THE COMMENTATOR Vol. XLI, No. 2 The Student Newspaper of the New York University School of Law September 21, 2006 The Big Easy NYU Grad and Supreme Falls on Hard Times Court Clerk

BY SARAH BETH CHRISTENSEN, the flood. The judge told of a of-state the opportunity to reg- BY ROBERTO L. REYES-GASKIN emphasis on legal writing. He STEINHARDT SCHOOL ‘07 woman charged with prostitution ister to vote if they were not reg- If securing a clerkship after wrote numerous papers while in Lawyers, law students, and sent to the state’s largest maxi- istered before the flood. The im- law school represents a very law school, including a note on the other members of the American mum-security all-male prison. portant constitutional question prestigious next step, then Office of the Comptroller of Cur- Constitution Society filled a large Another unnerving description of whether displaced citizens of clerking with the Supreme Court rency (OCC), the federal adminis- classroom at Columbia University of the prison system’s failure in- New Orleans remain eligible to is its zenith. This year, one NYU trative body that oversees the last week as the Honorable Judge volved a young man evacuated vote in the city’s elections is yet graduate, Nicholas Bagley (J.D. banking system. Ironically, the is- Sarah Vance of Louisiana took the to a different prison before the to be resolved. Likewise for the 2005), has joined the ranks of the sue of whether that agency over- podium to discuss the legal flood who sat in a prison cell in concern over the quality of the privileged few and will be work- stepped its authority by regulat- troubles in post-Katrina New Or- another Louisiana city for two city’s 2008 presidential polling ing for the highest court of the ing against excessively high inter- leans. months longer than the maximum places and New Orleans citizens’ land. He est rates Judge Vance expressed her sentence for his alleged crime access to these locations. will be has empathy and concerns for the without ever actually being As the judge wrapped up her working passed disaster’s victims during her charged with the crime. list of post-flood legal disasters, Justice through speech, which examined Katrina’s In New Orleans, legal prob- her clear voice revealing her John Paul the damage from a legal perspective. lems abound outside the prison slight drawl only when she ut- Stevens, court She touched on the familiar but system as well. Crime is rampant tered the name of her beloved nominated system still-painful (and ongoing) human due to the lack of police; the bar- city, a clear change came over the for the and suffering that resulted from the ren, gang-friendly devastation of tone of the seminar. The conver- bench at reached floodwater that engulfed 80% of many of the city’s neighbor- sation shifted from a scholarly the high- the Su- New Orleans, killed hundreds, and hoods; and the unavailability of discussion of constitutional is- est court preme displaced thousands. She also mental healthcare or substance sues to a hard-sell recruiting mis- by Presi- Court briefly mentioned the heavily dis- rehabilitation programs. Vance sion for lawyers and law stu- dent Ford this year. cussed subjects of race, class, reported that gangs run many dents. A young lawyer spoke up in 1975. As planning, leadership, and bureau- neighborhoods and have tight- from the audience and told of his Bagley, is typical cratic obstacles. ened their hold due to the in- new job with the District from San of Su- After a thorough description creased demand for drugs and Attorney’s office and spoke of Diego, preme of these well-recognized Katrina is- lack of police intervention. Turf- the satisfaction of helping to CA, is a Court sues, the judge focused on her de- wars occur regularly and wit- change the badly damaged sys- graduate clerks, scription of New Orleans as a city nesses of violence often refuse tem from the inside. Another au- of Yale Bagley rife with dreadful constitutional to testify for fear of gang retri- dience member described a re- College, first violations and a grave lack of fi- bution. warding experience as a summer where he majored in English. clerked for a Circuit Court judge. nancial and managerial resources Combining this new terrify- intern in Louisiana. At New York University School From 2005 to 2006, he worked with to correct them and to establish ing atmosphere with the pre-exist- Although the “working in of Law, he focused on admin- Judge David Tatel of the District process and procedures to abide ing lack of organization and fund- the balmy humidity of New Or- istrative law, “but not exclu- of Columbia Circuit. Bagley calls by federal law. ing, it comes as no surprise that leans for low pay and long hours” sively,” also taking higher his first clerkship a “terrific experi- According to Vance, the the city of New Orleans does not daydream is likely lower on the courses in property and envi- ence.” It was exciting because a city’s criminal justice system was know exactly how many pending totem pole