Category Archives: Brooklyn Law School

NYC Charter Revision Commission Materials Available on BrooklynWorks

fca0bafe8dd2aa68fafbfd4e4291b5c9Recently, the Library completed a digitization project of the papers of Brooklyn Law School’s former dean, the Honorable David. G. Trager. The documents published relate to Judge Trager’s work on two successive New York City Charter Revision Commissions: December 1986-Novemer 1988 and December 1988-November 1989. The digitized documents were selected from materials he donated to the Brooklyn Law School Archives. To access the entire collection, you can contact the reference desk (refdesk@brooklaw.edu) and make an appointment to visit the archives.

Judge Trager was born in Mount Vernon, New York and graduated from Columbia University in 1959 and Harvard Law School in 1962. After four years in private practice, he dedicated his life to public service, fulfilling many roles, including law clerk, federal prosecutor, teacher, state investigation commissioner, administrator, and jurist. From 1974 – 1978, he served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Afterward, he began a fifteen-year tenure at Brooklyn Law School, first serving as Professor of Law (1978 – 1983) and then as its Dean (1983 – 1993). In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed him to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He attained senior status on March 1, 2006. Judge Trager passed away on January 5, 2011 at the age of 73.

 

Legal Blogs – a.k.a. Blawgs – What Can They Do For You?

blawg

Are you looking for your first legal job and want to look like an expert in a particular practice area?  Maybe you just want to learn more about a specific legal issue, an area of law, or a certain industry, law firm, or company?  If so, you should investigate legal blogs, or “blawgs.”

Here are some things to know about blawgs:

  • Blawgs usually follow “hot topics” or breaking legal news.  They can cover general legal topics or can focus on specific practice areas.
  • Blawgs may be written by attorneys, law librarians, law professors, or others.
  • Blawgs can help you to become informed and to stay current but use caution as the main purpose of some blawgs may be attorney self-promotion.

If you are looking for blawgs, try:

  • blawgsearch.justia.com/ – search for blawgs by most popular, by category, or run a keyword search.
  • www.lxbn.com – search by subject, browse the headlines, or run a keyword search.
  • scotusblog.com – an excellent source of material about the Supreme Court.

Finally, you can try:

  • www.abajournal.com/blawgs – search by topic, author type, region, law school, and court.  Also, take a look at the ABA’s Annual Blawg 100.  According to ABA Journal, these are the blawgs that have “tipped us off to breaking news and the bloggers who have compelled us to write about their innovative ideas.”

 

 

Brooklyn Law at CALIcon 2015

imageOn Thursday, June 18 at CALIcon 2015 held at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, one of the opening sessions was called Incorporating Technology, Business Development and Marketing in the Law School Curriculum. The session by Brooklyn Law School Reference Librarian Harold O’Grady and Brooklyn Law School Technology Educator Lloyd Carew-Reid examined how law schools are now incorporating technology, business development and marketing in the law school curriculum. Using Google Hangouts, Harold and Lloyd were joined by Brooklyn Law School Professor Jonathan Askin and MIT’s Danza Greenwood to discuss their ABA-MIT Online Legal Appathon which took place at the ABA Tech Show 2015 in April.

Three BLS students participated remotely in the session: Alex Goldman, Class of 2014, Patrick Mock, Class of 2017 and Paula Collins, Class of 2017. Alex discussed his project on Technical Standards for Warrant Canaries. Patrick and Paula talked about their awards at the second annual Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) Innovators Competition held in April 2015. Patrick won 1st Prize for his proposal, Buoy, which addresses the problem of student loan debt by incorporating a crowdfunding model into a student loan service. Paula won 3rd prize for her FLIC (Film Legal Information Center) app, which would deliver a virtual law practice, direct client services, and business/entrepreneurial services to a community of Indie film artists in Brooklyn and surrounding areas.

A video of the hour-long session is available on YouTube at this link.

Episode 094: Interview with Robert Harned

Episode 094: Interview with Robert Harned.mp3

This podSally Phippscast features former Cataloging Librarian Bob Harned who worked for the Brooklyn Law School Library in Technical Services from 2001 to 2006. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Bob grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. A lifelong research librarian, he worked at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and in several universities and law firms in New York City. He now resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, with his partner, food journalist, cookbook author, and broadcaster Arthur Schwartz. Robert’s interests are film history, Greek and Roman archaeology, and singing. He has recorded four CD albums. Since leaving the BLS Library, Bob has been busy with many projects, the most recent of which is the publication of Sally Phipps: Silent Film Star, a biography of his late mother.

A complimentary copy of the 290 page book with its 150 pictures, mostly photographs, is at the BLS Library Circulation Desk for library users can look through it. It is also available for purchase in paperback and via Kindle on the Amazon webpage which states:

Sally Phipps was only three years old and the veteran winner of several beautiful baby contests when she appeared as the Baby in the film “Broncho Billy and the Baby.” It was made at the Niles California Essanay Studio in late 1914. This book follows her amazing life and a career that culminated in her receiving the Rosemary (for remembrance) Award shortly before her death in 1978. Her memories of the early years at Essanay include sitting on Charlie Chaplin’s lap and enduring a frightening stage coach accident. In her teens, she was a Fox Studio star appearing in 20 films, including a cameo in the classic “Sunrise.” There were bad times also. She was on the set of her Fox two-reel comedy “Gentlemen Preferred Scotch’” in 1927 when word reached her of the scandalous death of her father, a state senator. But in that same year, she was selected as one of the 13 Wampas Baby Stars, starlets that were considered destined for future success. Despite her popularity in Hollywood, she left for New York where she became the darling of gossip columnists, particularly Walter Winchell. She appeared in two Broadway shows, made a Vitaphone comedy short, and married and divorced one of the Gimbel department store moguls before she darted off for India and around the world travel. Back in New York, there was another marriage, two children, and later a stay in Hawaii. Earl Wilson wrote about her in 1938 when she was working for the Federal Theatre Project during the WPA period — headlining his column “Wampas Ex-Baby Lives on WPA $23 – And Likes It.” Her images – especially her pinup photographs – have become highly collectible. The book features 150 pictures from Sally’s personal and professional life, including glamorous portraits and pinups.

