very pertinent questions,” Bermann said. And there has already been talk of more programs, he added. “I understand [the Commerce Department may] come back here law school arbitration training session again with officials from Pakistan.” •

“States and local governments have been regulating gun ownership for a long time, but, with Heller and Miller, the field has now been constitutionalized. So, we are likely to be entering a period of considerable regulatory and jurisprudential uncertainty.” —Professor Richard Briffault

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 11 news & events

Curricular Innovations robert hormats Include D.C. Externship Robert recent enhancements to the upper-year curriculum that STRENGTHEN the bridge between theory and Hormats practice include the formation of an initiative Speaks at with Columbia Business School to encourage joint Center on teaching and research, a new program on national security law, a global alliance in finance and Global law with Oxford, and a semester-long federal Governance government externship in Washington, D.C. event Under the direction of Social Justice petition to work within an agency of To ensure future Initiatives, the new externship, their choice. economic growth, the which began this semester, combines “This is an opportunity for United States must intensive field work in a federal students to get a firsthand look embrace globalization, agency or office with a weekly semi­ at the life of a government lawyer said Robert Hormats at a recent talk hosted by nar taught by Law School professors. while also making a valued con­ Columbia Law School’s “This externship is part of a tribution at the agency where they Center on Global broader effort to enhance our third- are placed,” said Ellen P. Chapnick, Governance. Hormats, year curriculum,” said Dean David Dean of Social Justice Initiatives, a top economic adviser to Secretary M. Schizer. “The world is changing who helped create the externship of State Hillary in exciting ways, and our curriculum with Professors Nathaniel Persily Clinton, emphasized has to change as well, so that we and Trevor W. Morrison. “It’s the the importance of international trade, continue to offer students deep and kind of experience that will serve asserting that the rigorous engagement with the latest them well no matter where their U.S. needs to partner trends in our profession.” career paths take them.” with economies Students will spend a full semester Externs will work alongside quali­ large and small. “Our agenda has to shift,” at federal agencies and institutions, fied supervisors—including many Hormats added. including the Department of Justice, Law School graduates—and will par­ “Our priorities have the Environmental Protection Agency, ticipate in weekly seminars examin­ to bend somewhat and the Securities and Exchange ing the roles that lawyers play in the to accommodate the needs of other Commission, and participants can federal government. • countries, as well. That, for a country used to calling the shots for a very long time, is an professor johnson releases new diversity study adjustment in itself.” • Professor Conrad Johnson’s research on national law school admissions rates for minority students garnered extensive media attention throughout this past winter and spring. Johnson produced a study showing that enrollment of African-American and Mexican-American students has decreased in the past 15 years, despite rising grade point averages and LSAT scores for members of the two groups. “Even though their scores and grades are improving and are very close to those of white applicants, African-Americans and Mexican-Americans are increasingly being shut out of law schools,” Johnson told The New York Times. The Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic, which Johnson co-founded, collaborated with the Society of American Law Teachers for the study. It received coverage in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, and The National Law Journal, among other publications. •

Read the full study online. professor conrad web exclusive law.columbia.edu/mag/diversity-report johnson

12 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 news & events

Law School Earns 17 Pro Bono percent increase in Honor early interview program Legal Services participation by NYC has presented law firms Columbia Law School with the organization’s Pro Bono Leaders award. The honor recognizes the efforts of Law Summer Associate School students and attorneys from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy on Opportunities behalf of the Low Income Taxpayer professor jeffrey gordon Clinic, which provides needy New York City on the Rise Professors Host residents with legal In what may be one encouraging sign of economic Conference on representation in recovery, the number of law firms interviewing Systemic Risk disputes with the IRS. students at Columbia Law School’s Early Interview The clinic is one of Program (EIP) jumped 17 percent compared to last the in-house pro bono year, said Petal Modeste, Dean of Career Services. projects led by Social This spring, Professors Justice Initiatives. The increase in recruitment during the EIP, which provides second- Professor Alex Jeffrey N. Gordon and third-year students an opportunity to secure summer associate Raskolnikov serves positions at leading firms, follows two consecutive years during and Ronald J. Gilson as a faculty adviser which many large firms severely limited their hiring. Now, Modeste helped organize an on the project. • said, it seems as though these firms are once again looking to grow of-the-moment confer­ their legal teams. ence at the Law School “The market outlook appears to be better,” she added. “Based on systemic risk. The on what I’m hearing from firm partners, I get the sense that they two-day event—titled expect business in a year or two to be at a high enough level “The Financial Crisis: where new hires will be kept employed and productive.” Can We Prevent a This year, students took advantage of 8,780 interview slots, which Recurrence?”—brought marked an 8 percent increase over last year’s figure. Despite the together experts from increase in opportunity, competition for securing these summer financial organizations, positions remains fierce. “But, based on the strong turnout at EIP by both law firms and students,” Modeste said, “I’m optimistic that law firms, and legal this will translate into more job opportunities.” • academia. It featured seven panel discussions with guest speakers from institutions including the Federal Nasseri Named Best Oralist at Reserve Board, MIT’s Stone Moot Court Sloan School of Man­ agement, and the Secu­ Mina Nasseri ’10 received the Lawrence S. Greenbaum Prize for best oralist at this year’s rities and Exchange Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court competition. Commission. Speakers She represented the appellant in a hypothetical covered a wide range discrimination case argued before judges of topics related to Sandra Lynch, Robert D. Sack ’63, and Lord Collins of Mapesbury ’65 LL.M. • systemic risk, including Mina Nasseri credit default swaps, oversight, and Go to the moot court website for full coverage. web exclusive law.columbia.edu/mag/hfs-2010 board governance. •

“The financial crisis showed that, especially at large institutions, the incentives provided through compensation matter, not only for top executives, but for employees throughout the organization. After all, none of the traders at AIG Financial Products was a senior executive.” —Professor Robert J. Jackson Jr.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 13 SeeColumbia Law School students excel outside the classroomAlso: BY MARY JOHNSON & JOY Y. WANG Farhang Heydari gaining perspective

In retrospect, Farhang Heydari ’11 admits that he sometimes courted danger during his travels through Asia and the Middle East in 2007. (There is no universal sign for “do not enter,” he notes.) But after graduating from Harvard in three years with a degree in government, Heydari knew he needed to see more of the world to better understand the public policy issues he studied. Now, as the well-traveled editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review, the first-generation Iranian- American not only has a more comprehensive grasp of societal problems, but is also in a position to influence leading academics and lawyers. “It’s going to be a long time before I’ll be able to make an impact like this again,” says Heydari, who is quick to credit the tireless efforts of his hardworking staff. “This position is so much bigger than I am.” Prior to law school, Heydari spent a year living in Abu Dhabi. There, he led 20 high school students on a Habitat for Humanity trip to Bangladesh, before embarking on his multi- country trek to Laos, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. “My time abroad affirmed my faith in humanity,” says Heydari, who spent last summer at the Legal Aid Society in New York City and plans to work in public interest law. “People want to help [each other] but often don’t know what to do. The reality is, legal structures influence everything.”

14 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID YELLEN Thorbjorg Gunnlaugsdottir changing course

This past fall, Thorbjorg In 2008, the global finan- The study of financial cor- her thesis on how to broaden Gunnlaugsdottir ’11 LL.M. cial crisis crippled Iceland’s ruption presents a significant Iceland’s sexual assault [pronounced THOR-bee- economic infrastructure, shift for Gunnlaugsdottir, statutes to better protect org GUHN-logs-daughter] and the more Gunnlaugs– whose past work centered victims. In 2007, the Icelandic embarked on an extended dottir learned about its on the intersection of gender parliament incorporated her American vacation, moving root causes, the more she and the law. After graduating recommendations into the her family of four from Reyk- realized that much of from law school in 2005, she country’s penal code. javik to Manhattan. “Living the nation’s financial pre- worked on domestic violence At the Law School, abroad was something we dicament was caused by and assault cases as a prose- Gunnlaugsdottir intends always wanted to do,” she unethical, and sometimes cutor for the Reykjavik police to further explore legal says. More than just a family illegal, business activities. department, and later as a interests both new and old. adventure, the move gave her She now plans to examine judicial assistant in Reykjavik “This year,” she says with a the opportunity to explore a those issues in more District Court. Gunnlaugsdot- smile, “is just for me to cre- newfound field of legal inter- depth during her time at tir first examined the subject ate my own perfect menu of est: white-collar crime. the Law School. as a law student, focusing courses and activities.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINELAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 15 15 Nona Farahnik standing up

In 2006, a young African- American woman accused several Duke University lacrosse players of sexual assault. The media seized on the story, captivating the country with a tale of privileged boys gone bad. Everyone, it seemed, rushed to the victim’s side. But not Nona Farahnik ’12, then a sophomore at Duke. She was shocked when news organizations and govern- ment officials criminalized the players before a trial had even begun. In protest, she hung a sign outside her dorm room window that read: “Innocent until proven guilty.” Farahnik’s point about the importance of due process wasn’t a popular one, and she soon became the subject of hateful flyers circulating campus. But she remained stoically undeterred. “I made people angry,” she says. “But for me, [the issue] was obvi- ous. It was: Innocent until proven guilty.” The North Carolina attorney general ultimately dropped all charges against the players, but the scan- dal helped inspire Farahnik to attend Columbia Law School—the only law school to which she applied. “Columbia is the best school in the best city in the world,” she says earnestly. Since arriving on campus last year, Farahnik has been busy. She serves as vice president of the Student Senate and co-president of the Jewish Law Stu- dents Association. This past summer, she worked at the Los Angeles Superior Court because she wanted to experience law at the trial level, where it most directly impacts people’s lives. “I want to have many careers and be open to many options,” Farahnik explains. “But I want to keep my feet on the street.”

1616 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 20102010 Kristine Saul on the go

Whether cheering on the I have a lot on my plate,” Law School’s basketball says Saul, who has been team at the annual Deans’ energetic in representing Cup game or contribut- the Law School chapter of ing essays to the blog run the National Black Law Stu- by the Center for Gender dents Association. During and Sexuality Law, Kristine her tenure as the chapter’s Saul ’11 is a shining example chair, she traveled to events of school pride. “I think in Syracuse, N.Y., Wash- it’s really important to be ington, D.C., and Boston in plugged in to where you go order to strengthen ties to to school,” she says. the national association. For the West Orange, N.J., Saul, whose parents are native, the opportunity to from Guyana, also served as connect with the Columbia a member of the editorial Law School community also team for the National Black meant getting a head start Law Journal and worked as on a career in corporate law. a summer associate in the “Columbia is a place where Hartford, Conn., office of relationships with that Day Pitney. industry are already built,” Now back in New York, she notes. she is intent on making the After spending just a few most of her final year at moments chatting with Columbia. “School is more the über-involved Saul, than just books for me,” one thing becomes crystal Saul says. “It’s about extra- clear: The busy life of a firm curricular activities, the lawyer is unlikely to faze people, and the contacts her. “I function better when you make along the way.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 1717 setting the bar Columbia Law School Innovations

Checks and Balances as counselor on international law at the u.s. department of state, professor sarah cleveland is making an impact and gaining insights that will benefit future students

By amy miller

Professor Sarah h. Cleveland felt She works closely with the State like she knew a fair amount about Wash­ Department’s top lawyer, Harold Hon­ ington, D.C.–style negotiations before gju Koh, who oversees approximately 175 she accepted a two-year appointment to attorneys. Cleveland and a core group of serve as a legal adviser at the State Depart­ advisers help Koh prepare for morning ment in 2009. She had seen the wheels in meetings with the secretary of state and motion as a law clerk for Supreme Court for discussions with senior White House Justice Harry Blackmun from 1993 to staff or various ambassadors. She also 1994, when she watched justices build works with foreign officials, Congress, alliances for certain positions and attempt and the White House, and serves as a liai­ to fend off their opposition. son to the Office of the Solicitor General That process was fairly elaborate, Cleve­ at the Department of Justice, and to the land says, but it was nothing compared Defense Department. to the back and forth that unfolds inside So it is no surprise that Cleveland the State Department. “I had no idea spends a lot of time in policy meetings. how complicated the executive branch The good news, she notes, is that these is or how many competing interests are are the kinds of meetings where plenty at play inside the executive branch,” says of work gets done. “They’re extremely Cleveland, the Louis Henkin Professor of efficient,” Cleveland says. “They start on Human and Constitutional Rights and co-director of the Human time; they end on time, and actions are taken.” Rights Institute at Columbia Law School. “It makes decision- All the meetings, and the expansive nature of her job description, making very challenging. But it also makes it really fascinating.” do not leave Cleveland as much time as she would like for inde­ Working to garner and develop support among competing inter­ pendent research. But she is excited to be working in the areas of ests is just part of what Cleveland does as counselor on international government that she has dealt with as a lawyer and an academic, and law with the Office of the Legal Adviser. She also provides critical the experience may even inspire her to rethink or update some of her legal advice to top government officials on issues ranging from the past work. Cleveland says the State Department job has given her a closing of Guantanamo Bay to the use of force, and she works on more nuanced view of how foreign affairs and human rights policies international law–related litigation in federal courts, including the are made and implemented, and she is eager to share what she has Supreme Court. At the same time, Cleveland is trying to strengthen learned with students upon returning to the Law School in 2011. U.S. positions in international institutions. (She was part of the first “Congress has a much more robust role in U.S. international U.S. delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva last relations than I ever appreciated before working for the govern­ September.) And when news breaks anywhere in the world, whether ment,” Cleveland says. “It is remarkable to watch the Constitu­ it’s a coup in Kazakhstan or a volcanic explosion in Iceland, she tion’s separation of powers play out daily between Congress and could be asked to offer legal advice. the executive branch.” Cleveland admits that planning her day amounts to a futile effort. “I leave the office having dealt with five things that I never AMY Miller is a staff reporter at Corporate Counsel and The expected to come up,” the Alabama native says. American Lawyer magazines.

18 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 illustration by james steinberg faculty focus health care law

Healthy Start professor abbe gluck is applying her expertise in legislation and federalism to advance the field of health care law

By mary johnson one month after she joined the Columbia Law School fac­ At the Law School, Gluck’s overlapping areas of expertise have ulty, Professor Abbe R. Gluck moderated a discussion that invited evolved into intense academic pursuits. In June, she spoke about government experts and academics to analyze reform options for federalism and health reform at the 2010 Health Law Professors America’s health care system. The event took place just one day Conference in Texas. And later this year, she will co-host the Law, after a storm carpeted Morningside Heights with nearly a foot of Health and Society Colloquium, a monthly interdisciplinary gath­ snow—still, it attracted roughly 300 spectators. ering at the Law School. And it wasn’t just Law School students in attendance: Gluck took Her work in the field of legislation has been equally prolific. She a poll midway through the event and discovered that both Colum­ has written a path-breaking article on state court statutory interpre­ bia’s medical school and the Mailman School of Public Health were tation, titled The States as Laboratories of Statutory Interpretation, ably represented. “That illustrated the real interest here and the which recently appeared in The Yale Law Journal. In the spring, wonderful opportunity we have to strengthen our health-related Gluck is planning a legislation connections across the University,” says Gluck, who will teach a roundtable at the Law School, and seminar on current issues in health law next semester. her next article, Intersystemic Stat- Gluck has long been intrigued by the legal aspects of health care utory Interpretation, which exam­ provision. During her first year at Yale Law School, she wrote an arti­ ines the interaction of state and cle centered on the law of death and burial, which helped earn her an federal courts in statutory inter­ Olin Fellowship. Two years later, her interest intensified when she was pretation, was recently selected as confronted with her mother’s battle with terminal cancer—a tragic an entrant for the Annual Junior episode that offered her firsthand experience in dealing with doctors Faculty Federal Courts Workshop. and patients, as well as in navigating complicated end-of-life issues. “I In addition, Gluck will join Yale started to realize that I was really drawn to these issues,” Gluck recalls. Law School Professor William Beyond the personal connection, the intersection of health and Eskridge Jr. in presenting a collo­ law also appeals to Gluck because the field falls squarely within her quium on legislation and statutory other areas of expertise: legislation and federalism. Gluck honed her interpretation theory at Columbia knowledge of the legislative process through years of government Law School in the spring. service. Prior to joining the Law School, she clerked for Supreme Gluck’s enthusiasm for her new Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59 and 2nd Circuit Court Judge endeavors has proven contagious, and students eager for research Ralph K. Winter. She then completed stints as special counsel to the opportunities or career advice have already begun approaching her en New Jersey attorney general under Governor Jon Corzine, and as masse. “The teaching part of this job is extremely important to me,” chief of staff and counsel to the deputy mayor for health and human says Gluck. “I’ve been so influenced by the teachers I’ve had in my life, services under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. and I hope to return that gift to my new students at Columbia.”

“There is a real interest in health care law here and a wonderful opportunity to strengthen health-related connections across the University.” —Professor Abbe Gluck

illustration by brad yeo LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 19 profiles in scholarship thomas merrill

In Demand professor thomas merrill is one of the nation’s foremost administrative and property law scholars, making him a trusted adviser at the highest levels of government and industry

by mary johnson as a legal adviser to Senator John McCain When Merrill, the Charles Evans Hughes Pro­ during his 2008 bid to become the Republican fessor of Law, joined the Columbia Law School fac­ Party’s presidential nominee, Professor Thomas ulty in 2003, he continued building a robust body W. Merrill was called on to analyze complex of legal scholarship. He published several articles campaign finance issues that placed him at the that explore the roots of administrative law, and center of a heated primary season. he wrote The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: In recounting the accomplishments that have Property (Oxford University Press: 2010) with defined his life, Merrill relegates that experience Harvard Law School Professor Henry E. Smith. to the bottom of his résumé, calling it a quirky Recently, Merrill began work on a book analyzing anecdote that, for several months, was “a lot of how Chicago’s lakefront development was shaped fun.” But in reality, his recruitment and service by the public trust doctrine, which mandates that during the run-up to the election speak vol­ certain areas be reserved for public use. umes: McCain’s top advisers entrusted thorny In addition to his more academic endeavors, legal questions to Merrill, plucking him from a Merrill has written briefs for multiple Supreme sea of accomplished experts. Court cases, including an amicus brief submitted on behalf of the With three decades in legal academia and a wealth of practical respondent in the 2009 case Wyeth v. Levine. There, the Court experience behind him, Merrill was the perfect man for the job. held that federal approval of drug warning labels does not preclude In recent years alone, he has written multiple articles and briefs all state-law claims related to the sufficiency of such warnings. dealing with eminent domain and the public trust doctrine, among “In writing for the majority in that case, Justice Stevens was nice other topics. Merrill also drafted a policy proposal with Dean David enough to echo my opinion,” Merrill says wryly. M. Schizer advocating a novel approach to taxing gasoline, and he In 2008, Merrill joined the Yale Law School faculty. But just one has contributed chapters to several books. His extensive experience year later, he returned to the Law School and his familiar Morning­ has earned him wide renown as a pre­ eminent property and administrative law Last year, Merrill submitted an amicus brief scholar—one whose groundbreaking work marries practicality with historical analysis. in the case of Wyeth v. Levine. “In writing for “Originally, I wanted to be a historian,” the majority in that case, Justice Stevens was recalls Merrill, who studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. “But,” he adds with a smile, nice enough to echo my opinion,” he says wryly. “I got cold feet about the job prospects.” Instead of entering a Ph.D. program, Merrill enrolled at the Uni­ side Heights surroundings. Now, Merrill and his wife, a registered versity of Chicago Law School. After graduation, he served as an nurse, are juggling work with hiking excursions and trips to visit their associate in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin for two years before three daughters: The oldest is a graduate student specializing in Slavic joining the faculty at Northwestern University School of Law. During studies at UC Berkeley. Their middle child graduated from Columbia his time at Northwestern, Merrill spent several years, beginning in Law School in May, and the youngest is pursuing a Ph.D. in art his­ 1987, as the Justice Department’s deputy solicitor general, represent­ tory at the University of Virginia. “I don’t know where they all get this ing the government in high-profile Supreme Court litigation. academic bent,” says Merrill, an amused smile spread across his face.