than other fantasies ronmental law. Nicholas also new case came across his desk dysfunctional pre-Katrina and criminal trials there are. Vance said for most New York City law stu- served as Notes Editor of New every week that related mostly to now sustains a mere fraction of its that after the floodwaters sub- dents, the personal and long-term York University Law Review. complicated, regulatory and ad- obligatory functionality. Before the sided, it was difficult for the DA’s career benefits could be compen- While “so many great profes- ministrative issues. He especially hurricane the public defender’s office to start trying cases because sation enough for many. The re- sors” influenced his interests, appreciated the “humbling and ex- office received the bulk of its in- their entire evidence room was structuring of the various court particularly significant were citing” opportunity to discuss adequate funding from the pay- flooded. A team of experts from the offices in New Orleans along with Larry Kramer (Civil Procedure cases on the court’s docket with ment of traffic tickets and had no Smithsonian have been reportedly the unprecedented need for le- and Constitutional Law), who Judge Tatel. Bagley’s duties will central computer system or orga- successful in their attempts to re- gal aid in both criminal and civil is now Richard E. Lang Profes- be different this coming year, in- nized records system to keep case store the evidence to its original matters presents a unique oppor- sor and Dean of Stanford Law cluding reviewing petitions and and client files. Even before the state. Unfortunately citizens do tunity to the legal force. Inter- School; NYU’s current Dean, advising Justice Stevens on which storm the office was shamefully not have access to the ested NYU Law students or Richard Revesz (Environmen- cases the court should hear, since understaffed and had to handle Smithsonian team to restore titles alumni should contact tal Law); and Michael Schill, the Supreme Court has discretion- roughly 90% of the city’s criminal and vital property ownership pa- www.katrinalegalaid.org or con- presently Dean and Professor ary power over which cases to caseload. The city’s public de- pers, wills, birth certificates, social tact the New Orleans District of Law at UCLA School of Law. take. The Supreme Court will also fenders worked for the office part- security cards, and other docu- Attorney’s Office to follow-up on Bagley says that although be an intellectual change of pace time and the majority of their in- mentation. Often these documents the possibilities of beginning or the “substantive areas [of the law] for Bagely because it reviews come came from private practice have been lost or completely ru- refreshing your career in a place are important,” perhaps the ele- many criminal and habeas corpus work. They didn’t meet their cli- ined and the courts have no time you are desperately needed and ment that prepared him most for a cases, areas of the law that he did ents before the trial to prepare their or resources to help mediate dis- where you can affect real change. clerkship was NYU Law School’s not see while on the D.C. Circuit. cases, and worked areas of the putes involving identity and prop- court instead of working a case erty ownership when other legal from start to finish. issues are weighted more heavily. Even before the hurricane, a Judge Vance also worries client of the New Orleans public about the future of elections in Infra defender’s office had little chance New Orleans. Adherence to fed- of a fair trial. Now, after the devas- eral and state voting laws will be Opinions p. 2 Arts p. 3 tation, everything is much, much a challenge for state officials. worse. One major issue is the many dis- Before the levy broke, the placed citizens in Louisiana, New Professor Profiles, Part I p. 4 state evacuated 5,000 prisoners Texas, and other states across to other Louisiana facilities. The the nation. In the last mayoral judge characterized this move as election, these displaced indi- completely lacking in organiza- viduals employed satellite vot- tion and planning, and undocu- ing by mail to cast their ballots. mented to the point that the state The NAACP has filed a lawsuit had no record of where the (Wallace vs. Blanco) to force the evacuated prisoners were after state to allow refugees living out- Commentator Opinions Page 2 September 21, 2006 Communism Hates You, and You Should Hate It, Too