2015 Commencement Speakers at NY Area Law Schools

Graduation season is here and, this year, Brooklyn Law School will hold its 114th Commencement Ceremony on May 28, 2015 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. The commencement speaker will be U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer who will deliver the 2015 Commencement address. He will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree, the highest degree conferred by Brooklyn Law School and given to only one recipient each year. Born and raised in Brooklyn and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Senator Schumer has represented New York in the Senate since 1998. He previously served as a Congressman between 1981 and 1998, and was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly for Brooklyn’s 45th district, serving between 1975 and 1980.

Commencement speakers at other area law schools this year are:

New York

  • Albany Law School – Hon. Leslie Stein, Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
  • Buffalo Law School – Eric T. Schneiderman, New York Attorney General
  • Cardozo School of Law — Hon. Denny Chin, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • Columbia Law School — Charles Fried, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
  • Hofstra School of Law — Hon. Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Associate Justice of the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department
  • New York Law School — Cyrus R. Vance Jr., District Attorney of New York County and Joseph Plumeri, Vice Chairman of the First Data Board of Directors
  • New York University School of Law — Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Pace University School of Law — U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • St. John’s University School of Law — W. Mark Lanier, founder of the Lanier Law Firm
  • Syracuse University College of Law — Mary Karr, Professor of Literature at Syracuse University
  • Touro Law Center — Richard Parsons, former chairman of Time Warner and Citigroup

New Jersey

  • Rutgers University School of Law at Newark — Hon. Barry T. Albin, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
  • Seton Hall Law School — Dean Patrick E. Hobbs, Seton Hall Law

Connecticut

  • Quinnipiac University School of Law — Harold Koh, Professor of International Law at Yale Law School
  • University of Connecticut School of Law — Tim Wu, Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
  • Yale University Law School — Class Day speaker is Joseph R. Biden Jr., Vice President of the U.S.

American Bar Association Offers Free Membership to Law Students

aba-300x162All BLS students are eligible to take advantage of the American Bar Association’s offer of free membership to students enrolled at ABA approved law schools.   With your free membership, you can: access the ABA Job Board, subscribe to ABA publications, participate in ABA career webinars, and take advantage of ABA discounts on a wide variety of products and services.

For more information or to enroll online, visit www.americanbar.org/abalawstudents or call  the ABA Service Center at 800-285-2221.

 

Bar Exam Study Options at Local Law School Libraries

If you are a Brooklyn Law School student who is taking a bar review course at another law school, or would like to use another law school library to study for the bar exam, you will be pleased to know that you may have access to other law libraries, usually for a fee.  The policies and costs vary from library to library.  Librarian Mary Godfrey-Rickards of Hofstra Law School Library has compiled a chart with the pertinent information for each school.

Click here to view the bar exam study chart for summer 2015.

The Supreme Court Crafts a New Standard in Pregnancy Discrimination Cases – Young v. UPS

On March 25, 2015, the Supreme Court handed down Young v. United Parcel Service and set forth a new standard making it easier for a female employee to establish discrimination under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act [42 U.S.C. 200e(k)] (“PDA”).  The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which amended Title VII in 1978, explicitly provides that discrimination “because of sex” or “on the basis of sex” includes discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”

The Young case arose when UPS offered light-duty accommodations to disabled and injured employees but not to pregnant employees.  Young alleged this policy violated the PDA.

In Young, the Court did not go as far as to say that employers must accommodate pregnant workers whenever they accommodate non-pregnant workers.  What the Court did say is, whenever different accommodations are provided to similarly situated pregnant and non-pregnant workers, the employer must determine whether there is any legitimate reason for the disparate treatment. If no legitimate reason exists, then the employer has discriminated on the basis of pregnancy in violation of the PDA.  Even when the employer is able to articulate a neutral business rational for the different accommodations, the Court ruled that the pregnant worker must still be given the opportunity to show that the different accommodations impose a “significant burden” on pregnant workers that cannot be justified by the employer’s neutral rationale.

Going forward, the Young decision means that a pregnant worker will not be required to establish explicit discriminatory intent to prove a PDA violation.  Instead, under Young, it is sufficient for the worker to show that different accommodations offered to similarly situated pregnant and non-pregnant workers impose a “significant burden” on pregnant employees.

 

In Honor of Women’s History Month – BLS Alumna and Suffragette, “General” Rosalie Jones

rosaliejonesRosalie Gardiner Jones was born in 1883 to Mary and Oliver Livingston Jones, wealthy Oyster Bay socialites.  She graduated from Adelphi College, then a women’s school, in Brooklyn and later from Brooklyn Law School.

When she was 28, Rosalie entered the suffrage movement and led two “suffrage hikes”, one from NYC to Albany, and the second from NYC to Washington DC, to bring attention to the women’s right to vote movement.

The NYC to Albany hike took thirteen days. Rosalie along with other women, walked (in skirts), through bad weather and difficult roads, a distance of 150 miles to reach their destination. They made speeches, sang songs to keep morale up, and gave interviews to the press along the way. The press dubbed her and her followers, “General Jones” and the “suffragette pilgrims”.

The NYC to Washington, DC hike covered more than 200 miles and took 20 days to finish.  When the arrived in DC they joined over 5,000 of their fellow suffragists in the National Woman Suffrage Parade procession, marching down Pennsylvania Avenue toward Constitution Hall.