ALSO INSIDE■ Professor Nina Kohn on Elder Care After COVID-19 ■ An Update on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives ■ Elevating the Advocacy Program’s Reputation

Professor Mark Nevitt on

“The Three Global Hotspots of the Climate-Security Century”

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01 By the Numbers

02 Message from Dean Boise

04 The Three Global Hotspots of the Climate-Security Century 12 Long-Term Care After COVID: A Roadmap for Law Reform 16 College of Law News 18 College of Law Faculty News 21 College of Law Student News

24 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: College of Law Introduces Cultural Competency Curriculum

26 Eleven Up: Advocacy Program’s Reputation Goes from Strength to Strength

29 Burton Blatt Institute: Inclusion, Empowerment, and Participation in Community: BBI’s Year in Review 32 Institute for Security Policy and Law: Human-Machine Teaming—SPL Research Asks How Law and Ethics Can Best Regulate Artificial Intelligence

34 Innovation Law Center: Where Law, Technology, and Business Intersect

38 Office of International Programs: How a “Small but Mighty” LL.M. Cohort Forged Ahead During Lockdown

40 Externship Program: Beginning a New Chapter: 42 Clinic Director’s Report: “May You Live in Interesting Times”

48 Faculty Books and Publications 56 Our Back Pages

© 2021 Syracuse University College of Law. All rights reserved.

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Dean and Professor of LawCraig M. Boise

Executive Editor,Syracuse Law YearbookRobert T. ConradDirector of Communications and Media Relations

Assistant Dean for Advancement and External AffairsSophie Dagenais

Director of Alumni RelationsKristen Duggleby

Contributing WritersRob EnslinProfessor Nina KohnProfessor Mark NevittMartin Walls Contributing EditorKathleen Curtis

PhotographySteve SartoriSyracuse University Photo Services

IllustrationsDavid Owens

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Syracuse University College of LawOffice of Advancement and External AffairsDineen Hall, Suite 402950 Irving Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-6070t: 315.443.1964f: 315.443.4585e:SULaw@syr.edulaw.syr.edu

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Students633 118

Faculty andStaff

9.75:1Student-to-Faculty

RatioJoint Degree

Programs

11

8Clinics

66Distinct

Externship Placements

7Centers and

Institutes

Student-editedJournals

4

6Degrees andCertificates

#11U.S. News

Trial AdvocacyProgram Rank

30 +Student and Affinity

Organizations

10,876Alumni

11CurricularPrograms

BY THE NUMBERS*

7Fordham Law Trial

Competition Perfor-mance Rankings

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94%Ultimate Bar Passage

(2018 Calendar Year Graduates)

Faculty witha Ph.D.

11 560,264Volumes in the

Law Library

50Military-connected

StudentsNations Represented

in LL.M. Class of 2021

12

Law School Research

Rank

#9

*Data as of June 2021

Increase in JD Applications

25% 87%Increase in Electronic

Library Resources

1,557+Media

PlacementsTitles Added to the Library

14,387

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Craig M. BoiseDean and Professor of Law

OURRISING STARS

When I became Dean of this great College five years ago, one of my goals was to amplify and promote the thought leadership of our extraordinary faculty. I witnessed professors and researchers whose scholarship in critical and emerging areas of the law was already exemplary, but not as well-known or understood as it could be. As our roundups on p48 and p50 illustrate, our faculty’s scholarly reputation is not only as robust as ever, it is sought-after, visible, and rising. For instance, the two main features in this Yearbook exemplify our faculty’s status as influential scholars. As I write this in midsummer, two stories that remain in the news cycle are the rising death tolls from climate disasters in the Pacific Northwest, Germany, and China and the push for long-term care reform in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Our lead authors—professors Mark Nevitt and Nina Kohn— are highly in demand scholars and commentators on the security implications of climate change and elder care, respectively. In this issue, Professor Nevitt widens the lens on the impact of climate change, offering a portrait of three global “hotspots” that will dominate the “climate-security century.” One of his research questions— “What is the true pace of climate change in the Arctic?”—is especially prescient given the recent Pacific Northwest “heat dome” pushed as far north as Canada’s Yukon Territory. In “Long-Term Care After COVID,” Professor Kohn addresses “the dangers of the current system” and offers her own prescriptions for reform. Of course, our students benefit immeasurably from a faculty who are thought leaders, dynamic educators, and productive scholars. As demonstrated in this year’s review of our Strategic Research Institutes and academic programs, an engaged faculty provides many meaningful applied learning opportunities for students. Whether writing intellectual property reports for startups (p34), advocating for vulnerable populations through our clinics (p42), earning praise for their professionalism from externship hosts (p40), or excelling in advocacy competitions (p26), our students are guided toward a bright future by professors whose intellectual rigor is matched by their expertise and care in the classroom and beyond. I am grateful to our staff who have worked diligently throughout the coronavirus pandemic to support our learning community and to ensure that our operations continued as smoothly as possible. We look forward to being back in Dineen Hall for the new academic year ahead, and I’m certain the positive lessons of the last year will make us stronger still. I hope as you read these pages, you are as proud and as inspired as I am by the remarkable accomplishments of our students, faculty, and staff.

Go Orange!

DEAN’S MESSAGE

“Our students benefit immeasurably from a faculty who are thought leaders, dynamic educators, and productive scholars.”

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Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back, and it is increasingly doing so with growing force and fury … we must use 2021 to address our planetary emergency.1 —António Guterres, State of the Planet Speech, Columbia University (December 2020)

The Three Global Hotspots of the Climate-Security CenturyBy Professor Mark Nevitt

Adapted from an article first published in the Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s Fletcher Security Review.

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While the Arctic Council’s 2008 Ilulissat Declaration reaffirmed the Arctic Council’s commitment to the Law of the Sea framework, one key Arctic Council member—the United States—remains an outlier as a non-party to UNCLOS.8 This international treaty, often referred to as the “Constitution of the Oceans,” largely governs maritime issues in the Arctic Ocean to include the increasingly important rights of Arctic innocent and transit passage.9 Additionally, UNCLOS establishes the Commission for the Limits on the Continental Shelf (CLCS), which provides technical expertise to help ascertain the breadth of each individual nation’s continental shelf claims.10 Four of the five Arctic coastal states have submitted information to CLCS in support of continental shelf claims. The United States has not made a similar submission for its enormous Alaskan continental shelf. As a non-party to UNCLOS, the US likely will not be able to avail itself of the CLCS process. In 2007, Russia shocked the world by planting its flag on the North Pole. This

was an act of no legal significance but nevertheless signaled broader Russian ambitions in the Arctic. Today, Russia claims an outer continental shelf that extends to the Lomonosov Ridge—an enormous area with vast untapped oil and natural gas resources that overlaps with the North Pole. While remaining a non-party to UNCLOS, the US has nevertheless served as a good law of the sea partner. For example, the US views UNCLOS’s key navigational provisions as binding customary international law. Additionally, the US Navy has complemented and enforced many key UNCLOS provisions via freedom of navigation operations and diplomatic assertions around the world. Despite the US Senate’s failure to provide its advice and consent to UNCLOS ratification, a remarkably diverse coalition of American national security experts, environmentalists, and business interests support the US becoming a party to the convention. US should ratify UNCLOS as it is contrary to our long-term national security and

economic interests in the Arctic and elsewhere.11 Outside of natural resource extraction, two seasonal waterways—the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route—are both found in the Arctic. Canada has long viewed the Northwest Passage as their internal territorial waters.12 While the US and Canada have “agreed to disagree” on the legal status of the Northwest Passage, tensions have risen regarding Russia’s authority to regulate shipping along the Northern Sea Route. Russia has increasingly asserted an expansive view of its authority over ice-covered areas along the route, requiring prior notification from foreign ships before transiting. Perhaps most importantly, what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. The melting permafrost in Greenland and Arctic tundra increases the possibility for cataclysmic “green swan” events causing dramatic sea level rise, impacting coastlines and small islands, as discussed below.

Due in large part to the pace of climate change, the Arctic is quickly emerging as a region of increasing military and economic importance. The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, driven by a self-reinforcing feedback loop known as the albedo effect, which accelerates the melting of polar ice caps and permafrost. In turn, melting polar ice sheets are forming new trade routes through Canada (the Northwest Passage) and along the Russian border (the Northern Sea Route). Along the Arctic’s continental shelf, climate change is renewing interest in natural resource extraction, where close to 30% of the world’s untapped natural gas resides. The “Law of the Arctic” is largely governed by the work of the Arctic Council, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and

an assortment of laws and bilateral agreements among the eight Arctic states. In contrast to its South Pole cousin—governed by the comprehensive Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)6 —there is no Arctic Treaty. The Arctic Council is characterized by an evolving “soft law” system of collaboration among the eight Arctic Council states: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. Critically, China is not a voting member of the Arctic Council, although China has declared itself a “near Arctic” nation and has increasing ambitions in the region. Of these eight members, Denmark, Russia, United States, Norway, and Canada are Arctic “coastal states”—with a continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean—and can potentially extract natural resources. Despite the potential for conflict and tension, the Arctic Council has enjoyed

some success in managing competing Arctic interests. It has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to tackle increasingly complex issues, such as an agreement addressing unregulated fishing and Arctic search and rescue. However, in the face of climate change, tension points are starting to emerge. By its own mandate, the Arctic Council is prohibited from addressing matters of military security.7 This is largely left to NATO and individual nations to navigate. Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and the US are original NATO members, providing a counterweight to growing Russian militarization. As Russia has invested heavily in Arctic military infrastructure, so the NATO members of the Arctic Council have shown a renewed interest in military exercises in the region.

he climate-security century is here. With global temperatures rising, climate change is poised to massively destabilize the physical environment.2 This century may well be defined by our ability (or inability) to reduce our collective greenhouse gas emissions. We must also adapt and respond to climate change’s multivariate security impacts. From raging wildfires in Australia and California to melting ice sheets and permafrost in the Arctic, climate change acts as both a threat accelerant and a catalyst for conflict.3 Climate change is also unlike any other traditional security threat. It accelerates and exacerbates existing environmental stressors, such as sea level rise, extreme weather, drought, and food insecurity, leading to greater instability.4 Climate change impacts are already taking center stage this century, forcing us to think more broadly about climate change’s relationship with human security and national security.5

Complicating matters, climate-driven temperature increases do not rise in a neat, uniform fashion around the globe. The pace of climatic change unfolds unevenly and erratically. Some parts of the world—such as the Arctic—are warming at a rate two to three times faster than the rest of the world. Three specific climate-security “hotspots” foreshadow greater destabilization and serve as climate “canaries in a coal mine” —a sneak preview of our climate-destabilized future:

The Arctic—transformed by climate change and a new operational environment, opening trade routes and sparking a potential race for natural resource extraction in the High North.

Pacific Small Island Developing States—where climate-driven sea level rise is swallowing nations whole, raising the specter of climate refugees and possible nation extinction.

The African Sahel—where climate change is leading to increased drought and food insecurity, serving as a tinderbox for resource conflicts.

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HOTSPOT #1: A CLIMATE-TRANSFORMED ARCTIC

“The melting permafrost in Greenland and Arctic tundra increases the possibility for cataclysmic ‘green swan’ events.”

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In a cruel twist, climate change disproportionately harms nations that contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change’s impacts. This includes both SIDS and the poverty-stricken African Sahel, an area already suffering from climate-exacerbated food insecurity and conflict.20 The Sahel region of West Africa, for example, is one of the poorest regions in the world with 40% of the population living on less than US$1.90 per day. The region’s population is growing at an astonishing rate, expected to double by 2045,21 yet the climate is warming in the Sahel far faster than the rest of the world. In a recent Security Council debate on climate and security, the World Meteor-ological Chief Scientist stated that climate change has a multitude of security impacts “increasing the potential for water conflict; leading to more internal displacement and migrations ... it is increasingly regarded as a national security threat.” 22 There is a growing body of scholarship that connects climate change’s multivariate impacts and violent conflict.23 In 2020, the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated that 12 of the 20 most vulnerable countries to climate change were in a state of

conflict.24 An estimated 1.25 million people have been displaced in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger due to extreme rainfall and flooding.25 Climate change’s destabilizing role in the African Sahel is forcing international legal institutions to reimagine what role they might play in addressing underlying causes of conflict and instability. Consistent with its mission to maintain international peace and security,26 the UN Security Council (UNSC) has begun to address climate change. It first recognized the link between environmental security and international security in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War (1992) and the destruction of oil fields.27 Recognition of other non-traditional security threats followed, such as HIV/AIDS (2000) and Ebola (2014). In 2017, UNSC took the historical step of linking climate change with the deteriorating security situation in the African Sahel. In Resolution 2349, the “adverse effects of

climate change and ecological change” in destabilizing the security situation in the Lake Chad Basin is specifically highlighted.28 Since this Resolution was issued, the Council followed up with additional resolutions for Somalia, Darfur, West Africa and the Sahel, and Mali.29 While it has yet to make the formal determination that climate change effects are a “threat to the peace” within the meaning of UN Charter Article 39,30 there is a growing precedent for UNSC to use its authorities to address non-traditional security threats. As the earth warms, climate hotspots such as the African Sahel will increasingly bear the brunt of climate change’s impacts. In the coming years, the UN will be under increasing pressure to address climate-driven security matters in some fashion.31 An Article 39 declaration serves as the legal key, opening the door for the Council to use its awesome Chapter VII authorities.