BY TUDOR RUS ‘07 more than a violent and despotic erty owners, religious leaders, intel- Violence was required to bring a com- that in many instances were not Johnny Weir, reigning three- means that a few individuals lectuals and independent elites and munist regime to power, and the use of even able to feed their own people. time U.S. National Champion in fig- used to rule billions of others. anyone else who might have had an violence was required to maintain its By preventing the establish- ure skating, sports a warm-up jacket Not one communist regime independent, non-communist control over “the people.” ment of free-market methods of glorifying the former Soviet Union has been imposed peacefully or thought), ensured that indiscrimi- Communist regimes not only exchange in large swaths of the while representing the United States democratically. Mao, Lenin, killed and imprisoned their citizens globe, communism prevented at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Castro, and Kim Il-Sung all came indiscriminately, but also prevented billions of individuals from work- Hipsters singing late-night karaoke into power by the sword – none individual citizens from exercising ing their way out of poverty. In on the Lower East Side are wearing of them ever won any (unrigged) any of their human rights. Not one China alone, the shift from com- t-shirts alternately displaying the elections. communist regime allowed free munist command-economy to hammer and sickle and the Soviet Furthermore, if any of “the speech, free exchange of goods and free market policies has reduced Union’s Cyrillic acronym “CCCP.” E- people” showed the slightest bit services or free exercise of religion, the number of people living be- mails are being forwarded on one of of opposition to the policies and none of them implemented a fair low the World Bank’s poverty the law school’s student group list- implemented by the ruling class, system of criminal procedure. In line (less than $1 a day) by sev- serves with the introduction “Dear the military and the secret police fact, any attempts to exercise such eral hundred million. comrades:”. were used to squash any opposi- rights were punished through “re- Wearing “CCCP” t-shirts and Has our society’s attention tion. Dissidents were regularly im- education” in hard-labor camps or glorifying other symbols of commu- span really become that short? Are prisoned, beaten, tortured, and prison time. nist ideology in other ways amounts we really that ignorant of history, killed. When Czechoslovakia’s Communism also doomed to an endorsement of some of the even of our own history? communist government began to generations of individuals world- most violent, oppressive and mur- What most of these people reform its policies and reduce in- nate violence would be used against wide to poverty. In post-WWII derous regimes on Earth. Billions of have forgotten (or chosen to ig- dividual oppression in the late even the obedient. Europe, the countries that em- people around the world suffered nore) is the fact that communism 1960s, the Soviet Union and its Millions were murdered in the So- braced free-market principles – under the tyranny of communism, was a tyrannical and oppressive communist allies invaded the viet Union, China, and Cambodia be- Germany, France, Italy, England, and, by choosing to flaunt the sym- form of political-economy which country in order to re-assert hard- cause of the inherited wealth they pos- Belgium, etc. – quickly recovered bols of this despicable ideology, murdered millions and egre- line communist control. sessed or because of their religious or from the war’s destruction, and many in our society show nothing giously violated the human One did not, however, need to intellectual backgrounds. Hundreds of were able to improve the economic but disrespect for the injustices rights of countless others world- truly oppose the communist regime thousands more received the same lot of their citizens. The countries these individuals have had pressed wide. Whatever can be said in order to be subject to its wrath. treatment in Romania, Poland and dominated by the former Soviet upon them. about the egalitarian niceties of Under communist regimes, the wide Hungary. Union – Romania, Hungary, Po- Rus grew up in communist communism “on paper,” in prac- definition of what constituted “en- Communism, therefore, required land, Yugoslavia, etc. – created Romania and came to the United tice, the ideology was nothing emies of the people” (a.k.a. prop- the massive use of violence to exist. inefficient command economies States at age 11. Stevenson Gives Inspiring Talk

BY JULIA FUMA ‘07 males between 18 and 30 is incar- times more likely if defendant is THE COMMENTATOR Bryan Stevenson spoke in a cerated, on probation, or parole. black than if the defendant is white. Lipton Hall overflowing with 1Ls In Alabama 31% of the African Simply put, race was the greatest The Student Newspaper of on Monday, September 18. The American male population has per- predictor of the death penalty. New York University School of Law 1L’s, bright eyed and bushy tailed, manently lost the right to vote. He said that reading the Su- listened to Stevenson’s moving They can’t get into public hous- preme Court’s decision in and often humorous speech. Even ing. They can’t get food stamps. McKlesky was crushing. The Su- those 2L’s and 3L’s who had heard Their families can be evicted from preme Court essentially said that Editor In Chief the speech before seemed inspired public housing. if it addressed claims of bias in the Julia Fuma upon their second