20 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINE FALL 2010 illustration by stephen gardner LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 21 22 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 charging forward

After the most devastating financial crisis since the Great Depression, $885 billion in bank losses, and 13 months of congressional wrangling, we finally have a financial reform law on the books. Does it do the trick? by James Surowiecki

illustration by james steinberg LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 23 The good news, then, is that this crisis did not go to waste. The new law limits banks’ proprietary trading and the amount of capital they can commit to things like hedge funds. It moves most derivative trading to open exchanges and requires clearing- houses for derivatives trades, which will increase transparency in an opaque market, and gives regulators more power to restrict the amount of leverage banks use. Most importantly, the law cre- n November of 2008, with the U.S. econ- ates a new consumer financial protection agency intended to limit omy in the grips of the worst financial panic the kind of predatory and often fraudulent lending practices that since the Great Depression, incoming White became ubiquitous during the housing bubble, and gives the gov- House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ernment “resolution authority”—the power to take over and wind attendees at a Wall Street Journal conference: down major financial institutions the way the FDIC can take over “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” insolvent banks. That, in principle, will make future bailouts less He used quick hand gestures to drive home the importance of his likely and reduce the amount of moral hazard in the system. point, adding that the financial crisis could provide an opportunity The bad news is that it is unclear whether enough has been done to do things that in the past seemed impossible. to stop the next crisis before it happens. To be sure, when it comes to addressing a troubled U.S. financial “Where the law puts us is far better than where we were,” says system, the only time Washington has shown much interest in real Harvey J. Goldschmid, former SEC commissioner and Columbia reform has been in the wake of crisis. The Federal Reserve Board, Law School’s Dwight Professor of Law. “But there was an immense for instance, was created in part as a reaction to the meltdown of opportunity for reform, and I don’t think Congress has done as 1907. The Great Depression led to federal deposit insurance, the much as they could have done.” Glass-Steagall Act, and a complete revamping of securities regula- If you were grading on a curve, measuring this law against typi- tion. And the combination of the late-1990s stock market bubble cal Washington standards, it would probably get a good grade. But and an epidemic of corporate fraud at companies like Enron and if you measure the new law according to what the financial system WorldCom gave us the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. needs, you probably would have to give it something closer to a Now, nearly two years after Emanuel’s pronouncement, and only “pass,” or perhaps even an “incomplete.” Even though it is more a few months before the two-year anniversary of Lehman Broth- than 2,000 pages long, there are a surprising number of big, sys- ers’ bankruptcy filing, the Obama administration has pushed a temic problems that the law does not even attempt to address. major financial reform bill through Congress, one that will bring “A lot of what’s in the law is directed at things that didn’t really about the most substantive and far-reaching transformation of the have all that much to do with the crisis,” says Jeffrey N. Gordon, American financial regulatory system since the 1930s. the Alfred W. Bressler Professor of Law. “At the same time, it

“There was an immense opportunity for reform, and I don’t think Congress has done as much as they could have done.” —Professor Harvey J. Goldschmid

24 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 doesn’t actually do much about some of the things that had quite And, as we saw in the fall of 2008, they can end up amplifying a lot to do with the crisis. The mortgage-backed securities mar- systemic risk. Yet they’re subject to very little supervision, and this ket and the explosion in the number of financial instruments, law doesn’t change that.” like CDOs [collateralized debt obligations] and CDOs squared, for instance, were central to what happened, but the law doesn’t really touch them.” ven on issues where Congress did act, Nor does the law do anything about Fannie Mae and Freddie the law’s solutions are often cautious. Mac, the two huge mortgage lenders that the government took The rule limiting banks’ proprietary over in September 2008. Those companies have now racked up trading, which was inspired by former hundreds of billions of dollars in losses on mortgages, and the gov- Fed Chair Paul Volcker, was originally ernment has extended them, in effect, an open credit line. “Fannie more ambitious. “There was much to like and Freddie remain time bombs waiting to explode,” says John C. about Volcker’s approach,” says Harvey Coffee Jr., the Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law. “But Congress didn’t Goldschmid. “His concept was: ‘Let’s make commercial banking know what to do about them, and so it did nothing.” dull again—if the government is going to back up commercial Similarly, the law does nothing about reforming money-market banks, the amount of risk they can take should be limited.’ There funds, an issue that Gordon has written on extensively. Money- were tough technical questions involved in this, but I think that it market funds have become a huge part of the financial system, with could have been done more effectively, and that we could have had trillions of dollars under management, and investors now treat tougher rules than the ones we got.” these funds as risk-free invest- The new law is similarly timid when it comes to reforming execu- ments. (Putting your money tive compensation. While it mandates that shareholders be given a into a money-market fund is “say on pay” (the chance to cast a non-binding vote on companies’ seen by most people as the same executive compensation arrangements), Congress didn’t require go beyond as putting it into a bank.) As a that shareholders get that say annually, as many had recom- Is the new law strong enough? Vote and see poll results. result, if a money-market fund mended. (Shareholders will get the right to choose whether to vote law.columbia.edu/mag/ gets into trouble—as happened on pay every one, two, or three years.) More substantive reforms reform-poll in the wake of Lehman Broth- of executive compensation at financial firms, meanwhile, were not ers’ failure, when one fund really considered, even though executive compensation practices “broke the buck”—the government is practically obliged to step in at these firms helped exacerbate the financial crisis. Jeffrey Gor- to avert panic. “These funds are a huge, gaping hole in the regula- don, for instance, has written a paper titled “Executive Compensa- tory system,” says Gordon. “They’ve been the source of many of the tion and Corporate Governance in Financial Firms: The Case for troubles we’ve had over the years, dating back to the S&L crisis. Convertible Equity-Based Pay,” which argues that paying financial

“Fannie and Freddie remain time bombs waiting to explode. But Congress didn’t know what to do about them, and so it did nothing.” —Professor John C. Coffee Jr.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 25 Despite its enormous length, the law leaves a great deal about the new rules of the financial road undefined, outsourcing to regulators much of the responsibility for writing them.

company executives solely in company stock actually magnifies the But this task remains incomplete. Although the Senate bill con- problem of systemic risk. In such situations, he writes, executives tained a provision proposed by Senator Al Franken that would have (like, say, Lehman Brothers’ Richard Fuld) are interested only in created an independent board to choose the rating agency to give the what happens to their company, and this leads them to ignore the initial rating on structured finance offerings (so that the issuer could ripple effects of their actions, to the detriment of everyone else. not select its own rater), the final legislation deferred a decision on “In ordinary times, paying people in stock does what it’s supposed this proposal for two years and effectively gave the decision to the to do—align the interest of SEC. Coffee helped draft the new liability provisions for credit-rating management and sharehold- agencies and notes that the goal was less to impose high liability than ers,” Gordon says. “But when a to induce the rating agencies to do due diligence and play the role of financial firm gets into serious a traditional gatekeeper. “The unique thing about the rating agen- view more trouble, the incentives go hay- cies up to now is that they’ve faced little competition and no liability, Watch videos of the professors discussing financial reform. wire. Diversified shareholders, and have done no factual verification,” Coffee says. “The result was law.columbia.edu/mag/ who are invested in lots of dif- GIGO—Garbage In, Garbage Out. After [the] Dodd-Frank [legisla- finance-videos ferent companies, want to keep tion], they may face some competition, and they’ll have some liability, the system stable. But the exec- but not an extraordinary amount. However, they will have an obliga- utive with large stock holdings may care almost exclusively about tion to do some fact-checking. So it’s not rearranging the deck chairs protecting equity’s interests and thus may be reluctant to raise new on the Titanic, but we haven’t really yet changed the incentives.” capital or sell the firm, which could severely dilute the equity. We ordinarily think someone like Dick Fuld, who had so much of his net worth tied up in Lehman stock, would be the best person to hile dealing with the be running the company, but he was actually the last person you credit-rating agencies was wanted running Lehman in the summer of 2008.” important, dealing with so- What we need, Gordon argues, is a more sophisticated system called “systemically impor- of executive compensation for financial firms, one that takes into tant institutions”—those account the reality of systemic risk. But such an idea was not even banks that are too big, or too on Congress’ radar. And that lack of imagination is, in a sense, per- connected, to fail—was the haps the biggest problem with the financial reform law. law’s essential task. And it does represent a real improvement on what Halfway measures also characterized Congress’ approach to we had before: Resolution authority makes it possible, in theory, for reform of the credit-rating agencies, such as Moody’s and S&P, the government to take over a big bank and wind it down, which in whose inflated ratings on mortgage-backed securities encour- essence means it is now possible for a big bank to fail without wreak- aged investors to pour trillions of dollars into the housing bubble. ing the havoc that Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy caused. This is very Because these companies are paid by the people issuing the secu- much a good thing. But there’s a catch: While the new law creates a rities they rate, they have an incentive to defer to the issuer and resolution authority, it does not pay for it, and winding down an insti- underwriter. Because they have been insulated from liability, their tution isn’t cheap. It requires a substantial outlay of cash in the short incentives to engage in due diligence or any fact-checking are mini- term. The question is: Where is that money going to come from? mal. And because their ratings are government-sanctioned, they “You can deal with the problem of a failure of a systematically sig- have inordinate influence over investor decisions. Reforming the nificant financial institution either ex ante or ex post,” John Coffee current “issuer pays” business model is the most important step, says. “The better approach is to do it beforehand, raising the money John Coffee argues. “If you get the incentives right, you don’t need via a bank tax based on the size and riskiness of a bank’s liabilities. all that much regulation,” he says. “If you get the incentives wrong, That creates a fund so that, in effect, the industry is paying up it’s not clear that any amount of regulation will solve the problem.” front for any future bailout of its members.” Jeffrey Gordon, simi-

26 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 larly, argues that “prefunding” is the right approach and, in a recent article co-authored with Christopher Muller, called for the estab- lishment of a $1 trillion Systemic Emergency Funding Authority. That would ensure the government had enough resources to deal with even a severe crisis, and would reduce the uncertainty that can actually make crises worse than they otherwise would be. As it happens, Congress initially embraced the idea of a prefunded resolution authority—although not one on the scale Gordon called for. The House bill established a $150 billion fund, while the Senate originally contemplated a $50 billion fund. But after congressional Republicans began referring to the provision as a “bailout fund,” the idea was dropped. Now, the money to pay for the resolution author- ity will have to come from the government up front, and then will be ence than legislators, and the law may be too blunt an instrument recouped via a bank tax after the fact. This is not necessarily disas- to deal with all the complexities of the financial system. In addi- trous. But it does make the whole process much more uncertain. tion, even when a statute is written, it is up to regulators to inter- “Regulators will be strongly tempted to postpone taking over a fail- pret and enforce it. There is no ing financial firm to avoid recourse to taxpayer funds,” Gordon says. getting around, in other words, “Moreover, exclusive reliance on the resolution process in a financial our reliance on regulators’ good crisis could easily lead, through a series of falling dominos, to nation- judgment. The problem is that, alization of much of the financial sector. Yet regulators are given no as recent history has demon- web exclusive Read Law School professors’ discretion to employ alternative means of systemic support, unless strated all too vividly, regula- articles on financial reform. they go to Congress mid-crisis. If the job is to prevent a systemic tors are subject to the same kind law.columbia.edu/mag/ finance-articles crisis, this setup makes the regulators’ job much harder. It’s para- of boom-and-bust cycles that doxical: We’re trusting the regulators and giving them tremendous investors are—going through authority, yet at the moment when the crisis happens, we’re depriv- periods when they take their supervisory tasks very seriously and ing them of the tools they need.” are keenly aware of the potential problems that exist, and other peri- What this means, really, is that it is very difficult to know how ods when they are far less vigilant. And these cycles are shaped also (or if) resolution authority is going to work in practice. And that by ideology: Over the last couple of decades, with some exceptions, uncertainty is characteristic of the law as a whole: Despite its enor- regulation has more often been seen as unnecessary than as useful. mous length, it leaves a great deal about the new rules of the finan- What is hard about reaching a final judgment on financial reform, cial road undefined, outsourcing to regulators much of the respon- in other words, is that so much of what will happen will depend on sibility for writing them. As Harvey Goldschmid says: “We’re really what regulators do. “The greatest danger in the future is what you giving an awful lot of authority to the regulators, and you’ve just got might call the sine curve of regulatory intensity,” says Coffee. “In to hope they will use it wisely.” the period after any crash, regulators get tough, but as things move In the case of corporate governance, for instance, the law gives the back toward normalcy, there’s a tendency to step back. Regardless SEC the authority it needed to allow big shareholders to get proxy of what’s happening right now, we know that we will eventually see access to nominate dissident directors, a move that Goldschmid says the failure of a systemically significant institution. The question is represents “a major step forward.” But how that authority plays out in whether regulators will then have the authority and will to act.” practice will depend on what the SEC does—now and in the future. To some degree, of course, this scenario was both inevitable and James Surowiecki is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he desirable: Regulators have, in theory, more knowledge and experi- writes “The Financial Page.”

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 27 BUCKET

28 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 A Drop in BUCKETthe

Conventional wisdom says the campaign finance decision rendered in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is destined to change the world—or at the very least elections as we know them. Corporations equated to humans! Elections overrun by foreign money and influence! Democracy hijacked! Perhaps a closer look is in order. By Adam Liptak

wo hours before the Citizens United, which allowed unlimited area where we know better than everyone Supreme Court released its most important corporate and union spending in candidate else’—better than the voters and better than Tdecision of the last term, Citizens United elections, was undoubtedly a big deal. It the legislators who adopt these restrictions.” v. Federal Election Commission, Professor struck down part of the leading campaign Professor Gillian E. Metzger, an author- Nathaniel Persily posted an essay on an finance law and reversed two important ity on the separation of powers, says the influential law blog accurately predicting precedents. It demonstrated, for the fourth Court has gone too far, both in its lack of not only what the decision would say, but time, that the replacement of Justice San- deference to Congress and in its failure to also countering some of the misconceptions dra Day O’Connor with Justice Samuel A. ensure that some voices do not drown out that would follow it. Alito Jr. has netted profound consequences others in election campaigns. “The Court Less than two months later, Professor for campaign finance law. And it unsettled takes too narrow a view,” she says, “of what John C. Coffee Jr. testified before Congress, First Amendment doctrine in the area, are legitimate interests in this area.” providing legislators with practical options powerfully limiting the justifications the Still, more than a few faculty members say to counter the decision, even as he cautioned government can offer to support regulation. the decision has been unfairly caricatured lawmakers not to overreact. “It tells us we have a very intervention- and may not have the dire consequences Other faculty members, too, analyzed ist Supreme Court, at least in the area of many predict. the 183-page decision in short order and campaign finance,” says Richard Briffault, Whatever the importance of the case as produced something distinctly other than the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of a symbol, and whatever it tells us about the sound bites in response. Legislation. “The Court has said, ‘This is an Roberts Court and where it is heading, Citi-

illustration by justin renteria LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 29 zens United was in line with much of the documentaries from television ads, or by tected by the First Amendment. Whatever Supreme Court’s campaign finance juris- distinguishing the corporation in question one thinks of the logic of that distinction, prudence since at least Buckley v. Valeo in from purely commercial ones, or by dis- Citizens United did not disturb it. 1976. That means the central holding of the tinguishing video-on-demand technology The problem, Professor Richard Briffault decision was neither as revolutionary nor from broadcast ads. says, is that this is a distinction without as consequential as some critics claimed. Instead, the Court struck down the provi- a difference. Corporations were already free to spend sion and, in the process, overruled part of “For the last 35 years, we have operated vast sums in candidate elections before the McConnell v. Federal Election Commission and on the fiction that independent expendi- decision, and there is reason to doubt they Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce. tures are fundamentally different from con- will spend more in its aftermath. A common misunderstanding about tributions,” Briffault says. “The Court just Citizens United is that it introduced a novel hardened this distinction. It’s an illusion.” itizens United is very far idea: that corporate speech is entitled to A third misconception, says Professor from a radical departure First Amendment protection. But corpora- Nathaniel Persily, the Charles Keller Beek- from existing precedent or tions have long been able to spend money on man Professor of Law and Professor of an act of judicial usurpa- referendum campaigns, under the 1978 case Political Science, is that, as Obama put it, tion,”“C says Henry Paul Monaghan, the Har- First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti. Citizens United opens the floodgates of cor- lan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional “It is far too late in the day to argue that porate spending. Law. “The Court has been unfairly exco- corporations lack First Amendment rights,” The floodgates, Persily says, were riated by the media, and members of the Monaghan says. already open. Court treated rather poorly by Mr. Obama And while it is true that the Austin deci- Even in candidate elections, the McCain- during his State of the Union address.” sion in 1990 did uphold regulation of cor- Feingold law had allowed significant corpo- Monaghan is referring, of course, to the porate spending in candidate elections, rate spending outside of quite narrow time president’s very public criticism of the then– “Austin was a clear outlier in election law windows just before elections. And even six-day-old Citizens United decision—a case law,” Monaghan adds. within those windows, Persily wrote in his rebuke spoken literally in the direction of six The justification for regulation accepted prescient post on the law blog Balkiniza- Supreme Court justices attending the address. by the Austin Court, moreover, was that tion, “The truth is that the gates to corpo- “Last week, the Supreme Court reversed the government has a role to play in level- rate and union spending were opened much a century of law that I believe will open the ing the playing field among speakers. That of the way by the Court’s decision three floodgates for special interests,” President notion, known as anti-distortion, has been years ago in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC.” Obama said. “I don’t think American elections viewed skeptically in other Supreme Court That decision protected all advertisements should be bankrolled by America’s most pow- decisions. (Indeed, the rationale support- except those susceptible to no other inter- erful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.” ing Austin was expressly disavowed by pretation than an admonition to vote for or That statement raised questions about one Elena Kagan, the newest member of against a candidate. As a result, ads urging etiquette and protocol, and Justice Samuel the Court and then solicitor general, while people to, for instance, “call Congressman A. Alito Jr. issued a real-time critique of the making the government’s case at oral argu- Smith and tell him to stop protecting child president’s analysis, seeming to mouth the ment in Citizens United last September.) molesters” were already protected—even if words “not true.” Chief Justice John G. Rob- erts, Jr. later said the address had turned into an unseemly “political pep rally.” “Citizens United There were, indeed, reasons to think the is very far from a radical departure president’s response a product of political calculation as much as careful analysis of the from existing precedent context and consequences of the decision. or an act of judicial usurpation.” Citizens United, decided by a 5-to-4 vote, was issued on January 21, 2010. The case —Professor Henry Paul Monaghan concerned a polemical documentary about Hillary Clinton that an advocacy corpora- tion sought to distribute on a cable televi- A second misunderstanding is that Citi- paid for by a corporation, and even if broad- sion system’s video-on-demand service zens United allows direct corporate contri- cast the day before an election. during the 2008 Democratic presidential butions to candidates. In reality, the decision Citizens United only expanded that pro- primaries. But part of the Bipartisan Cam- addressed only “independent expenditures,” tection to ads that expressed support or paign Reform Act of 2002, usually referred and “contributions” remain banned. opposition in so many words. That was a to as the McCain-Feingold law, made it a The Supreme Court has long treated con- relatively small step, Briffault says. “I’ve crime to broadcast “electioneering commu- tributions to politicians differently from been less of an alarmist on its immedi- nications” financed by corporations shortly independent spending to support them. ate consequences,” he says of the decision, before elections. The theory behind the distinction is that “mostly because corporations could already It would thus have been possible for contributions can give rise to corruption, spend as much money as they wanted to.” the Supreme Court to rule narrowly, crit- while spending on things like television ads Nor was there much evidence that cor- ics suggest, by distinguishing long-form is free speech directed at voters and pro- porations were spending money in the

30 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 broad areas available to them before Citi- lion spent by a coal executive to help elect “We’re told corporations have speech,” zens United. About half of the states, for a friendly West Virginia Supreme Court Coffee went on, “but the Supreme Court is instance, have allowed spending of the sort justice, events that formed the basis of last also telling us that shareholders have full endorsed in the Citizens United decision, year’s judicial recusal decision, Caperton v. control over limiting, curbing, and focusing but political scientists have not been able to A.T. Massey Coal Co, Inc.) that speech, and I think that should play out identify differences in corporate influence Still, the larger message of Citizens United, for a bit. I think you should think about a in the two sets of states. “There is absolutely Professor Richard Briffault says, was that range of options for shareholders, whether it’s an annual vote, whether it’s bylaw votes, whether it’s referendums—giving them all One misconception the possible mechanisms to control their about Citizens United is that it own organization.” In a March article in the New York Law opens the floodgates of corporate spending. Journal, Coffee criticized the existing dis- The floodgates, as Professor Nathaniel closure regime as inadequate, particu- larly where conduits are involved. He cited Persily says, were already open. a 2008 study by the Center for Political Accountability showing that six large trade associations—such as the U.S. Chamber of no distinction between those states that the Court had overridden the popular will Commerce and the American Tort Reform have bans on corporate electioneering and about a central area of self-governance. Association—spent more than $100 million those that do not,” Persily says. “Whatever the public concerns about on political activities in 2004, while their And there is reason to think that corpo- campaign finance regulation, we’re not corporate donors largely escaped disclosure. rations are not eager to spend their money going to get much in the way of limits,” he Legislative responses to Citizens United on campaign ads, even as a matter of pure says. “Whatever the popular support for that would have required disclosure of who economics. “I tend to think corporations contribution and expenditure limits, that’s was paying for political commercials have find campaign ads to be an inefficient way of just not in the cards for the near future.” so far failed. In any event, Briffault says he influencing politics, and that much of corpo- The vote on the main holding in Citizens is “somewhat cautious about what disclo- rations’ historic participation in elections was United saw justices arrayed in the usual sure accomplishes. more the result of politicians shaking them pattern: The conservatives on one side, “I don’t think disclosure is a panacea,” he down, rather than attempts to influence out- here joined by Justice Anthony M. Ken- says, though “it may be useful to see who is comes,” Persily says. Corporate money, he nedy’s swing vote, and the liberals on the behind an ad.” notes, is more efficiently spent on lobbying. other. The dissent was written by Justice In his congressional testimony, Coffee “[Corporations] have always spent five John Paul Stevens, who announced his said shareholder-rights measures are cer- times or more on lobbying than on cam- retirement a few months later. But there tainly worth pursuing. paign spending,” he says. was a second aspect to the decision dealing “After Citizens United, the prospect of Monaghan adds another reason to think with part of the McCain-Feingold law that material corporate payments for political that the impact of the decision may be lim- required identification of the funders of purposes increases exponentially,” he said, ited. “Large corporations cannot afford to covered campaign commercials and other “and the need for disclosure is enhanced. alienate customers by overt election cam- communications. Here, the vote was 8-to-1, paigning,” he says. with every member of the Court except for Justice Clarence Thomas endorsing disclo- here is no question that Citizens sure requirements. United has seized the public In his testimony before a subcommittee go beyond Explore a timeline of Supreme Court imagination, providing liber- of the House Financial Services Commit- decisions on campaign finance. als with a symbol, and a kind of tee on March 11, Professor John Coffee, the law.columbia.edu/mag/ campaign-timeline Tshorthand for the proposition that the Rob- Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law, focused on erts Court is activist and favors corporations that second holding. at the expense of ordinary people. But it is He was asked a rambling question by Disclosure deters abuse, and in the light of hardly clear that the case will have anything Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, Demo- Citizens United, the potential for low-visi- like the dire consequences its critics predict. crat of Pennsylvania, who said: “[T]he path bility abuse has just grown.” The elections in November will provide we’re really going on” is “to establish the But Coffee did see at least one benefit of the first real data on whether the decision United Corporations of America” because the decision. makes a practical difference in the conduct “we’re trying to make corporations and “On the positive side,” he wrote in the New of elections. Professor Nathaniel Persily, for other entities like that so human as to be York Law Journal, “law review note writers one, says he expects corporate spending to true, complete citizens of the United States.” will now have topics that they can debate end- “represent a tiny slice” of total spending in Coffee politely urged caution. lessly, and this will keep them out of trouble.” the 2010 elections. But that does not pre- “I would suggest we approach this by look- clude its potential effectiveness in particu- ing for the least restrictive alternative, and I Adam liptak is the Supreme Court corre- lar races. (Recall, Persily says, the $3 mil- think that’s enabling self-regulation,” he said. spondent for The New York Times.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 31 inspiring Arlene Shuler stands in the shimmering lobby of the New York City Center building on West 56th Street. Shuler is president and CEO of the 67-year-old arts organization.