Far away from the Arctic, scientists predict that four Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) may become uninhabitable by mid-century due to climate change-driven sea level rise and wave-driven flooding.13 The specter of potentially “stateless” UN member states—Kiribati, Maldives, Republic of Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu—strikes at the core of the UN Charter system, raising novel questions of both international law and environmental justice. It also exposes a governance gap in international law, which does not adequately protect climate migrants fleeing from climate-driven weather impacts and uninhabitability. The 1954 World Refugee Convention, for example, is silent on migrants fleeing environmental or climate disasters. Since World War II, the UN Charter has played an important role in stabilizing

international order by upholding national territorial integrity and the sovereign equality of each member nation.14 While SIDS are relatively small, they have equal standing as sovereign nations. Several questions now arise: With climate change undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of these nations, what is the responsibility of developing nations to alleviate this slow-moving tragedy? Can international governance institutions afford to remain silent while nations face climate-driven statelessness? What are the legitimacy costs of both action and inaction? The plight of global climate migrants is an issue of increasingly grave concern.15 By one estimate, more than 150 million people will be displaced by rising sea levels by the year 2050.16 One recent study found that two-thirds of the world’s population faces severe water shortages,

a catalyst for cross-border human migration.17 In addition, many small island nations are uniquely vulnerable to extreme weather patterns. Scientists now link climate change, rising temperatures, and the increased likelihood of extreme weather,18 to which small island nations often lack the capacity to adapt and respond. In 2020, when Cyclone Harold struck several Pacific island nations, it triggered an estimated 99,500 displacements.19 Finally, critical US national security infrastructure in the region is increasingly at risk. The US operates a key military installation and radar facility at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands that helps protect the US from North Korean missiles. Rising seas may cause parts of the Marshall Islands to become uninhabitable as early as 2035.

HOTSPOT #2: SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES & NATION EXTINCTION

“Climate change disproportionately harms nations that contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change’s impacts.”

HOTSPOT #3: THE AFRICAN SAHEL AND THE CLIMATE-CONFLICT NEXUS

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Within a month of taking office, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 released two important executive orders on climate-security matters: (1) “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” and (2) “Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration.” “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” makes clear that the world faces a “profound climate crisis” and that US international engagement “is more necessary and urgent than ever.” 32 In the EO, President Biden makes it clear

that climate considerations “shall be an essential element of US foreign policy and national security.” In re-energizing climate-security matters, the new Administration understands that it is simply too important to be left solely in the hands of the defense or state departments. By elevating several people within his Cabinet who have deep experience in climate change and security matters, and by favoring a whole-of-government approach, President Biden acknowledges that climate change requires integrated national security planning. For example, as Special Envoy for Climate former

Secretary of State John Kerry will have a seat on the National Security Council—a historic first. Additionally, former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy serves as the nation’s first National Climate Advisor, leading a new interagency National Climate Task Force. President Biden’s EO on resettling refugees emphasizes that human migration is often due to climate change impacts.33 This order reinvigorates the role of the United States Refugee Assistance Program throughout the immigration process “in a manner that furthers [American] values as a Nation.”

A CLIMATE-SECURITY RESET FOR THE UNITED STATES?

“By elevating several people within his Cabinet who have deep experience in climate change and security matters … President Biden acknowledges that climate change requires integrated national security planning.”

1 Quoted in The Washington Post (Dec. 15, 2020). 2 J.B. Ruhl and Robin Kundis Craig, 4°C (2021 manuscript).

3 “Threat Multiplier: The Growing Security Implications of Climate Change—A Conversation with Sherri Goodman,” Fletcher Security Review (July 2018); Center for Naval Analyses, “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change,” (2007). 4 Marwa Daoudy, The Origins of the Syrian Conflict: Climate Change and Human Security (Cambridge, 2020).5 “Climate Tipping Points: Too Risky to Bet Against,” Nature Vol. 575 (2019, corrected April 2020). 6 “Polar Opposites: Assessing the State of Environmental Law in the World’s Polar Regions,“ Boston College Law Review Vol. 59 (2018).7 Declaration on the Establishment of the Arctic Council Ottawa Declaration (1996).8 The Ilulissat Declaration, Arctic Ocean Conference (May 2008).9 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Art. 17 (Right of Innocent Passage) and Art. 38 (Right of Transit Passage).10 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Art. 76 (Definition of the Continental Shelf).

11 “Polar Opposites: Assessing the State of Environmental Law in the World’s Polar Regions,“ Boston College Law Review Vol. 59 (2018).

12 “The US-Canada Northwest Passage Dispute,” Brown Political Review (April 8, 2020).

13 “Most Atolls Will Be Uninhabitable by the Mid-21st Century Because of Sea Level Rise Exacerbating Wave Driven Flooding,” Science Advances Vol. 4, No. 4 (2018). 14 UN Charter, Art. 2, Para. 1.15 “Forced Migration After Paris Cop21: Evaluating the ‘Climate Change Displacement Coordination Facility,’” Columbia Law Review Vol. 116, No. 8 (Dec. 2016).16 “Refugees Flee from the Earth,” The New York Times Magazine (July 26, 2020). 17 “Two-Thirds of the World Faces Severe Water Shortages,” The New York Times (Feb. 12, 2016); Human Rights Commission, Figures at a Glance (August 2020).18 “Explaining Extreme Events of 2017 from a Climate Perspective,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol. 100, No. 1 (January 2019).

19 World Meteorological Organization, Provisional Report on the State of the Global Climate 2020 (December 2020).20 “Addressing Security Council, Pacific Island President Calls Climate Change Defining Issue of Next Century, Calls for Special Representative on Issue,” United Nations (July 11, 2018).21 “Climate Change in the Sahel: How Can Cash Transfers Help Protect the Poor?” Brookings Future Development (Dec. 4, 2019).22 “Climate Change Recognized as ‘Threat Multiplier’, UN Security Council Debates Its Impact on Peace,” UN News (Jan. 25, 2019).23 “Climate Wars? A Systematic Review of Empirical Analyses on the Links Between Climate Change and Violent Conflict,” International Studies Review Vol. 19, No. 4 (December 2017).24 “Climate Change and Conflict Are a Cruel Combo that Stalk the World’s Most Vulnerable,” ICRC (July 9, 2020).25 WMO, State of the Global Climate 2020.26 UN Charter, Art. 24.

27 UN Security Council, “Provisional Verbatim Record of the Three Thousand and Forty-Sixth Meeting” (Jan. 31, 1992).28 UN Security Council, Res. 2349 (March 31, 2017).29 UN Security Council, Res. 2408 (March 27, 2018).30 UN Charter, Art. 39.31 “Is Climate Change a Threat to International Peace & Security?” Michigan Journal of International Law (forthcoming 2021).32 “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” Executive Office of the President (January 2021).33 “Executive Order 14013: Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration,” Executive Office of the President (February 2021).34 “National Security Strategy,” Executive Office of the President (February 2015).35 “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance,” Executive Office of the President (March 2021).

This EO also requires that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan develop a comprehensive report for the President on climate change’s impact on migration as well as its international security implications. While it remains unclear how results of this report will be implemented, this signals an important willingness to think broadly about the relationship between climate change and immigration patterns. Relatedly, a reinvigorated role for climate-security matters in the forthcoming National Security Strategy (NSS) is expected, a document that sets the tone for the new administration’s national security policies.

Since President George H.W. Bush, every US president has issued an NSS that squarely addresses climate change and national security. For example, President Barack Obama’s 2015 NSS stated that, “The present-day effects of climate change are being felt from the Arctic to the Midwest. Increased sea levels and storm surges threaten coastal regions, infrastructure, and property. In turn, the global economy suffers, compounding the growing costs of preparing and restoring infrastructure.”34 In a prescient nod to the importance of recognizing non-traditional security threats, the 2015 NSS made clear the high priority of “meet[ing] the urgent

challenges posed by climate change and infectious disease.” While climate change was omitted from the Trump Administration’s 2017 NSS, the Biden Administration’s Interim NSS states that, “The climate crisis has been centuries in the making … if we fail to act now, we will miss our last opportunity to avert the most dire consequences of climate change for the health of our people, our economy, our security, and our planet.”35 n

What is the true pace of climate change in the Arctic, and how will this impact both US interests and Russia and China’s ambitions in the High North?

How can the US renew climate science efforts at the Arctic Council?

Does the US have the necessary relationships and authorities to prepare for an uptick in food insecurity and increasing natural resource conflicts in the African Sahel?

Is the US prepared for massive migration in the Pacific and other parts of the world?

Questions for the Climate-Security CenturyAs we look ahead to the challenges of the climate-security century, the most salient questions that arise include:

By identifying, planning for, and resourcing the three climate hotspots, the US will find itself in a much better position to reinvigorate the interagency process and reclaim US leadership in addressing the challenges of climate change across the globe.

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Long-Term Care After COVID: A Roadmap for Law Reform

Between May 2020 and January 2021, 94% of US nursing homes experienced at least one COVID-19 outbreak.1 And nursing home residents—isolated from family and friends,2 dependent on staff often tasked with providing care to far more residents than feasible, and sometimes crowded into rooms with three or more people3—succumbed to the virus at record rates. By March 2021, nursing home residents accounted for a quarter of all US COVID-19-related deaths. The poor conditions in nursing homes that have been exposed by the pandemic are symptomatic of long-standing problems in the industry. Fortunately, as I discuss in the Georgetown Law Journal Online,4 there are a series of practical reforms that could readily improve the quality of nursing home care, in large part by changing the incentives for nursing home providers.

“A key problem exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic is the danger of chronic understaffing in nursing homes.”

By Professor Nina A. Kohn

Professor Nina Kohn has become a leading voice for reforming long-term care in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Her recent articles on regulating nursing homes and other forms of long-term care have been published in The Washington Post, The Hill, Georgetown Law Journal Online, and elsewhere. She has been quoted in more than 600 news stories in the past year, and has testified on long-term care issues before the New York legislature. Also the Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Elder Law at Yale Law, Kohn is the author of Elder Law: Practice, Policy, and Problems (Wolters Kluwer, 2d ed. 2020). At Syracuse Law she teaches torts, elder law, and trust and estates. This short article was originally published in Spring 2021 in Bill of Health, the blog of Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School.

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The Danger of Chronic UnderstaffingA key problem exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic is the danger of chronic under-staffing in nursing homes. Low staffing levels—and especially low levels of nursing staff 5—predict facilities’ inabilities to control COVID-19 outbreaks and avoid fatalities.6

The dangers of understaffing were an open secret long before the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, researchers had shown that most facilities lacked the staff necessary to avoid systemic neglect.7 Likewise, pre-pandemic nursing homes’ inspection reports provided ample evidence of facilities lacking the staff needed to care for residents, such as those needed to help residents eat without choking, maintain mobility, or simply stay clean. ProPublica’s database of nursing home inspection reports, for example, turns up scores of cases of residents with maggot-infested wounds and skin in the two years preceding the pandemic.8

Chronic understaffing doesn’t just result in bad care: it can be lethal. For example, when staff members are not available to assist residents who need help to stand or walk, residents may fatally injure themselves attempting to get about on their own. Understaffing is also associated with abusive practices. A 2018 Human Rights Watch report found that US nursing homes routinely overmedicate residents with dementia to make them docile and easier to control.9

This practice can increase the risk of death and strip residents of their personalities—as one daughter put it, her mother became a “zombie.” Nevertheless, as a 2017 review found, under-staffed facilities appear to use psychotropic medication as a “cost-saving alternative to hiring additional RNs.”10

Understaffing is commonplace because while federal regulations set expected outcomes for facilities, regulators do not hold nursing homes accountable for those outcomes. Instead, when nursing homes are found to have violated federal regulations designed to protect residents, they typically face no fine or other penalty; they are simply directed to correct the deficiency. Therefore, unscrupulous providers can increase profits by short-staffing facilities. Indeed, private equity firms continue to buy low-quality nursing homes11 because of the profit such facilities can generate—especially when owners are willing to sacrifice resident safety to maximize profit.12

The Power of the Federal WalletTo address this issue, federal regulators could change the way nursing home penalties are assessed and enforced, imposing more significant fines and using the full range of penalties that federal statutes already authorize. This includes not only monetary fines but also holds on new admissions and suspensions of payment. Regulators also could require facilities to have minimum direct care staffing levels that accord with what researchers have found necessary to provide humane care (slightly over four hours per resident, per day).13

In addition, regulators could require facilities to use a substantial portion of their revenue to care for residents. For example, New Jersey has adopted legislation requiring nursing homes to spend 90% of annual aggregate revenue on direct resident care. This approach could prevent unscrupulous providers from pocketing funds needed for resident care.

