Winter Session at Rutgers Law School
Law students who want to use their 2010 winter break to earn credits toward graduation and graduates seeking an edge in today’s difficult legal marketplace can find what they’re looking for at the new Winter Session at Rutgers School of Law–Newark. For the first time, the law school is offering one-week classes in Intensive Trial Advocacy and New Jersey Practice to law school graduates and to students who have completed the first-year program or its equivalent at an ABA-accredited law school. Intensive Trial Advocacy will use lectures and workshops to teach successful litigation skills, while New Jersey Practice will focus on the rules of civil procedure, which is now tested on the essay portion of the New Jersey State Bar exam. Each of these affordably-priced, two-credit classes will be taught by recognized experts in the topic. The classes will run from Monday, January 4th, through Friday, January 8th. November 2009 | Read Story
Making a Difference – Thanks to Rutgers Law School
The commitment instilled by Rutgers School of Law–Newark to the use of the law as a positive tool for social justice was praised by the honorees at the Alumni Association Annual Recognition Dinner. The event attracted more than 400 registrants to celebrate the professional and civic accomplishments of the Honorable Ronald K. Chen ’83, Public Advocate of New Jersey; Ann Berger Lesk ’77, partner of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP; Neil M. Mullin ’79, principal in Smith Mullin, P.C.; and Nancy Erika Smith ’80, principal in Smith Mullin, P.C. In welcoming remarks, Dean John Farmer spoke of the commitment of the school’s graduates, reflected in the careers of the four honorees, “to make an impact on the world of New Jersey, the world of New York, and the larger world of our country.” October 2009 | Read Story
Florence Sinofsky ’10 Makes the Most of Life’s Surprises
Florence Sinofsky was 10 years old when her father, an engineer, was transferred from France to Florida. The assignment was only for one year but the experience left an indelible impression. Within a few years she decided that, uneasy about some of the attitudes and behavior of her native country, she would return to the U.S. once she completed her studies. She crossed the Atlantic after receiving her M.B.A. from one of France’s most prestigious business schools and spent more than 20 years in increasingly responsible marketing and new business development positions. A chance visit to a French notary planted the idea of a career change. Disproving the naysayers who said raising four children and attending law school couldn’t be done, Sinofsky is looking forward to her May graduation and a new career in corporate law. October 2009 | Read Story
Miguel A. Pozo ’98 – Accomplishments Bring New Honors to Top Litigator
This summer, Miguel Alexander Pozo ’98, a partner with Roseland-based Lowenstein Sandler PC and a top business litigator, was twice recognized for his accomplishments and contributions to the state’s business, legal, and local communities. In July he was named to the NJBIZ “Forty Under 40” list and in August, the New Jersey Law Journal included him on its “40 Under 40” list. His practice ranges from Fortune 500 corporations to companies of all sizes to non-profit organizations. A first-generation college graduate and a passionate advocate for diversity in the legal profession, he credits much of his career success to the Rutgers Minority Student Program and to mentors both within and outside of the legal profession. September 2009 | Read Story
My Summer Bar Studies, Internship . . . and “Bye Bye Birdie” Practice
Four Rutgers students and two Class of 2009 graduates will be on the stage and in the orchestra when the New Jersey Law Journal stages the Tony Award-winning musical Bye Bye Birdie at NJPAC to benefit the New Jersey Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Preparing for the September 16 performance has meant a summer of juggling intense bar studies, internships, and other responsibilities with memorizing the show’s book and lyrics, unpacking and tuning up instruments, learning dance steps, and treating blistered toes. But for Richard Pearson ’10, Daniel Brintz ’09, Jeffrey Stephens ’09, David Gold ’10, Justin Schwam ’11, and Nicole Barna ’11, the opportunity to return to a passion for performing each has had since childhood and to support the work of NJVLA has made it all worthwhile. September 2009 | Read Story
Clinical Program – Latest Challenges & Successes
As part of the Centennial commemoration, the law school held a conference to celebrate the notable success and national influence of its 40-year-old clinical program. Dean John J. Farmer, Jr., commenting for the Fall 2009 issue of the program’s Clinic News, observes, “Long before it became the fashion, this law school demonstrated, with its commitment to clinical teaching and scholarship, that clinics can provide an essential bridge between legal theory and practice, while simultaneously advancing the law school’s obligation to serve the cause of justice on behalf of the larger community.” Clinic News recaps some of the most recent activities and achievements of students and faculty in the program. August 2009 | Read Story
Adam Axel ’11 – Summer Job Reaffirms Passion for Public Interest Law