32 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 inspiring mindsby Lila Byock From leadership posts at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City Center, the Seattle Opera, and the Houston Ballet, Columbia Law School graduates are working to make cities more vibrant by bringing the arts to tens of thousands each year

PhotograLAW.COLUMBIA.phed byE FabriceDU/MAGAZIN TrombertE 33 The American Museum of Natural llen Futter ’74 has a vivid memory says. “Likewise, you take your skill set as you of attending her older brother’s birth- History’s have it. And my skill set starts with the law.” E day party as a young girl at the Amer- Since she arrived in 1993, she has used ican Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Ellen Futter ’74 those skills to further the American Museum Planetarium. “Going with the big kids to this is keenly aware that she is of Natural History’s global mission and to help extraordinary place where they turned out the leading the very institution the institution raise more than a billion dol- lights and the stars came up,” she recalls, “it where Franz Boas and lars. These funds have enabled the museum to was magical.” launch the Rose Center for Earth & Space, and For the past 17 years, Futter has been the Margaret Mead “led the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, steward of that magic; she is the president of the way in the birth of heralding the museum’s commitment to the the museum, with an office at the end of a cor- modern anthropology.” present and future, as well as the past. ridor lined with stuffed marmosets and chimps. Under Futter’s leadership, the museum Along with Arlene Shuler ’78, Speight Jenkins has not been shy about tackling controver- Jr. ’61, and Cecil C. Conner Jr. ’67, Futter is at sial issues like evolution and climate change the vanguard of Columbia Law School gradu- through its exhibits. Futter is keenly aware ates who have eschewed more traditional legal that she is leading the very institution where careers in favor of leadership positions in what Franz Boas and Margaret Mead “led the way you might call “the inspiration industry.” in the birth of modern anthropology.” If running one of America’s preeminent With that legacy in mind, she spearheaded cultural and scientific institutions seems like the founding of the museum’s new graduate a surprising role for someone who came to school, making the American Museum of Nat- the job with no particular background in the ural History the first in the country accredited cultural or scientific milieu, Futter is not easily to grant Ph.D.s. The graduate students and fazed. “There’s a principle in torts that you take post-doctoral fellows at the museum’s Rich- your plaintiff as you find him or her,” Futter ard Gilder Graduate School study comparative

34 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Photographed by peter freed biology and have access to the largest natural Back at school, she enrolled in a number of history library in the Western hemisphere, not classes taught by John Kernochan ’48, who to mention the 32 million specimens and arti- went on to establish the Law School’s Kerno- facts—ranging from meteorites to a dodo—that chan Center for Law, Media and the Arts. “He Futter calls “the record of life on Earth.” knew so much about the arts,” Shuler says. Looking back on her own days as a stu- “He was very inspirational, and supportive of dent, Futter says her Law School education those of us who weren’t necessarily interested helped cultivate a temperament and frame in a corporate law career.” Years later, Shuler’s of mind that have served her well throughout former mentor invited her back to the Law her diverse career. “As a lawyer, you’re forever School to talk with students about finding going into a new field,” she notes. “You have to professional fulfillment in the arts world, a be willing to do that, and to make mistakes. feat she has clearly accomplished. As in science, failure can often lead to eureka.” Sitting in her sunny office, beneath a framed Futter’s own life, though, can seem remark- playbill from her Nutcracker performance, ably short on failure. She has been a corporate Shuler reflects on the way her training in lawyer at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, both dance and the law informs her daily life. a member of the Council on Foreign Rela- Sitting in her sunny office, From ballet she learned discipline, and from tions, and chairman of the New York Fed- beneath a framed playbill the law she learned how to “look deep,” rather eral Reserve Bank. At the age of 31, she was from her Nutcracker than broad. “I try to do that in my work here,” appointed president of Barnard College, mak- she says. “This job is a wonderful way to put ing her the youngest-ever college president performance as a child, together my passions—which are the arts and and earning her a spot in the Guinness Book New York City dance—and my education.” of World Records. (“I didn’t eat a hundred cen- Throughout her professional life, Shuler has tipedes, or something,” she hastens to clarify.) Center’s Arlene remained committed to the notion of serving the In her present position, “eureka” depends on public. At City Center, the innovation with which the museum’s ability to translate big ideas Shuler ’78 she is most closely associated is Fall for Dance, about the world into exhibitions that are not an annual 10-day festival conceived to introduce only comprehensible, but, well, magical. “We reflects on the new audiences to the art form. Tickets to each occupy an absolutely unique place in the cul- way her training performance cost an affordable $10, compared tural firmament,” Futter says. “Everybody tells to the $80 that a non-festival performance might me, ‘This museum is my favorite place!’ You in both dance and the law command. Shuler has a refined, unflappable walk in and you just begin to smile. How many informs her daily life. demeanor, but when she talks about Fall for places can do that?” From ballet she learned Dance, her voice rises with excitement. “Last discipline, and from the law year we sold 19,000 tickets in one day—for or connoisseurs of dance and she learned how to “look dance! The lines went all the way around the musical drama, another such place block, all day. The festival is very important to deep,” rather than broad. F might be New York City Center, which us, and I think it’s very important to New York.” plays host to such legendary companies as In the midst of a straitened economic cli- Alvin Ailey and American Ballet Theatre. For mate, Shuler refuses to think small. She plans to much of the past decade, City Center has been greatly expand the amount of original program- helmed by Arlene Shuler. Like Futter, Shuler ming the organization produces, and, within had a seminal childhood experience at the the next few years, she intends to complete a institution she now runs: When she was 13, she $75 million capital campaign that will fund a danced the role of Clara in a New York City Bal- major renovation of the 1923 Shriners audito- let production of The Nutcracker at City Cen- rium that City Center calls home. “A civilized ter. Though she eventually spent four years as a society has to be rich in the arts,” Shuler says. “Of ballerina with the Joffrey Ballet, Shuler says she course, no one wants anyone to be hungry, but knew she wasn’t going to become a world-class our souls shouldn’t be hungry either.” dancer. “Somehow I realized that there was another life out there,” she says, “but I didn’t hen Speight Jenkins Jr.—now know what it was when I stopped dancing.” in his third decade as general direc- After college at Columbia, Shuler enrolled W tor of the Seattle Opera—enrolled at at the Law School, intending to pursue a the Law School, he found Columbia’s proxim- career in public service. The summer after her ity to the Metropolitan Opera to be a signifi- first year, she won a life-changing internship cant bonus. It was, after all, just a few minutes at the National Endowment for the Arts. “I away on the West Side local. went down there, and I thought, ‘I could be an Jenkins has been consumed by opera ever arts administrator,’” she recalls. “I didn’t even since he first heard the word, at the age of 6. He know that career existed.” read all about Wagner’s four-opera Ring cycle

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 35 and convinced his parents to take him to see board members were so impressed that they Aida and Faust when tours came through his asked him to run the company. native Dallas. He was not a singer, and he didn’t “Most people out here thought they were want to compose, but somehow he knew he had insane,” Jenkins says of his hiring. Never mind found his calling. His parents were thrilled at that he had not produced an opera before, he first, but when the obsession did not wane, his did not even have any management experience. father started asking, “What are you going to It was his Columbia Law School degree, he says, do, sit in an opera seat for the rest of your life?” that clinched the deal with the trustees. None- From a certain perspective, that’s exactly theless, at the time, “People said, ‘He’s just a what he has done. After law school, Jenkins critic!’ Of course, that put the critics on my side.” entered the Judge Advocate General’s Corps The Seattle Indeed, Jenkins has become something of and was stationed at the American military Times has a media darling. The Seattle Times has called base in Tehran, Iran. At the time, he says, “the him one of the people most influential in Tehran arts scene was zippo.” In the hopes of called Seattle shaping the city’s character, Opera News said changing that, or at least entertaining himself, he has one of the “most powerful names” in he began hosting a daily, two-hour classical Opera General the field, and last year, Seattle’s mayor dubbed music program on the military radio station. April 25 “Speight Jenkins Day.” The show was extremely popular, and ulti- Director Speight Jenkins, for his part, is not coasting on the mately led to Jenkins’ post-JAG career as an Jenkins ’61 accolades. He has a hand in every detail of every opera critic and the longtime host of televi- production. He oversees rehearsals, fundrais- sion’s Live from the Met. (It also may have led one of the people most ing, and marketing. He writes for the opera’s to the shah’s decision to launch a state opera influential in shaping the magazine. In a pinch, he has even been known not long after Jenkins left Iran.) In 1982, he city’s character, Opera News to drive injured singers to the emergency room. traveled to the Seattle Opera to present a lec- said he has one of the “most “I’m never not thinking about it,” Jenkins ture on Wagner, his favorite composer, and the powerful names” in the says. “It’s the opera—it’s all-consuming.” field, and last year, Seattle’s mayor dubbed April 25 “Speight Jenkins Day.”

36 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Photographed by Rick Dahms ike Jenkins, Cecil Conner found the lure of the Met irresistible as a L law student. His dream was to one day become the Met’s director. However, after years of attending every production, he even- tually decided he had seen every opera there was to see. Almost randomly, he chose to move on to dance—discovering an even more pro- found passion and launching him on a happy course toward his present position as manag- ing director of the Houston Ballet. Echoing Shuler (who happens to be an old friend from their days at the legal aid group Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts), Conner

go beyond Browse a slideshow and learn more about the institutions featured here. law.columbia.edu/mag/ culture-interactive expresses a faith in art’s ability to nourish the soul. He likes to recount a story about an oper- ating room nurse–cum-ballet-buff who told him: “I couldn’t do the job I do without the release of going to the arts in Houston.” But Conner also emphasizes the impor- tant—and oft-overlooked—role that insti- tutions like his can play in buoying local economies. The sociologist Richard Florida has written that a thriving cultural com- Houston Ballet munity “helps to attract and stimulate those who create in business and technology.” Con- Managing ner couldn’t agree more. “The fact that the Director arts here are really vibrant is a big draw to of balanced budgets, and to grow the Hous- employers,” he says. “When we’re touring and Cecil Conner ’67 ton Ballet’s endowment into one of the larg- being seen, it’s boosting the image of Hous- expresses a faith in art’s est among American ballet companies. He ton around the country and the world.” And of notes that his background also puts him on ability to nourish the soul. course, he says, “we’re putting people to work.” something of an equal footing with potential At the moment, much of that work pertains He likes to recount a story donors. “I have some credibility with them,” to the Houston Ballet’s imminent relocation about an operating room he says. “They know where I came from. That’s to a glassy new building in the city’s down- nurse-cum-ballet-buff who actually very beneficial.” But he also works town theater district, a move that will place told him: “I couldn’t do closely with five unions, and when a new the company even more squarely at the heart the job I do without the dancer, choreographer, or designer is hired, of Houston’s cultural life. Conner, a bow-tied Conner very often gives the paperwork a legal release of going to the arts Southerner with a soothing, Mr. Rogers voice, read. Old habits die hard: “I negotiated con- talks proudly of his relationship with his coun- in Houston.” tracts for years,” he says. terparts at other local cultural institutions. Nowadays, when he encounters former “We meet regularly,” he says. “We’re all com- colleagues who are still working at law firms, peting with each other for the same dollar, but they often refer to him as “lucky.” He does not we work to be a unified force.” argue the point. That competition for dollars represents the “I care so much about the product that area where Conner’s legal training has given I’m responsible for,” he says. “And every now him perhaps the greatest advantage. Having and then, I run into lawyers who say, ‘I wish I spent a number of years at Goldman Sachs, could’ve done that, too.’” and as a managing partner of the firm Man- delbaum, Schweiger & Conner, he has been Lila Byock is a member of the editorial staff financially savvy enough to oversee 12 seasons at The New Yorker.

Photographed by Danny Turner LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 37 The Estate

Mess

The so-called “death tax” on estate transfers was repealed at the start of 2010 but is scheduled to spring back to life in January. The 12-month window for tax-free estate gifts raises some interesting questions—and a whole host of hypotheticals. Billions are at stake, but uncertainty reigns. What is going on?

By Daniel Gross

n 2010, signs of dysfunction in Washington, D.C., have been as abundant as the cherry blossoms alongside the Tidal Basin each spring. There have been the relentless filibusters, the rancorous debate over health care, and the unbecoming shouting episodes on the floor of the House. But for its sheer unpredictability and bizarreness, you can’t help but be impressed by the situation surrounding the estate tax. In big-picture terms, the estate tax—the federal tax levied on the value of property left to the designated heirs of a few thousand extremely wealthy Americans—is small change. Fall- ing on only one in every 400 estates, it brought in about $23.4 billion in 2009, only 1.1 per- cent of federal revenue. But the estate tax has long occupied an outsized place in the debate over taxation. In 2001, Congress passed, and President Bush approved, a law that would decrease the tax gradually over eight years before repealing it entirely in 2010—only to stipulate that it return from the dead, zombie-like, in its pre-2001 form in 2011 to menace the accounting and legal professions. Even in a practice area known for its complexity and occasional irrationality, the estate tax conun- drum stands out. “Many tax provisions are passed on a temporary basis; many last for one or two years; some have retroactive provisions,” says Alex Raskolnikov, the Charles Evans Gerber Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. “But this one has a twist: In addition to a tax cut that stays for 10 years, in the last year it disappears altogether.” The upshot: A citizen slipping her earthly coil at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2010, can leave her entire $10 million estate to her heirs, tax free. But if she were to live just two more days, the total value of the gift would be only $6.4 million—a 36 percent difference. The same hypotheti- cal person expiring on December 31, 2009, would have left about $7.1 million to her heirs. This legislative train wreck could be seen coming a mile—and nine years—away. When the law containing the estate tax’s death sentence and revival was passed in May 2001, New York Times colum- nist and economist Paul Krugman dubbed it the “Throw Momma from the Train Act,” since it would provide powerful incentives for people to kill off wealthy elderly relatives in 2010. And yet no evasive action was taken. “Everybody was confident in 2009 that nobody would allow January 1, 2010, to arrive without having done something to fix this crazy situation,” saysMichael J. Graetz, the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and the Columbia Alumni Professor of Tax Law. The strange tale of the long-awaited demise and impending resurrection of the estate tax, known to its critics as the “death tax,” is a case study in the triumph, and ultimate failure, of interest group politics.

38 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 illustration by david plunkert printer: please add tone to left side of art toextend into gutter.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 39 he estate tax’s long his- somewhat divergent interests. There are 2011. The theory, says Alex Raskolnikov, tory is largely bound up with two vital components of the estate tax—the was that Washington wouldn’t allow the efforts to finance national exemption (the amount that can be passed law simply to expire, “because the expira- security. Congress enacted down free of tax) and the tax rate (the per- tion would be sold as a big tax hike.” When the first direct tax on inheri- centage levied on the value of the estate the tax cuts passed, a White House official tances during the Civil War; it was repealed above the exemption). Very wealthy families told CNN, “We can’t envision a scenario in five years after Robert E. Lee surrendered cared less about the exemption and much which the U.S. Congress will want to re- at Appomattox. In 1916, as the nation was more about reducing tax rates. (For an estate impose” the tax on married couples and the gearing up for World War I, the Revenue of $300 million, the difference between tax on estates. Act of 1916 levied taxes ranging from 1 per- being taxed at 35 percent and 45 percent Famous last words. cent—after a $50,000 exemption—up to 10 comes to $30 million.) For small business “I don’t think anybody thought Congress percent for estates valued at more than $5 owners, however, whether the exemption would be so irresponsible [as] to let this million. During the New Deal era, Frank- rate stood at $3 million or $5 million meant situation arise without a resolution,” says lin D. Roosevelt repeatedly raised the estate the difference between avoiding the tax and Alan Halperin ’85, a partner and co-chair tax, partly in an attempt to lessen the impact being subject to it. As a result, says Graetz, of the personal representation department of the Great Depression. The levy stuck “the only thing they could agree upon was at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Gar- and lived on for the next several decades, repealing the tax altogether.” rison. Over the past decade, the changes although it was frequently tweaked. The same rules that forced the Senate to were phased in, and collections generally “A lot of things had to come together for pass President Obama’s health care reform fell—from about $29 billion in 2000 to the estate tax to be repealed,” says Michael proposal through the so-called “reconcilia- $23.4 billion in 2009. But Congress rou- tinely misses its own deadlines and has dif- ficulty focusing beyond the next news cycle. While the Republican-controlled House voted for permanent repeal of the estate tax several With the estate tax effectively repealed for the whole of 2010, times, it never got through the Senate. High the heirs of some of the country’s wealthiest individuals will Then the culture, the politics, fiscal dynam- receive vast sums of money—tax free. In March, Texas billion- ics, and the zeitgeist began to shift—and Stakes aire Dan L. Duncan suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage at the fast—against permanent repeal. The 2008 election swept Democrats into control of the age of 77. His fortune was worth an estimated $9 billion—all White House, as well as into large majori- of which will be passed down to his heirs in its entirety. ties in both chambers of Congress. Few Had Duncan died just three months earlier, the 45 percent Democrats favored outright repeal. Given tax rate from 2009 would have applied. In June, sausage the bailouts on Wall Street, the outrage over industry giant Jimmy Dean died suddenly at the age of 81. executive compensation, and rising income In recent years, Dean remained elusive about his total net inequality, measures that appeared to favor worth, but some estimates from the early 1990s placed his the wealthy grew increasingly unpopular. estate at $75 million. His fortune now stands to revert—tax free—to his heirs, a group In addition, the return of massive deficits that includes his wife, three children, and two grandchildren. clouded the prospect for the continuation of all the Bush-era tax cuts. The larger narrative was changing, too. Graetz. In Death by A Thousand Cuts: The tion” process pushed President Bush and his Early 20th-century proponents of the Fight Over Taxing Inherited Wealth, the congressional allies to make the estate tax estate tax, such as Theodore Roosevelt, had 2005 book he co-authored with Yale politi- repeal—and all the other tax cuts—essentially argued that the idea of multigenerational cal scientist Ian Shapiro, Graetz describes temporary. Measures that cause revenue loss inherited wealth was contrary to the idea how advocates worked for nearly 25 years to beyond the 10-year budget window must of American equality. “Andrew Carnegie cobble together an extremely unlikely coali- be approved by 60 votes. But there were thought that if you left too much money tion—African-American tree farmers and only 58 votes in the Senate in support of the to a child, you would ruin him or her,” billionaires, conservative Republicans and package. To delay its fis- says Graetz. But modern- liberal Democrats—that turned a tax that cal impact, the plan was day critics had tagged the only affected elites into a populist cause. The structured to be phased in estate tax as a penalty on booming stock market led many Americans slowly. The rate would fall web exclusive hard work, owning your to believe they would inevitably amass large, from 55 percent in 2000 Explore Professor Graetz’s own business or firm, and taxable fortunes, and on the campaign trail to 45 percent in 2009, work on the estate tax. thrift. In their book, Graetz law.columbia.edu/mag/ in 2000, George W. Bush “found that when with the exemption rising estate-graetz and Shapiro suggested the he talked about killing the ‘death tax,’ which from $1 million in 2002 conversation focus on ben- is the way he phrased it, it was one of his to $3.5 million in 2009. Then the tax would eficiaries. “We said it’s not a tax on Conrad biggest applause lines,” says Graetz. vanish altogether in 2010, only to bounce Hilton; it’s a tax on Paris Hilton,” Graetz But the coalition of lobbyist-backed small back to the 2001 level—a $1 million exemp- notes. As pundits and politicians ran with businesses and very wealthy families had tion and maximum rate of 55 percent—in this meme, the “death tax” repeal began to