The key will be to require financial transparency so that facilities cannot hide profit as expenses and to set spending minimums high (such as New Jersey’s 90% requirement and unlike the 70% threshold New York adopted as part of its 2021 Budget Bill).14

The federal government—the primary payer for long-term care services in the US—could use the power of its wallet to incentivize better care. It could pay nursing homes that provide high-quality care more than those that provide substandard care. Elsewhere in the US healthcare system, pay-for-performance is the norm. But nursing homes that provide excellent care are generally still paid the same as those that provide shoddy care. The federal government also could improve long-term care by fixing a fundamental market failure that it has created. The federal statute governing Medicaid requires states to cover long-term care services provided in nursing homes to Medicaid beneficiaries, but it allows states to choose whether to cover those services in more integrated settings. States that wish to provide home and community-based services (HCBS) to Medicaid beneficiaries needing long-term care typically apply for a “Section 1915(c)” waiver from the federal government. Under this waiver program, states are not required to provide HCBS on equal terms with institutional long-term care services, but rather they may cap the number of beneficiaries served under the waiver and the cost of services provided. The result is that most states have waiting lists for at least one type of Medicaid-funded HCBS care, and approximately three-quarters of states limit how many hours of care they

provide to beneficiaries receiving services through a HCBS waiver program. This institutional bias could be eliminated by amending the underlying statute, as draft legislation being circulated by Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and a handful of US senators would do.15

But Is There an Appetite for Reform? The good news is that, by exposing the dangers of the current system, the pandemic could create an opening for these types of meaningful law reform. Unfortunately, the political response to COVID-19 provides reason for skepticism about the extent of reform it will spark. At both the state and federal levels, policymakers’ primary response to concerns about COVID-19 transmission within nursing homes was not to protect nursing home residents, but rather to protect the nursing home industry. As I outline in The Hill, roughly half the states in the US granted immunity to nursing homes amid the crisis (some even went so far as to grant immunity from criminal liability and from acts that

would otherwise be construed as gross negligence).16 Similarly, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services used his authority under the Federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (the “PREP Act”) to bar state and federal claims against nursing homes that unreasonably administer or use infection “countermeasures” such as masks and testing.17 In addition, policymakers responding by waiving—and even eliminating in some cases—existing requirements designed to protect residents. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by waiving a series of regulatory requirements for nursing homes and suspending most enforcement actions. Arkansas even rolled back its minimum staffing requirements in response to industry lobbying. That said, there are some promising measuring under consideration. For example, at the federal level, there is the Dingell proposal, as well as a Senate bill introduced by Pennsylvania’s senators that would expand the number of poorly

performing nursing homes subject to additional inspections.18 Moreover, the Biden Administration has proposed an additional $400 billion (over eight years) for HCBS, which would help increase access to alternatives to nursing home care, although it would not eliminate Medicaid’s bias in favor of institutional care. States also are considering reform. For example, proposed legislation pending in Rhode Island would require nursing homes to provide the 4.11 hours of care per resident, per day19 that research has indicated is necessary to avoid neglect (see footnote 13). In short, policymakers interested in improving long-term care have a variety of straight-forward options available to them. Accordingly—as I suggested in The Washington Post, examining the politics of nursing home reform 20 —the key question is not what can be done to fix America’s long-term care crisis. The key question is whether there is the political appetite to make the changes that are so clearly needed. n

“The good news is that, by exposing the dangers of the current system, the pandemic could create an opening for these types of meaningful law reform.”

1 “COVID-19 in Nursing Homes: Most Homes Had Multiple Outbreaks and Weeks of Sustained Transmission from May 2020 through January 2021,” US Government Accountability Office (May 2021).2 “Is Extended Isolation Killing Older Adults in Long-Term Care?” AARP (Sept. 3, 2020).3 “Black and Latino Nursing Home Deaths in Illinois Linked to Overcrowding,” WMAQ-TV (NBC Chicago) (April 30, 2021).4 “Nursing Homes, COVID-19, and the Consequences of Regulatory Failure,” Georgetown Law Journal Online Vol. 110 (Spring 2021).5 “Nurse Staffing and Coronavirus Infections in California Nursing Homes,” Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice Vol. 21, No. 3 (August 2020).

6 “Staffing Levels and COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks in US Nursing Homes,” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Vol. 68, No. 11 (November 2020).7 “Registered Nurse Staffing Falls Short in Most Nursing Homes,” Skillednursingnews.com (March 15, 2018).8 “Nursing Home Inspect,” Propublica.org (May 2021).9 “‘They Want Docile:’ How Nursing Homes in the United States Overmedicate People with Dementia,” Human Rights Watch (February 2018).10 “Variation in Use of Antipsychotic Medications in Nursing Homes in the United States: A Systematic Review,” BMC Geriatrics Vol. 17, No. 1 (January 2017).

11 “Private Equity Ownership Is Killing People at Nursing Homes,” Vox.com (Feb. 22, 2021).

12 “Does Private Equity Investment in Healthcare Benefit Patients? Evidence from Nursing Homes,” NYU Stern School of Business (Nov. 12, 2020).

13 “The Need for Higher Minimum Staffing Standards in US Nursing Homes,” Health Services Insights Vol. 9 (April 2016).14 State of New York, Budget Bill S.2507/A.3007 (Jan. 20, 2021).15 “Draft: A Bill to Amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act to Require Coverage of Home and Community- Based Services Under the Medicaid Program” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) (2021).

16 “Nursing Homes Need Increased Staffing, Not Legal Immunity,” The Hill (May 23, 2021).

17 “Guidance for PREP Act Coverage for COVID-19 Screening Tests at Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities, Long-Term-Care Facilities, and Other Congregate Facilities,” US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (Aug. 31, 2020).18 US Congress (116th), Nursing Home Reform Modernization Act of 2020 S.4866 (October 2020).19 State of Rhode Island, Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act S.0002 (January 2021).20 “Covid Awakened Americans to a Nursing Home Crisis. Now Comes the Hard Part,” The Washington Post (April 28, 2021).

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In October 2020, Dean Boise joined a 10-member Advisory Council to govern the newly formed ABA Legal Education Police Practices Consortium. As a member of the Advisory Council, Dean Boise will help lead Consortium efforts to leverage

expertise across the ABA and among collaborating law schools to develop projects that promote better police practices throughout the United States. “As a former police officer and commissioner on the Cleveland, OH, Community Police Commission, I care deeply about building positive community/police relations,” said Dean Boise. “Syracuse is fully committed to helping the Consortium use the combined power of the bar association and law schools to effect change to police practices. The Consortium also will provide our students with meaningful opportunities to contribute to the imperative work of police reform locally and nationally.”

Dean Boise Joins Governing Advisory Council of ABA Legal Education Police Practices Consortium

College of Law News

The College of Law rose nine places in the 2022 edition of the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, released in April 2021. Among drivers of this improvement, the College’s median LSAT rose one point to 155 and the Undergraduate GPA increased from 3.33 to 3.53. In fact, Syracuse Law was among just 25% of law schools that improved both LSAT and UGPA, tying for the largest increase in UGPA. The College’s selectivity improved by seven percentage points, the bar passage rate climbed from 85% to 88%, and the influential Judges/Lawyers Assessment Score went from 2.9 to 3.0. Notably, the Advocacy Program climbed from #15 to #11, marking a 16-place rise in the rankings in the last two years. “The U.S. News rankings are just one way to measure our success,” noted Dean Boise. “Despite their pervasiveness, we remain singularly focused on our mission, which is to graduate extraordinary law students who go on to lead extraordinary lives enriched by all they learn and experience at Syracuse Law.”

College of Law Rises Nine Places in U.S. News Rankings

The College hosted a star-studded Americans with Disabilities Act Symposium in April 2021, commemorating the ADA’s 30th anniversary, as well as the Disability Law and Policy Program’s 15th anniversary and a special ADA volume of the Syracuse Law Review. Guest speakers included disability law luminaries Alison Barkoff, Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, US Department of Health and Human Services; international disability rights activist Judy Heumann; and Arlene Mayerson, Founding Directing Attorney Emerita, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. Many of the papers discussed during the symposium will be published in a future edition of the Law Review, focusing on the past, present, and future of disability rights domestically and internationally.

Disability Rights Luminaries Speak at DLPP/Syracuse Law Review ADA Symposium

To honor the sacrifice and memory of two civil rights activists from Natchez, MS, Professor Paula Johnson and students in the Cold Case Justice Initiative helped launch the Wharlest and Exerlena Jackson Legacy Project with a two-day virtual symposium for public junior and senior high school students in both Natchez and Syracuse on March 26-27, 2021. In addition to honoring the Jacksons’ service and sacrifice (both were active in the NAACP, and in 1967 Wharlest was killed in what the FBI considers a Ku Klux Klan attack), the Legacy Project aims to provide resources to enable students to achieve their life and career goals and to continue the Jacksons’ dedication to civic engagement. To assist the project, Syracuse Law students have volunteered as “Life Buddies”—or mentors—to help school students navigate the next steps in their lives. Junior high and high school students who register in the Life Buddies program will be assigned a law student who can answer questions about the path to college and other career decisions.

CCJI Helps Launch Wharlest and Exerlena Jackson Legacy Project

Exploring policing reform efforts in Onondaga County and connecting those local and community efforts to the broader national conversation about policing practices, Syracuse Law hosted the “Policing and Reform in Onondaga County and Beyond” panel discussion in April 2021. Sponsored by the Syracuse Civics Initiative and hosted by Dean Boise and Professor Lauryn Gouldin, the discussion

featured Syracuse Police Chief Kent Buckner; Lisa Kurtz, Innovative Policing Program, Georgetown Law; Jimmy Oliver, Syracuse Police Director of Community Engagement; Sarah Reckess L’09, Director, Center for Court Innovation-Syracuse Office; and Onondaga County Legislator Vernon Williams Jr. The panel addressed key provisions of the Police Reform and Reinvention Plans recently developed by Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse, including use-of-force policies, police-community relations, and alternatives to arrest.

Syracuse Law Hosts Policing Reform Panel Discussion

First time and ultimate bar passage rates for Syracuse Law graduates were posted in March 2021. Of first-time bar exam takers in the New York jurisdiction, 81.31% passed (compared to the state average of 85.93%). The Ultimate Bar Passage rate for students graduating in the 2018 calendar year was 94.08%.

First-Time and Ultimate Bar Passage Rates Released

On May 7, 2021, Syracuse Law celebrated the graduation of both the classes of 2020 and 2021 with a virtual Commencement ceremony featuring an address by Joanna Geraghty L’97, President and COO of JetBlue. “The rule of law can never have enough friends across the globe, where it can appear to be under siege at different times and in different circumstances,” Geraghty told the graduates. “Syracuse taught you that, be a friend to the rule of law wherever and whenever you come across it—and you will.” Class of 2021 President Troy D. Parker and SBA LL.M. Senator Fildous Hamid offered their colleagues words of congratulations and encouragement. Alicia Loomis L’19, an associate at Costello, Cooney & Fearon PLLC, sang the National Anthem and Alma Mater. In addition to the virtual Commencement, on May 6 the College held a virtual awards ceremony honoring student, faculty, and staff excellence.

Celebrating Classes of 2020 and 2021

(L to R) Dean Boise, Professor Laura Lape, and Vice Dean Keith Bybee at the filming of the special 2021 Commencement ceremony.

Professor Doron Dorfman (top left) and Professor Arlene Kanter (bottom right) hosted the ADA@30 Symposium.

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Professor Kanter Moderates Fulbright ADA Panel Professor Arlene Kanter, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence and Director of the Disability Law and Policy Program, moderated a panel discussion in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part of the Fulbright Impact in the Field Panel Series, the discussion convened more than 300 Fulbright alumni scholars with disabilities, accessibility and inclusion advocates, and legal experts.

Beth Kubala Appointed US Army Civilian Aide Teaching Professor Beth Kubala, Executive Director of the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, was named one of six civilian aides to the Secretary of the Army. CASAs promote good relations between the Army and the public and advise the secretary on regional issues. Thanking the new CASAs, Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy said, “These are unprecedented times, and the Army is fortunate to have you in the community interacting with civic leaders, educators, and businesses.”

September 2020Professor Barnes Named Associate Dean for Faculty ResearchKristen Barnes—an expert in property and housing law, anti-discrimination,

and civil rights—succeeded Professor Lauryn Gouldin as Associate Dean for Faculty Research. “As Associate Dean, Professor Barnes leads the College’s continued placement of faculty scholarship in top-tier law journals, brings noted law experts to Dineen Hall to facilitate the exchange of ideas, encourages grant-funded research projects, and broadens our faculty’s involvement with noted institutions around the world,” says Dean Boise.

Professors Ghosh and Gouldin Appointed as Crandall Melvin ProfessorsRecognizing their significant scholarship and thought leadership, as well as their excellence in teaching, Dean Boise re-appointed Professor Shubha Ghosh as Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and appointed Professor Lauryn Gouldin as Crandall Melvin Associate Professor of Law, each for a five-year term.

November 2020

DHS Senior Executive Matthew Kronisch Joins SPL The Institute for Security Policy and Law (SPL) welcomed Matthew L. Kronisch as a

Distinguished Fellow-in-Residence. Kronisch is the first-ever Department of Homeland Security Office of the General Counsel Senior Executive assigned to an academic institution under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act. Kronisch conducts research, teaches homeland intelligence topics, and serves as a career advisor for the Syracuse University Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence.

College of Law Faculty News

August 2020

Professor Ghosh Submits Public Interest Statement to Trade CommissionSubmitted to the US International Trade Commission, Professor Shubha Ghosh’s Public Interest Statement raises questions around a finding that Daewoong Pharmaceuticals had misappropriated Medytox’s trade secrets in developing and importing Nabota, a competing botulinum toxin product. Ghosh expressed concerns about the anti-competitive effects of the administrative judge’s determinations.

Professor Johnson Appointed to Judicial CommissionProfessor Paula Johnson, Co-Director of the Cold Case Justice Initiative, was appointed the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission. The Commission advises decision-makers throughout the New York court system on issues affecting both employees and litigants of color. All members are appointed by the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.

Professor Doron Dorfman teaching in September 2020.

December 2020Professor Dorfman Publishes 2020 Israeli Municipal Accessibility IndexFor the second year—in his capacity as an affiliated researcher at aChord-Social Psychology for Social Change—Professor Doron Dorfman led a study on attitudes toward disability in Israel and the state of disabled Israelis. The Municipal Accessibility Index also examines Israeli public opinion about experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Beth Kubala joins fellow civilian aides to the Secretary of the Army at an August 2020 swearing-in ceremony.

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January 2020Faculty Participate in Society of Socio-Economists Annual MeetingSeveral College of Law faculty members participated in the 2021 Society of Socio-Economists Annual Meeting, hosted by the College of Law and titled “Pressing Social Issues.” Joining Professor Robert Ashford, Program Co-Chair for the AALS Section on Socio-Economics, were professors Christian Day, David Driesen, and Shubha Ghosh.