Four summers ago, leafing through a magazine during a cross-country road trip, Adam Axel ’11 came across some poems written by a Texas death row inmate. The case of Kenneth Foster caught his attention and soon he had a major role in a campaign to save the inmate’s life. The success of that effort, policy work on wrongful convictions, as well as volunteer experiences in New Orleans and Ghana shaped an interest in public service and put him on the path to Rutgers School of Law–Newark. This summer, thanks to an Alumni Association grant, he is working with the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners. August 2009 | Read Story
Professor Alan Hyde – Influential Scholar and Teacher
Alan Hyde is a labor and employment law scholar of worldwide stature who also enjoys a notable reputation for his work in jurisprudence and legal theory. A member of the Rutgers School of Law–Newark faculty since 1978, he values the “maturity, diversity, and courage of Rutgers students.” Outside of his academic pursuits, Professor Hyde finds great satisfaction in writing amicus briefs for employee rights organizations. “Nothing is more exciting,” he says, “than helping working people see that they can help take charge of their own working lives.” His interest in labor and employment law? He traces that to law school summer jobs in which he worked with dissident caucuses inside the United Steelworkers union. And his reputation for creative, original scholarship? “I get interested in questions that seem to me big and important but that nobody knows the answer to, or really has a good idea how to research.” July 2009 | Read Story
Donita Judge ’03, Recognized ‘Change Maker’
In her high school yearbook, Donita Judge was very clear about her goal: to become a lawyer. It would take more than two decades to realize that goal. While continuing her 25-year career as a flight attendant, Judge earned her bachelor’s degree, graduating with highest honors, and then a J.D., serving as a Kinoy/Stavis Fellow and receiving the Judge J. Skelly Wright Prize for outstanding contributions to civil rights, civil liberties, and human affairs. Since 2004, she has been a member of Advancement Project’s Power and Democracy team and is the national organization’s state lead attorney covering Ohio. For her voter protection work, Judge received the 2009 Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey Public Section Change Maker Award. July 2009 | Read Story
Randle DeFalco ’09, Fulbright Fellow
Randle DeFalco has long had an interest in public interest law and, in particular, in public international law and human rights. Thanks to a Rutgers PILF grant, he spent summer 2008 in Phnom Penh as a legal associate for the Documentation Center of Cambodia. DC-Cam interviews of survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime revealed that for many, the memories of starvation are the most haunting and persistent. A common question from survivors was whether the tribunal established to try Khmer Rouge leaders will prosecute anyone for the widespread starvation that the regime caused. Now, with a Fulbright Fellowship to pursue potentially ground-breaking research in international human rights law, DeFalco is headed back to Cambodia to study how enforced starvation could be prosecuted as an international crime both generally and at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. June 2009 | Read Story
Hon. Freda L. Wolfson ’79, Commencement Speaker
Freda Wolfson wanted to be part of the United States legal system for as long as she can remember. A first-generation American, daughter of Holocaust survivors, she inherited a respect for the law and our system of justice born of her family’s harrowing years in war-torn Europe. She also inherited her parents’ zest for work and firm belief in the value of education. In a remarkable achievement, she was sworn in as a Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court in New Jersey less than seven years after graduating from Rutgers Law School. In addition to her many professional achievements, Judge Wolfson, a member of the first law school class in the country in which approximately one half of the students were women, is equally proud of her success in balancing a demanding legal career with a strong family life. June 2009 | Read Story
Kelly Anne Targett, Class of 2009
In nominating Kelly Anne Targett to deliver the student commencement address, members of the graduating class cited her many achievements – top grades, clerkship on the New Jersey Supreme Court, member of Law Review and Moot Court, first place oralist in the appellate advocacy competition, semi-finalist with the appellate nationals team, summer associate position with an international law firm, Minority Student Program facilitator, Legal Research & Writing teaching assistant – all while working full time and attending law school as an evening student. What likely clinched the speaker honor, however, weren’t the academic and extracurricular honors. Rather, as one student wrote, “Most importantly, Kelly is a great friend who goes above and beyond as a classmate. I cannot think of a more well-rounded student nor one better suited to speak to and on behalf of all of us at graduation.” May 2009 | Read Story
Board of Governors Professor George C. Thomas III