40 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 be framed as a measure that benefitted a law firm Archer & Greiner. For instance, spoiled reality-TV star. standard provisions in wills may stipulate Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., con- that assets pass to children to the extent the gressional Republicans, the chief advo- Internal Revenue Service allows them to do cates for estate tax reduction, adopted an tv so tax free, while the rest goes to the spouse. all-or-nothing mentality that frequently In a regime where there is no estate tax, proved self-defeating. And the coalition and the notes Raskolnikov, “a will with this language that had formed around repeal 10 years ear- could effectively disinherit a spouse.” lier began to split. It became clear over the tax Meanwhile, lawyers and clients have to course of last year that an extension of the brace themselves for the possibility that, 2009 regime—a 45 percent rate and a $3.5 on January 1, 2011, rates will return to the million exemption—was the most likely In its current state of repeal, the so-called much higher levels of 2001. With three- outcome for the estate tax going forward. “death tax” has become a popular sub- quarters of the year gone, Washington still But, Graetz notes, wealthy families held ject for comment, parody, and even the hasn’t acted. As things stand, the entire out for a lower rate, while the small busi- occasional dramatization. package of 2001 tax cuts—on income tax, ness advocates were pushing for a higher Law & Order: On a recent episode, the capital gains, and estates—is slated to expire exemption. The House of Representatives estate tax repeal became the focus of a in January. The Obama administration and voted in December of last year to make the criminal investigation. “It was Graham,” its congressional allies have placed a pre- 2009 law permanent, but advocates in the admitted a doctor on the show who treat- mium on extending some of the cuts—e.g., Senate were unable to produce 60 votes for ed a wealthy cancer patient. “He asked me the lower income tax rates on households a long-term solution, and Senate Republi- to keep the man alive by any means neces- making less than $250,000—and on cush- cans refused to allow a vote on the measure. sary until January [2010]. He said it was ioning the rise of taxes on capital gains. But something to do with an inheritance.” the administration’s budget calls for the hen the ball estate tax to be extended at its 2009 rate Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher): dropped in Times for several years—a move that would bring “It seems like we have to tax something. Square at the end of in $274 billion in revenues over the next 10 Why not tax [the deceased]? Of all the 2009, a new vista years. Repeal, which would decrease federal things you could tax, they don’t have emerged. Wealthy revenues by $630 billion between 2012 and any need for the money, on account of Americans were suddenly given a 12-month 2021, according to the Center on Budget that whole being-dead thing.” window in which they could, in effect, mas- and Policy Priorities, would seem to be off sively increase their net worth if they were Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report): the table. “We are dying for revenues,” says to die in the coming year. The idea sounds “[Thanks to the estate tax repeal, it might Raskolnikov. “It’s just a question of how laughable. But, as Alex Raskolnikov notes, be a good time] to visit your lonely, frail, high the rates are going to be next year.” it’s an accepted fact in economics and unhealthy uncle and just be by his side to More significantly, the coalition that finance that the tax code can be a powerful make sure no one coats his banister with was so successful in eliminating the death spur to behavior. Investors sell stocks to lock Teflon . . . or replaces hisW erther’s Origi- tax—if only for a year—may have split for in tax losses in December; babies are more nals with Werther’s Explodables.” good. “The small business crowd is focused likely to be born in late December than early on the exemption, and others are focused on January, as parents try to take advantage of the rates,” says Michael Graetz. “And Demo- the tax credit in the current year. 50.8 percent more deaths than they had in crats are much more attuned to arguments Wojciech Kopczuk, a professor of eco- the last week of 1999—the theory was that about the need for progressivity in the tax nomics at Columbia University, has charted people were essentially willing themselves code today than they were a couple of years how mortality rates of the wealthy changed to live a few extra days in order to see the ago.” Plus, in an age when many Americans when estate tax modifications were loom- new millennium. Ceasing to live, though, are feeling much poorer than they were a few ing. The conclusion of a 2003 paper he would seem to be a radical, irreversible years ago, there is likely to be little sympathy co-authored with Joel Slemrod of the Uni- effort to avoid taxation. “I wouldn’t expect for the few affected by the tax. If the 2009 versity of Michigan, titled “Dying to Save to see a lot of rich people prematurely dying rates are extended, only one in 400 Ameri- Taxes: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns in 2010,” says Kopczuk. cans who die, or .25 percent, will owe any on the Death Elasticity,” notes: “Evidence Nonetheless, the volatility and uncertainty estate tax in 2011, according to the Urban- from estate tax returns suggests that some has resulted in additional work for estate Brookings Tax Policy Center. It’s entirely people will themselves to survive a bit lon- lawyers throughout the nation. Some clients possible, of course, that rates will simply ger if it will enrich their heirs.” have taken the temporary disappearance of revert to their pre-2001 levels. Then it would Kopczuk says that since the data was old the generation-skipping transfer tax to make be as if the whole decade simply didn’t hap- and the effect may reflect ex post doctoring large outright gifts to grandchildren, and the pen. “Everybody assumes that this will all get of the reported date of death, it is not pos- need to inform clients of the current state fixed in 2010,” says Graetz. “Of course, that’s sible to draw a strong conclusion from that of the law has been paramount. “One of the what everybody thought last year.” paper. But the idea that heaven can be made areas of some concern is the use of formula to wait is not all that far-fetched. In the first clauses in wills,” says Frank P. Reiche ’59, Daniel Gross is a senior editor at Newsweek week of 2000, hospitals in New York saw of counsel at the Haddonfield, N.J.–based and writes the “Moneybox” column for Slate.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 41 Gardner’s BOUNTY Law School graduates in high-ranking positions at the State Department, the International Court of Justice, and economic power centers throughout the world point to Professor Richard Gardner as a mentor who helped them launch and build successful careers By Alexander Zaitchik

42 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Below: Professor Richard Gardner is sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Italy by 3rd Circuit Appeals Court Judge Leon Higginbotham (at left), Gardner’s law school classmate and longtime friend. Gardner was joined at the ceremony by President Jimmy Carter, as well as (from left to right) former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Gardner’s late wife, Danielle, former Idaho Senator Frank Church, and Rosalynn Carter.

hortly after Hillary Clinton won election to the “Along with reconfirming my interest in foreign policy and being United States Senate in 2000, she placed a call to Professor Richard my most memorable class at the Law School, that seminar was N. Gardner asking for his help. Clinton, who very possibly already very helpful to me professionally,” says Shapiro, who continues his Shad her mind on a future run for the presidency, was on the hunt work for Hillary Clinton as assistant secretary of state for political- for a national security adviser. The junior senator-elect wanted to military affairs. “Professor Gardner has a deep interest in each and know if Gardner—who had served in Democratic administrations every student and, over the years, has demonstrated a remarkable dating back to John F. Kennedy—might know any good candi- ability to advocate for them—as he did for me.” dates to recommend. Shapiro is far from the only former student who Gardner has It is unlikely to shock Gardner’s friends and colleagues that the assisted in pursuing a career in government. The federal departments professor did, in fact, have someone in mind. Nor will it surprise and agencies in Washington, D.C., are today peppered with graduates them to learn that this someone of Legal Aspects. Among those in the was a former student. The individ- foreign policy establishment is Antony ual Gardner suggested to Clinton, Blinken ’88, Vice President Joe Biden’s Andrew J. Shapiro ’94, is a member national security adviser. of the elite club of roughly 1,000 When asked about Gardner’s role students to have taken the longest- in their successes, his former students running seminar of its kind at the are unusually effusive. Law School: Gardner’s intimate, “Professor Gardner has been a mas- storied, and exclusive weekly gath- ter teacher and mentor to me, as to so ering known as Legal Aspects of U.S. many others,” says Timothy Reif ’85, Foreign Economic Policy. a former student who is currently Through this seminar, which first general counsel to the Office of the appeared in the course catalog during United States Trade Representative. the 1955-1956 academic year, Gard- “I owe him an invaluable debt of grat- ner has helped generations of students explore and comprehend itude for helping to spark my interest in international trade and for cutting-edge issues at the borderline of international economics and insisting always on the highest standards of intellectual excellence.” foreign policy. Gardner’s efforts as mentor and advocate date back to his earliest For a fair number of especially talented students over the years, years at the Law School. Michael Bradfield ’59, the current general Legal Aspects has been a course with benefits extending well counsel to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, took Legal beyond those of intellectual stimulation and proximity to policy- Aspects in the late 1950s and credits Gardner with launching his makers. It has offered the very real possibility of an expertly crafted career. “Dick wrote me a recommendation that helped me get my term paper ending up on the desk of the secretary of state—with first job out of law school,” says Bradfield. “His Legal Aspects semi- a personal note from Gardner attached. Indeed, for students in nar set me on the professional course that I ended up taking. He whom Gardner has seen something exceptional, Legal Aspects was an inspiring teacher and a strong supporter of his students.” As often has been a first step toward high-powered careers. with so many of Gardner’s former students, Bradfield has remained

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 43 friends with the professor and has been a repeat guest lecturer at Legal Aspects gatherings. Though Bradfield’s professional interests and career path are in line with what one might expect of a Legal Aspects graduate, not all of Gardner’s prize pupils have gone into government service or private legal practice. When one seminar participant expressed a desire to enter the nonprofit world in the 1970s, Gardner helped him get a job at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y. That student, Reynold Levy ’73, is now president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, one of New York’s foremost cultural institutions. “Professor Gardner has enjoyed an extraordinary career in public service,” says Levy. “What distinguishes him most, however, is his role as professor and mentor. He is a master of the art of the ques- tion, possessed of a spirit of generosity grounded in the willingness to be helpful to the careers of his students and his colleagues. I count it no small part of my good fortune to be among them.” When confronted with testimonials like those of Levy and Brad- field, Gardner is characteristically modest. “I hope the seminar helped at least a little bit in encouraging them to pursue public ser- vice,” he says, “and pointed them in the directions in which they’re now serving.” And while Gardner finds it difficult to estimate how regulatory reform to Paul Vol- Professor Richard Gardner reports many students he’s assisted in their professional development, he cker,” says Gardner, who notes to former President Bill Clinton on admits that the number is satisfyingly large. that Volcker, a federal reserve his work as U.S. ambassador to Spain. Gardner held that position “In a sense,” he chuckles, “I’ve become a one-man employment chairman under Presidents from 1993 to 1997. agency over the last 55 years.” Carter and Reagan, has been a repeat guest over the years at annual Legal Aspects dinners held in Increasingly, graduates Gardner’s Manhattan home. from the “Dick Gardner That Gardner well under- Employment Agency” form a stands how to help students global network. Hundreds of begin and advance in their Gardner’s former students are careers is the result of having today spread around the world, his share of examples as a stu- working for foreign govern- dent and young academic. “If I ments, the U.N., and transna- have been helpful to students as tional organizations like the a career counselor and mentor,” European Commission. he says, “it is partly because I was In December of 2009, the the beneficiary of some valuable State Department sent Gardner mentoring myself when I was to China to discuss the world starting out.” economy in a series of speeches. Gardner points to a long “I went to six cities,” says Gard- string of generous professors ner, “and in every major city, I had dinner with a former student. Professor Richard Gardner dating back to his undergradu- That was very gratifying.” One of those former students, Xue Han- presents his ambassadorial ate years in the late 1940s. At qin ’83 LL.M., ’95 J.S.D., currently sits on the International Court credentials to King Juan Carlos of the time, the United Nations Spain in the country’s royal palace. of Justice. and Bretton Woods institutions When listening to Gardner talk about the successes of students had just been established as the new foundations of the postwar such as Xue, it becomes clear that the role of student advocate and international order, and many of his professors had played a key counselor brings him a unique joy. At power centers in Washington role in their creation. While in law school during the Korean War, and New York, he has long been known as a regular source of unso- Gardner received a professional boost when one of his instruc- licited student papers. “This year I sent an excellent student paper on tors asked him to co-author an article on the burning question

Professor Richard Gardner’s Legal Aspects seminar has offered students the very real possibility of an expertly crafted term paper ending up on the desk of the secretary of state—with a personal note from Gardner attached.

44 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 “We didn’t know whether to address him as ‘professor,’ ‘ambassador,’ or ‘secretary.’” — Timothy Reif, general counsel, Office of the United States Trade Representative of Soviet veto power in the U.N. Security Council. And while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Gardner had British economist Roy Harrod, the biographer of John Maynard Keynes, as another men- tor. Through that relationship, the young Gardner came into con- tact with other figures he calls “the founding fathers of the postwar economic institutions.” But perhaps the most important mentor in Gardner’s intellectual development was not a professor at all, but a former first lady. In the winter of 1951, Gardner says he “fell under the spell of a very special mentor—Eleanor Roosevelt.” It was Roosevelt, whom he got to know while profiling her forThe New York Times Magazine, who taught him that free trade needs sometimes to be balanced against social considerations—especially a concern for the poor and disadvantaged. “It was a magical interlude for me and a lesson I have always tried to remember,” he says. His occasional public service Former Columbia University leaves of absence from the Law President George Rupp and Partly because of Gardner’s extensive contacts School constitute a résumé of his wife (at left) join Professor Richard Gardner and José María in Washington, D.C., his Legal Aspects seminar has always been which many career diplomats Aznar, then prime minister of a high-powered and exclusive gathering. Since the course is open can only dream. They included Spain, following a lecture Aznar to students from Columbia’s School of International and Public a stint as deputy assistant sec- presented at the University in 2001. Affairs and the University’s Business School, generally only two- retary of state for international thirds of enrollees are from the Law School. In a typical year, one- organization affairs under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, as third hail from overseas. well as ambassadorships to Italy (1977 to 1981) and Spain (1993 “Every year, I get 80 applicants for 20 places,” says Gardner. to 1997). The first of Gardner’s ambassadorships was especially “This year was the best group ever, and I told the students, ‘I’m freighted with adventure and historical import, and the assignment glad I’m teaching the class, because I don’t think I could have been is recounted in exciting detail in Gardner’s book, Mission Italy: On admitted to it in competition with you.’” the Front Lines of the Cold War. Because Gardner’s career has been so multifac- eted, with each role complementing and overlap- ping with the others, his students have sometimes wondered how to refer to him. “We didn’t know whether to address him as ‘professor,’ ‘ambassador,’ or ‘secretary,’” remembers Timothy Reif, the former student who is now general counsel to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Throughout the decades, students have remained in contact with each other—and, of course, with Gardner. “I’ve made a point of keeping in touch with many of the best students in the seminar over the years,” Gard- ner says. “There are at least 200 former students who I’m in touch with. I meet once a year with my favor- Professor Richard Gardner The seminar’s alumni list ite students in D.C., and once a year in New York—maybe 30 or so reports to former Vice President forms a dense web of interna- students in each city. Then there are many more I correspond with.” Al Gore on his work as the U.S. tional relationships going back Gardner is proud to note that the seminars have developed a great ambassador to Spain. more than half a century. The degree of social cohesion. “The students have reunions,” he adds. first year it was offered, New York Senator Jacob Javits served as And even if they have not always known what to call him, Gardner’s guest speaker, and Gardner was still seven years away from helping students agree that when it came time for them to seek advice and craft the legal justification for the blockade that resolved the Cuban guidance, they were never in doubt as to whom to call. Missile Crisis. In the more than 50 years since his inaugural seminar, Gardner’s Alexander Zaitchik is a New York–based freelance journalist full and rewarding career dedicated to teaching and mentoring was who has written for The San Francisco Chronicle and The New interrupted only by a series of enviable diplomatic appointments. York Times, among other publications.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 45 SAVE THE DATE

JUNE 1 0 - 1 1 2 0 1 1

June 10-11, 2011 Morningside Heights

Reunion 2011 welcomes back graduates whose class years end in 1 and 6. For inquiries, call 212-854-2680 or email [email protected]

46 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 in Addressing Extremist Speech focus: page 54 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

Lee Bollinger page 48

lee bollinger photographs BY Eileen Barroso LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 47 lee bollinger: Robust Leadership

With his recent book on First Amendment rights in an era of globalization, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger ’71 analyzes some of the most pressing challenges of the information age By Peter Kiefer

When it comes to the expan- cally irrelevant to the world or to release, during a presentation have revolutionized aspects of sion of free press rights around be considered imperialistic.” to fellow Law School professors, the field, he remains uncon- the globe, Lee C. Bollinger ’71 Bollinger, who took the reins Bollinger noted that interna- vinced—at least for now—that does not mince words. “Cen- as Columbia’s 19th president tional human rights law norms this new infrastructure can ulti- sorship anywhere is censor- after serving as president at and enforcement mechanisms mately replace the more tradi- ship everywhere,” the Columbia the University of Michigan and available to entities such as the tional means of news gathering. University president and First dean of its law school, makes World Trade Organization have “There is no scarcity of Amendment scholar declares it clear that the book does not the potential to play a larger opinions, but I think there is in his taut yet ambitious new attempt to provide answers to role going forward. And the increasingly a scarcity of good book, Uninhibited, Robust, and all of the questions that arise in book provides a comprehensive ideas and really sound, profes- Wide-Open: A Free Press for a this era of mass media overload. analysis of those options, detail- sional, independent reporting,” New Century (Oxford Univer- Instead, it looks to stoke a dia- ing how they could be used to he says. sity Press: 2010). logue among journalists, poli- spur free press rights on an And so it is within this mix— Like the global financial crisis cymakers, First Amendment international scale. one part skepticism, two parts and issues surrounding climate experts, and the public at large. As for the impact of new media pride in the U.S. system—that change, the dissemination of His timing couldn’t be better. on journalism, Bollinger takes Bollinger makes his case for a information, Bollinger con- When Bollinger first penned a nuanced position. Technology new global free speech code tends, is an international phe- a publication on the First has served as a double-edged that is not only reliant on nomenon and should be treated Amendment, 1988’s The Toler- sword in his estimation: While the concept of human rights. as such. In making the case for ant Society, email was barely the internet and other advances Like it or not, he says, we are free press standards unfettered nascent, AOL did not yet exist, all inextricably bound to one by national borders, and for the and Amazon was simply a rain Like the financial another in a global economy, American system as a model, forest. Now, with the brave new crisis and climate and there are practical reasons the book traces the evolution media world as his book’s back- why this nation’s traditions in change, the of the First Amendment and drop, a host of new and com- free speech and free press are applies relevant principles to plicated issues predominate. dissemination envied—and needed—both at a host of contemporary chal- Traditional media is financially of information, home and abroad. lenges worldwide. under siege, and new media bollinger “I do think the American Speaking from his office in appears fragmented, at times contends, is an system is a good one and is the Morningside Heights, Bollinger belligerent, and increasingly result of many struggles and concedes that America recently polarized along party lines. international a lot of deep thought,” Bol- has taken a reputational hit for Amid this fast-paced, topsy- phenomenon and linger says. “And I would not seeking to impose some of its turvy world of modern mass should be treated hesitate to advocate for it on positions on the world. “But,” he communication, the value as such. an international scale.” adds, “it would be a grave mistake of fresh ideas for expanding to think that just because some- press freedoms around the PETER KIEFER is a New York– thing has American roots or has globe remains constant. A few based journalist who has writ- evolved here that it is automati- months after the book’s January ten for The New York Times.