or third listen. Many of the men on death row in death penalty, it would have to Stevenson is a professor of Alabama are represented by lawyers deal with it in all areas of criminal law at NYU and the Executive Di- law. Brennan, in his dissent, called rector of the Equal Justice Initia- this a “fear of too much justice.” Managing Editors tive of Alabma. A 1995 recipient of The Supreme Court said that a cer- Bobbie Andelson the MacArthur Foundation’s ‘ge- tain quantum of bias is inevitable. Andrew Gehring nius’ awards, he has overturned Stevenson simply can’t reconcile Ben Kleinman dozens of capital convictions and the decision with the sign in the won numerous other awards. Supreme Court that says “equal Staff Editors Stevenson described his de- justice under the law.” Chris Bradley cision to go to law school. He ma- Stevenson described himself Ian Samuel jored in philosophy but realized as a product of Brown v. Board. It Craig Winters that no one would pay him “to phi- was lawyers who let him go to David Yaroslavsky losophize”. So he decided to go to high school. He contrasted that Roberto Reyes-Gaskin law school. He said that he hated decision with McClesky. “In 1955 Derek Tokaz law school until January of his sec- the court could have said segre- ond year. That year he went to gation is too big a problem. But Georgia to work with clients on they didn’t. They had a vision of death row. He was assigned the justice that compelled them to say task of telling a man on death row no, it’s not inevitable.” Talented that he was not at risk of being and committed lawyers have since executed in the next 12 months. who are drunk, who don’t care, who been working to implement the vi- Thus, even though they could not are poor, and who hate their clients. sion of Brown. give the prisoner a lawyer, he was 60% of men on death row in Alabama While there is a great deal of safe for the time being. “But then were represented by court appointed injustice in the world, Stevenson we had the most amazing conver- attorneys who receive a maximum of said that it is important not to lose The Commentator serves as a forum for news, opinions and ideas of mem- sation.” They talked for a long time, 1000 dollars for their work. hope. “I really came here to rein- bers of the Law School community. Only editorials and policies developed and Stevenson said that “I could However, particularly crush- force this notion that if you have by the Editorial Board reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board. All other not deny that just by being there I ing for Stevenson is the Supreme power and are willing to say some- opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of The changed the quality of this man’s Court’s treatment of the death pen- thing [about injustice], you can Commentator. The Commentator is issued on alternate Wednesdays during life.” No one told him at the begin- alty. When the Supreme Court re- turn it into something that is like the academic year except during vacations and examination periods. Adver- ning of law school that by study- instated the death penalty in justice. But none of this will mean tising rates are available on request. Subscriptions are also available at a rate of $15 per year. Letters to the Editor should be sent to the following ing law you could change the qual- Gregg v. Georgia, there was still the anything if you don’t have hope address, either on paper or via e-mail. ity of a person’s life. He was tell- possibility that death penalty that you can change things.” ing the audience that they can. would be unconstitutional if it Stevenson ended by urging Stevenson’s work focuses on could be shown that it was biased. the audience to keep basic de- THE COMMENTATOR criminal justice and capital crimes. The NAACP Legal Defense cency in mind. To remember that 135 MacDougal Street #4G He spoke of the disparities within Fund went to work and the Su- “Each person is more than the New York, NY 10012 our society and particularly in the preme Court heard their case in worst thing he’s done.” That “If 212.998.6518 (phone) 212.995.4032 (fax) criminal justice system. In 1972, ac- 1987 in Mcklesky v Kemp. Lawyers you lie you’re not just a liar and if e-mail: [email protected] cording to Stevenson, there were showed that in Georgia a person you kill you’re not just a killer”. In 200,000 people in jails and prisons. was 11 times more likely to get the every person “there’s a basic hu- Copyright 2006 New York University Today there are 2.3 million people. death penalty if the victim is white man right and dignity that must be In Montgomery, 1 out of 3 black than black. The odds rose to 22 upheld and defended.” Commentator Arts September 21, 2006 Page 3 Old and New in Bob Dylan’s Modern Times

