Category Archives: BLS Faculty

Now That The UK Has Voted In Favor Of The Brexit, What Happens Next?

Have you been following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, colloquially known as “the Brexit?” In a referendum held on June 23rd, British citizens voted in favor of the Brexit, with 52% percent voting to leave the EU and 48% voting to remain.

What Happens Now?

That’s a good question as there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the legal consequences of the referendum. As a matter of fact, the UK is the first member nation ever to elect to sever its ties with the EU. For the immediate future, though, the status quo will be maintained. First of all, it is important to note that the referendum has no legal consequences with respect to the UK’s status as a member state of the EU. Instead, the UK will begin the process of leaving the EU only after the British government invokes Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, one of the EU’s governing documents.

According to Article 50: “Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.” Article 50 also specifically provides “A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention.” This language is important because it makes clear that the Brexit cannot be initiated by the referendum vote, the trigger to request an exit from the EU can only be pulled by a formal request under Article 50 made by the British government. Whether and when the British government will actually invoke Article 50 is anybody’s guess given the spate of resignations and current state of turmoil in British politics. As a matter of fact, British legal scholars are currently debating how Article 50 is to be invoked – can the Prime Minister trigger Article 50 or is a formal vote of Parliament required?

What Happens When/If the British Government Invokes Article 50?

If the British government provides the EU with a formal Article 50 notification of its election to leave the EU, the UK and the EU will then be required by the Lisbon Treaty to negotiate a deal setting forth the terms of the UK’s withdrawal and establishing a structure for the future legal relationship between the UK and the EU. Once the Article 50 trigger is pulled, the European Council and the UK will have just two years to hammer out a new deal. If the parties choose not to extend this period and cannot reach any agreement, the UK will exit the EU with no formal arrangement in place. Once the Article 50 trigger is pulled, it is irreversible.

Following the Brexit vote, David Cameron announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister, leaving the decision on how and when to trigger Article 50 in the hands of his successor. Given the current chaos in British markets and politics, the culmination of Brexit may take years.

Hope everyone will be enjoying the beautiful 4th of July weekend.

The Library will be open its normal hours on Saturday and Sunday and will be open from 9 to 5 on the Fourth.

The Library hours for the weekend are posted below.

Saturday July 2nd 9 am – 10 pm
Sunday July 3rd 10 am – 10 pm
Monday July 4th 9 am – 5 pm

Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks event is scheduled to begin around 9 PM and last for about 30 minutes.

The show will take place on the East River this year. Fireworks will be set off from the Brooklyn Bridge and from barges in the water below. You can view the fireworks from any area in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn with an unobstructed view of the sky above the East River.

Enjoy.

Artificial Intelligence in Law and Education

An intriguing new title in the Brooklyn Law School Library collection is Robot Law by Law Professors Ryan Calo, A. Michael Froomkin, and Ian Kerr (K564.C6 R63 2016). The 402 page book brings together research on robotics law and policy written by scholars from law, engineering, computer science and philosophy on topics such as liability, warfare, domestic law enforcement, personhood, and other cutting-edge issues in robotics and artificial intelligence. The book is an in-depth look at an area of law that is growing in importance. Like the Internet before it, robotics is a technology that will transform the social and economic landscape of legal research and practice. Robot Law looks at the increasing sophistication of robots and their widespread use in hospitals, public spaces, and battlefields requiring rethinking philosophical and public policy issues, including how AI interacts with existing legal regimes and changes in policy and in law.

Whether artificial intelligence will one day displace human lawyers has become so important that, this past April, Vanderbilt Law School hosted the first legal conference on the topic, “Watson, Esq.: Will Your Next Lawyer Be a Machine”. Speakers included Richard Susskind, author of “Tomorrow’s Lawyers” and “The Future of the Professions,” and Andrew Arruda, whose firm ROSS Intelligence helped build ROSS (which does not stand for anything), the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney, on top of IBM Watson. Designed by students at the University of Toronto, ROSS is meant for use by lawyers. Asking it a legal question will yeild an “instant answer with citations and suggested readings from a variety of content sources.” ROSS reads and understands language, postulates hypotheses when asked questions, researches, and then generates responses (along with references and citations) to back up its conclusions. It learns from experience, gaining speed and knowledge the more users interact with it.