48 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 49 sharon davies: ON THE RISE

In a new book about a 1920s murder trial, Sharon Davies ’87 highlights a seldom-discussed period of anti-Catholic sentiment in the American South By MARY JOHNSON

In 1921, 18-year-old Ruth Ste- book is attributable to her exper- ganized and rebranded itself as a “Catholic communities were phenson, the white daughter tise in the field of criminal law, as fraternal organization dedicated truly under siege.” of a Methodist minister in Bir- well as her commitment to the to defending the American The Klan mobilized in sup- mingham, Ala., secretly con- project, which demanded five way of life, which its members port of the man accused of verted to Catholicism and mar- years of painstaking research heartily believed was increas- murder and raised enough ried a 42-year-old Puerto Rican and reconstruction. ingly threatened by, among money to hire defense attor- man named Pedro Gussman. At first, Davies assumed other groups, Catholics. Those ney Hugo Black, who ironically Several hours after the wedding, the case epitomized the racial who owed their allegiance to went on to become a civil rights her infuriated father grabbed a bigotry that fueled early 20th the pope in Rome, they argued, champion on the U.S. Supreme gun, stormed up to the rectory century anti-miscegenation could never be patriots. “This Court. As his defense strategy, of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, laws—a subject that has long was a time when very effective Black relied on a plea of tem- and fatally shot the priest who fascinated the widely published anti-Catholic campaigns were porary insanity, hoping that a had conducted the ceremony. professor. Davies was born to being waged in Birmingham Birmingham jury would sym- Five years ago, Sharon an Irish-Catholic mother and and elsewhere,” Davies explains. pathize with his client. Davies ’87, the John C. Elam/ a half–African-American, half- The ensuing trial drew Vorys Sater Designated Professor Caucasian father at a time when Davies nationwide attention and of Law at Ohio State University’s certain states still considered painstakingly ample press coverage, leaving a Moritz College of Law, learned interracial marriages illegal. reconstructed a trove of information for Davies of the murder and subsequent “My parents’ union was out- to uncover in researching and trial while doing research for lawed in the state of my father’s 1921 murder case writing her book. She made an article on law and marriage. birth,” she explains. “And even in her new book, multiple trips to Birmingham “This particular story really though it was legal in the state Rising Road. to sift through heaps of histori- grabbed my attention because it of my mother’s birth, it still took cal documents. She interviewed happened at a time when crimi- them four different stops to find Catholic men and women in nal law was being used as a way someone willing to marry them.” Alabama who had been chil- to police marriage partners,” As Davies continued to dren during the heyday of recalls Davies, who recounts delve beneath the surface of Protestant supremacy. And she the controversial case in her the 89-year-old crime, she transformed her writing style new book, Rising Road: A True learned that the man who shot to produce a work of historical Tale of Love, Race, and Religion the priest hated Catholics, not nonfiction, instead of drafting in America (Oxford University Puerto Ricans. an academic article. Press: 2010). In reviewing her “That was the big surprise,” “The story was so power- first work of historical nonfic- notes Davies, a former federal ful,” Davies explains, “that I tion, critics and legal historians prosecutor in the Southern Dis- thought it had the potential have praised Davies’ use of inti- trict of New York. to educate a b roader audience mate detail and accurate histori- In Alabama in the early 20th about [a part of history] we cal context. The strength of the century, the Ku Klux Klan reor- have largely forgotten.”

50 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY Roger Mastroianni LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 51 barry mills: MAINE IMPACT

Barry Mills ’79 is just as comfortable driving educational innovation at Bowdoin College as he is blogging on the school’s widely read website By SAM SHAW

In 2000, when Barry Mills ’79 among high-level donors and like jumping off a cliff,” he says. sium and sodium and calcium signed on to chair the search the students who drop in for his And in a certain sense, he has get across cell membranes.”) He committee tasked with find- weekly office hours. “I sort of feel made a career as a cliff diver. left Syracuse for Columbia Law ing a new president of his alma like the Max Bialystock of college After graduating from Bow- School and then joined Debe- mater, Bowdoin College, he had presidents,” he jokes, “because I doin in 1972, Mills spent four voise & Plimpton in 1979—a no inkling that he would be sell huge portions of my time to years at Syracuse University, time, he says, when the prac- drafted to fill the role himself. different parts of the job.” where he earned a Ph.D. in tice of law was less specialized. “In fact, we all made a pledge But unlike Mel Brooks’ lead- biology and a firsthand per- Mills, unsurprisingly, thrived that nobody [on the commit- ing man, Mills believes passion- spective on the challenges of on the eclectic challenges he tee] wanted the job,” he recalls. ately in his production. Over teaching. (“I studied ion trans- found there. “I did many, many At the time, he enjoyed a thriv- the course of his tenure, he has port,” he explains, miming cel- different kinds of deals,” he ing practice at Debevoise & strengthened Bowdoin’s com- lular mitosis with enthusiastic recollects. “I did office leases, Plimpton, where he was deputy mitment to diversity and finan- hand gestures. “How potas- leveraged buyouts, IPOs, and presiding partner. His wife was cial aid, eliminated student mergers and acquisitions.” working at a private equity fund loans in favor of grants, built Mills has His eagerness to tackle varied in Manhattan, and his three arts facilities and sports cen- strengthened intellectual problems may be sons were happily ensconced ters, and spearheaded a major Bowdoin’s his secret weapon as a college at Trinity School on the Upper curriculum overhaul. In 2006, president. “Some people might commitment West Side. “And we were in he announced a five-year, $250 say I have a very short attention serious negotiations with some million capital campaign—the to diversity, span,” he admits with a laugh. people who are important col- largest fund drive in the history eliminated But his wide-ranging career lege presidents today,” he says. of the state of Maine. Not only student loans makes a strong argument for So when peers on the commit- did he meet that goal two years in favor of the value of a liberal arts educa- tee invited him to throw his hat ahead of schedule, he exceeded tion. As he approaches the 10th into the ring, Mills declined. it by $43 million. His prudent grants, built year of his presidency, Mills is When they returned a few stewardship has enabled the arts facilities committed to offering just such months later to press their case, school to expand its academic and sports a diverse academic experience he sat down and talked it over offerings and even hire new centers, and to an increasingly diverse stu- dent body. His hope is to pro- with his wife. Looking back on faculty during a recession that spearheaded a that crossroads 10 years later, he has other colleges slashing pro- duce graduates who are “confi- quotes the advice of a Debevoise grams. He cheers on the Bow- major curriculum dent, inquisitive, and, to some colleague: “When the cookies doin Polar Bears at sporting overhaul. extent, fearless in their ability are passed, you take one.” events and contributes a weekly to take on and learn new Mills was inaugurated as column to the Bowdoin blog. things”—unflinching, that is, at Bowdoin’s 14th president in (In a recent post, he confessed the edge of life’s cliffs. the fall of 2001. A natural poly- to being a Yankees fan.) math with seemingly boundless Mills entered the job with SAM SHAW is a New York– energy and a generous sense of no executive or fundraising based writer who contributes to humor, he is equally at home experience. “It was a little bit Harper’s and other publications.

52 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY Peter freed LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 53 at issue: Addressing Extremist Speech

The United States takes a largely hands-off approach to dealing with extremist speech, but are the arguments used to defend that position sound? By Andrzej Rapaczynski, Daniel G. Ross Professor of Law

We in the United States have a unique attitude toward extremist speech. Most coun- tries, including just about all democracies, acknowledge that certain forms of speech may be genuinely dangerous and sufficiently worthless in terms of content to be illegitimate, and therefore subject to suppression or even criminalization. Incitement to racial hatred is a criminal offense in most European countries. Parties advocating violent overthrow of the constitutional order are banned in some countries, including Germany and Italy, and advocacy of extremist ideas is punishable in a number of places around the world.

Not so in the United States. false and worthless. Copernicus “Ah, but that’s a slippery slope!” of speech are potentially valu- There is some doubt about must have sounded crazy and runs the usual response. If we can able, distinguishing obviously whether group libel laws might subversive to Church officials, ban Nazis today, and Bolsheviks worthless and dangerous speech still be constitutional, but there and the Soviets used to put dem- tomorrow, will the Democratic (and we could be very conserva- is no question that criminaliza- ocrats into lunatic asylums. Party be next? Well, will it? Do tive about this) from other forms tion and repression of extremist The second argument is the the French suppress their legiti- of expression is no harder than political speech are not. Absent famous “marketplace of ideas.” mate opposition? Are German many other tasks that judges and a threat of imminent violence, When extremist views are courts incapable of stopping the politicians routinely perform. the remedy for subversive or forced to compete with oth- The idea that truth always extremist speech, if there is suf- ers, they are exposed as false; wins in a marketplace of ideas ficient time to respond to it, is so extremist speech is not is equally, if not more, ques- never repression, but always really dangerous. By contrast, web exclusive tionable. After all, the Nazis did For a version of this essay more speech. repressing such speech leads to including end notes, win power in Germany, despite Why do we take such an civil wars, tyranny, and so on. download the ebook. ample time—years, in fact—to law.columbia.edu/ extreme view of the right to But the chance that the mag/at-issue rebut their fatuous racial theo- extremist speech? The idea is so American Nazi Party is saying ries. The Bolsheviks won power deeply ingrained in our legal cul- something from which we could persecution of legitimate politi- somewhat less democratically ture that we rarely consider that potentially learn is so remote cal movements because the Nazis than the Nazis, but they won, in the arguments used to defend it that, when weighed against can be legally banned? part, because they had gained are flawed and unpersuasive. the deep offense its speech may In fact, slippery slopes, while and retained many adherents The arguments are essentially cause and the actual or potential sometimes troubling, are very who were not persuaded by two: First, because human beings harm it can inflict on innocent common, and we usually deal years of opposing arguments are fallible, we cannot know in victims, it seems scarcely worthy with them quite successfully. (including socialist arguments). advance that certain ideas are of any protection whatsoever. Unless we think that all forms And can anyone say that ban-

54 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 ning the Nazi party before 1933 and jailing its main leaders would not have saved the world considerable misery? Would we in the United States really com- mit ourselves solely to persua- sion if we ever found ourselves in a situation similar to that in Weimar Germany? So are we just irrationally committed to our extreme view of extremist speech? I don’t think so, but I also don’t think we really understand the role that tolerance of extremist speech plays in our social and political order. In my view, the free market of ideas is not a description of what happens under all or even most circumstances, but rather a normative concept, some- thing we want to make true by organizing our society in a way that makes extremist speech no longer dangerous. Contrary to popular American belief (at least among lawyers), extrem- ist demagoguery is quite resis- tant to cool, rational arguments that, say, Jews or capitalists are not, in fact, vermin and exploit- ers who must be “liquidated.” But demagogues are dangerous not because people are inher- ently irrational and subject to fanaticism, but because they become so when they are uned- ucated, when long-standing helped avert the Nazi disaster. Why do we take be careful to prevent the condi- economic inequalities fester, Faced with a mortal threat, such an extreme tions—educational, economic, or when deep racial, ethnic, or politics is a matter of vision and and social—under which people view of the right class conflicts are allowed to power, not constitutional debate. may follow demagogues. persist. Add to the mix a war or But the art of constitution- to extremist In short, it is not the case depression, and long-repressed making is to create an order that speech? The idea that ideas are not dangerous resentments can erupt in a helps prevent such dire situa- is so deeply and that they should never be surge of revolutionary violence. tions. Its goal is to ensure that ingrained in our repressed because truth always In settings like Germany in people are sufficiently educated wins out in a marketplace of legal culture 1933 or Russia in 1917, address- to think critically, that the eco- ideas. It is rather that when ing the constitutional question nomic order does not leave some that we rarely expression of false ideas is of the limits of free speech is so desperate that they lash out consider that allowed, you must ensure that pointless, because constitutions in violent hatred, and that racial the arguments they do not become dangerous. no longer matter. Constitutions and religious divides do not cut used to defend A true free market of ideas is the are designed to stave off revolu- so deep that people can contem- product of an effective constitu- it are flawed tions, which occur when con- plate the “liquidation” of those on tion, not its presupposition. stitutions have already failed. I the other side. Only when rulers and unpersuasive. have no doubt that Hitler should are barred from repressing any This essay was reprinted from have been arrested before 1933, critique of their rule, even those Sesquicentennial Essays of regardless of the Weimar Con- rooted in hatred, falsehood, the Faculty of Columbia Law stitution, if doing so would have and demagoguery, must they School, published in 2008.

ILLUSTRATION BY cargo LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 55 at issue: immigration law

Legislation in Arizona aimed at curbing illegal immigration could provide police officers broad discretion that could threaten their legitimacy with everyday citizens. Are random checkpoints a better option? By Jeffrey a. Fagan, Professor of Law and Epidemiology, and Tracey l. Meares, Deputy Dean and Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law at Yale Law School

Arizona’s new immigration enforcement statute has reignited the national debate on racial profiling. Critics of the new law, which allows police officers to determine the immigration status of any person legally stopped or arrested for any other reason, worry that it will lead to many more arbitrary stops of Latinos in Arizona.

That’s a real concern even if follow when making a stop. Yet lead to arrest? Research shows look for signs that the basis of a the stops don’t lead to arrests, for the last six years, an aver- that people who are stopped stop was fair. because of the ill will that stops age of about 500,000 people react more to how they feel Perceptions of good treat- cause when they seem arbitrary have been stopped each year in they were treated by the police ment and fairness are the foun- and when police treat people the city. Four-fifths are black than they do to whether they dations of procedural justice, who are stopped with disre- or Latino men. Many of them are arrested. It sounds counter- which matters a great deal in spect. There’s a better, even- are stopped 10 times or more intuitive, but it’s not. Basically, civil society. A robust body of handed way to identify illegal per year. And yet police rarely people care about being treated social-science evidence from immigrants: checkpoints. pursue charges. That’s right: with dignity, and they also want around the world shows that To understand the costs of Nearly all of the young men to believe that the officer’s deci- people are more likely to vol- arbitrary stops, consider street stopped in New York City are sion to stop them was unbiased. untarily obey the law when they policing in New York City. New never arrested. They want cops to be polite, believe that authorities have the York law lays out highly struc- Why should we care about explain their actions, and use right to tell them what to do. In

tured rules that the cops must lots of lawful stops that don’t honorifics. They also typically fact, people are more motivated and Slate LLC Interactive, . Newsweek Post Washington 2010, Copyright

56 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 tive movements” that suppos- edly indicate crime, or “Latino appearance” along with scuffed working boots that supposedly indicate illegal immigrant sta- tus. This is a bad idea because when stops are based on sus- picion, police are more likely to view each person they stop as a wrong-doer, which means they’re more likely to create ill will by being rude. Arizona adds to the incentive for indiscrimi- nate stops by allowing citizens to sue police for not enforcing the law “enough.” If Arizona truly wants to identify undocumented aliens in a way that does not under- mine legitimacy, it should try randomized checkpoints. Checkpoints are widely used by police to enforce drunk- driving laws and other routine safety checks—such as seat belt laws—that save lives. Police can do a good job finding offend- ers without having to play their hunches. Policing agencies are required to have a good reason to set up a checkpoint, of course. But once a checkpoint is set up, individual officers don’t need to exercise their discretion. In fact, they can’t under constitutional law. In the absence of discre- tion, the harm of being publicly targeted dissipates. And when officers don’t need to invest in to comply with the law by the If the new law mate. Legitimacy apparently looking for individual offend- belief that they’re being treated leads to more matters to the Arizona police, ers, but rather stop people on a routinized basis, they treat with dignity and fairness than police stops too. One officer in the state has by fear of punishment. When already filed a lawsuit challeng- them equally and—we can police generate good feelings in that Latinos and ing the constitutionality of the hope—with more respect. their everyday contacts, it turns other Arizonans law, making clear that he does Checkpoints promote the vir- out people also are motivated see as negative not want to enforce it. Others tue of evenhandedness. They to help them fight crime. All of and biased, they have openly vowed to resist it. spread the burden of law enforce- this leads to lower crime rates. Laws like Arizona’s give ment more widely, so that one will also see the This brings us back to Ari- individual police officers the group does not bear the brunt of zona. Formal rules and actions police as less discretion to pick and choose it alone. And they tend to atten- that apply to everyone can signal legitimate. whom to stop on the basis of uate the connection between a fairness in a way that highly dis- suspicion. Suspicion-based police stop and wrongdoing. In cretionary tactics, like the ones stops are legally justified when the end, checkpoints allow law in the state’s new law, do not. We an officer correctly (or correctly enforcement agencies to enforce can predict that if the new law enough) identifies or targets a the law in a way that, if done well, leads to more police stops that potential offender. The prob- keeps us all safer. Latinos and other Arizonans see lem is that according to the as negative and biased, they will Supreme Court, even vague This essay originally appeared also see the police as less legiti- criteria count, such as “fur- in Slate magazine.

ILLUSTRATION BY mark mcginnis 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

1953 1960 Jack Borrus recently was Foreigner in Wartime Japan Michael S. Baram has retired Stamford, Conn., New York reappointed vice chairman of (iUniverse: 2009). from Boston University School City, and Jupiter, Fla. the board of directors of the of Law, where he was a mem- Robert Wood Johnson Uni- Stanley L. Sklar works part ber of the faculty for almost versity Hospital Foundation time as a judicial hearing offi- 30 years. Since his retirement, of New Brunswick, N.J. Bor- cer and serves as president of Baram has served as a legal rus has also been reappointed the New York County Board volunteer at the Conservation treasurer of Melvyn H. Moto- of Justices. Law Foundation, an environ- linsky Research Foundation, mental advocacy organization which endows the Hematology 1957 with offices in five New Eng- Laboratory and the chair of Albert Momjian, chair of the land states. Charles Fried, a former asso- hematology at Robert Wood family law department in the ciate justice of the Supreme Johnson Medical School. Philadelphia office of Schnader Joseph F. Cunningham is Judicial Court of Massachu- Harrison Segal & Lewis, was an attorney at Cunningham setts and the Beneficial Profes- Slade Gorton was named honored in May by the Bar- & Associates in Arlington, Va. sor of Law at Harvard Law the 72nd Seattle-King County risters’ Association of Philadel- Cunningham, who has estab- School, served as the Nathaniel First Citizen, an honor recog- phia for his work on behalf of lished a chair in commercial Fensterstock Visiting Profes- nizing Gorton’s long public the Republic of Haiti. Momjian and insurance law at the Law sor of Law at Columbia Law service career and his dedica- has served as honorary consul School, published an article in School last year. tion to various community and to that country since 1978. a recent issue of the Maryland nonprofit interests. Gorton Bar Journal about lawyer Arthur M. Handler merged has served in the Washington 1959 malpractice claims. his law practice with Mound state House of Representatives Michael A. Berch has been Cotton Wollan & Greengrass and in the U.S. Senate, in addi- designated the Alan A. Mathe- Michael Finkelstein, who in New York City. He represents tion to holding the position son Professor of Law at Ari- retired in 2004 as head of the a diverse collection of business of Washington state attorney zona State University’s Sandra European media group SBS clients in commercial litigation general for three terms. Day O’Connor College of Law. Television, is involved in Paul and arbitration matters. Newman’s Hole in the Wall 1956 Lewis Kruger recently was Foundation, which develops John Kandravy, a partner in Isaac Shapiro, a partner in named chairman of the board camps throughout the world the Florham Park, N.J., office the Paris office of Skadden, of the Museum of Arts and for children with serious ill- of Drinker Biddle & Reath, was Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Design in New York. Kruger nesses. Finkelstein and his selected to receive the 2010 recently published his mem- is a partner at Stroock & wife, Sue-ann Friedman, New Jersey Hospital Associa- oir, Edokko: Growing up a Stroock & Lavan. divide their time between tion’s Trustee of the Year award.