April 2021Professor Gardner Receives Meredith Teaching Recognition AwardTeaching Professor Shannon Gardner was awarded a

Syracuse University 2021-2022 Meredith Teaching Recognition Award for Continuing Excellence in Teaching, recognizing her contributions to teaching and learning. The award is one of the highest teaching honors bestowed by the University.

May 2021Wentworth-Mullin Appointed to NYSBA Committee on VeteransChantal Wentworth-Mullin, Managing

Director of the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, was appointed to the New York State Bar Association Committee on Veterans. Wentworth-Mullin will assist her colleagues in program development, advocacy, and strategic collaborations that address the legal issues and needs of military servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

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June 2021

Professors Berger and Gouldin PromotedDean Boise announced that—with the concurrence of Chancellor Syverud— and the University Board of Trustees, professors Todd Berger and Lauryn Gouldin have been promoted to the rank of full professor.

In January 2021, rising 2L Matthew Yanez—recipient of a Dean’s Scholarship and a JK Wonderland Scholarship—was chosen to be an American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) summer intern. “This is a prestigious summer internship that receives hundreds of applications each year from

undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities from all academic fields within the US,” explains Professor Arlene Kanter, Director of the Disability Law and Policy Program. “Only a fraction of those students are selected each year.”

College of Law Student News

In August 2020, 3L Lisa Cole was among 12 law students from around the country honored with a Ms. JD Fellowship. According to Ms. JD—a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to support and improve the experiences of women law students and lawyers—fellows are selected based on

their academic performance, leadership, and dedication to advancing the status of women in the profession.

Lisa Cole Honored with Ms. JD Fellowship

In November 2020, father and daughter law school students Scott and Lauren Deutsch were profiled by Syracuse University News: “He told me how welcoming the school was,” Lauren—a rising 2L—says, referring to her father’s advice about choosing Syracuse Law. “I want to be at a school where everyone is welcome, where the diversity is enormous, and I’ve found that here.”

In the story, rising 3L Scott—an Army veteran—notes Syracuse’s strong commitment to veterans and their families: “It’s a major point of pride; you see why veterans are drawn to campus.”

The Father-Daughter Duo Taking on the College of Law

At a December 2020 ceremony, rising 3L Leita Powers was awarded the Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association Scullin Scholarship. The award—named for the Hon. Frederick J. Scullin Jr. L’64—is given each year to an exemplary College of Law student who shows a keen interest in federal practice.

Powers Awarded Scullin Scholarship

Yanez Chosen for Prestigious AAPD Summer Internship

College of Law Faculty News

Dean Boise Appointed SU Board of Trustees Representative As Dean Representative to the Board of Trustees, appointed by Chancellor Kent Syverud, Dean Boise will participate, ex officio, on the Board of Trustees’ Academic Affairs Committee, and report to the Board at Executive Committee and full Board meetings.

Robert Ashford Christian Day

David Driesen Shubha Ghosh

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At its May 2021 awards ceremony, rising 3L Ryan Marquette received the Student Veterans Organization’s Best for Vets Award, given to the student veteran who has done the most to help fellow student vets succeed on and off campus. Marquette serves as President of Veterans’ Issues, Support Initiative, and Outreach Network (VISION) and President of the National Security Student Association.

Marquette Receives Best for Vets Award

Sharon Otasowie L’21—an Air Force ROTC Cadet and US Air Force JAG Corps graduate law candidate—had the honor of performing MC duties at the 104th Chancellor’s ROTC Review Ceremony in April 2021. The Chancellor hosts the annual ceremony to recognize the distinguished performance of cadets in the University’s Army and Air Force ROTC programs.

Otasowie MCs ROTC Review

Rising 3Ls Abigail Neuviller ’19, Penny Quinteros, and Meghan Steenburgh G’97, and rising 2L Miriam Mokhemar, were among a group of 13 undergraduate, graduate, and law students awarded Downey Scholarships by the Syracuse University Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (ICCAE) in May 2021. The award recognizes academic excellence, commitment to public service, and potential to bring diverse and distinctive backgrounds and experiences to the US Intelligence Community.

Law Students Awarded ICCAE Downey Scholarships

In February 2021, rising 3L Hilda Frimpong was elected by her peers as the first Black student to lead the Law Review as Editor-in-Chief since it began publishing in 1949. “I am honored to break down barriers as the first person of color and first Black woman in this role. I am proud that my expertise and unique perspective will be added to the legacy of the Law Review,” says Frimpong.

Added Law Review Faculty Advisor Professor Robin Paul Malloy, “This is wonderful news for Hilda, the Law Review, and the College. I am proud to serve as Advisor during this groundbreaking and overdue moment in its history.”

Frimpong Becomes the First Black Student to Lead Syracuse Law Review

In his March 2021 Syracuse Stories profile, Joseph Jasper— a rising 2L and US Army Chief Warrant Officer—spoke about how the “stars aligned” after transferring to Fort Drum in Upstate New York and learning about Syracuse Law’s JDinteractive program: “I was enticed by the hybrid format and the fact that it was accredited by the American Bar Association.” For Jasper, attending law school is a “dream come true:” “I have not stopped being excited about the opportunity to attend such a reputable university in pursuit of my legal education.” Read more about Jasper’s story at http://law.syr.edu/news_events/news/joseph-jasper-pursuing-the-dream-of-a-law- degree-online

Jasper Pursues His Dream of a Law Degree Online

In the third March 2021 profile, Syracuse Stories turned the spotlight on rising 3L Mazaher Kaila, an immigrant from Sudan who is driven by civic engagement: “It’s a core value for me. I have always aspired to help the communities I’m from.” Kaila is not waiting until she graduates to assume the role of advocate and change-maker. She serves as President of the Black Law Students Association and is leading efforts to help the University administration address issues of diversity and inclusion. Read more about Kaila’s story at http://law.syr.edu/news_events/news/mazaher-kaila-a-powerful-voice-for-justice

A Powerful Voice for JusticeIn her March 2021 Syracuse Stories profile, rising 2L Tia Thevenin ’18—a former standout Syracuse University hurdler—discusses picking herself up from the disappointment of

not competing for Team Canada in the 2020 Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic: “I had planned to go to law school anyway, so I sped up my timeline. Walking away from the sport—and Team Canada—was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. It’s also exciting to do something new.” Thevenin adds, “Studying law is not so different from running track. My goal is not to compete with my classmates but to inspire them to reach their fullest potential.” Read more about Thevenin’s story at http://law.syr.edu/news_events/news/1l-tia-thevenin-an-olympic-sized-dream

Thevenin Trades Her Running Spikes for Law Books

The College of Law mourns the passing of John P. Goerner, a Class of 2023 student in the JDinteractive program, in April 2021. An avid hockey and rugby player, Goerner held a B.S. in Information Systems from Bellevue University, Nebraska, and an M.B.A. from Alvernia University in Reading, PA.

John planned to use his law degree to represent the less fortunate. “John was a fighter,” Associate Dean for Online Education Kathleen O’Connor told The Daily Orange. “He was a wonderful student and an exemplary man.”

I N M E M O R I A M

Photo: Larry Miller

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In May 2021, Dean Boise shared two important developments addressing efforts to achieve a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable law school community. First, following recommendations by the Curriculum Committee and the Inclusion Council (formerly the Inclusion Initiatives Committee), a new three-pronged Cultural Competency Curriculum will be launched in fall 2021, applicable to all students beginning with the Class of 2024.

The new curriculum consists of:

A diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) primer module for Orientation and JDinteractive residencies.

A 1L DEI Summer Initiative to develop themes and materials that will become part of the 1L curriculum.

A graduation requirement, applicable to students beginning with the Class of 2024, which may be satisfied by selecting a cultural competency-related course from a list of existing courses and new courses to be developed.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

College of Law Introduces Cultural Competency Curriculum

Professor Suzette Meléndez with students in the Children’s Rights and Family Law Clinic.

Dean Boise has appointed Professor Suzette Meléndez as Syracuse Law’s first Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion. “In this position, Professor Meléndez will work with me and across the entire College to lead ongoing efforts to foster a learning community that seeks to address and eradicate racism and other forms of discrimination, that values and builds on our community’s diversity, and that equips our students with the cultural competence necessary to function effectively and ethically in 21st century legal practice,” says Dean Boise. In doing so, Professor Meléndez will draw and continue upon her work as Chair of the Inclusion Council, which will continue to meet regularly to evaluate the College climate and make recommendations for actions to create and sustain inclusivity. In addition to her new duties, Professor Meléndez will continue her teaching in the area of Family Law.

Second, the new Hon. Sandra L. Townes L’76 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Resource Center will open in fall 2021. Named for the pioneering jurist and educator—who was the first Black woman appointed as a federal judge in the Eastern District of New York— the Center will be located in the Susan K. Reardon L’76 Room in Dineen Hall’s Law Library. Developed in coordination with the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), the Center will be a space for students and faculty to convene and curate resources for sharing, experiencing, and actualizing diversity, equity, and inclusion at the College and in the law profession. “We envision the center to both serve as a space to promote diversity and cultural competence and a safe space for minority students to engage with one another,” says rising 3L Mazaher Kaila, 2021-2022 Student Bar Association President, who was President of BLSA in 2020-2021. “The Student Resource Center will begin as an extended library space where students can access computers, printers, white boards, and books, as well as hold discussions and plan events. Our vision is for this Center eventually to offer student advising, mental health support, support for students with disabilities, and trainings and other tools essential for reaching diversity and inclusion goals.” n

Professor Meléndez Named Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion

“We envision the center to both serve as a space to promote diversity and cultural competence and a safe space for minority students to engage with one another.” —3L Mazaher Kaila

The College’s new Cultural Competency Curriculum launches this fall with the Class of 2024.

Photograph Credit: Syracuse Post-Standard

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Given the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic, the Travis H.D. Lewin Advocacy Honor Society could have been forgiven if it had stepped back this year and waited for the dust to settle. But in 2020-2021, students, professors, coaches, and judges did quite the opposite. They embraced virtual tournaments; added, launched, planned—and hosted—competitions; and boosted Syracuse’s national reputation to such an extent, Syracuse Law is now ranked number 11 in the nation for Trial Advocacy by U.S. News and World Report, having climbed 16 places in two years. That’s on top of placing number seven in Fordham Law’s 2020 Trial Competition Performance rankings. Among the highlights of this academic year, two teams won their regional rounds for the second year in a row: the Black Law Students Association Trial Team and the National Moot Court Competition Team. The BLSA team then progressed to the elite eight of their national tourney, the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Competition. In February 2021, Syracuse swept the National Trial Competition Region 2 tournament, also for the second year in a row, meaning the Program again sent two teams to the NTC national finals and lifted the Tiffany Cup—awarded by the NYSBA Trial Lawyers Section, which sponsors the NTC New York Regional—for the third year in a row. Syracuse’s national reputation undoubtedly was boosted by the excellence of hosted competitions. In October 2020, the second Syracuse National Trial Competition became one of the first live-streamed tourneys in the nation. The SNTC organizers convened 22 top teams, managed nearly 50 trials, and gathered an awe-inspiring 150 volunteer evaluators, including many of our alumni. Loyola Law School Los Angeles prevailed over Georgetown Law in the final round.

Advocacy Program

Eleven Up: Advocacy Program’s Reputation Goes from Strength to Strength

The Program then launched a new international competition in March 2021. The Transatlantic Negotiation Competition—a collaboration with Queen’s University, Belfast—brought together 60 students and judges (including alumni) from 23 countries, with Liberty University School of Law winning the inaugural tournament. Next year, these two hosted competitions will be joined by the new National Disability Law Appellate Competition. Co-hosted by Syracuse Law and the National Disabled Law Students Association, NDLAC will feature a minimum of 12 teams from law schools across the United States competing in an appellate brief writing component and an oral argument component. “NDLAC is the first national appellate advocacy competition to focus exclusively on disability law. It will enable students to develop their oral advocacy skills while simultaneously navigating a challenging and important area of disability law,” says Professor Michael Schwartz, Director of the Disability Rights Clinic. With the addition of NDLAC, Syracuse Law now boasts three invitation-only competitions in each of the recognized advocacy divisions—Alternative Dispute Resolution, Appellate, and Trial. In intercollegiate tournaments, notably this was the first year that JDinteractive students competed, and JDi students won both the Hancock Estabrook Oral Advocacy Competition and the Bond, Schoeneck & King Alternative Dispute Resolution Competition. In sum, rather than diminishing or even shutting down advocacy tournaments and training during the coronavirus pandemic, faculty, students, and alumni volunteers embraced online competition, allowing new opportunities to be seized.

2020-2021 INTERCOLLEGIATE COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTSIn late November 2021, there was good news from Boston, where Joseph Tantillo L’21 and rising 3Ls Kelsey Gonzalez and Olivia Stevens won the Boston Regional of the appellate division National Moot Court Competition. Tantillo also won Best Oralist. This success marked the second consecutive year Syracuse won the Boston Regional, and that Tantillo took home his individual award. Emily Brown L’09 and David Katz L’17 coached the team.

In February 2021, the Black Law Student Association trial division team—Ken Knight L’21, Sharon Otasowie L’21, and rising 3Ls Abigail Neuviller and Alexis Eka, coached by John Boyd II L’16—advanced from the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Competition regionals for the second year in a row.

Sharon Otasowie L’21 and rising 3L Robert Rose posted award-winning performances at the 2020 Buffalo-Niagara Trial Competition in October 2021. Otasowie won Best Overall Advocate and Rose offered the Best Direct Examination.