BY CHRIS BRADLEY ’07 Time Out of Mind generally man- evidenced sense of humor, and Dylan. His career, well into its fifth bum sounds gorgeous: the sound Bob Dylan’s new album may ages to be buoyed by a feeling that what is a sincere love of the mate- decade, is making more and more is lush, balanced, interesting, ex- be titled Modern Times, but there’s even though darkness is on the rial he is thieving, takes the sting sense as it goes on. It is an inver- pressive, and, while old-fashioned, nothing particularly up-to-date way, the vibrant world sung of in out of any accusations of preten- sion of what we usually think of as still original. But the approach also about it. The shortest track on the the album can never be quite sion or preciousness. the role of history: in this case, it is has its drawbacks, among them that album is four minutes and fifty-five stilled, no matter how deep the Instead, what I came away Dylan’s present that illuminates the songs are not as strongly seconds long, and the other nine coming darkness. with from “Love and Theft” was a Dylan’s past. shaped as they could be. They do tracks hover around six minutes The weight of the past on Time sense that present and past are Not that this is the whole not always maintain their momen- (or more). The songs adhere Out of Mind had a lot to do with both equally available for the story. While much of his recent tum through their entire length, and strongly to traditional blues forms, the twilights of life and of love. songwriter/storyteller. In a way, work elucidates his past, other a number of forceful melodies are with verse after verse punctuated Musical traditions and influences drawing attention to what he steals changes have been taking place overwhelmed by the sheer amount only by the jamming of Dylan’s in Dylan’s musical outlook. As of music packed into each song. backing band. compared with other aging acts Like “Love and Theft,” it was pro- In fact, in everything he does like the Rolling Stones, Paul duced by Dylan (as Jack Frost), and these days, Dylan seems to be as- McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, maybe this forms part of the expla- serting that the past and the present U2, or (on the few occasions he nation for the shape of both al- are not as separate as they seem. performs) Paul Simon, his live per- bums. Both exude a deep apprecia- The 65-year-old singer mentions formances for at least the last ten tion for what it means to play in a Alicia Keys in the first song of his years have taken on a quite dis- band – the interplay of musicians new album, has his own radio show tinct shape. Whereas most acts with one another, exchanging ideas, on XM Radio (“Theme Time Radio play their old (and new) songs in pushing songs in different direc- Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan”), easily-recognizable form, essen- tions. Dylan the producer spends and appears in iPod commercials; tially the form that the songs take less time glorying in Dylan the but he also insists on sounding on their albums, Dylan leaves singer than glorying in Dylan’s more and more like a throwback blues nothing intact in his songs. I have band. But while he still managed to singer of a bygone era on each of never heard him play the same keep the songs on “Love and his most recent albums (and if song twice in anywhere approach- Theft” under control, with disci- you’ve seen the iPod commercial, ing the same form. Slow ballads plined songwriting and tight pro- you also know that he has taken to take on a more up-tempo or jan- duction, Dylan’s looser grip on the dressing the part of such a singer as gling feel; hard songs become production of Modern Times dissi- well). were definitely present as well, but is a gesture of humility on Dylan’s sentimental; guitar jams extend pates some of its energy. Explaining what Dylan is up they were enlisted in the service part. He may be (justly) thought what used to be careful, tight con- So, in the end, Modern Times to requires starting two albums of the singer; the singer was not of as a wildly original songwriter, structions. He experiments, is only a very good album. It is in- ago, with Dylan’s Grammy-winning yet, as he is in Modern Times, in but he is also a product of more pushes—and assembles teams to evitably a disappointment after the Time Out of Mind (1997). Time Out their thrall. traditions than he or anyone else experiment and push with him. He previous two albums, which are of Mind is an atmospheric, dark “Love and Theft” (2001) is can count. And he knows it. has lately taken to playing key- among Dylan’s very best. It fea- record of a haggard old singer deal- less straightforward, but still ac- His awareness of, and appre- boards, on far stage left, so that tures a number of beautiful songs ing with what it will mean to cessible. The music is energetic ciation for, the past comes out just members of his band actually take that I will gladly hear Dylan play shuffle off his mortal coil. The cen- and easy to like. Its slick, crisp as clearly in his quirky and enthu- most of the spotlight for them- live in the next few years. But he terpiece of the album is a song blues sound was produced by siastic radio show, as well in his selves, as if Dylan has always should give Daniel Lanois (who