In the resolution naming George Thomas a Board of Governors Professor of Law, the Rutgers University governing body noted that Thomas is acclaimed by internationally distinguished experts for his broadly-based work in a number of important areas of criminal procedure, including the concept of double jeopardy, and on Miranda and confessions, as well as for his far-reaching impact on rising generations of legal scholars through his textbook, Criminal Procedure, Policies and Perspectives, one of the most widely used books on the topic. In his writing and in the classroom, Thomas is also an engaging story teller, which his students acknowledge by regularly electing him faculty commencement speaker. Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty in 1986, he practiced law in Tennessee and was a member of the University of Tennessee faculty. May 2009 | Read Story
John J. Farmer, Jr. Named Dean of the Law School
A widely admired former public official and attorney with outstanding legal and administrative accomplishments, John J. Farmer, Jr. has had a prominent career in government service at the state and national level and in private practice. Notable positions include Senior Counsel and Team Leader of the 9/11 Commission, Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, and Chief Counsel to former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Upon graduation from Georgetown University Law Center, he clerked for Justice Alan B. Handler (Ret.) of the New Jersey Supreme Court and later served as an assistant U.S. attorney. Currently in private practice handling matters ranging from white collar criminal defense to governmental and regulatory affairs, Farmer has also served as Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security. “John Farmer is known throughout the legal community for his integrity, his intelligence, his determined yet collegial management of difficult issues, and his steadfast commitment to the rule of law,” commented Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz (Ret.). April 2009 | Read Story
Summer Courses at Rutgers Law School
Not a Rutgers–Newark law student? Not a problem. Our summer session is open to students from all ABA-accredited law schools. The session offers a variety of upper-level courses for law students who have completed the first-year program or its equivalent. Depending on your interests, you can, for example, gain an in-depth understanding of New York civil practice law; become familiar with the procedural issues confronting U.S. lawyers who practice international law; or learn how to help the families of children with disabilities successfully navigate New Jersey’s public education system. If you think you did not get everything you should have out of your Contracts class, you might consider taking Advanced Contracts; or if you’re looking to practice in the entertainment industry, you might want to study Entertainment Law & Business. Classes are held in the evening so students can experience clerkship, internship, and other summer employment opportunities in the New York metropolitan area while still earning credit toward graduation. April 2009 | Read Story
40 Years of Clinical Legal Education: Honoring Arthur Kinoy & Frank Askin
“How will you respond when your call comes? What will your contribution be?” That’s a question Arthur Kinoy (left with Professor Frank Askin in 2002) often asked in his classes and one that inspired generations of students to careers in public interest law. Kinoy, who died in 2003, joined the Rutgers faculty in 1964. One of his first students was Frank Askin, who came to Rutgers expecting to return to a career in journalism. In his second year, however, as Kinoy argued and won the landmark civil rights case of Dombrowski v. Pfister, Askin saw what legal advocacy could accomplish. He began to think, “Maybe I would become a practicing lawyer after all – a public interest lawyer – or, as Professor Kinoy liked to call it, ‘a people’s lawyer’.” Askin received his J.D., joined the faculty, and for four decades has championed Kinoy's vision of training students to use the law to create a better society. “The Legacy of Arthur Kinoy and the Inspirational and Collaborative Dimensions of Clinical Legal Education: Honoring 40 Years of Clinics at Rutgers–Newark” on April 3 will celebrate both men and their indelible contributions to clinical legal education. March 2009 | Read Story
Women and the Law: A Celebration
It was as a member of our faculty from 1963 to 1972 that Ruth Bader Ginsburg first began to develop into a leading women’s rights scholar and advocate. On February 13, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg will return to the law school as the keynote speaker for “Rutgers School of Law-Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law.” The symposium also will feature Fred Strebeigh, author of Equal: Women Reshape American Law (2009), and more than a dozen women, several with ties to Rutgers, who have been pioneers in addressing gender discrimination in the legal system and the profession. The all-day symposium, organized by Associate Professor Suzanne Kim, is one of a series of events celebrating the school’s Centennial and its enduring commitment to teaching, scholarship, service, and opportunity. February 2009 | Read Story