In March 2021, Syracuse swept the National Trial Competition Region 2 tournament for the second year in a row. This double win meant that the College once again sent two teams to the NTC national finals and took home the NYSBA’s Tiffany Cup for the third year in a row. Joanne Van Dyke L’87 and Peter Hakes coached rising 3Ls Marina DeRosa and Amanda Nardozza, who took first place, and runners-up Joe Celotto L’21 and Christy O’Neil L’21.

The 2020-2021 Black Law Students Association trial team competes online.

HIGH PRAISEAs he rendered the panel’s decision on the final round of the Lionel O. Grossman Trial Competition in March 2021, the Hon. Glenn T. Suddaby L’85, Chief United States District Judge, US District Court for the Northern District of New York, addressed the four finalists*, observing: “I’ve been doing this a long time, since law school. I’ve judged a lot of moot court competitions. The four of you are four of the best I’ve ever seen. Those were the two best opening statements in a moot court competition since I’ve been doing this. I’m just so impressed with all of you. You have a great future ahead of you.”

*Alex Eaton L’21 and Tyler Jefferies L’21 (winners); rising 3Ls Will Hendon and Nate Kelder (runners-up)

2021 Award and Scholarship WinnersExecutive Director’s Award: Tyler Jefferies L’21

Ralph E. Kharas Award: Joseph Tantillo L’21

Faculty Advocacy Director’s Award: Sharon Otasowie L’21

International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award: Joseph Celotto L’21 & Christy O’Neil L’21

Richard Risman Appellate Advocacy Award:Joseph Tantillo L’21

Emil Rossi L’72 Scholarship Award: Rising 3L Amanda Nardozza

Lee S. Michaels L’72 Advocate of the Year Scholarship Award: Rising 3L Marina De Rossa

Models of Excellence in Advocacy Award, given in Honor of Everett Gillison L’85: Rising 3Ls Kelsey Gonzales & Olivia Stevens

Order of the Barristers: Carly Cazer L’21, Joseph Celotto L’21, Lisa Cole L’21, Kenneth Knight L’21, Allison Kowalczyk L’21, Christy O’Neil L’21, Sharon Otasowie L’21, Joseph Tantillo L’21

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2020-2021 INTRACOLLEGIATE COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTSAudrey Bimbi L’21 and Carly Cazer L’21 won the 49th Mackenzie Hughes LLP Edmund H. Lewis Appellate Advocacy Competition. The final round, on Oct. 1, 2021, marked the first-ever virtual moot court competition hosted by the Travis H.D. Lewin Advocacy Honor Society. Bimbi also won Best Advocate.

Rising 3Ls Penny Quinteros and Margaret Santandreu won the 2020 College of Law Bond, Schoeneck & King Alternative Dispute Resolution Competition. The final—held virtually in October—was judged by the Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72, Circuit Court of the Seventh Circuit of Virginia (Ret.); James L. Sonneborn, of Bousquet Holstein PLLC; and Brian Butler L’96, a managing member for Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC.

The online final of the BSK Alternative Dispute Resolution Competition, in October 2020.

In March 2021, Allyssa-Rae McGinn won the 11th Hancock Estabrook 1L Oral Advocacy Competition, judged by Dean Boise; the Hon. Mae A. D’Agostino L’80 and the Hon. Thérèse Wiley Dancks L’91, both of the US District Court for the Northern District of New York; and Timothy P. Murphy L’89, Managing Partner, Hancock Estabrook LLP.

Alex Eaton L’21 and Tyler Jefferies L’21 won the 43rd Annual Lionel O. Grossman Trial Competition. Jefferies took home the Best Advocate award. Held virtually for the first time in its history in March 2021, the final round was judged by the Hon. Glenn T. Suddaby L’85, US District Court Judge, Northern District of New York; the Hon. Rodney Thompson L’93, New Jersey Superior Court Judge; and the Hon. Bernadette Romano Clark L’89, New York State Supreme Court Justice.

Rising 2Ls Payton Sorci and Nicco Vocaturo prevailed in the second annual Entertainment and Sports Law Society Negotiation Competition, held on April 8, 2021. The competition was held in conjunction with the seventh annual Entertainment and Sports Law Symposium, the first time both events were held completely online. Competition judges were Professor Elizabeth August L’94; Kevin Belbey L’16, Sports Media Agent, Creative Artists Agency; and Beverly Sarfo, General Counsel, TVO. n

Advocacy Program

A 360° ViewRemarks by Professor Todd Berger, Director of Advocacy Programs, at the 2021 Travis H.D. Lewin Advocacy Honor Society Banquet, April 2021

Syracuse might well be the only law school in the country with a large student organization whose students are deeply integrated into an academic program—our Advocacy Program—which encompasses the fields of trial and appellate advocacy, as well as alternative dispute resolution. No school in the country has five internal advocacy competitions. Few schools host a trial competition as competitive as the Syracuse National Trial Competition. There is only one other school in the world—our co-hosting partner, Queen’s University, Belfast—that holds an international negotiation competition, the Transatlantic Negotiation Competition. There are few schools that match our record of intercollegiate success and offer scholarships to high-performing student advocates, both upon entry to law school and based upon their advocacy success while in school. And there are only 10 other law schools with a higher U.S. News ranking. I’m also proud of our advocacy-focused curriculum, which includes our basic advocacy courses and more advanced offerings, such as advanced trial practice, deposition practice, and jury selection. While some schools might do a few of these things, in short, Syracuse is doing all of them.

July 2020Toward Creating a Disability-Inclusive Law School EnvironmentBBI co-hosted a national symposium of leading law schools titled “Call to Action: Creating a Disability-Inclusive Law School Environment” from July 7-9. The symposium convened top law schools to work on disability inclusiveness and accessibility to share ideas and resources, identify existing barriers, and ultimately form a task force that creates a more disability-inclusive future in legal education. Symposium topics included (1) how ableism and racism function together; (2) racial disparities in COVID-19 that impact students of color; (3) race-based trauma; and (4) the need to combat anti-blackness in disability advocacy. Co-hosts included the ABA Commission on Disability Rights, National Disability Law Student Association, Law School Admissions Council, and Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy, and Innovation at Loyola Law School.

Thirty for ADA@30For the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, University Professor Stephen Kuusisto, Director of the BBI Office of

Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach, published 30 short essays about the law, the anniversary, and the cultural impact of ADA@30. According to Kuusisto, “I’m doing this as a disabled person who’s lived half his life before the ADA. I’m reflecting on the ‘before and after’ of the law.” Read the essays at bbi.syr.edu/2020/07/thirty-for-thirtieth-ada-anniversary.

Burton Blatt Institute

Inclusion, Empowerment, and Participation in Community: BBI’s Year in Review

The Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University builds on the legacy of Burton Blatt, former dean of SU’s School of Education and a pioneering disability rights scholar, to better the lives of people with disabilities.

With its focus on research, education, and outreach in law and public policy, BBI incorporates cross-disability issues, focusing with an intersectional lens across the whole of life, to advance the civic, economic, and social participation of people with disabilities, while building on the University’s longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Below are highlights of BBI’s impactful work this year.

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August 2020Addressing Digital Access and AccessibilityThe Aug. 3, 2020, edition of ADA Live!—a podcast produced for the Southeast ADA Center by BBI—took a deep dive into access for students receiving special education during the coronavirus pandemic. The podcast addressed the shift to online instruction for schools across the United States, which has exposed troubling gaps in digital access and accessibility, especially for low-income students and students with disabilities. “Schools now face the difficult task of re-imagining what instruction will look like in the future,” explain the hosts.

September 2020Analyzing D&I in the Legal ProfessionBBI and the American Bar Association published a groundbreaking report in September 2020, uncovering prevalent reports of discrimination faced by disabled and LGBTQ+ lawyers. The study of 3,590 lawyers from every state and the District of Columbia was among the first and largest undertaking of its kind to focus on lawyers who either identify as having disabilities or who identify as LGBTQ+ in their workplaces. BBI Chairman and University Professor Peter Blanck, lead author of the study, wrote that “the longer-term objective is to help measurably enhance the professional lives of lawyers and others in the profession by understanding and mitigating pernicious sources of attitudinal stigma and structural bias.” Particularly noteworthy, the study examines individuals with multiple identities that intersect, such as people of differing sexual orientations and gender identities who also have disabilities. Read the study at americanbar.org/groups/diversity/disabilityrights/initiatives_awards/aba-bbi.

Professor Blanck Publishes “Disability Law and Policy”Released to mark the 30th anniversary of the ADA, Professor Blanck’s 2020 book is a compendium of stories about how the legal system has responded to the needs of impacted individuals. The Foreword to Disability Law and Policy (Foundation Press) is written by Lex Frieden, an internationally distinguished disability rights scholar and

advocate, and former Chairperson of the US National Council on Disability. “My story is one of many in the modern disability rights movement,” writes Frieden. “In Disability Law and Policy, Peter Blanck retells my story, and the personal experiences of many others living with disabilities, in a master tour of the area.”

BBI to Lead National Center on Employment Policy for Persons with DisabilitiesIn September 2020, BBI received $4.3 million from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to lead a new national Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) on “Disability Inclusive Employment Policy.” RRTC’s goal will be to design and implement a series of studies that produce new data and evidence on policy levers to increase employment rates of persons with disabilities, with the objective of informing current and future policy and program development. According to principal investigator Professor Blanck, RRTC will “ambitiously look across the employment lifecycle, to enhance employment entry, economic outcomes, and career growth.” The five-year project will develop a post-COVID-19 policy framework to accelerate opportunities for employment, career pathways, entrepreneurship, and economic self-sufficiency for youth and adults across the spectrum of disability.

November 2020The Future of Workplace AccommodationTo commemorate the ADA’s 30th anniversary, the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation presented a special section of articles guest-edited by Professor Blanck. At the heart of the ADA’s drive for inclusion was the workplace accommodation principle; the special section highlights emerging research, policy, and law on the future of employment and the accommodation principle for people with disabilities, envisioning a potential future of full disability-inclusive employment. Read JOOR Vol. 31, No. 2 at link.springer.com/journal/10926/volumes-and-issues/31-2.

Imagining Inclusive Public SpacesIn November 2020, BBI and the University of Leeds announced a project to investigate problems caused by unequal access to streets in 10 cities around the world and the way law and government respond to them. As part of its research, the Inclusive Public Space (IPS) project asks pedestrians about their experiences, in particular people with disabilities, older adults, and parents or caregivers. IPS is a five-year project funded by the European Research Council Advanced Grant.

Burton Blatt Institute

December 2020Exploring New Norms in Public Health SurveillanceProfessor Blanck (pictured above, left) and BBI International Distinguished Fellow Paul Harpur (above, right) were awarded a Social Science Research Council Just Tech Covid-19 Rapid-Response Grant—funded by the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation—in December 2020. Their project—“The Unsettling of Old Norms by a New World of COVID-19 Public Health Surveillance”—asks, How has COVID-19 public health surveillance shifted social norms pertaining to health status in public spaces? How are new health norms created by COVID-19 health surveillance creating new sites of disablement in society? How do disability discrimination and ability equality measures apply to people disabled by COVID-19 health surveillance? How can this unsettling of abled and disabled be used to help make a more inclusive society?

February 2021A Crip ReckoningPostponed by the coronavirus pandemic, the University’s celebration of the ADA@30 took place in February 2021. “A Crip Reckoning: Reflections on the ADA@30” featured a distinguished panel of thought-leaders and scholar-activists from the worlds of disability culture, education, advocacy, and innovation. Discussion topics included ableism, cultural change, equity, creativity, and intersectionality. “This event was not a day late and a dollar short,” said Professor Kuusisto. “By taking extra time, we’ve been able to focus on how diverse the disability community really is.”

Reporting on Alternatives to Guardianship A collaboration between BBI and The Arc of Northern Virginia, February 2021 saw the release of a report on the findings and recommendations of the Virginia Supported Decision-Making Pilot Project. This report provides background information and foundational research on supported decision-making as an alternative to guardianship and a way to increase self-determination and enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities. Among the report’s findings, project participants who used supported decision-making showed improved independence and decision-making skills, made better decisions, and had enhanced quality of life.

April 2021Kuusisto Awarded Guggenheim FellowshipIn April 2021 Professor Kuusisto received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, awarded to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or creative ability in the arts. In addition to directing BBI’s Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and

Outreach, Kuusisto is a poet and writer who has authored the memoirs Planet of the Blind, Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening, and Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet’s Journey, as well as the poetry collections Only Bread, Only Light and Letters to Borges.

Inclusivity Through Universal and Sustainable DesignProfessor Blanck spoke at the April American Institute of Architects symposium “Inclusivity in Sustainable Design: Global Universal Design Commission—How Architecture Can Transcend Accessibility, Innovate, and Serve All.” Blanck is also Chairman of the Global Universal Design Commission. The discussion focused on insights, design details, and a critical paradigm shift towards the implementation of Universal Design principles that allow the development of built environments usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for retrofitting or specialized design. n

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Institute for Security Policy and Law

We are amidst an artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. If the last decade was the dawn of the “Age of AI,” then this decade has seen the technology mature as it has begun to be widely deployed. Its growth and use in the next few years will be exponential. However, the use of AI opens a Pandora’s box of legal and security challenges. The law has yet to catch up. Led by the Hon. James E. Baker and Professor Laurie Hobart,

Institute for Security Policy and Law (SPL) researchers are currently exploring these challenges—and trying to bridge the gap between AI reality and AI regulation—funded by a research grant from the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET). Our focus: Ethical decision-making, bias, and data regulation so that the national security community can maximize the benefits of AI and minimize and mitigate the risks. The central question of our research is posed in Baker’s landmark book, The Centaur’s Dilemma: National Security Law for the Coming AI Revolution: What is the appropriate mix of human and AI decision-making?