A recent Washington Post news piece reports that the law firm Baker & Hostetler announced that it is employing ROSS to handle its bankruptcy practice of nearly 50 lawyers. CEO and co-founder Andrew Arruda, says that other firms have also signed licenses with ROSS and expects more announcements soon. Although still in the prototype stage, ROSS shows great promise as an innovative legal research tool. Tasks that ROSS can do include:

Giving relevant answers – not a list of results – to natural language questions;
Learning from user’s questions – it learns and improves the more it is used;
Providing a consistent, easy-to-use experience on any devices used to access it.

At this week’s CALIcon 16 being held at the Georgia State University College of Law, BLS Reference Librarian Harold O’Grady and Technology Educator Lloyd Carew-Reid will present a session, The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Legal Education, Research and Practice. Also participating will be:

Professor Heidi Brown (Director of Legal Writing at Brooklyn Law School);
Mikhail Jacob (a Ph.D. student at the Georgia Institute of Technology); and
Dr. Mark Riedl (an Associate Professor in the Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing and Director of the Entertainment Intelligence Lab).

Looking for Federal Government Information? Try the New Govinfo website.

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has launched a beta version of its new GovInfo web site. After it completes its beta phase, Govinfo will replace FDsys, the federal government website currently providing free public access to over 50 different collections of federal government information, including the United States Code, the Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional materials, and selected federal case law. Users of GovInfo can browse by A-Z list, by category, by date, and by congressional committee content. To see a list of collections available on Govinfo, visit here.

Episode 097 – Conversation with Prof. Heidi Brown

Episode 097 – Conversation with Prof. Heidi Brown.mp3

In this podcast, Brooklyn Law School Professor Heidi Brown talks about her article, The Emotionally Intelligent Law Professor: A Lesson from the Breakfast Club, 36 University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review 273 (2014). The article examines the importance of teaching Emotional Intelligence (EI) as part of the law school curriculum and as a component of “professionalism.” In April 2016, Professor Brown joined the faculty at Brooklyn Law School as Director of the Legal Writing Program after serving as Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School, where she helped launch that school’s Legal Practice program. Before that, she was an Associate Professor of Legal Research and Writing at the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law in Orange, California. A prolific scholar and author on the importance of legal writing, she has published four books on predictive and persuasive legal writing and federal litigation, and other scholarly articles for law journals. Prof. Brown is working on a forthcoming book The Introverted Lawyer.

Oyez Project Gets New Home

The Oyez Project, a free repository of more than 10,000 hours of U.S. Supreme Court oral-argument audio and other court resources, will be getting a new home.

Developed by Prof. Jerry Goldman, Oyez has had its home at the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law for over 20 years. It is a complete and authoritative source for all of the Supreme Court’s audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. Oyez also provides detailed information on every justice throughout history and offers a panoramic tour of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of several justices.

Prof. Goldman is retiring this month and a new arrangement for the Project has been formed with Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute and Justia. All of the information of the Oyez Project will not be available at the Legal Information Institute website.

50 Years Ago, BLS Alum Helps Overturn Poll Tax

Joseph A. Jordan, was born in Norfolk Virginia and was a Brooklyn Law School graduate. He was a veteran, paralyzed from the waist down during World War II and confined to a wheelchair.

As an attorney, Jordan and his firm, Jordan, Dawley & Holt, fought civil rights cases across the South during the 1960’s. One such case made constitutional history,

In November 1963 Jordan filed suit on behalf of Mrs. Evelyn Thomas Butts to have the state’s poll tax declared unconstitutional. The poll tax was a tax levied on individuals as a prerequisite for voting. Although levied on all voters regardless of race, the tax effectively disenfranchised the poor, including many African-Americans. The tax was outlawed nationally in January 1964 by ratification of the 24th amendment, but it only addressed federal elections and remained silent on state and local applicability.