called “Not Dark Yet,” each cho- Dylan himself (under the pseud- autobiography, Chronicles: Vol. 1 been just the impresario of a great produced Time Out of Mind) or rus of which ends with the line, onym Jack Frost), working with a (2004). The book features much blues band—and never a protest- some other great producer the keys “It’s not dark yet / But it’s getting group of exceptional musicians. less of the self-indulgence you singing center-of-attention. next time around. Along the same there.” Not that Time Out of Mind The lyrics are also immediately might expect from a superstar Modern Times translates this lines, the dominance of the forms is all introspection. Dylan manages compelling, but there is more than singer-songwriter’s autobiogra- live experience to an album. Dylan and sounds of the past overwhelms to find time for his favorite genre, meets the eye: the lyrics are laced phy, and much more appreciation of course sings throughout each what is new in Modern Times. The the spurned-love song (“You took with quotations or almost-quota- of the artists he grew up with and track, but you sense that every writer of “Subterranean Homesick a part of me that I really miss / I tions (notice the punctuation of listens to. second he is not singing (and, as Blues” and “Like a Rolling Stone” keep asking myself how long it can the album’s title) from F. Scott Both Chronicles and “Love and I said above, these are long should try to manage a little more go on like this / You told yourself Fitzgerald, Civil War generals, nurs- Theft” are thoroughly self-revela- songs, so there are quite a few creativity in song structure and in- a lie; that’s all right mama, I told ery rhymes, oral histories of Japa- tory, but in a subtle, understated, moments in which he is silent), he strumentation. Maybe what Bob myself one too”), and a couple of nese gangsters, and who knows and more challenging way. These is just tapping his foot and let- Dylan needs – whether with re- wryly upbeat blues songs also what else. It sounds like a cheap days, part of Dylan’s art is, as it were, ting his band have some fun. This gards to his band or to the past – is found their way onto the album. gimmick, but Dylan’s thoroughly providing a listeners’ guide to approach has its virtues. The al- a little less humility. Nursery Crimes

BY DEREK TOKAZ ’08 gation of the death of Humpty and pretty much anything deemed Anthropomorphized bears; a Dumpty in The Big Over Easy. too bizarre for the regular police World War I theme park; and a This time there are curious explo- to handle. The story is populated seven foot sions, with characters drawn from the tall, homicidal suspi- collective cultural conscience – gingerbread cious por- Prometheus, David Copperfield, badass: is ridge tem- and Punch and Judy (“Persons of there any- peratures, Dubious Reality”) all make ap- thing else you and a pearances – and the plot contains could want in dead girl all the elements required for a a book? If so, named hard-boiled detective novel. But then your in- Goldilocks. it also pokes fun at these expec- ner child is But Spratt tations. From the moment probably is back, Goldilocks turns up dead, Spratt dead, and and he’s knows he has to be thrown off you won’t brought the case before it can be solved. enjoy The his co- While Fforde’s “Thursday Fourth Bear horts, the Next” series (beginning with The by best-sell- quite con- Eyre Affair) tends to go over bet- ing author trary Mary ter with lit geeks, The Fourth Jasper Mary and Bear is whimsical and fast-paced, Fforde. But, if binary- and it doesn’t require an English you haven’t speaking major (or minor, for that matter) to failed at life, alien be fully appreciated. You can then you’ll Ashley. thank (or blame) British imperial- probably en- Sta- ism for making sure that people joy the sec- tioned in the world over know who ond installment of Fforde’s Reading, England, Spratt and the Goldilocks is, but you’ll have to “Nursery Crime” series. Nursery Crime Division handle leave it to Jasper Fforde to let you The Fourth Bear is the sequel investigations relating to nurs- know how she died, and who- to Detective Jack Spratt’s investi- ery rhymes, cautionary tales, dunit. Commentator Arts Page 4 September 21, 2006 Public Interest Law Center Wide Spectrum of CoLR Events Leaders in Public Interest Series BY A LEXIS HOAG ’08 Last year, CoLR began the critical perspective on the tradi- The 2006-2007 academic year Law School Application Assis- tional law school curriculum, this marks the ten-year anniversary of tance Program (LSAAP), which year’s Political Action Chair Diana All events are 6:00 – 7:00 P.M., the founding of CoLR, the Coali- offers admissions advice to law Reddy organized the Critical Fly- Receptions Immediately Following tion for Legal Recruiting. At its in- school applicants from tradition- ers series. With the assistance of ception, CoLR was a coalition of ally under-represented back- a handful of CoLR members, student leaders from the identity- grounds. CoLR members