40Th Anniversary of the First Women Rtk Graduates
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ROOT-TILDEN-KERN RT Fall 2012 News SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM RTK Gets a New 40th Anniversary Executive Director! In September, Denise of the First Women Tomasini-Joshi joined New York University School of Law to become the executive RTK Graduates director of the Root-Tilden- Kern Program. Previously, she In the spring of 1972, three women—Barbara A. Burnett, Erica Steinberger McLean, served as legal officer with the and Mary C. Morgan—walked across the stage at Convocation at NYU School of Law Open Society Justice Initiative, where she led efforts to become the first women to graduate from the Root-Tilden-Kern Program. This past to implement alternatives to pretrial detention in spring marked the 40th anniversary of that seminal moment in public interest law history. Latin America. Her role at Open Society Justice continued on page 2 Initiative involved forging partnerships across a wide and complex range of justice professionals while developing and executing strategic plans, training programs, and collaboration protocols among multiple government agencies. Denise also served as a senior policy analyst with the Council of State Governments’ Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, where she developed and implemented protocols for collaboration among criminal justice and mental health agencies and presented at conferences nationwide. Denise has spoken and published widely on the issues of mental health and pretrial detention. She began her legal career as an attorney at the Columbia University/ Goddard Riverside Tenant Assistance Project and at MFY Legal Services. Denise received her Master of International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. The RTK Program is fortunate to have her wealth of experience and passionate commitment to public interest law! ■ E E 40th Anniversary of the First Women RTK Graduates 1 Class of 2012 Employment Destinations 6 Alumni Profiles 16 RTK Gets a New Executive Director! 1 Leaders in Public Interest Series 2011-12 7 Class Notes 18 issu Letter from the Executive Director 2 Journal Memberships 2012-13 7 Deb Ellis ’82 Tribute 19 Ford Foundation Fellowships Awarded 3 Class of 2015 Biographies 8 Honor Roll of Donors 20 THIS Roots Speak at J.D. Convocation—AGAIN! 4 Class of 2014 and 2013 Summer Jobs 13 Leaders in Public Interest N I Awards at Graduation 5 Orientation for the Class of 2015 15 Series 2012-13 23 LETTER from THE EXECUTIVE DIREctor These three women personify the success of a movement to advance the rights of female Dear RTK friends, law students that began in 1969 with the formation of the Women’s Rights Committee at NYU. The student-led committee was It’s my great pleasure and honor to write my very first formed to represent the interests of the Letter from the Executive Director. I officially began my duties growing number of women entering law as assistant dean for public service on September 10 and school at NYU. Its first goal was to make immediately had a sense of what an incredible opportunity women eligible for the RTK Program. After it is to be involved with the Root-Tilden-Kern Program. hearing the Committee’s arguments, the Law The quality of scholars and alumni is without match, and the program itself has School investigated whether admitting women no parallels in the law school world, even in places where they have tried to follow would violate the program’s trust agreement, our RTK model. An integral part of keeping the reputation and integrity of the which had been previously touted as the program was, clearly, the leadership of the previous executive director Deborah reason for barring women from the program. Ellis. I hope that you will join me in sending her a heartfelt thanks and recognizing The Law School found that nothing in the trust her achievements during the 10 years that she held the title. I know that current agreement kept women from becoming Root and former Roots greatly benefited from her tireless advocacy and commitment to scholars. With no further barriers in place to this amazing program. Please see page 19 for a fuller tribute to Deb. keep women from applying to the program, As I write this, the election cycle closes and we move “forward.” So it is at the Law School extended the application Public Interest Law Center, where we are implementing new programs and deadline to allow for women to apply, and in considering new ways to integrate the richness of the RTK community with other 1969 the RTK Program welcomed its first-ever public interest efforts. A new rule by the New York State Unified Court System female scholars. requires all who seek admission to the New York State bar, starting in January Barbara A. Burnett says being “the first 2015, to perform 50 hours of pro bono work and we are excited about using the woman anything can feel like being in a fish opportunity to have RTK scholars work hand in hand with other students who bowl.” When she enrolled at the Law School in would not have otherwise engaged in public interest work. No one carries the 1969, she was engaged to another scholar in torch for commitment to public service quite like the Roots, and if anyone can the program. Some people at the Law School convince aloof colleagues to get more involved, it’s a Root! assumed that she was planning a career as Another initiative that we are developing involves developing parallel her husband’s legal assistant. Barbara also support between the Bickel and Brewer Latino Institute for Human Rights and recalls that during her first year, a professor the RTK Program. Now that both are housed under PILC, new opportunities for commented that he was not sure that “the collaboration and cross-pollination are waiting to be explored. We expect that each girl from Kansas was getting it.” Undeniably, program will become stronger as a consequence. Barbara was “getting it,” as she earned high Next January we will also be welcoming back from sabbatical our academic marks in the class. Barbara continued to adviser Meg Satterthwaite. I would like to take this opportunity to thank David excel in her studies and in her final year of Golove for the wonderful job he’s done as interim academic adviser. I know that law school had several offers from prestigious the first-year Roots appreciated Professor Golove’s detailed account of the history New York City firms to choose from for her of the RTK program and his mushroom-hunting skills at the first-year retreat. first job as an attorney. After three years of We appreciate his willingness to connect and work on behalf of the program. work in a law firm, Barbara decided it was Finally, I would be remiss not to mention that Roots—both present and time to turn her attention back to public past—have done particularly well this year in the clerkship market. RTK alumna service. NYU needed a professor in property Julia Sheketoff ‘10 will clerk for the Honorable Stephen Breyer, associate justice and trusts, which were Barbara’s fields. She on the United States Supreme Court, while current 3Ls Yan Cao, Francesca applied and became one of the first women Corbacho, and Abigail Nurse are all headed for appellate court clerkships, just to to teach at the Law School. Eventually, she name a few. In total, 3L Roots have received an outstanding 13 clerkships to date. went on to become a professor at Syracuse In my first year there will be much to learn, and I am counting on RTK students University College of Law, where she taught and alums to provide feedback on the program, how to keep it prestigious, how to for 22 years. Reflecting on her career, Barbara make it stronger, and how to guide it into a new era. Please drop me a line if says, “It seemed that I was called to a position you’d like to discuss, and I look forward to meeting many of you in the future. where I could demonstrate that women were not only capable of practicing law but were also legitimate authority figures in a law school classroom.” For Erica Steinberger McLean, the story of her experience in the program is one she DENISE TOMASINI-JOSHI frequently tells, as it “illustrates how life is so EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ROOT-TILDEN-KERN 3 R T K K N much a matter of finding the right people E “It seemed that I was Roots Receive WS and being flexible as opportunities open FALL 2012 FALL called to a position up.” While working on Capitol Hill during Prestigious Ford where I could dem- the summer of her junior year in college, Foundation Fellowships onstrate that women her supervisor recommended she attend law school, specifically NYU, and apply for The Ford Foundation has selected NYU School were not only capable of an RTK scholarship. She applied to the of Law as a partner in the Ford Foundation Law practicing law but were program, despite being told incorrectly by a School Fellowship Program, which will fund recruiter that it was not open to women, and also legitimate authority 25 students from NYU to work in select public was awarded a scholarship. After graduating interest organizations in the U.S. and abroad. figures in a law school from law school, she reconnected with The Ford Foundation is an independent, her former securities professor, Martin classroom.” nonprofit grant-making organization. For more Lipton ’55, at a Law School reception and than 75 years it has worked with courageous barbara A.