58 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 class of: ’65

Lord Collins of Mapesbury new heights

In October of last year, Lawrence A. Collins ’65 LL.M. (Lord to the High Court bench (Chancery Division) straight Collins of Mapesbury) became one of the first 12 justices from private practice, as well as the first former solicitor to serve on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom—an named to the Court of Appeal. And shortly before taking accomplishment Collins still finds a bit unbelievable. his position on the Supreme Court, Collins was named a Indeed, when Collins graduated from the University of Lord of Appeal in Ordinary—which was, at the time, the Cambridge in 1964, he never dreamed he would ascend highest judicial post in the country. to such a level—in part because that level did not exist. “I have often been asked whether I am glad I became a The U.K. Supreme Court was established just last year. judge,” Collins said in a speech at a recent awards ceremony. “It is uniquely satisfying to be able to dispense justice, “What I say is that I have enjoyed every minute of it.” and also to develop the law,” Collins notes. The justice began his legal career at the law In October, Lord Collins became a firm of Herbert Smith in London. Then, in 1997, justice on the Supreme Court of the he became one of the first two solicitors to be United Kingdom. named practicing Queen’s Counsel. In that role, he represented the Chilean government in a battle over the extradition to Spain of Chilean ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet. That case served as a prelude to Collins’ me- teoric rise through the judicial ranks. He subse- quently became the first solicitor ever appointed

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 59 1964 1965 Jeffrey Galant joined the Richard L. Abel was honored Association’s Law Practice Mineola, N.Y., law firm of in September 2009 with Management Section and Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & a festschrift at the UCLA serves on the ABA Standing Breitstone as counsel. Previ- School of Law, where he Committee on the Delivery of ously, Galant was counsel in continues to teach a seminar Legal Services. Granat and his Joel Mallin and his wife, the trusts and estates depart- each spring. Abel published wife, Nancy, have four children Sherry, are avid collectors of ment at Herrick, Feinstein. a book of case studies about and five grandchildren. contemporary art and are New York lawyers disciplined noted for the outdoor sculp- Michael R. Griffinger, a for ethical misconduct titled Ruth Levenson Kleinfeld, tures on display at their home director in the business and Lawyers in the Dock (Oxford an administrative law judge in Pound Ridge, N.Y. commercial litigation depart- University Press: 2008). with the Social Security ment of Gibbons in Newark, A companion volume on Administration in Manchester, Eve Preminger is counsel N.J., recently received the California disciplinary cases, N.H., was selected to chair to Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Association of the Federal titled Lawyers on Trial, is the American Bar Associa- Frankel in New York. Previ- Bar of New Jersey’s William J. forthcoming. Abel and his tion’s Senior Lawyers Division. ously, Preminger served on Brennan Jr. Award. The annual wife, Emily, have three children Kleinfeld and her husband, the Surrogate’s Court for New honor recognizes outstanding and six grandchildren. burt kleinfeld ’64, cel- York County. jurists or attorneys. ebrated their 45th wedding Stephen Adler is the presi- anniversary last year. 1961 Elaine S. Reiss recently was dent of the Israeli Labor Court, Ernest Brod is the global named a commissioner for the which includes 70 judges and Victor E. Schwartz co- leader of the business intel- New York City Equal Employ- about 350 employees. Adler, authored the torts casebook, ligence practice for Navigant ment Practices Commission who has lived in Israel since Prosser, Wade & Schwartz’s Consulting in New York City. by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 1968, teaches collective labor Torts, 12th Edition (Founda- Reiss was also selected to serve law at The Hebrew University tion Press: 2010). Schwartz William A. Dreier was as a commissioner to the City of Jerusalem Faculty of Law. has been working on editions recently honored by the Dis- University of New York Civil of the book since 1976. pute Resolution Section of the Service Commission by the New Jersey State Bar Associa- school’s board of trustees. tion with the Professor James B. Boskey Award for ADR Practitioner of the Year. The award recognizes Dreier’s work Philip L. Bereano, a member educating the public about of the University of Wash- alternative and complementary ington faculty for 35 years, dispute resolution techniques. received the ACLU’s 2009 Dreier is a member of Nor- William O. Douglas Award ris McLaughlin & Marcus in in recognition of his decades Bridgewater, N.J. of activism and advocacy on r. issues related to technology Paul A. Rowe, chairman of and civil liberties. Judith Reinhardt Thoyer, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rif- Davis in New Jersey, was named Richard S. Granat operates kind, Wharton & Garrison in to the New Jersey Super Law- a virtual law firm in Maryland New York City, and her hus- yers list of top 10 attorneys for from his home in Palm Beach band, Michael, established the the fourth year in a row. Rowe Gardens, Fla. Granat is the Thoyer Scholars program at specializes in complex corporate chair of the eLawyering Task Columbia Law School in 2008. and matrimonial litigation. Force of the American Bar (continued on page 62)

60 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Cathy M. Kaplan The Bigger Picture

Cathy M. Kaplan ’77, a partner at Sidley Austin, comes zation that focuses on providing free legal services to low- from a family of accomplished women. Her mother, income women who have been the victims of domestic Ann Kaplan ’46, attended Columbia Law School with violence. The longtime patron of the arts also serves on Constance Baker Motley ’46. Her aunt, going strong at 91, the Whitney Museum’s photography committee and is a still works in higher education as the dean of a college. For trustee of the Aperture Foundation, a nonprofit organiza- her part, Kaplan was one of the first female partners at tion that promotes photography. Brown & Wood, which merged with Sidley Austin in 2001. “I’ve always felt that you can control your own career,” Kaplan’s career is a lesson in success through adapta- Kaplan says about the nature of professional life. “So tion. She began working in tax-exempt health financing, much of it is just energy, and asking for and knowing what but when the market for the field shrunk, she shifted her you want.” focus to structured finance work. Her résumé now boasts experience on complex transactions in countries around Kaplan was one of the first the world, including Japan, Turkey, Germany, and Argentina. female partners at Brown & “What’s interesting about transactional work is that Wood, which merged with Sidley you’re part of the economy,” Kaplan explains. “You’re lis- Austin in 2001. tening to, thinking about, and affecting the most macro- economic issues.” And she is making an impact in other ways, too. Recently, Kaplan has devoted a great deal of time to supporting Sidley Austin’s civic ventures, such as inMotion, an organi-

class of: ’77

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 61 The program helps support Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Dwight B. Williams was an LL.M. student from sub- Constitution (Oxford University honored in February as a past Saharan Africa each year. Press: 2009). The book offers board chair of the National a sweeping history of Native Council for International Visi- 1966 American tribal sovereignty tors, a professional association Jerome “Jerry” Marshak under the U.S. Constitution. for the international exchange has moved into semi-retirement community that works to in Sante Fe, N.M., after 20 1969 Mary Lynn Jones Huntley enhance foreign relations. years in private practice in Sanford Nathan is featured is the president of the Southern Williams is a member of the New York City and 20 years as in The Union of Their Dreams: Education Foundation, the only executive committee at First an assistant attorney general Power, Hope and Struggle in regional nonprofit organization Law International, a law firm in New Mexico. Marshak Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker dedicated to ensuring equity in Salt Lake City. He and his currently operates a limited Movement (Bloomsbury and excellence in education for wife, Nan, have five children agency practice. Press: 2009). The book low-income communities and and 16 grandchildren. highlights the work of eight students in the South. Dan L. Nicewander retired individuals who fought for 1971 from Gardere Wynne Sewell in farm workers’ rights in the late David A. Ijalaye, j.s.d., an Dana H. Freyer, a retired Dallas after 42 years of prac- 1970s. During that era, Nathan emeritus professor at Obafemi partner at Skadden, Arps, tice. Nicewander continues to oversaw a team of lawyers who Awolowo University in Nigeria, Slate, Meagher & Flom in serve on the visiting commit- handled election-related legal completed his term represent- New York City, was named tee of the history department work. On several occasions, he ing Nigeria at the Interna- a 2009 Purpose Prize Fellow. at The University of Texas at ended up in jail while fighting tional Bioethics Committee of The fellowship is a national Austin and as a director of for his clients’ rights. Nathan UNESCO last year. Ijalaye and honor for social entrepreneurs the Community Council of currently lives in McPherson, his wife, E.A. Ijalaye, have four over the age of 60. Freyer is Greater Dallas. Kan., where he continues to children and 13 grandchildren. the co-founder and board work as a labor lawyer. chair of Global Partnership Irene C. Warshauer, an for Afghanistan, which helps attorney, mediator, and arbi- 1970 poverty-stricken men and trator with a private practice Joel H. Goldberg joined the women in rural Afghanistan in New York City, has been New York City office of Stroock develop profitable businesses elected to the College of Com- & Stroock & Lavan as a partner and sustainable incomes. mercial Arbitrators, a national in the firm’s investment man- organization that promotes the agement practice group. Previ- Richard L. Neumeier was highest standards of conduct, ously, Goldberg was a partner one of nine Massachusetts professionalism, and ethical in the asset management group appellate lawyers listed in the practice in the field. at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. January/February corporate counsel issue of Super Lawyers. 1968 Neumeier is one of four Mas- George T. Caplan joined the Ellis A. Regenbogen and sachusetts members of Los Angeles office of Drinker his wife, Sally, celebrated their the American Academy of Biddle & Reath as a partner in 40th wedding anniversary this Appellate Lawyers. the firm’s commercial litigation year. Regenbogen is the vice practice group. Previously, president, associate general Kathryn E. Zenoff serves Caplan chaired the litigation counsel, and corporate sec- on the Appellate Court for group at Kaye Scholer. retary of USG Corporation, a the 2nd District of Illinois. company that manufactures Zenoff recently was appointed Frank Pommersheim recently and distributes building prod- to serve as chair of the Special authored Broken Landscape: ucts in Chicago. (continued on page 64)

62 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Eric Zachs On the Move

Eric Zachs ’85 says he’s not a technology buff, but he ness, you have to take a different level of interest, and admits to owning a dozen country-specific SIM cards for ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do,’” he says. “If you his cell phone, as well as a BlackBerry and an iPad. For can really understand someone’s personal motivations the private venture entrepreneur, the gadgets are simply and motivations in business, you can develop a much aspects of business done on the go. After all, as a manag- stronger relationship.” ing partner of Bantry Bay Ventures-Asia, a private equity Zachs joined his family’s wireless communications com- firm that invests primarily in Chinese and Vietnamese com- pany in 1989 and, over the course of six years, helped the panies, Zachs travels abroad about six times a year on business expand almost tenfold. When the company was journeys that average 17 hours round-trip. bought by Vodafone in 1995, it was the largest sale of a Zachs’ success is based largely on his ability to adapt privately held paging company in the United States. and adjust. “When you go to different places to do busi- With Bantry Bay Ventures-Asia, Zachs finances in- frastructure, energy, and technology “If you can really understand someone’s projects around the world, but his next motivations in business, you can develop project is taking him back to the telecom- strong relationships.” —Eric Zachs munications field. “We’re building cell phone towers in Costa Rica,” he explains. “We’ll eventually work to build towers in other parts of Central and South America, too. I’m excited, after 15 years, to be back to my core business.”

class of: ’85

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 63 1974 Supreme Court Advisory has published six coffee table William Funk was named the Steven L. Schwarcz, the Committee for Justice and books, one of which was select- Robert E. Jones Professor of Stanley A. Star Professor of Mental Health Planning. The ed by both People magazine Advocacy and Ethics at Lewis Law & Business at Duke Law committee was formed to help and USA Today as a “Gift & Clark Law School. Funk was School, was inducted as a fel- maximize the use of court and Book of the Year.” also elected to the American low of the American College community resources in aiding Law Institute and the Ameri- of Bankruptcy, an honorary the rehabilitation and treat- J. Anthony Manger jr., a can Bar Foundation. association of bankruptcy and ment of accused offenders with member of the Bridgewater, insolvency professionals, as mental health issues. N.J.–based law firm Norris James Pooley has been well as academics and judges. McLaughlin & Marcus, has elected deputy director general In February, Schwarcz gave the 1972 been re-elected president of for patents at the World Intel- keynote plenary address at the Robert G. Andre practices Montgomery Academy’s board lectual Property Organization 2010 annual conference of the law in Seattle. He is also writ- of trustees. The private, non- in Geneva. Pooley will serve a Corporate Law Teachers Asso- ing a book on Southwestern profit school in Mendham, five-year term. ciation, an organization that art, working on a screenplay, N.J., serves students who face represents corporate law schol- and penning short stories social, emotional, and educa- Edward R. Spalty, manag- ars in Australia, New Zealand, about baseball. tional challenges. ing partner in the Kansas City and the Asia-Pacific region. office of Armstrong Teasdale, Steven Brose, a partner in Ted Ruthizer has been was featured in the 2010 1975 the regulatory and industry appointed chair of the edition of Chambers USA: Peter Benjamin launched the affairs department at Steptoe Immigration Policy Task Force America’s Leading Lawyers for law firm of Benjamin & Bers & Johnson in Washington, of the UJA-Federation of New Business. Spalty co-chairs the last year in East Longmeadow, D.C., recently received a Cen- York. Ruthizer is co-chair firm’s antitrust and distribu- Mass. The firm focuses on tennial Fellow Award from of the business immigration tion practice group. elder law, estate planning, and Penn State University’s College practice group in the New employment-related work. of the Liberal Arts. The award York office of Kramer Levin Edward G. Williams Benjamin and his wife, Liz honors the college’s highly Naftalis & Frankel. represents Olympic-level and Bramson, celebrated their 35th accomplished alumni. Brose amateur athletes in eligibility wedding anniversary in June. has been counsel to the owners 1973 disputes arising under the of the Trans Alaska Pipeline Michael O. Braun is a partner Ted Stevens Olympic and Rex Heinke, a partner in the since it began operations in in the New York City office of Amateur Sports Act. Williams Los Angeles office of Akin 1977. He also served on expert Morrison & Foerster, where he was recently appointed to Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, task forces for the World Bank heads the corporate practice an international panel of was selected as Los Angeles’ and the U.S. State Department’s group. Braun published arbitrators responsible for “Best Appellate Lawyer of the Agency for International two books in the past year: adjudicating matters related Year” for 2010 by Best Lawyers Development, where his work Doing Business in the U.S.: to allegations of drug use in in America. involved pipeline projects in A Practical Guide to Mergers world biathlon competitions. countries that were part of the and Acquisitions for the Samuel I. Rosenberg, vice former Soviet Union. Japanese Businessperson chairman of the Maryland (Yuhikaku: 2009) and House of Delegates Judiciary Steven Gottlieb founded Japanese and Investment Committee, was the lead spon- Horizon Photography Work- Banking Engagement Letters sor of a recent bill to repeal shops five years ago in north- Line by Line (Aspatore: 2008). the death penalty in the state. east Maryland. It was recently Although the bill did not pass, named one of 12 outstanding Ulysses S. Crockett Jr., LL.M., the House did enact legislation travel photography workshops married Laura-Katharine adopting evidence standards in the United States by Ameri- Christopher in December that will reduce the risk of can Photo magazine. Gottlieb of 2009. (continued on page 66)

64 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 class of: ’90

Da Chen branching out

New York Times best-selling author Da Chen ’90 remem- Following graduation, Chen worked for Rothschild in- bers being moved to tears when he first read the letter vestment bank, where he focused on mergers and acqui- informing him that he was accepted to Columbia Law sitions matters. After the birth of a daughter in 1996, he School. “Dean [of Admissions James] Milligan actually decided to write Colors of the Mountain, which went on to circled the words ‘with enthusiasm’ in the letter,” he recalls. become a best seller. Now, he is the author of five books, For Chen, that moment represented the culmination of including a young-adult adaptation of his first memoir. an unlikely journey that began in his rural hometown in Chen, who lives on Long Island with his wife and two China’s Fujian province. children, spends much of his time speaking at corporate In his two memoirs, Colors of the Mountain and Sounds conferences, colleges, and high schools about his inspira- of the River, Chen recounts his childhood growing up in tional background. “Though I’m not in a courtroom,” Chen poverty during China’s Cultural Revolution. After a chance says, “what I do now is still a form of advocacy.” meeting with a professor of English, he be- gan spending 16-hour days studying for the For Chen, the chance to attend Columbia entrance exam required for admittance to Law School represented the culmination Beijing Language and Culture University. of an unlikely journey that began in Not only was he accepted to the university China’s Fujian province. as a student, he eventually stayed on as a professor in the English department. Then, at the age of 23, he traveled to America to attend Union College in Lincoln, Neb., before enrolling at the Law School.

PHOTOGRAPHE D BY THOMAS JACK HILTON LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 65 executing innocent individuals. organization’s board for the home for the museum, which is Thomas W. White recently Rosenberg also introduced a past six years. scheduled to open this year. celebrated his 30th anniversary successful bill to conform at WilmerHale in Washington, Maryland’s equal pay statute to Roger Joseph, a partner at 1977 D.C. In addition to his transac- the federal Lilly Ledbetter law. Bingham McCutchen in Boston, Peter H. Blessing was named tional and corporate governance was recently honored with the chair of the Tax Section of the practice, White now serves as William Slomanson, LL.M., firm’s first Bingham Community New York State Bar Associa- general counsel at the firm. a professor at Thomas Jef- Service Award in recognition of tion. Blessing is a partner in ferson School of Law in San his fundraising efforts for the the New York City office of 1979 Diego, recently completed the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, Shearman & Sterling. Cathy A. Fleming joined the sixth edition of his internation- which provides scholarships that New York City office of Hodg- al law textbook, Fundamental allow Boston-area students to Andrew J. Levander has son Russ as a partner. Previ- Perspectives on International attend Catholic schools. been named chair-elect of the ously, Fleming was a partner at Law (Wadsworth Publishing: international law firm Dechert, Nixon Peabody. forthcoming 2011). George R. Johnson Jr., which employs more than 800 dean of Elon University lawyers in the United States, Jonathan S. Margolis is School of Law, was elected as Europe, and Asia. Levander a shareholder in the New a vice president of the North is a partner in the firm’s New York City office of Greenberg Carolina Bar Association. York City office. Traurig, where he focuses his practice on all aspects of real Robert D. Klein practices Ronald Mason Jr. was estate law. Margolis’ daughter, product liability law in the nominated by President Barack Sara, is a first-year student at Annapolis, Md., office of Whar- Obama to serve on the presi- Columbia Law School. ton Levin Ehrmantraut & dent’s Board of Advisors on Klein. He is also a member of Historically Black Colleges and Paul N. Samuels was appointed the Nashville Songwriters Asso- Universities. Mason is the presi- to serve as a member of the Paul W. Sweeney Jr., who ciation International and the dent of Jackson State University. Advisory Council on Alcoholism manages the Los Angeles American Society of Compos- and Substance Abuse Services. office of K&L Gates, and his ers, Authors and Publishers. 1978 Samuels is the director and pres- wife, Joann Deutch, will cel- Melih “Mel” Dogan has been ident of the Legal Action Center, ebrate their 30th wedding Thomasina Rogers recently appointed to serve as the inter- an organization dedicated to anniversary in November. was appointed to serve on the national development represen- fighting discrimination against Council of the Administrative tative for Ceyhan, Turkey’s main people with HIV/AIDS, criminal Harvey J. Wolkoff, the head Conference of the United States oil transit port city. In that role, records, or histories of addiction. of the complex business litigation by President Barack Obama. Dogan is tasked with helping group at Ropes & Gray in Bos- In that role, Rogers will be to expand and accelerate the ton, celebrated the graduation of responsible for reporting to the development of the area as an his son, Eric Wolkoff ’10, from president about issues affecting international petroleum hub. Columbia Law School in May. government agencies and regu- latory programs. Robert H. Steinfeld was 1976 appointed to the board of direc- Marshall J. Cohen was Michael Rosenzweig is tors of Aptilon Corporation, elected chair of the Amputee the president and CEO of the a medical industry marketing Coalition of America’s board National Museum of American company in Montreal. Previ- of directors. Cohen, a partner Jewish History in Philadelphia. ously, Steinfeld served as senior with the real estate law firm Rosenzweig is currently super- vice president, general counsel, of Cohen & Perfetto in New vising the construction of a new and corporate secretary of IMS York City, has served on the 100,000-square-foot, five-story Health Inc.