visited Reddy created a double-sided based groups who took up the CUNY campuses around the city sheet for each 1L class that in- September 25 struggle to diversify NYU Law’s to give advice and share resources, cluded controversial topics and Building Power: Grassroots Lawyering for classrooms. In response, then- such as sample personal state- cases commonly taught and refer- Social Change Dean John Sexton, pledged to in- ments and tips on the application ences to law review articles that Oona Chatterjee ‘98 crease the number of faculty of process. CoLR also meets regu- engage in a critical analysis of the Co-Director, Make the Road by Walking color. Today, CoLR has a broader larly with members of the Academic material. CoLR distributed the fly- Brooklyn, New York membership who is just as com- Personnel Committee to discuss ers to 1L classes during the second- D’Agostino Hall, Lipton Hall mitted to increasing faculty diver- the hiring process and how stu- week of the fall semester. In another sity. In addition, CoLR seeks to dents can be most effective in the effort to reach out to first year stu- October 16 engage the entire NYU Law com- process. As a result, CoLR hosted dents, Reena Arora and Nick Jennifer Dalven ‘95 munity – students, faculty and a spring symposium entitled Di- Durham organized a panel discus- Deputy Director, administrators – in ongoing dia- versity: Beyond the Binary. It in- sion entitled Voices in the Class- ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project logue about diversity. vited practitioners and young aca- room. Panelists participated in a dia- New York, New York Each semester, members of demics to discuss diversity in the logue with first years covering top- D’Agostino Hall, Lipton Hall CoLR host the Critical Reading profession and diversity jurispru- ics such as developing student Group that examines critical per- dence in hopes of encouraging skills, finding balance outside of October 23 spectives on the law and the legal paper topics for publication—a school, speaking out in class, and Advocacy for Children and Families profession. This year, the Group’s necessary tool for anyone enter- bringing critical perspectives into the Kevin M. Ryan LL.M. ‘00 leaders are inviting faculty mem- ing the academic hiring market. classroom. bers who engage in critical analy- CoLR also honors NYU Law Although the administration Commissioner of Children and Families, sis in the classroom to share their faculty of color and faculty who started responding ten years ago New Jersey Department of Human Services scholarship, starting with visiting identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual to CoLR’s efforts by hiring more Trenton, New Jersey Professor Kenji Yoshino who and transgender for contributions faculty of color, CoLR’s struggle D’Agostino Hall, Lipton Hall spoke on Wednesday, September to the profession and to the law is not over. Our mission is to fun- 20th. In an effort to memorialize the school community at the annual damentally change the make-up of insightful conversations in the Faculty of CoLR Appreciation Din- the student body and the sub- Reading Group, Mitra Ebadolahi ner, scheduled for March 21st, stance of the “traditional” law organized and published the Criti- 2007. In the continuing effort to school curriculum, not just at NYU, Profile: Roderick Hills cal Reader, now in its fifth edition. find innovative ways to present a but across the nation.

BY JULIA FUMA ’07 eas of local law, land use law, and edu- tricts with relatively small populations a vision of what an NYU student is We could not decide what title to Roderick Hills entered law almost cation law. As a youth, Hills was inter- – that is, in non-federal jurisdictions. like. “I have this perhaps misguided use when referring to Roderick M. by accident.* He was a doctoral stu- ested in the political theory of Hannah Like most professors at NYU, he notion that NYU students will be over- Hills, Sr. (former Chairman of the dent in philosophy at the University Arendt and participatory democracy. came to the university because of the flowing with public interest idealism.” SEC, Counsel to the President, of Chicago. His wife-to-be had been The decentralized American system is great faculty. However, the academic He imagines them as students who are clerk to Supreme Court Justice admitted to the Yale history Ph.D. pro- conducive to public participation and vigor of his colleagues was a neces- not happy merely studying the law, Reed, serial founder of law firms, gram. Deciding that he didn’t want to Hills’s interest in participatory democ- sary but not sufficient condition for but want to take action. and lecturer and professor at spend another year in a long-distance racy evolved into a broader interest in him to uproot his family and come to *Editor’s Note: Professor Yale, Harvard (Business and relationship with her, he wanted go to decentralization. He is currently work- NYU: Michigan, after all, also has Hill’s entrée into law may have Law), and