Jordan’s suit was defeated nine times by local and state courts before finally working its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. In March 1966 the case became part of the landmark decision, Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections. Only six years out of law school, Jordan argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that Virginia’s poll tax should be struck down. The court agreed and ruled it unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Joseph A. Jordan went on to become the first black elected to the Norfolk City Council since 1889. He served three terms on the council, including two years as vice mayor. In 1977, he was appointed to Norfolk’s General District Court and retired in 1986.

Presidents’ Day Library Hours

The Library will be open on Monday, February 15, 2016 from 9:00 am – 10:00 pm.

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally celebrated on February 22—Washington’s actual day of birth—the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers.

Most people associate Presidents’ Day with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, since Lincoln’s birthday is in February also (February 12).

The Library has several books on both of these presidents. Check out the titles below if you wish to learn more about these two presidents.

Freeman, Douglas Southall, George Washington, a biography (7 vol. set)

Marshall, John et al, The Life of George Washington (1838) Online Library of Liberty

Thomas, Benjamin Platt, Abraham Lincoln: a biography

Hubbard, Charles M., Lincoln, the law and presidential leadership (E-book)

BLS Library Pre-Oscar Movie Night

During the week leading up to Oscar Night 2016, the Brooklyn Law School Library will host a Pre-Oscar Movie Night. The event showcases the Prof. Robert Pitler movie collection of more than 1500 DVDs. Click on the link to see the complete list of titles. The collection is located in the Student Lounge on the First Mezzanine level of the library. BLS Library users are encouraged to borrow items from the collection to view either at home or in the Library Audio-Visual Room on the first floor.

The BLS Library Pre-Oscar night will take place on Wednesday, February 24 at 8pm in the Student Lounge on the first floor of the BLS Law School. From today until February 19, BLS students, staff and faculty can vote for the film they want to see. Ballots are located at the reference desk. Stop by to vote and help decide which film to see.

From the Oscar contenders in the BLS Library collection, the nominees are:

The winning title will be announced in advance of the Pre-Oscar Movie Night. Before the screening of the film, Prof. Lawrence Fleischer will give a brief talk about the late Prof. Robert Pitler. Refreshments will be served.

Watergate Revisited

The 43rd anniversary of the January 30, 1973 convictions of former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. for conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in connection with the break-in at the Watergate hotel brings to mind the turbulent years leading to the only presidential resignation in US history. The conviction was later upheld in United States v. Liddy, 509 F. 2d 428 (D.C.Cir. 1974).

The BLS Library has an extensive collection of material related to the Watergate scandal. One item was written by a noted alumnus of Brooklyn Law School, the late Leonard Garment (Class of 1949) who later became a member of the BLS Board of Trustees and an Adjunct Professor of Law. Garment (1924 – 2013) was an attorney who served Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in various positions from 1969 to 1976, including Counselor to the President, acting Special Counsel to Nixon for the last two years of his presidency, and U.S. Ambassador to the Third Committee at the United Nations. Born in Brooklyn, he graduated Brooklyn Law School and joined the law firm of Mudge, Stern, Baldwin, and Todd (later called Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander). There, Garment met Nixon and then worked on his 1968 presidential campaign, later becoming part of Nixon’s White House staff as special consultant to the president. He advised the president and worked on various special projects, particularly on civil and human rights, Indian affairs, and the arts.

His 418 page book Crazy Rhythm: From Brooklyn and Jazz to Nixon’s White House, Watergate, and Beyond (Call No. E856 .G38 1997) is a fascinating autobiography of a Washington/Wall Street insider who thrived despite hard blows dealt him on more than one occasion. Garment tells how he left home early to pursue a career as a clarinet/saxophone player in jazz bands. After serving in WW II, he earned his law degree and soon became a close friend of the former vice president. An important member of the Nixon team, Garment became an all-purpose troubleshooter for the president. The tough-talking administration’s informal envoy to both US Jewry and Israel, Garment (who describes his ex-boss as operationally progressive but rhetorically retrogressive on social issues) also worked on civil-rights programs. He was untainted by Watergate, but his comments on the scandal are marked with perception and compassion. He eventually returned to New York City to serve as Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s special assistant for human rights during his stint as US ambassador to the UN, and then resumed the practice of law. The book is an engaging recollection of a free-spirited advocate who learned from his experiences close to the seats of power.

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