66 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 1980 Peter W. Davis retired from guide for baby boomers and Development, recently was Mark H. Moore has been the U.S. Navy in 2008, following their parents. honored with the Diversity named partner in the New 27 years of active and reserve Trailblazer Award from the York City office of Reavis Par- service as a naval intelligence Jo Backer Laird is of counsel New York State Bar Associa- ent Lehrer, where he is in officer. Davis currently serves in in the New York City office of tion. The award recognizes charge of the law firm’s litiga- the National Security Division of Patterson Belknap Webb & individuals who demonstrate tion department. the Justice Department’s Office Tyler, where she practices in a strong commitment to help- of Intelligence. He and his wife, the firm’s art and museum law ing enhance diversity in the Samuel W. Seymour was Anne, recently celebrated their group. Previously, Laird was legal profession. named president of the New 10th wedding anniversary. The general counsel of Christie’s, York City Bar Association this couple have two children. the fine arts auction house. Peter Harvey, a partner in past May. Seymour is a partner the New York City office of at Sullivan & Cromwell, where Lucinda M. Finley, the vice Stephen S. Madsen, a partner Patterson Belknap Webb & he concentrates his practice on provost for faculty affairs at in the litigation department of Tyler, was appointed to serve white-collar criminal defense, the University at Buffalo Law Cravath, Swaine & Moore, was on the Berkeley College board regulatory enforcement mat- School, the State University of named chair of the Antitrust of trustees. ters, and internal investigations. New York, married Dan Ben- Section of the New York State tivogli in August of 2009. The Bar Association. 1983 couple then spent three weeks David Bloomfield writes the visiting Italy and France. Joseph Shenker was named “Leadership, Law, and Policy” chairman of Sullivan & Crom- column for Gothamschools.org. Mark H. Hess joined the Los well in New York City. He is the program head of Angeles office of Fox Roth- educational leadership at schild, where he specializes in David W. Sussman joined the Brooklyn College, CUNY, and matters involving employee New York City office of Skadden, a member of the executive benefits and executive compen- Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom committee for the urban edu- sation, as well as corporation last year. Sussman is working to cation Ph.D. program at the and personal income tax issues. build an entertainment practice CUNY Graduate Center. at the firm, while also serving in its existing sports practice. Bernard A. Hebda recently David J. Lowe joined Sher- was named the fourth bishop 1981 rard, German & Kelly in of the Diocese of Gaylord, Guy W. Chambers joined Pittsburgh. Lowe will serve as Michigan, by Pope Benedict the San Francisco office of director and member of the XVI. Previously, Hebda served Duane Morris. Chambers will firm’s corporate and financial as the under-secretary of the serve as a partner in the firm’s services group, focusing his Pontifical Council for Legis- intellectual property practice practice on mergers and acqui- lative Texts in Rome, where group. Previously, he worked sitions, sports law, securities he was also an adjunct spiri- for Townsend and Townsend law, venture capital, and bank- tual director for the Pontifical and Crew. ing, as well as on matters relat- North American College. ed to the oil and gas industries. Deborah L. Jacobs wrote 1982 Beryl A. Howell was a new book, Estate Planning Leonard Baynes, a profes- nominated by President Smarts: A Practical, User- sor at St. John’s Univer- Barack Obama to serve as Friendly, Action-Oriented sity School of Law and the a judge on the U.S. District Guide (DJ Working Unlim- inaugural director of the Court for the District of ited Inc.: 2009). The book is Ronald H. Brown Center for Columbia. Howell has been a designed as an estate-planning Civil Rights and Economic (continued on page 68)

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 67 member of the U.S. Sentencing women in business. Bryce is ous secret prisons around the Daniela Weber-Rey, LL.M., Commission since 2004. the president of Radian Guar- world. Smith also continues to a partner at Clifford Chance anty Inc., a national mortgage work on death penalty cases. in Frankfurt, Germany, was John Orenstein and Jeff Ross insurance company headquar- named a member of the firm’s opened Ross & Orenstein last tered in Philadelphia. 1985 Global Partnership Council. year in Minneapolis. At the firm, Weber-Rey, who specializes Orenstein specializes in han- Edward Klees recently pub- in international mergers and dling bondholder activist cases. lished a paper on investment acquisitions, continues to serve law and, in June, co-chaired on the Commission of the Ger- Howard S. Schrader, a presentation on that subject man Corporate Governance formerly of DLA Piper, has been at the annual meeting of the Code and on the administrative named executive vice president National Association of Col- board of BNP Paribas. and general counsel to the lege and University Attorneys. international insurance business Klees was also appointed chair 1986 of ACE Group. In that position, of the regulatory development Tracy Hester joined the Uni- Schrader, who is based in New subcommittee of the American versity of Houston Law Center, York City, will be responsible for Bar Association’s Institutional Ivette R. Alvarez was where he directs the Environ- all legal matters related to ACE’s Investor Committee. honored with the 2009 Power ment, Energy and Natural property, casualty, accident, and of Women Award, presented Resources Center. Hester, a health insurance units outside Jill Pilgrim recently co- by Latinas United for Political longtime partner at Bracewell North America. founded Precise Advisory Empowerment. Alvarez is of & Giuliani in Houston, will Group, a firm that offers advi- counsel in the Denville, N.J., continue to serve as senior Richard L. Stone has been sory services and strategic office of Einhorn, Harris, Ascher, counsel with the firm’s environ- appointed Palm Beach regional planning for professionals in Barbarito & Frost, where she mental group. chair of the American Commit- a variety of industries. concentrates her practice on civil tee for the Weizmann Institute litigation, with an emphasis on Nancy Laben joined AECOM of Science, which develops Rosemary C. Salomone, LL.M., matrimonial and family law. Technology Corporation as philanthropic support for one the Kenneth Wang Professor senior vice president, legal, of the world’s premier scientific of Law at St. John’s University and general counsel. In that research institutions. School of Law, published True role, Laben will oversee the American: Language, Identity, company’s team of lawyers Samuel Witten joined the and the Education of Immi- and compliance officials and Washington, D.C., office of grant Children (Harvard Uni- will be responsible for its ethics Arnold & Porter, where he spe- versity Press: 2010). programs. AECOM provides cializes in public international technical and management law and national security mat- Clive Stafford Smith, support services for government ters. Witten previously served founder of the prisoners’ advo- Mary Ellen O’Connell, and commercial clients around in the State Department’s cacy nonprofit organization the Robert and Marion Short the world. Office of the Legal Adviser, Reprieve, was selected as part Chair in Law at the University most recently managing the of The Times’ Law 100 last of Notre Dame Law School, Mark Momjian and his father, department’s programs for the year. The listing highlights the recently became Research Pro- Albert Momjian ’57, are co- relief of refugees and conflict most powerful members of the fessor of International Dispute authors of Pennsylvania Family victims around the world. legal world, as selected by The Resolution at Notre Dame’s Law Annotated (West: 2010), Times, a British newspaper. Kroc Institute for International currently in its seventh edition. 1984 Smith has focused his recent Peace Studies. O’Connell also Teresa Bryce was named work on due process matters chairs the International Law to Black Enterprise Magazine’s related to prisoners held at Association’s Committee on the list of the 75 most powerful Guantanamo Bay and in vari- Use of Force.

68 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 RenÉ Aubry leading by example

René Aubry ’99 was traveling through Argentina when he first In two months, Aubry’s team raised $30,000 and sent heard about January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti. Aubry, 50 doctors and nurses, along with 25,000 pounds of med- a corporate banking specialist who moved to New York from ical equipment, into Haiti. Now, he is working to launch Haiti when he was 7, checked his email the following day to a $100 million venture fund named Ciel Capital Partners, find 1,000 messages asking how to help. “My friends wrote with the goal of creating knowledge-based jobs in Haiti. to me: ‘People are expecting you to do something,’” recalls Aubry knows the country has a long road ahead. “Haiti Aubry, who had recently earned an M.P.A. from Harvard. doesn’t need a one- or five-year business plan,” he says, Three days after the earthquake, Aubry was back in “it needs a 50-year plan.” New York spearheading a relief network that, among oth- er things, convinced JetBlue to fly doctors to the Domini- After the earthquake in Haiti, can Republic at no cost. From there, the medical person- Aubry received 1,000 email nel could travel to Port-au-Prince using a network Aubry messages. “My friends wrote to helped establish. But in the blur of activity during that first me: ‘people are expecting you to week, Aubry realized he had yet to name his organization. do something,’” he recalls. “At one point in her life, my mother [Denise] was home- less in Port-au-Prince,” Aubry explains. “She was living by the kindness of strangers. When I thought about the type of person I wanted to help the most, I realized it was someone just like her at that time, [someone] who lacked social safety nets.” The relief operation became known as Denise Haiti Disaster Relief.

class of: ’99

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 69 1989 1991 1993 Jonathan Jacob Nadler Carolyn Hochstadter Adam Gale joined the New Kevin D. Hughes co-authored is a partner in the Washington, Dicker recently celebrated her York City office of Chadbourne an article titled “Screen Grab- D.C., office of Squire, Sanders son’s bar mitzvah. Her daugh- & Parke as counsel. Gale was bing: The marketplace, rather & Dempsey, where he prac- ter, Michal, who spent the previously senior counsel at the than the courthouse, may tices telecommunications law. past year in Israel, will attend Bank of New York. determine the ultimate win- Nadler recently served as an Barnard College this fall. ner in Web site infringement adviser to the governments of 1992 battles,” which was published Bermuda, Lesotho, Saudi Ara- Ira Kotel joined Sonnen- Laurence Holzman and in the June 2010 issue of Los bia, and Singapore on matters schein Nath & Rosenthal as a Lara Hopfl Holzman pro- Angeles Lawyer Magazine. related to telecommunications. partner in the firm’s New York duced the new Broadway play City office. Looped. Lara is counsel in the Richard T. Joffe was pro- 1987 New York office of Alston & moted to senior counsel at Gary Ginsberg joined Time 1990 Bird, where she specializes in Labaton Sucharow in New Warner in New York City as Alice P. Arnold recently intellectual property. Laurence York City. executive vice president. Previ- launched Family Law Inter- has co-written libretto and lyr- ously, Ginsberg was executive national Center, a boutique ics for several musicals. Their Marilyn J. Smith is the execu- vice president of investor rela- law practice based in Colorado holiday musical revue, That tive director of the Center for tions and corporate communi- that specializes in international Time of the Year, which pre- Conflict Resolution. Smith cations at News Corporation. child abduction matters. miered off-Broadway, is now lives in Chicago with her hus- being licensed by Theatrical band, Andy, and daughter, Lily. Jerold B. Neuman joined the Rights Worldwide, and the Los Angeles office of Sheppard, original cast album was recently Paul Smurl was promoted to Mullin, Richter & Hampton released on JAY Records. Their vice president of paid products as a partner in the firm’s real original musical comedy, The for NYTimes.com. In that role, estate, land use, and environ- Jerusalem Syndrome, recently Smurl is responsible for imple- mental practice group. Previ- won the Theater for the Ameri- menting the paper’s “metered ously, Neuman chaired the can Musical Prize at the New model,” which will allow readers land use and government rela- York Musical Theatre Festival, of its online content free access tions practice group at Allen and they are currently develop- to only a certain number of arti- Matkins in Los Angeles. ing their musical drama Wal- cles every month. The model is lenberg for Broadway. scheduled to launch in 2011. 1988 David B. Hemingson is a David Bayne, a partner at television writer and producer Jonathan D. Lupkin, a 1994 Kavanagh Maloney & Osnato who has written for Just Shoot partner in the New York City in New York City, is serving his Me, Family Guy, and How I office of Flemming Zulack second term on the board of Met Your Mother. Hemingson Williamson Zauderer, recently selectmen for Darien, Conn. and his wife, Tori, live in Los was named chair of the Com- Angeles with their two sons, mercial and Federal Litigation Nick and Ian. Section of the New York State Bar Association. David J. Webb recently accepted a position as vice Julie Spellman Sweet president of Elbert Limited, a joined the New York City office real estate development com- of Accenture as general coun- pany in Moscow. Previously, sel, secretary, and chief compli- E. Kenly Ames, a partner at Webb served as director and ance officer. Previously, Sweet English Lucas Priest & Owsley associate general counsel at was a partner at Cravath, in Bowling Green, Ky., is partic- ACA Financial Guaranty. Swaine & Moore. ipating in Leadership Kentucky,

70 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 a one-year program that brings Paul DeCamp is a partner in Previously, Wexler served as Diego A. Rotsztain joined together a variety of profession- the Washington, D.C., office of the founding principal of the the corporate and securities als to analyze and explore the Jackson Lewis, where he heads real estate development and practice in the New York City complex issues facing the state the firm’s wage and hour prac- investment company Green- office of Mayer Brown. Previ- and its communities. tice group. Previously, DeCamp hat Partners. ously, Rotsztain was a partner was the administrator of the at Davis Polk & Wardwell. Jeffrey F. Robertson joined Labor Department’s Wage and Rachael Wexler became the Washington, D.C., office of Hour Division. chief executive officer of Sun- 1998 Schulte Roth & Zabel as special light Planet, a Los Angeles– André Gomma de Azevedo, counsel. Previously, Robertson Xue Hanqin, J.S.D., ’83 ll.m., based company that structures LL.M., compiled The Handbook was a partner at Mayer Brown. a veteran Chinese diplomat innovative clean solar energy on Court Mediation, which and an expert on international solutions for its clients. Previ- serves as a tribute to Professor Franklin Siegel, LL.M., law, was elected to serve as a ously, Wexler was a partner at Carol B. Liebman and three served as co-counsel in the judge on the U.N. International Goodwin Procter. other American professors who class-action case of Handschu Court of Justice in The Hague. have greatly contributed to v. Special Services Division. Xue is the only woman among 1996 court mediation in Brazil. Siegel, working on behalf of the the 15 judges on the court. David Leichtman joined Rob- plaintiffs in the case, helped ins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Nicholas Isaacson recently secure a ruling in January Rory I. Lancman, a New York as a partner in the firm’s New joined Baker & Daniels as a affirming that the New York state assemblyman, was named York City office. partner in the firm’s Chicago Police Department must follow chair of the Subcommittee on office. He will focus his practice certain guidelines in conduct- Workplace Safety, with juris- Daniel C. Malone joined on matters related to business ing surveillance of political diction over public and private the New York City law firm of and corporate finance. Previ- organizations and activists so sector workplaces throughout Scarola Ellis as a partner. Pre- ously, Isaacson was a partner at as not to violate First Amend- New York. viously, Malone was a partner Duane Morris. ment rights to free expression. at Dechert. Carol Rosalie Leslie Christopher Kirkham Mara Verheyden-Hilliard Mascera, who is a partner William A. Tilleman, J.S.D., joined Wilson Sonsini was featured in a recent article in the New York City office ’89 LL.M., a principal with Goodrich & Rosati as a part- in The Washington Post. The of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the William A. Tilleman Pro- ner in the firm’s San Francisco article profiled Verheyden- recently welcomed her second fessional Corporation, was office. Previously, Kirkham Hilliard and her husband, daughter, Alexia. appointed to serve as a judge was a partner at O’Melveny Carl Messineo, and their work on the Court of Queen’s Bench & Myers. with their Baltimore-based of Alberta in Calgary, Canada. law firm, the Partnership for Robert J. Liubicic was Social Justice. 1997 promoted to partner in the Lindsay A. Martin was New York City office of Mil- 1995 named shareholder at Oppen- bank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Andrea Cohen, the director heimer, Blend, Harrison and of health services for the New Tate Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. 1999 York City Office of the Deputy Martin specializes in estate Noah Brumfield specializes Mayor for Health and Human planning and probate law. in antitrust as a partner at Services, was appointed to White & Case in both the firm’s the Medicaid and CHIP Pay- Jason S. Wexler recently Washington, D.C., and Palo ment and Access Commission became president of the Henry Alto, Calif., offices. Brumfield in December. Cohen and her Turley Company, a Memphis- lives in Bethesda, Md., with his husband, Rodger Citron, have based, full-service develop- wife, Dina, and his 12-year-old two daughters. ment and real estate company. son, Robin.

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 71 David Lorello was named a with access to a worldwide Mikhail Ratner, an associate film studios and production partner in the London office network of knowledgeable in the New York City office of companies in their distribution of Steptoe & Johnson, where professionals who can provide Silverman Sclar Shin & Byrne, and financing transactions. he serves as a member of the consulting services in a vari- and his wife, Sara, recently international department. ety of fields. welcomed a son, Jeffrey. 2001 Whitney Chatterjee was 2000 Emily C. Sharko joined the promoted to partner in the Daniel Altchek, special coun- U.S. litigation group at Mor- New York City office of Sullivan sel in the New York City office of gan Stanley last year. Sharko & Cromwell. Proskauer Rose, married Jamie also became a member of the Gordon, a first-grade teacher, Law School’s Board of Visitors Franc E. Del Fosse III was last year. The couple currently and co-chaired her class’ 10th elected partner in the Phoenix reside in Manhattan. reunion in June. Sharko, her office of Snell & Wilmer. husband, and her two children Essence Renee McGill Arzu live in Rye, N.Y. James Levine was promoted was promoted to partner in the to partner at Davis & Gilbert in Boston office of Foley Hoag in Benjamin Norwood was Eric A. Stern recently pub- New York City. January. Arzu focuses her prac- elected partner in the New lished an article in The New York tice primarily on debt financ- Orleans office of Adams and Times titled, “Yes, Miky, There Tuaranna “Teri” Patterson ing transactions for public and Reese. Norwood represents Are Rabbis in Montana.” The recently became special counsel private companies, nonprofit corporate, individual, and tax- piece remained on the paper’s to the executive director of the microlenders, investment com- exempt clients on a wide vari- “most emailed” list for a week. National Football League Play- panies, and banks. ety of transactional and general ers Association (NFLPA) in business matters, including Washington, D.C. At the time Gonzalo A. Cordero, LL.M., financings, tax credits, real of her hiring, she was the first was promoted to partner at estate, mergers, acquisitions, female lawyer at the NFLPA. the firm Morales & Besa in contracts, estates, and general Santiago, Chile. tax planning. Jason M. Solomon joined the faculty of William & Mary Sarah M. Epprecht-Noetzli Nicole Cuda PÉrez was Law School. Previously, Solo- and her husband recently promoted to partner in the mon spent five years teaching welcomed a daughter. The New York City office of Spivak at the University of Georgia couple live in Malaysia, where Lipton, where she practices Ken Hwee Tan, Ll.m., became School of Law. Epprecht-Noetzli works with union-side labor, employment, senior state counsel in the the International Committee of and benefits law. International Affairs Division of the Red Cross’ Kuala Lumpur the Attorney General’s Cham- delegation. Epprecht-Noetzli Veronica Perez joined Hol- bers in Singapore this year. Tan has been with the organization land & Knight as a partner in and his wife, Joon-Nie, have since graduation. Her work the firm’s Los Angeles office. two daughters. focuses on detention-related Previously, Perez was vice matters and issues regarding president of legislative and Stephen Tsoneff and Jessica the respect of international legal affairs for the Central Siegel recently welcomed a baby humanitarian law. City Association. girl, Jemma. In addition, Tsoneff was named partner in the Cen- Stephen L. Nichols recently Laura Popp-Rosenberg was tury City, Calif., office of Gibson, Alon A. Ziv was named part- co-launched Maven Research promoted to partner in the Dunn & Crutcher, where he ner at Herzog, Fox & Neeman, in San Francisco. The inter- New York City office of Fross specializes in entertainment a leading law firm in Israel. net venture provides clients Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu. finance, primarily representing (continued on page 74)

72 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Kaitlin Cordes World Wise

When Kaitlin Cordes ’08 was 15 years old, her parents in- initiative based in India. Then she spent time working with sisted that she spend a summer in France, living with a Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the French family. The DeKalb, Ill., native had never traveled right to food. Cordes met De Schutter during her third abroad, didn’t speak much French, and strongly resisted year, when he taught a seminar at the Law School that the idea. Her parents, however, were certain the experi- spurred her interest in right-to-food issues. ence would give Cordes a broader understanding of the “The fact that our world produces enough food, yet world. Little did she know that they were absolutely right, more than 1 billion people still don’t have access to suf- and that the trip would completely change her attitude ficient food is shocking and appalling,” says Cordes. about traveling—as well as help shape her future. Although she’s back in New York as a Sandler Fellow “I gained a lot of confidence that summer as a person, at Human Rights Watch, Cordes’ travels are not over: For but also in my ability to live and thrive in another culture,” the fellowship, she’ll soon be in South Africa researching says Cordes, who, as a David W. Leebron Human Rights rights violations committed against agricultural laborers. Fellow, spent the first half of this year liv- ing in New Delhi. Her human rights work “The fact that our world produces in the Indian capital focused on promot- enough food, yet more than 1 billion ing the right to livelihood, which is the people still don’t have access to concept that people must have access to sufficient food is shocking and a means for making a living. appalling.” —Kaitlin Cordes Cordes conducted research and field work for the Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, an international advocacy and educational class of: ’08

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 73 2006

Ziv specializes in international Prairie State Legal Services, a D.C., regional publication, has finance and corporate matters. nonprofit law firm that pro- recognized Derzko as a member vides free civil legal services to of its “Legal Elite.” 2002 low-income clients. Monroe Jason S. Frank has been serves as a staff attorney at the Rick Kaplan was appointed named counsel in the New firm, focusing her practice on chief counsel and senior legal York City office of WilmerHale. family law. adviser for the Federal Com- munications Commission. Pre- Charles Gavoty, LL.M., was Leah Palmer was promoted viously, Kaplan served as chief Erik Encarnacion joined promoted to partner in the to partner in the San Francisco of staff for FCC Commissioner the Dallas office of Weil, Got- Paris office of Jones Day. office of Kirkland & Ellis. Mignon Clyburn. shal & Manges, where he will work in the firm’s litigation 2003 Aidan Donnelley Rowley’s practice group. Anthony Alden, LL.M., first novel, Life After Yes (Harp- recently was promoted to part- erCollins: 2010), was released Deborah Henderson wel- ner in the Los Angeles office of this year. comed her first son, Connor Quinn Emanuel. 2004 Edward, last October. Leah (Suslovich) Cypess is Tomi P. Asanti, LL.M., co- Adam D. Orford joined the now a full-time writer. Her first authored Corporate Counsel’s Portland, Ore., office of Marten novel, Mistwood, a young-adult Guide to Doing Business in Michael Moradzadeh is Law. Previously, Orford was fantasy novel, was published by Russia, 2d Edition (West: 2008). the founder of Rimon Law an attorney in the New York HarperCollins in April 2010. Group, one of the first high- City office of Arnold & Porter, Christian Iwasko was end virtual law firms. The firm where his practice included Sébastien Evrard, LL.M., promoted to partner in the has been featured in AmLaw, litigation and counseling for relocated to the Beijing office London office of Kirkland & Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and developers, public utilities, of Jones Day in April. Evrard Ellis International. the San Francisco Business municipalities, nonprofits, and serves as of counsel to the firm Times. Moradzadeh and his wife, manufacturers regarding com- and specializes in complex Mazin A. Sbaiti married Nomi, live in San Francisco. plex environmental, energy, antitrust matters. Katherine Karim in Dallas. and administrative matters. Sbaiti is a founding partner of Sarah Marie Friedman Gregor Klenk, LL.M., was Hutcherson Sbaiti, a trial bou- Wolfe was recently named an Emily Pataki joined the promoted to partner in the tique firm that focuses on com- assistant U.S. Attorney in the administration of New York Frankfurt, Germany, office of plex commercial litigation. office of the criminal division in City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Latham & Watkins. Trenton, N.J. Wolfe previously as an aide to the mayor’s Elizabeth Teresa Scavo served as an associate at Jones criminal justice coordinator. Kari A. Jorgenson was married Jonathan Paul Field- Day and as a clerk for U.S. Dis- In that role, Pataki will focus named counsel in the Boston ing. The couple now reside in trict Judge Renee Marie Bumb on addressing human office of WilmerHale. Port Washington, N.Y. of the District of New Jersey. trafficking issues.