This is the puzzle known as the “Centaur’s Dilemma.” Just as a centaur is part man and part horse, with AI we must ask the question with each AI application what part should be machine-driven and what part reserved to human decision. The dilemma is in reaping the benefits of operating at machine speed with machine capabilities while maintaining appropriate legal and ethical human control.

SPL Publications: Breaking New GroundAs nearly every AI legal and policy question involves a variant of the Centaur’s Dilemma—and recognizing that policymakers have done little to address AI up until now—SPL research sets out to determine how law and policy can be applied to make AI more accurate and effective while also maintaining necessary human control. We recognized that the answer must start with Socratic inquiry, asking questions such as: What is the purpose? Where is the data from? Is there bias? What laws, if any, can we use to guide AI regulation? And where do gaps exist? In his policy paper, “A Defense Production Act (DPA) for the 21st Century,” Baker addresses these questions by turning to the US Code, noting that there are few statutes that explicitly map federal AI authority. To fill this void, policy—and therefore law—must be flexible. The DPA, for instance, can be extended to AI to promote robust research and development and to adapt to AI’s rapid evolution.

Turning to the courtroom, in Baker, Hobart, and my forthcoming guide “AI for Judges,” we seek to give judges a legal reference, outlining appropriate processes to guide their jurisprudence while flagging the questions they will address when AI issues arise in court. This first-of-its-kind work will offer a primer to judges as they attempt to define AI’s legal scaffolding and answer the Centaur’s Dilemma. Furthermore, my issue brief—“AI Verification: Mechanisms to Ensure AI Arms Control Compliance”—in turn recognizes that many have called for AI controls, but no one has explained exactly how that will be achieved. How, for instance, will we verify that a state or an application is complying with the law or ethical principles? Without verification, it is hard to apply law and ethics. The brief attempts to do just that, proposing first-of-their-kind technical mechanisms that can be used to inspect AI “arms” and providing a means whereby regulatory authorities and the international community can be confident that AI regulations are being respected.

A National Symposium In each of these publications, our guiding philosophy has been an emphasis on explaining technology in “plain language.” We believe anyone can understand AI if given the proper guidance, and we aim to make the field accessible to non-technologists, including lawyers. This philosophy guided an AI symposium for national security lawyers that SPL hosted in October 2020. Acting as a live AI security policy discussion, we first offered the audience a primer on how AI works. Three live panels followed: AI and the Law of Armed Conflict; AI and National Security Ethics: Bias, Data, and Principles; and AI and National Security Decision-Making. Top experts and policymakers fielded audience questions, debated the core policy issues, and introduced the audience to the many challenges and benefits AI will create. The Symposium concluded with a conversation between Baker and CSET Founding Director Jason Matheny (now Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security and Technology, and Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy) about the way AI will transform—or should transform—how and where national security lawyers practice law. The bottom line? Twenty-first-century lawyers will need to understand the constellation of technologies known as AI, or they will be left behind. The symposium provided attendees an overview of the emerging field and broadcasted the importance of AI policy in light of the Centaur’s Dilemma. Ultimately, the Centaur’s Dilemma is a “wicked problem” only answerable by a slate of ethically grey solutions. Recognizing this, SPL’s research recognizes there is no single, definitive answer to this problem. In the past year, however, the SPL and CSET collaboration has made strides towards clarifying the legal landscape, crystalizing the process, and deepening understanding.

AI is here to stay, and it requires serious policy and legal attention. Our hope is that our work will inspire the vigorous thought needed to maximize the benefits of human-machine teaming while mitigating the risks. Visit securitypolicylaw.syr.edu for updates and further reading on AI. n

Human-Machine TeamingSPL Research Asks How Law and Ethics Can Best Regulate Artificial Intelligence

By Matthew Mittelsteadt G’20, AI Research Fellow, Institute for Security Policy and Law

New Frontiers in AI: Policy Briefs and ReportsRead and download at: securitypolicylaw.syr.edu/AI-research.

“A DPA for the 21st Century,” by the Hon. James E. Baker

The Defense Production Act can be an effective tool to bring US industrial might to bear on national security challenges, including those in technology. If updated and used to its full effect, the DPA can encourage the development and governance of AI.

“Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: A Policymaker’s Introduction,” by the Hon. James E. Baker A primer on the limits and promise of three mechanisms to help shape a regulatory regime that maximizes the benefits of AI and minimizes its potential harms.

“AI Verification: Mechanisms to Ensure AI Arms Control Compliance,” by Matthew Mittelsteadt G’20A starting point to explore “AI arms control,” defining the goals of “AI verification” and proposing several mechanisms to support arms inspections and continuous verification.

“National Security Law and the Coming AI Revolution,” by the Hon. James E. Baker, Laurie Hobart G’16, Matt Mittelsteadt G’20, and John CherryObservations from the October 2020 AI law and policy symposium hosted by SPL and the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

“Twenty-first-century lawyers will need to understand the constellation of technologies known as AI, or they will be left behind.”

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Icarus Biomedical—Icarus’ Knoggin technology is a mobile application that allows the user to perform tests to assess the cognitive state of a person with a head injury.

Intermix—A copolymer that adheres the various polymers found in mixed post-consumer plastics, helping increase the amount of plastic that can be effectively recycled.

MicroEra Power—Solutions for retrofitting existing HVAC systems in commercial buildings to make them more cost-effective and energy-efficient.

Organic Robotics—Developed at Cornell University, this platform technology uses networks of sensors to read athletes’ body movements.

NSION Technologies—A media streaming and data management platform that provides real-time, multi-source situational awareness for events and disasters.

Soctera—This Cornell University-based start-up has developed a high-speed, high-voltage transistor to improve radar sensitivity for future 6G cell service.

Skip-Line—Real-time information on fleet location, material usage, and application performance for contractors completing road work.

Optimed—Commercializing University at Buffalo technology, Optimed is currently assessing the patentability of 3D-printed dentures.

Triton Bio—Novel technology to isolate microbes from biological samples for medical diagnostics.

Vita Innovations—A “smart” face mask for emergency rooms and similar clinical environments that monitors patients’ vital signs with embedded technology.

Students such as Goldsmith work with faculty experts at ILC, which advises more than 60 clients a year, ranging from startups and established companies to federal laboratories and other research institutions. Most clients, he says, seek out ILC for actionable research analysis about early-stage technologies. The center responds with a detailed landscape report covering the technology’s intellectual property rights, competition, marketplace, and regularlatory environment. Recent projects include an amphibious, all-terrain vehicle; a wind tunnel simulation-testing tool; a gas turbine for an unmanned aerial system; and an at-home catheterization and sterilization system. “We help clients figure out what to do next,” says ILC Director M. Jack Rudnick L’73. “If the technology is sound, we recommend they contact a patent attorney. If it isn’t, we encourage them to go back to the drawing board. Either way, ILC provides something of value at little or no cost.” Adds Goldsmith: “We help clients understand what they don’t know.”

Success Breeds SuccessILC is open to students of all majors. Most are second- or third-year law students, but Rudnick has noticed a surge in M.B.A. candidates from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and graduate students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. One such participant is Patrick Riolo ’20, G’21, an M.B.A. and a B.S. graduate in bioengineering. He recently proved his interdisciplinary mettle by conducting marketing research for several ILC clients, including a major cybersecurity firm. “ILC has changed how I view my audiences,” says Riolo, who appreciates the reciprocity between technology and the marketplace. “Here, I’m not writing for a professor or an imaginary judge, I’m writing for a real-world client who is emotionally

ILC’s Student-Led Research Reports Give Innovators an EdgeDuring 2020-2021, Innovation Law Center students’ applied learning experiences continued apace with virtual student teams developing research reports for clients who brought a spectrum of technologies to the Center, including innovations in green building systems, plastics recycling, medical sensors, biometrics, 6G cell service, streaming media, and infrastructure logistics. That variety was matched by the research tasks students performed, among them prior art searches, the potential for patent infringements, and commercialization pathway mapping. This research offers invaluable work experience, as Nikkia Knudsen L’21 discovered when assisting biotech firm Triton Bio. “My team helped Triton narrow down what their technology could look like and then created a report based on potential technological iterations,” says Knudsen, who recently joined the health care practice at Columbus, OH, firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. “This process helped me learn how to guide a client and help them figure out exactly what type of research is useful to them.”

Selected 2020-2021 NYSSTLC Clients

When rising 3L Jake Goldsmith was a biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, he had no idea that he would parlay his education into the courtroom—and the boardroom. “There’s not much difference between science and law,” he says. “In both cases, I’m organizing data to be understood by others.” Today, Goldsmith is a student in the Innovation Law Center (ILC) and an aspiring intellectual property attorney. ILC not only gives Goldsmith hands-on legal training but also enables him to

help innovators, entrepreneurs, and companies bring their ideas to life. For more than 30 years, ILC has been a pioneer in technology commercialization law, which encompasses the legal, business, and technical aspects of product development. In addition to offering a graduate-level practicum, ILC is New York State’s only official science and technology law center and is a sought-after legal incubator.

Innovation Law Center

Where Law, Technology, and Business Intersect

ILC students and faculty partner across disciplines, helping clients bring next-generation products to market.

Jack Rudnick (standing, right) directs the Innovation Law Center. Along with faculty experts like David Eilers ’80 (left), he helps advise more than 60 clients a year.

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“I came to Syracuse because of ILC, whose entrepreneurial environment reminds me of the West Coast,” says Bro, a veteran of California’s semiconductor industry. “The program has taught me that a lawyer can be a fundamental partner or ally instead of someone who always says ‘no.’” Bro’s projects also reflect ILC’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The Chilean-born scholar recalls working with three entrepreneurs on an app that connects people who are deaf and hard of hearing to American Sign Language interpreter services. “Today, the app is widely available,” she says. “We hope it becomes as ubiquitous and easy-to-use in the Deaf community as Uber is for city passengers wishing to hail a ride.”

Supporting the Innovation EcosystemDavid Eilers ’80, who teaches part-time in ILC, says the program’s success is measured in different ways. “Sometimes, the best thing we can do for a client is deliver bad news, saving them millions of dollars down the road. Other times, we’re able to hand them off to a good patent attorney or an investor who helps get their product off the ground.” An adjunct professor in management and law, Eilers credits ILC for staying nimble amid an uncertain global economy. The key to ILC’s longevity, he surmises, is being different things to different people. “If you’re a client from New York state, we can serve you as the NYS Science and Technology Law Center. If you’re from out of state or overseas, we can work with you as a tech incubator, with no territorial restrictions,” says Eilers, who also teaches in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program. “Thanks to support from Empire State Development [New York’s chief economic development agency], we can do pro bono or low bono work and pay our students.” Eilers is struck by the similarity between scientific and legal literacy. “Just as there’s a hypothesis to prove in the scientific method, there’s a business thesis needing to be attacked through a rigorous discovery process. Good data is key.” Nowhere is this rigor more evident than within Central New York’s thriving innovation ecosystem, where ILC enjoys longstanding relationships with Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries, the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental Energy Systems, the Center

for Advanced Systems and Engineering, and the CNY Biotech Accelerator. “Some of our most gratifying projects are those conceived and cultivated in our own backyard,” says Rudnick, recalling a recent collaboration with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry involving tissue engineering. “We want to make New York State and the world a better place to live.” n

The Innovation Review

Viviana Bro L’21 is seen here with Patrick Riolo ’20, G’21, a B.S. and M.B.A. graduate in bioengineering.

invested in their product and understands the technology behind it. I like to put myself in their shoes and wonder how their invention might look to an angel investor or a venture capitalist.” The first in the nation to apply scholarly legal analysis and experiential education to product commercialization, ILC has enjoyed a strong upward trajectory. Its designation as the New York State Science and Technology Law Center in 2004, followed by Rudnick’s arrival in 2013, has enhanced the state’s role as a global leader in unmanned vehicles, medical, and infrastructure technologies.

“Success breeds success. We went from six to 60 clients almost overnight. Now we have more than 120,” says Rudnick. “I’m always thinking about how ILC students can benefit other students on campus and companies throughout the region.” Ergo his emphasis on effective client management—asking the right questions at the right time to achieve clarity and understanding. Viviana Bro L’21 discovered this during her first day on campus when she met Rudnick at a student-faculty luncheon.

“I came to Syracuse because of ILC, whose entrepreneurial environment reminds me of the West Coast.” —Viviana Bro L’21

Innovation Law Center

“Some of our most gratifying projects are those conceived and cultivated in our own backyard.” —M. Jack Rudnick L’73

In fall 2020 ILC launched a series of student-written articles to assist inventors and start-ups navigate common issues in IP and regulatory law. The articles are published in The Innovation Review, a monthly newsletter produced on behalf of the New York State Science and Technology Law Center. Read the newsletter at nysstlc.syr.edu/innovation-review.

Viviana Bro L’21: “Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Ushered in the Drone Age?”

Kaitlyn Crobar L’21: “General Wellness v. Medical Device Considerations”

Nikkia Knudsen L’21: “Has Crowdfunding Become the Best Way for Start-Ups to Raise Funds? Not So Fast!”

Sehseh Sanan L’21: “Implications of Van Buren v. United States and the Reach of the CFAA”

Sohela Suri L’21: “Considerations for Choosing a Business Entity”

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The College of Law mourns the passing of Master of Laws student Zaiden Geraige Neto in March 2021. Zaiden was a prestigious and well-respected class action lawyer and law professor in Sao Paolo, Brazil, who held an LL.B., Masters, and Ph.D. from Pontifical Catholic University. “I knew Zaiden as

a perennially positive and optimistic person who was excited about his studies with us and always enjoyable to see,” reflects Assistant Dean of International Programs Andrew S. Horsfall L’10.

organizations, made meaningful editorial contributions to student journals, and formed relationships with one another and their professors. Throughout, there was a refrain of gratitude for the opportunities to learn and engage with the Syracuse Law community.The LL.M. program is always a transformative experience for our students, and over the 2020-2021 academic year our students—our “COVID Class”—were asked to transform and adapt to many more challenges than they could have foreseen.