Stanford), but our Pro- Yale. Unfortunately, the Yale philoso- ing on a project describing the history highly renowned faculty. Instead, be- been an accident, but he has a fessor Hills probably just calls him phy program wasn’t very good. But of federalism from the religious wars ing interested in local law, he had a rather illustrious family legacy. “dad.” the Yale Law school was (and remains) of the 16th and 17th centuries through strong desire to live in a big city. It also stellar. He decided, therefore, that he the Peace of Westphalia and the helped his decision that NYU Law, would go to law school. American founding. Ultimately, he through the Furman Center, for ex- Profile: Cynthia Estlund Hill never intended to practice law. plans to provide a historical explana- ample, is very engaged with New York BY BOBBIE ANDELSON gether too boring.” They were also “But when I got there I had so much tion for the differences between the City’s land-use policies. Cynthia Estlund, a leading informed that Estlund was the recipi- fun that I clerked and then practiced federal regimes in the United States, In the Spring, Hill will be teaching scholar in labor and employment law, ent of a J. Roderick MacArthur Fel- for a couple of years. I thought I might Canada, and Germany. He says that Admin and Land Use Law. This se- joined the NYU Law faculty this se- lowship. As a result, upon completing continue to practice, but then I decided he is interested in how federalism has mester, he has been given a term of mester as the Catherine A. Rein Pro- their clerkships, they moved to Argen- to go into academia anyway.” How- been used a strategy to moderate leave from teaching. He is hoping to fessor of Law. tina for six months where Estlund re- ever, even while teaching at the Uni- sharp cultural and religious conflict — spend the time helping his daughters Estlund, 49, was born and raised ported on the new democratic versity of Michigan for the past 12 for example, the conflict between make the adjustment from living on a in a small town in Wisconsin. She re- government’s efforts to prosecute the years, Hills practiced law. He worked Anglophone and Quebecois in farm in Michigan to living in Brooklyn, ceived her undergraduate degree from military for human rights abuses. for Michigan’s ACLU and, in one of Canada. Federalism in the United preparing for class, and completing Lawrence University in Wisconsin, After practicing labor law in Phila- his many cases, served as co-counsel States, where there are fewer divisive some overdue writing projects. graduating summa cum laude in 1978. delphia and then Washington, D.C., for the respondent in Romer v. Evans. religious conflicts, has served a differ- Without classes, Hills has not met While in college, Estlund worked in Estlund, along with her husband, en- His research focuses on the de- ent purpose. Here it stemmed from the any students. In fact, when I inter- the school cafeteria, as a restaurant tered the world of academia, joining centralization of public law. This trans- theory that government is only demo- viewed him, I was the second NYU hostess, and as an apple picker. the faculty of the University of Texas lates most often to the substantive ar- cratically accountable in electoral dis- student he had met. But he does have After graduation, she earned a School of Law in 1989. At the Univer- Thomas J. Watson fellowship to sity of Texas, Estlund taught property study government programs for and labor and employment law, and working parents in Sweden. Estlund also served as the associate dean for lived in an urban commune in Swe- academic affairs. den for two years, working in the In 1999, Estlund and Issacharoff antinuclear-power movement and joined the Columbia Law School fac- studying sociology. ulty, where Estlund taught labor law When she returned to the United and served as vice dean for research. States, Estlund entered Yale Law This semester, Estlund joined School and graduated in 1983. While Issacharoff, who had already made the there she served as a Notes Editor for move to NYU Law. the Yale Law Journal. Yale is also Estlund made waves by banning where she met her husband, Samuel laptop computers from her classroom. Issacharoff, who is the Bonnie and Students have responded surprisingly Richard Reiss Professor of Constitu- well to the return to old-fashioned pa- tional Law at NYU. They have two per-and-pen note taking in her classes. children, Jessica (who is now 19 years “I’ve really enjoyed teaching NYU law old) and Lucas (now 18). students,” Estlund said. “I can’t tell After law school, Estlund clerked how much of the good classroom at- for Judge Patricia M. Wald in the U.S. mosphere stems from the absence of Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. laptops and the greater student en- According to Estlund, while she and gagement in discussion that seems to Issacharoff were both clerking, they result, but I have found my classes [at realized that they had become “alto- NYU Law] to be especially lively.”