Benjamin McAdams, the 2005 senior adviser to Salt Lake Natalie Derzko, J.S.D., was Join Columbia City Mayor Ralph Becker, promoted to of counsel in the Law School Alumni on was recently elected as a Utah Washington, D.C., office of Facebook to state senator. Covington & Burling, where her receive news and updates. practice areas include intellec- facebook.com Emily Monroe joined the tual property and patent litiga- Bloomington, Ill., office of tion. SmartCEO, a Washington,

74 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Elizabeth L. Smith, a litiga- Leah Godesky’s article, presented the Oxfordian of Fellowship, which presented tion associate at Paul, Weiss, “State Attorneys General and the Year award to former the award. Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Contingency Fee Arrange- Justice John Paul Stevens in New York City, and ments: An Affront to the in his chambers at the U.S. Robert Schwimmer recently Igor Fuks ’06, an analyst Neutrality Doctrine?” was Supreme Court. Regnier is joined the Phoenix office of in the credit opportunities published in the Columbia a trustee of the Shakespeare Snell & Wilmer. group at D.E. Shaw & Co., Journal of Law and Social were recently married in Problems. The article sub- Manhattan. The couple spent sequently was cited with their honeymoon in South- approval by the South Carolina please email your news to [email protected] east Asia. Supreme Court in the case of with the heading “Class Notes Submission” in the subject line. Please be certain to include your year of graduation in State of South Carolina v. Eli the email. Photo attachments are welcomed, but due to Lilly and Company. space limitations, the Magazine cannot guarantee publication 2009 of submitted photographs. J. Rodrigo Fuentes is an Class notes submissions may be edited for clarity and space. Columbia Law School associate at Fish & Richardson Tom Regnier, LL.M., was one Magazine cannot guarantee publication of all items. in New York City. of four people who recently

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 75 in memoriam:

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

“At Columbia Law School, law. He passed away on June we feel [this] loss acutely,” said 27, 2010, at the age of 78. David M. Schizer, Dean and Raised in Rockville Centre, the Lucy G. Moses Professor N.Y., Ginsburg attended Cor- of Law. “We are fortunate to nell University, where he met have had Al Rosenthal as such his future wife. The couple wed an indispensable member of in 1954, just before Ginsburg our intellectual community. He joined the Army. When he was a wonderful dean, scholar, returned, he enrolled at Har- teacher, and friend.” vard Law School, graduating Rosenthal is survived by magna cum laude in 1958. his wife, Barbara; three sons: Ginsburg began his legal rose to the position of dean at Ned Rosenthal ’80, Tom career at a law firm in New Albert J. Rosenthal the Law School, and during Rosenthal ’82, and Bill Rosen- York City. He later went on to March 17, 2010 his tenure, which spanned thal; and 10 grandchildren. serve as a professor at Colum- from 1979 to 1984, he worked bia Law School before joining Albert J. Rosenthal was an to increase the number of the faculty at Georgetown Uni- esteemed professor and dean female faculty members, versity Law Center. at Columbia Law School. He enhance the Law School’s Throughout his life, Gins- passed away on March 17, clinical programs, and estab- burg distinguished himself 2010, at the age of 91. lish centers dedicated to as a giant in the field of tax Rosenthal graduated from Asian legal scholarship. law. “Marty’s treatise with Harvard Law School in 1941 “He was a wise, kind, and Jack Levin on the taxation and clerked for 1st Circuit compassionate colleague and of mergers and acquisitions Court of Appeals Judge Cal- dean during my tenure at was the definitive work in vert Magruder. After serving Columbia Law School,” said the field,” said Dean David in the Air Force during World Supreme Court Justice Ruth M. Schizer, “and his bril- War II, Rosenthal clerked for Bader Ginsburg ’59, who was liance, warmth, and wit were U.S. Supreme Court Justice a professor at the Law School Martin D. Ginsburg a source of great joy to those Felix Frankfurter. until 1980. “In all respects, he June 27, 2010 who knew him.” In a recent Rosenthal spent several was a true gentleman whose Columbia Law School Maga- years working in government brave heart complemented his Martin D. Ginsburg, the zine piece, Justice Ginsburg and private practice before bright mind.” husband of Supreme Court referred to her husband as joining the faculty at Colum- After stepping down as Associate Justice Ruth Bader “the best life companion any- bia Law School, where he was dean, Rosenthal continued Ginsburg ’59 and father of one could have.” a renowned expert on consti- teaching, most recently serv- Professor Jane C. Ginsburg, Ginsburg is survived by his tutional and environmental ing as the Maurice T. Moore was a prominent tax lawyer wife; his daughter, Jane; his son, law. Rosenthal eventually Professor Emeritus of Law. and a noted professor of tax James; and four grandchildren.

76 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 calling his absence “a willful Following his retirement from the director of the Federal and deliberate default.” the game, Bender served as an Reserve Bank of Boston. In addition to his service on assistant U.S. Attorney in the In addition to his judicial the federal bench, Metzner was Southern District of New York, and corporate work, Treat held an active and generous alumnus where he aided in prosecuting multiple government positions. of Columbia Law School. He members of the German Ameri- He was the secretary of the U.S. supported students through the can Bund, a pro-Nazi movement Electoral College from 1956 Charles M. Metzner Scholar- active in the United States in the to 1964. In 1987, President ship at the Law School and vol- 1940s. Bender then became a Ronald Reagan appointed unteered as a judge for numer- criminal defense attorney, spe- Treat to serve as a delegate to ous moot court competitions. cializing in tax evasion cases. the U.N. General Assembly—a Metzner was also a trustee of In 2008, at the age of 98, position President George Charles M. Metzner ’33 Columbia University. Bender was inducted into the H.W. Bush again offered Treat November 30, 2009 Metzner is survived by his New York City Basketball Hall in 1990. The U.N. Human wife, Jeanne, three children, of Fame. “I’m glad I lived long Rights Commission also asked Charles M. Metzner ’33 was a five grandchildren, and 10 enough to receive this honor,” Treat to serve a four-year judge in the Southern District great-grandchildren. he told a reporter from The New term as a member of the Sub- of New York for 50 years. He York Times. “It’s truly incredible.” Commission on Prevention of passed away on November 30, Bender is survived by his wife Discrimination and Protection 2009, at the age of 97. Louis “Lulu” Bender ’35 of more than 75 years, Jean; of Minorities at the U.N. Centre A graduate of both Columbia September 10, 2009 two sons, Steven and Michael; for Human Rights in Geneva. College and Columbia Law two daughters, Ellyn and Treat is survived by his School, Metzner worked in pri- Louis “Lulu” Bender ’35 was Golda; and 11 grandchildren. wife, Vivian; his son, Jonathan vate practice, spent a year with an all-American basketball B. Treat II; his daughter, the New York City Office of player whose professional ca- Mary Esther C. Treat; and the Controller, and then joined reer in the 1930s and early ’40s William W. Treat ’43 three grandchildren. the New York State Judicial earned him induction into the January 10, 2010 Council. Metzner also served as New York City Basketball Hall law secretary to a justice of the of Fame. Bender passed away William W. Treat ’43 was a Benjamin Gim ’49 New York Supreme Court and on September 10, 2009, at the well-regarded diplomat and January 16, 2010 as the executive assistant to the age of 99. judge. He passed away on Jan- U.S. attorney general. Bender, a 6-foot-1 forward, uary 10, 2010, at the age of 91. Benjamin Gim ’49 was a noted In 1959, President Dwight launched his basketball career Born in Winterport, Maine, immigration lawyer and hu- Eisenhower appointed in the 1920s at DeWitt Clinton Treat comes from a long line of man rights advocate. He Metzner to serve as a judge High School, where he earned American political figures. His passed away on January 16, in the Southern District of what would become a lifelong ancestors include Governor 2010, at the age of 87. New York, where he spent nickname. When Bender made Robert Treat, the colonial The son of Chinese immi- the next five decades presid- a basket from a substantial governor of Connecticut in grants, Gim grew up in Salt ing over multiple high-profile distance, a fan yelled out, “Now the late 1600s, and Robert Lake City. He was a star on the cases—including a lawsuit that was a lulu of a basket.” The Treat Paine, a signer of the debate team at the University involving eccentric aviator “Lulu” moniker remained with Declaration of Independence. of Utah and served in the Army Howard Hughes and Trans Bender throughout his basket- After graduating from for three years during World World Airlines. At the time, ball career and beyond. Columbia Law School and War II before beginning his Hughes was a majority owner At Columbia College, Harvard Business School, legal education at the Uni- in the company. According to Bender led the Lions to league Treat served as a probate versity of Utah Law School. a 1963 article in The New York championships in both 1930 judge in New Hampshire After completing his first Times, when Trans World sued and 1931. He graduated from for 25 years and established year, however, a member of Hughes on antitrust grounds Columbia Law School in 1935 the National College of Pro- the faculty told Gim he didn’t and Hughes failed to appear in and began a professional bate Judges in 1968. He have “a Chinaman’s chance” of court on the day he was sup- career in the American Basket- also founded BankMerid- successfully practicing law in posed to testify, Metzner ruled ball League that would last for ian, which has offices across Utah, according to an obitu- against the notorious recluse, the next several years. the country, and served as ary. Facing such profound dis-

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 77 crimination, Gim transferred Law School, where he gradu- with Rauh and embarked on a to Columbia Law School and ated in 1952. career in civil rights law. Frank K. Walwer ’55 graduated in 1949. Oresman spent his entire Together, Silard and Rauh January 1, 2010 Gim began his career at the legal career in the New York City assembled a diverse client Treasury Department’s Bureau offices of Milbank, Tweed, where list that spanned the socio- Frank K. Walwer ’55, a one- of Narcotics and then became he specialized in corporate law. economic spectrum. They time associate dean of Colum- the first assistant attorney gen- In his five decades at the firm, defended playwright Arthur bia Law School, was a highly eral of Asian ancestry in New he developed a reputation for Miller, who was charged with regarded academic who pre- York. Gim later established the loyalty, integrity, fairness, and a contempt of court for refus- sided over both the University immigration law firm Gim & strong sense of ethics. ing to reveal the names of his of Tulsa College of Law and Wong in New York City’s Chi- In addition to his legal prac- friends and associates who may Texas Wesleyan School of Law. natown neighborhood, where tice, Oresman dedicated much have been Communists. The He passed away on January 1, he practiced for almost 50 of his time to education-related duo also secured reparations 2010, at the age of 79. years. He also went on to serve endeavors, serving for many totaling more than $11 million A native New Yorker, Walwer as an immigration law lecturer years on the Columbia Law for 4,000 Japanese-Americans attended Columbia College, at Columbia Law School. School Board of Visitors, and he whose assets were frozen after where he was honored with Gim’s career was marked by contributed generously to arts the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Richard H. Fox Memorial several important milestones: organizations across the city. when anti-Japanese sentiment Prize, awarded annually to the He was the first Asian-Amer- Known for wearing snappy red was on the rise in this country. graduating senior who “com- ican to argue before the U.S. bow ties, Oresman was an avid And in the 1960s and ’70s, bines intelligence with a kindly Supreme Court and the first to cyclist who rode almost daily they developed a robust labor interest in his fellow man.” He serve as president of the Amer- through Central Park until the law practice, representing the then enrolled at Columbia Law ican Immigration Lawyers age of 86. He and his wife often United Automobile Workers, School, graduating in 1955. Association. The National Law took their bicycles to France, among other unions. Although Walwer briefly Journal named him one of the where they delighted in pedaling Silard was especially com- practiced law, he spent the 20 best immigration lawyers across the French countryside. mitted to fighting for racial bulk of his career in academia. in the United States, and he Oresman is survived by his equality in education. In 1970, He became an administrative received awards and accolades wife of 35 years, Janice, as well he and Rauh joined the legal officer at the Law School in from numerous organizations, as his two children, Sam Forten- team representing minority 1958, eventually rising to the including the American Immi- baugh and Cristina Carlson. families in a federal lawsuit position of associate dean. In gration Lawyers Association against the Department of 1980, Walwer left New York to and the Asian American Legal Health, Education and Wel- become dean of the University Defense and Education Fund. John Silard ’52 fare. The suit alleged that the of Tulsa College of Law. “My Gim is survived by his wife, November 29, 2009 department engaged in racial affection for you and Columbia Cindy, and his daughters, discrimination by providing stems from a 32-year relation- Karen and Jennifer. John Silard ’52 was a re- federal funds to segregated ship going back to Columbia nowned civil rights attorney public schools and colleges. College freshman days,” Wal- who, together with his law Silard and his team prevailed wer wrote in a letter advising Roger B. Oresman ’52 partner, Joseph L. Rauh Jr., at the D.C. Circuit Court of the Law School faculty of his April 2, 2010 played a significant role in Appeals, and the decision decision to leave. “To part will some of the most challenging forced 10 states to desegregate be difficult (to start again will Roger B. Oresman ’52 was a and noteworthy cases of the their schools or sacrifice their be fun, I hope).” distinguished partner at Mil- 20th century. Silard passed federal funding. In 1991, after more than bank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy away on November 29, 2009, “My father was the kind of a decade as dean, Walwer for more than 50 years. Ores- at the age of 80. lawyer who fought hard for stepped down to serve on man passed away on April 2, Silard was born in Vienna, those in the labor and African- the Tulsa faculty full time 2010, at the age of 89. Austria, and raised in Buda- American movements,” as the Trustees Professor of Born and raised in New pest, Hungary. His family said Silard’s son, Timothy, in Law. Then, in 1994, he left York City, Oresman completed eventually fled the encroaching an obituary published by Oklahoma to become dean high school at the renowned Nazi forces and moved to New LegalTimes.com. “We grew up of Texas Wesleyan School of Fieldston School. He majored York, where Silard attended around the major players in Law, where he helped secure in economics at Harvard both Columbia College and those movements.” full American Bar Association College before receiving his Columbia Law School before Silard is survived by his accreditation. “Frank had his M.B.A. from Harvard Business spending two years in the Air wife of 59 years, Janet; own style, as a person and as School in 1943. After serving Force Judge Advocate Gen- three sons: Michael, a leader,” one of his colleagues in the Navy for several years, eral’s Corps. After completing Christopher, and Timothy; recalled in an obituary in Oresman came to Columbia his service, Silard teamed up and four grandchildren. Tulsa World.

78 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe fall 2010 Walwer is survived by his Goldring passed away on Octo- Law. At the Australian National In 1998, Goldring was wife of 49 years, Mary Ann; ber 6, 2009, at the age of 66. University in the mid-1970s, named a judge at the District his son, Gregory; and three A native of Australia, Gold- Goldring helped found the aca- Court of New South Wales, grandchildren. ring attended the University demic publication Legal Service where he specialized in of Sydney, earning both a B.A. Bulletin. He then spent much of handling criminal trials. and an LL.B. He then enrolled the 1980s and ’90s as the dean Then, in 2007, he was John L. “Jack” Goldring in the LL.M. program at of Macquarie Law School and appointed to serve as a ’69 LL.M. Columbia Law School as an as founding dean of law at the Foundation Fellow at the October 6, 2009 Australian-American Educa- University of Wollongong. Australian Academy of Law, tional Foundation fellow. As his career progressed, a learned society founded to John L. “Jack” Goldring ’69 Much of Goldring’s career Goldring became a dedicated promote cohesion and higher LL.M. was a distinguished was dedicated to academia: legal reformer, serving on standards in the Australian scholar and legal reformer who From 1970 to 1972, he served the Australian Law Reform legal professions. rose to the position of dean at on the faculty at the University Commission and the New South Goldring is survived by his two Australian law schools. of Papua New Guinea School of Wales Law Reform Commission. partner, Sue Kirby.

Del Zucker ’34 Lawrence J. Latto ’48 John H. Norton ’52 Ronald C. Eksten ’68 November 2009 November 8, 2009 January 25, 2009 December 28, 2009

Harold S. Okin ’35 Harry D. Lavery ’48 Maurice R. Roche ’52 Jacob R. Henderson ’68 November 16, 2008 March 14, 2010 November 19, 2009 February 23, 2010

Eugene Cotton ’36 Thormund A. Miller ’48 J. Richard Edmondson ’53 Benjamin D. Fein ’70 November 11, 2009 February 19, 2010 November 12, 2009 December 7, 2009

Bernard H. Kayden ’36 Arthur H. Christy ’49 Robert H. Bacon ’54 David B. Disney ’71 August 21, 2009 March 12, 2010 September 7, 2009 March 14, 2010

Arthur B. Colvin ’40 Thurman E. Duncan ’49 William Lee Johnson ’55 John Masao Kobayashi ’71 November 2009 October 17, 2009 February 12, 2010 January 30, 2009

Howard R. Williams ’40 James L. O’Connor ’49 John F. Neylan jr. ’55 David L. Robbins ’72 April 14, 2010 November 9, 2009 March 20, 2010 June, 6, 2009

Alfred F. Conard ’42 J.S.D. Jack Lee Orkin ’49 James D. Forman ’57 Walter E. Schmidt ’82 September 21, 2009 January 15, 2010 November 11, 2009 February 10, 2010

Bernard F. Curry ’42 Richard C. Packard ’49 Leonard L. Sutter jr. ’58 Rainu Walia ’85 LL.M. October 16, 2009 September 9, 2009 September 21, 2009 January 22, 2010

Frederick L. Kuhlmann ’42 LL.M. Clifford R. Hope jr. ’50 Richard M. Estes ’59 Matthew B. Bartley ’86 April 3, 2010 February 11, 2010 March 2, 2010 January 26, 2010

John T.C. Low ’42 Oliver B. James jr. ’50 Austen H. Furse jr. ’59 LL.M. Paul l. Crist ’86 March 15, 2010 September 29, 2009 February 16, 2010 February 22, 2010

Jean Davidson ’43 Ruth W. Levitan ’50 Dennis S. Aronowitz ’60 August 7, 2009 December 28, 2009 February 10, 2009

Marvin R. Walden ’43 Curran C. Tiffany ’50 Charles P. Sifton ’61 November 12, 2009 October 23, 2009 November 9, 2009 please email Theodore S. Furman ’47 John D. MacPherson ’51 George Peter Gross ’63 In Memoriam notifications to October 29, 2009 September 25, 2009 December 23, 2009 [email protected] with the heading John S. Stillman ’47 James J. Ahearn ’52 Alfred S. Goldfield ’64 “In Memoriam” January 19, 2010 February 23, 2010 November 4, 2009 in the subject line.

Richard T. Taylor ’47 LL.M. Cecil Browne ’52 Albert Sterling Lichfield ’64 As part of this email, please December 18, 2009 June 17, 2009 September 17, 2009 be certain to include the full name of the deceased, D. Clinton Dominick III ’48 Daniel Jacobson ’52 Patrick J. Rohan ’65 J.S.D. the year of graduation from September 9, 2009 July 6, 2009 November 26, 2009 the Law School, and the approximate date of death. George W. Fisk ’48 jo desha lucas ’52 ll.m. Barry Malcolm Siegel ’65 October 8, 2009 May 9, 2010 November 9, 2009

LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 79 Questions presented alumni spotlight David J. Stern ’66 As commissioner of the National Basketball Association, David J. Stern oversees one of the world’s most successful professional sports leagues. Since the beginning of his tenure in 1984, Stern has transformed the NBA into a truly global phenomenon.

Who has been your greatest inspiration? I came of age at a time when JFK was running for and serving as president. Just hearing him speak was, for me, inspirational. There was a real sense that you can do anything if you apply yourself and dream big dreams.

How do you define success? For me, it’s not about setting goals and meeting them. It’s about assessing how you have done, and whether you are satisfied with your efforts and results.

Why did you go to law school? I was intrigued by the notion of the law and lawyers. I believed that lawyers made important contribu- tions and helped find solutions for the issues and problems of the day.

Who is your favorite lawyer of all time? I was mentored at Proskauer Rose by a lawyer named George Gallantz, who was a stickler for detail, prose, and directness. He is my favorite.

Finish this sentence: you wouldn’t catch me dead without . . . My BlackBerry and today’s news- papers: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and USA Today. And I don’t read those newspapers on either a Kindle or an iPad . . . yet.

One thing you absolutely must do before you die? My wife is an adventurer, so I’ve had great experiences seeing naturally beautiful things—the Himalayas of Bhutan, the Arctic Refuge. One place left on our list is Antarctica.

Thing for which you are most thankful? A healthy family.

80 COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINe f allALL 2010 PHOTOGRAPHED BY John Maggiotto