Not that we have surmounted the obstacles of that year, we can proudly look ahead to a return to in-person classes and the opportunity to welcome one of our largest incoming cohorts of LL.M. students—from more than 20 countries! Having thrived in their studies during a pandemic, the COVID Class has set a very high bar for our future students, and I look ahead with all the optimism and determination that our students demonstrated over the past year. n

Assisting Uzbekistan with Disability Rights Building Capacity

“Throughout, there was a refrain of gratitude for the opportunities to learn and engage with the Syracuse Law community.”

In December 2020, Dean Boise joined Chancellor Kent Syverud, Provost John Liu, Syracuse Law colleagues, and representatives from three Republic of Uzbekistan institutions to sign an agreement that strengthens academic ties between the University and the republic. The agreement includes a collaboration to create a disability law clinic at Tashkent State University of Law, led by Professor Michael Schwartz, Director of Syracuse Law’s Disability Rights Clinic. “Syracuse Law enjoys institutional relationships with more than two dozen foreign law schools and government agencies,” says Dean Boise. “This agreement marks our first in Uzbekistan. It will be among our most robust partnerships, bringing together parties and interests across various strata of civil society, including academia, governmental, and nonprofit organization.

In early spring 2020, weekly enrollment reports showed that applications to the LL.M. program were soaring well above where they usually are. I was holding weekly admission interviews with applicants from nearly every corner of the globe and working with incoming students on their visa paperwork (a good sign that one has committed to Syracuse Law). It felt as though we were on track

to exceed our enrollment goals for the fall 2020 semester until talk of a pandemic began to be all too real. Looking back, it is easy to think that everything changed overnight—lockdowns, mask mandates, and canceled plans—but there was still hope through the late spring and early summer that we would be back to normal sometime during summer and that it would be business as usual by fall. However, summer brought border closures, student visa restrictions, and the near-hourly requests from students to “defer to a later semester.” I couldn’t blame anyone for wanting to delay their LL.M. experience. Many applicants would be accessing Zoom lectures from up to 12 hours ahead or behind Syracuse time. Although admissions numbers started to evaporate, I was struck by the optimism and determination of a small group of students who committed to starting their LL.M. studies with us in August. In total, 10 students from eight countries enrolled. This class was extended across different locations and time zones: three students were located in Syracuse, another three were elsewhere in the Eastern Time Zone, and four studied from their homes in Mexico, Kenya, Germany, and Ghana. By Labor Day 2020, with orientation behind us and the first weeks of classes over, I was afraid our small but mighty group would become even smaller with students deciding that this “wasn’t for them.” Despite the usual growing pains of a new semester, the requests to drop or defer didn’t come in. Nor did they come in September, nor after mid-terms, and nor leading up

to final exams. They had done it! Every LL.M. student who started in the fall successfully completed the semester, and then went on to do the same in spring. Indeed, our “small but mighty fall” cohort was joined by 13 new LL.M. students for spring 2021. Our LL.M. students not only attended classes—sometimes well past midnight their time—but they participated in student

Office of International Programs

How a “Small but Mighty” LL.M. Cohort Forged Ahead During LockdownBy Andrew S. Horsfall L’10, Assistant Dean of International Programs

I N M E M O R I A M

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CNYEx City of Syracuse

Alumni Host: Kristen Smith L’05, Corporation Counsel

Hon. Deborah H. Karalunas L’82, Presiding Justice, Supreme Court of the State of New York, Commercial Division (Onondaga County)

Hon. Thérèse Wiley Dancks L’91, US Magistrate Judge, Northern District of New York

Nave Law Firm Alumni Host: Dennis Nave L’14, Managing Partner

SRC Alumni Host: Mary Snyder L’03, Executive Vice President, General Counsel

DCEx Insured Retirement Institute Orbis Technologies Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Trading and Markets US Department of Housing & Urban

Development, Office of Hearings & Appeals Alumni Host: Hon. J. Jeremiah Mahoney L’69, Chief Administrative Law Judge

US Department of Justice, National Security Division

US Department of Justice, Office of Legal Policy US Department of Justice, Tax Division US Department of Justice, US Attorney’s

Office for the District of Maryland, Southern Division

NYCEx Goldman Sachs

Alumni Host: Timothy Paul L’84 Chief Fiduciary Officer, Goldman Sachs Trust Company

Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation Alumni Host: Kimberly Warner L’14 Assistant Director for Housing

Shihadeh Law PC Sony Music EntertainmentPC Superior Court of New Jersey

Alumni Host: Hon. Rodney Thompson L’93, G’93 Presiding Judge, Family Division

PhillyEx York County (PA) District Attorney’s Office

Spring 2021 Externship Placements

I’m very excited to have joined the College of Law as Director of Externships and Career Services. In this position, which I started in June 2021, I report to the Assistant Dean of Career Services, and I will help to design and implement programs and services for the Office, in part by expanding our already robust Externship Program. In doing this, I look forward to using my diverse legal and human resources experiences and

to engaging with our alumni base, which already provides such extraordinary support to our externs. A little about myself. I’m a Syracuse native, the daughter of Greek parents who immigrated to Central New York from Northern Greece. An Orange alumna, I graduated from SU in 1997 with a B.A. in International Relations and French Language, Literature, and Culture, and a minor in Women’s Studies. I also met my husband as an undergraduate! After earning my J.D. in 2000 from Albany Law School, I began my law career as an associate in the Albany, NY, firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP. I then joined Green & Seifter (now Bousquet Holstein PLLC) as a senior associate and stayed with the Syracuse firm for nine years, practicing employment law and litigation. I then worked as an attorney for the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of District Counsel for eight years, providing counsel, conflict resolution, and legal representation to VA Medical Center facilities in the North Atlantic District. In 2018, I returned to my alma mater as a Senior HR Business Partner, counseling senior leaders in the University’s Business Finance Administrative Services group, as well as College of Law staff and faculty. As I pick up the reins of the Externship Program, I thank my colleagues for so ably overseeing it during such a challenging—and, we hope, unique—time in its history. The coronavirus pandemic disrupted work for almost all of us, and that’s no less true for our spring 2021 externs. Nevertheless, and with the invaluable assistance and patience of our hosts and alums, we continued to provide our students critical applied learning experiences through remote placements.

Deborah O’Malley, the 2020-2021 NYCEx and PhillyEx Director, notes that even though they were not on-site with their employers, our students impressed their site placement supervisors. “Each participant in the NYCEx and PhillyEx programs for the spring semesters received excellent final evaluations,” she says. The New York City/Philadelphia course seminar was also continued via Zoom, with guest lectures from Everett Gillson L’85, Chief Administrative Officer, Defender Association of Philadelphia; Kimberly Lau L’06, Partner, Warshaw Burstein LLP; Kevin Belbey L’16, Sports Media Agent, Creative Artists Agency; and Jesse Feitel L’16, Media Associate, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Overseen by Professor Terry Turnipseed, Faculty Director of Externship Programs, the Washington, DC, program also continued its strong placement track record, with DCEx placing nine students across government, nonprofit, judicial, and corporate organizations. “I was quite pleased with the quality of the positions,” he says. “For instance, we placed five participants at the US Department of Justice, including two in the Tax Division for the first time.” All DCEx placements were remote, except an in-house placement at Orbis Technologies, hosted by Erin Lawless Miller L’10, Vice President of Corporate Business Services. Rachel Stanley Nguyen L’07 and Joe Di Scipio L’95 were among alums offering insights and advice during the DCEx seminar series. Looking to the future, I look forward to executing Dean Boise’s vision of integrating our Externship Program within the Office of Career Services as part of our efforts to achieve the highest level of placement outcomes for our students. Because the number of students in the JDinteractive program is the highest it has been since JDi was implemented, the main focus will be on finding these students top externship opportunities. This coming year, we will not only continue to grow our externship opportunities for our residential students, we will place our JDi students in their first externships of their law school journey. We’ll also begin to implement our Third Year Away program, allowing students to spend their final year of law school in a city of their choice. These 3L students will earn their final credits in a combination of externship placements and online classes. I look forward to working with our alumni on all these fronts. College of Law alumni have been an integral part of our students’ successes in our Externship Program—and post-graduation, too! n

Externship Program

By Dafni Kiritsis ’97, Director of Externships and Career Services

Beginning a New Chapter

Capital Service: Professor Terry Turnipseed Steps Down from DCEx

Professor Terry Turnipseed—Faculty Director of Externship Programs—has stepped down as the Director of the Washington, DC, Externship Program after a spectacular five year tenure in that role. Conceived to develop students’ professional skills inside and outside the classroom in the capital’s diverse legal community, DCEx was launched in January 2014. From the start, the program leveraged Professor Turnipseed’s substantial knowledge of DC as a graduate of Georgetown Law and a former wealth management and estate planning expert at Covington & Burling, Deloitte & Touche, and elsewhere. With Professor Turnipseed’s guidance, over the past five years students have been given a taste of the capital’s unique legal and professional environment through placements at the White House, US Department of Justice, US Securities and Exchange Commission, FBI, NASA, United Nations, Planned Parenthood, Federal Communications Commission, and elsewhere, as well as at world-class law firms and consultancies such as Arnold & Porter, DLA Piper, K&L Gates, and Ernst & Young. DCEx will build upon this strong tradition, drawing from Syracuse Law’s extensive Capital Region alumni community to offer unparalleled applied learning and networking experiences and to provide Distinguished Guest Lecturers for “The Washington Lawyer” seminar program, another of Professor Turnipseed’s DCEx innovations. As Ethan Paraboschi L’19 observes, “I will tell you: DCEx is a fantastic opportunity. Not only does it offer great networking opportunities, it gives you the chance to visit some of the more exclusive buildings and offices in the US!”

Dennis Nave L’14

Hon. J. Jeremiah Mahoney L’69

Hon. Rodney Thompson L’93, G’93

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The precise origin of the phrase “may you live in interesting times” is unknown, and it’s also unclear if it is meant as a blessing or a curse. But whether a blessing or a curse, or a little bit of both, that phrase certainly has rung true for the student attorneys and directors of the College of Law’s eight clinics during the 2020-2021 academic year. Below, we summarize some of the amazing work performed by our

student attorneys and clinic directors during these interesting and challenging times. These summaries are just the tip of the iceberg for all that we have accomplished this past year. And while the coronavirus pandemic has created significant obstacles, it also—as Associate Dean of Clinical and Experiential

Education Deborah Kenn wrote in last year’s Clinic Director’s Report—provided teachable moments and learning opportunities that will better prepare our student attorneys for legal practice in a post-pandemic world.

Why am I writing this year’s report rather than Professor Kenn? It is because she has stepped down from her position as clinical program director due to a terminal illness diagnosis. Deb arrived at the

College in the fall of 1989 when she started the Community Development Law Clinic. For the past 10 years, under her leadership as Associate Dean, the Office of Clinical Legal Education has added the Bankruptcy Clinic and the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Law Clinic, and the College dramatically expanded its experiential learning opportunities, consistent with new ABA and state requirements. On top of her leadership of the College of Law’s clinical and experiential education, Deb has taught doctrinal courses in, among other things, Animal Law, Property, and Nonprofit Organizations Law, and she led three study abroad trips to South Africa.

All of her colleagues in the Office of Clinical Legal Education will miss Deb’s camaraderie, leadership, and dedication to our clients and our students. None more than me. And more importantly, the hundreds of students whom Deb has taught, guided, and mentored over the decades will remember her fondly and gratefully throughout their careers. To paraphrase another unattributable proverb, but one that perfectly encapsulates Deb’s tenure at the Syracuse Law: “She left it better than she found it.”

CLINIC REPORTSBankruptcy ClinicDirector: Adjunct Professor Lee E. Woodard During 2020-2021, the Bankruptcy Clinic produced results for its clients despite challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Various legal aid societies and numerous other sources continued to refer clients and bankruptcy courts continued to conduct hearings and process filings virtually. Appearing in court or at meetings of creditors virtually presented its own challenges, such as having clients sign petitions and schedules and then getting the originals filed with the court. A combination of Zoom, FaceTime, phone, e-mail, and regular mail was used, and the clinic was able to file all its cases. With in-person instruction starting again in fall 2021, student attorneys are looking forward to interacting with clients directly, sitting down with them to go through their financial information world and helping them create a fresh start.

Clinic Director’s Report

“May You Live in Interesting Times” By Robert Nassau Associate Director, Office of Clinical Legal Education; Director, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic; and Teaching Professor

Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal ClinicExecutive Director: Professor Elizabeth Kubala Over the past year, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the practice of law, and student attorneys in the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC) have adapted and evolved to continue to best serve our community’s veterans. While many courts closed or suspended operations, the US Department of Veterans Affairs continued processing disability claims, requiring students to find innovative ways to meet with clients and maintain good client relationships. In fact, the significant shift to virtual proceedings meant increased opportunities for student attorneys to participate in hearings and appeals. And because classes were delivered virtually, the clinic was able to integrate JDinteractive students who benefited from experiential learning opportunities provided by the clinic. Student attorneys performed a broad array of administrative and court appeals to challenge wrongful denials of federal veterans’ benefits, adapting seamlessly to the VA’s tele-hearing format and regularly appearing before the Board of Veterans Appeals.

Children’s Rights and Family Law ClinicDirector: Professor Suzette Meléndez Despite the pandemic—and perhaps because of it—the Children’s Rights and Family Law Clinic (CRC) was hard at work this past academic year with students engaged in the active representation of their clients even while the courts had to severely reduce the matters heard. CRC students were able to finalize an adoption for a family that had taken in a teenager after a very unstable and abusive childhood and was now adopting him as an adult after 18 years. The whole family showed up in the Zoom courtroom for the event.

The Clinic was able to process divorce matters in multiple counties. In one of our cases, we are resolving the divorce for a client experiencing debilitating PTSD, who was referred to us by the VLC. VLC Law Fellow Matthew Bulriss was a critical bridge in forming a successful attorney/client relationship. The CRC also helped a young mother regain significant custodial rights and parenting time for her child after the mother successfully recovered from a drug addiction that led to a jail sentence. Additionally, the CRC engaged in representations that required significant research and detailed written analysis seeking legal options for our clients about how best to move their cases forward once courts resume normal activity.

Our clients retained us for the following matters: • Joint tenancy issues and options for a partition action for an unmarried couple • Bankruptcy issues related to marriage • Issues of property division when workers’ compensation settlement proceeds were used to buy a marital home • Inherited property and claim against the marital home purchased with said inheritance

Additionally, CRC students assisted clients in an expungement hearing arising from an erroneous determination after a child welfare inquiry; the preparation of annulment paperwork after a bigamous marriage was discovered, and the pursuit of an order of protection necessary to extract a woman and her children from a violent home. Students also participated in mediation training and observations in cases where alternative dispute resolution was offered.

“The coronavirus pandemic provided teachable moments and learning opportunities that will better prepare our student attorneys for legal practice in a post-pandemic world.”

Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic staff and students gather at the National Veterans Resource Center at Syracuse University in Spring 2021.

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Clinic Director’s Report

Criminal Defense ClinicDirector: Professor Gary J. Pieples The Criminal Defense Clinic (CDC) had several successes during the 2020-2021 academic year. Victoria Lezette L’21 and Michael Stoianoff L’21 represented a client charged with a series of minor, victimless charges, mostly resulting from her substance abuse and mental health issues. After Stoianoff developed a motion based upon statements from her family and social workers detailing her mental and physical condition, the court agreed to dismiss all charges. In another case, James Thyden L’21 and rising 3L Katherine Davis convinced the judge and prosecutor to reduce the charges and reduce the protective order prohibiting their client from being in his family home. His mother wanted him home to help with the younger siblings while she cared for her ailing husband. As a result of the negotiated plea, no convictions were added to the client’s history, and he was able to move back home.

The CDC also successfully got a client’s case dismissed because of prosecutorial violations of updated New York discovery rules. A team of Donatello Lazarati L’21, Andrew Rahme L’21, and rising 3Ls Lilian Baah and Shannon Edwards researched, filed, and argued several motions arguing numerous discovery violations. On the eve of trial, the judge ruled that dismissal was warranted after multiple failures by the assistant district attorney to provide required discovery.

Disability Rights ClinicDirector: Professor Michael A. Schwartz The following are five exemplary accomplishments of the Disability Rights Clinic (DRC) during the past year: • DRC partnered with a Rochester, NY-based law firm to file a lawsuit against a franchisee of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, alleging violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York state anti-discrimination law. The case concerns a Deaf driver who was refused service at the franchise’s pick-up window because he could not use the ordering kiosk. Initial mediation is mandatory. • DRC joined a local non-governmental organization in defending a lawsuit brought by a roofing company against the clinic’s client, an elderly Deaf man, in Small Claims Court. The clinic, in turn, filed a discrimination claim against the company with the New York State Division of Human Rights, which found probable cause to go to a public hearing. • DRC continues to advocate for snow removal and maintenance of sidewalks for wheelchair users in a suburb of Syracuse. • An Institutional Review Board approval was obtained for a study of educational policies and practices involving members of the Deaf New American community. • The clinic continues to advocate for accessible access to health care facilities for people with disabilities, including immigrants with disabilities.

Elder and Health Law ClinicDirector: Professor Mary Helen McNeal

Despite the many challenges of COVID-19, the Elder and Health Law Clinic (EHLC) shifted quickly to virtual representation. Students executed wills, powers of attorney, health care proxies, and living wills; handled appeals of public benefit denials; assisted clients with minor probate issues; litigated a financial exploitation case; and represented family members seeking guardianship of parents with end-stage dementia. As students learned the law, they simultaneously faced the challenges of virtual representation, including clients’ limited access to technology, limited ability to use technology, social isolation, and declining physical and mental health. While many people faced these challenges over the last year, they were exacerbated for many older people. Student attorneys represented several patients residing in the long-term care unit at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital who were seeking end-of-life documents. One client’s situation

exemplifies the challenges both clients and students faced. The client, who had advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, wanted a will and power of attorney. He had neither access to—nor ability to use—technology. With the assistance of a VA social worker, student attorneys Dianne Jahangani L’21 and Benjamin Kaufman L’21 met virtually with the client, whose health was deteriorating rapidly. After several meetings, they drafted a will and arranged for a “virtual signing,” with final documents signed virtually, transmitted via email, and then virtually notarized pursuant to New York’s COVID-related executive orders. While Jahangani and Kaufman had intended to complete other legal tasks for the client, he unfortunately passed away within days of the will signing. As Jahangani and Kaufman wrote in their closing memo: “He was a wonderful client whom we had the pleasure of working with and ensuring that his final wishes were memorialized.” In spring 2021, the EHLC participated in launching the “Enhancing Services for Older Victims of Abuse and Financial Exploitation” project, a collaboration among Vera House, the Center for Court Innovation, Christopher Communities, and Syracuse University. A major goal of the project is to offer restorative justice options as an alternative to litigation for those impacted by elder financial exploitation. EHLC and Elder Justice Fellow Allison Wick are integral parts of this project, providing legal information, training, referrals, and limited representation.

Low Income Taxpayer ClinicDirector: Professor Robert Nassau In addition to its typical array of casework—such as helping clients obtain rightful refunds or fend off debilitating collection activity—student attorneys participated in the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic’s (LITC) first-ever Remote Tax Court Trial and increased their expertise in all three of our government’s pandemic-related stimulus payments. The trial involved a taxpayer’s claim that she had signed an Extension of Time to Assess Tax under duress. Student Attorney Meredith Wallen L’21 examined the taxpayer at trial while rising 3Ls Justin Lange and Michael Towey assisted with a post-trial briefing. Regarding the stimulus payments, LITC helped numerous taxpayers obtain payments, which—for reasons ranging from a failure to file a return to having been fraudulently claimed by another taxpayer—they had wrongfully been denied. The clinic anticipates a similar tax activity in the coming year in connection with the expanded Child Tax Credit.

Transactional Law ClinicDirector: Professor Jessica Murray

While continuing to work with clients who are starting and operating businesses and not-for-profit organizations during the unusual circumstances of a global health crisis, the Transactional Law Clinic (TLC) took advantage of online meeting technology to invite alumni to share experiences in their transactional law practices since graduating Syracuse Law.

Alumni speakers included:

• Erin Chrzanowski L’19, Corporate Legal Counsel Americas for Dassault Systèmes, joined the class from Massachusetts to discuss her in-house practice, which includes work similar to that done by student attorneys.

• Haley DeCarlo L’18, an associate at, Block, Longo, LaMarca & Brzezinski PC in Syracuse, provided an overview of practicing residential real estate law in Central New York. • Marysia Mullen L’13, an associate at Latham & Watkins, and Tyler Mullen L’13, Government Contracts Attorney, US Defense Information Systems Agency, both joined the class from Washington, DC, discussing how TLC experiences impacted their careers. • Austin Judkins L’18, an associate at Boylan Code in Rochester, NY, talked about the business and corporate finance practice of a medium-sized firm.

The visiting alumni also discussed life-work balance, career opportunities, changes resulting from COVID-19, and diversity initiatives at their workplaces. These online visits proved so popular that the clinic will continue them even after students return to the classroom, and some student attorneys have already expressed interest in returning to the clinic as future alumni guest speakers. Students also collaborated for their appearance before the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims on a still-pending, novel case involving a veteran suffering from military sexual trauma. Finally, two student attorneys worked as part of a national team to draft an amicus brief filed before the US Supreme Court that addressed issues involving veteran suicide rates, Gulf War Illness, and military sexual trauma. n

“The Criminal Defense Clinic successfully got a client’s case dismissed because of prosecutorial violations of updated New York discovery rules.”

Haley DeCarlo L’18

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Dean Boise’s State of the College AddressHear the latest College of Law news. Don’t miss this opportunity to get the inside track on what is happening at your alma mater.

Supreme Court Preview Afternoon Lecture and Panel Discussion (CLE)Guest Lecturer: David G. Savage, Supreme Court Correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

Title: The Supreme Court Turning Right Again

Sponsored by:> Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association> Syracuse Civics Initiative> Syracuse University Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media> The Tully Center for Free Speech

Syracuse Law Honors Awards CeremonyHonor the achievements of distinguished members of the College of Law family.

Fourth Annual Alumni of Color Awards CeremonyAttend and celebrate this year’s BLSA William Herbert Johnson Legacy Award and the LALSA Legacy Award recipients and the Inaugural Asian Pacific Islander Legacy of Excellence recipient.

Additional Events Include> Advocacy Honor Society, Disability Law and Policy Program, and LL.M. Alumni Reunions> Virtually Litigating: Pros and Cons of Litigation Practices Developed During COVID-19 (CLE)

> Supporting Veterans in Our Community and at the College of Law

Enjoy Law Alumni Weekend in person at Dineen Hall or virtually, from wherever you live and work. Join us September 23-25 for a weekend of exciting panel discussions and opportunities to reminisce with your classmates, faculty, and friends, and to attend Dean Boise’s State of the College Address. Celebrate this year’s awards recipients, meet with our students, earn CLE credits, and share your Orange pride!

Your Favorite Programs Return!

Register at alumniweekend.syr.edu, or email Kristen Duggleby, Director of Alumni Relations, at klduggle@law.syr.edu or call 315.443.9532.

Whova App Keep track of events and connect with fellow alumni during LAW with the free Whova App. Visit the reunion website for instructions.

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Get Ready to Boost the ’Cuse! on October 7!

GIVINGBOOK2020

ALSO INSIDE:

Marty Feinman L’83 on Recruiting Social Justice Lawyers

The Schuppenhauers: Making Their Legacy Count

Remembering Crandall Melvin Professor Emeritus Peter E. Herzog L’55

How Your Many Contributions Fuel Our Innovation

Celebrating Syracuse Law Leaders in Public Service

In Memoriam H. Douglas Barclay L’61

1932 - 2021

ALSO INSIDE■ Professor Nina Kohn on Elder Care After COVID-19 ■ An Update on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives ■ Elevating the Advocacy Program’s Reputation

Professor Mark Nevitt on

“The Three Global Hotspots of the Climate-Security Century”

All College of Law Magazines Available Online

Visit law.syr.edu/magazine to read or print the College’s three magazines, the Stories Book(featuring our extraordinary alumni); the Yearbook (celebrating the scholarly achievements of College of Law

Faculty and students), and the Giving Book (honoring the many ways our alumni give back to their alma mater.)

The magazines, and the individual stories within, are downloadable and can be shared as a webpage.

Are you a VIP (Very Influential Person)? We think you are! We are currently recruiting Boost the ’Cuse 2021 influencers in preparation for this year’s day of giving on October 7.

Sign up as a VIP to recruit friends and help spread the word about #BoostCuse, and we’ll send some cool swag your way! Visit boostcuse.syr.edu/influencer to help us Boost the ’Cuse! Go Orange!

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Law Alumni WeekendPlease Check lawreunion.syr.edu for Latest Event News.

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Forgotten Intellectual Property Lore: Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Intellectual Property Professor Shubha Ghosh (Editor) Edward Elgar, 2020

Forgotten Intellectual Property Lore explores forgotten disputes over intellectual property and the ways in which creative people and sovereigns have managed these disputes throughout the centuries. With a focus on reform, the book raises important questions about the resilience of legal rules and challenges the methodology behind traditional legal analyses. Focusing on lore and traditions, Shubha Ghosh brings together expert contributors who incorporate into their analyses contextual understandings that are rooted in history, sociology, political science, and literary studies.

Real Estate (4th Ed.)Professor Robin Paul Malloy (With James C. Smith) Wolters Kluwer, 2021

Part of Wolters Kluwer’s Emanuel Law Outlines series, Real Estate offers a comprehensive study guide to a spectrum of real estate law topics, including transactions and markets; types of brokers; contracts; risk management, liability; escrow; titles and deeds; contract remedies (damages, forfeiture, slander of title, and tort); land descriptions and surveys; public land records; mortgage products and obligations; foreclosure; and commercial real estate matters.

Faculty Books

The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power University Professor David M. DriesenStanford University Press, 2021

In The Specter of Dictatorship, David Driesen analyzes the chief executive’s role in the democratic decline of Hungary, Poland, and Turkey and argues that an insufficiently constrained presidency is one of the most important systemic threats to democracy. Driesen urges the United States to learn from the mistakes of these failing democracies. Their experiences suggest, Driesen shows, that the US Supreme Court must eschew reliance on and expansion of the “unitary executive theory” and apply a less deferential approach to presidential authority, invoked to protect national security and combat emergencies, than it has in recent years. Ultimately, Driesen argues that concern about the loss of democracy should play a major role in jurisprudence because the loss of democracy can prove irreversible. As autocracy spreads throughout the world, maintaining democracy has become an urgent matter.

Disability Law and PolicyUniversity Professor Peter D. BlanckWest Academic, 2020

Disability Law and Policy provides an overview of the major themes and insights in disability law. It is also a compelling compendium of stories about how our legal system has responded to the needs of impacted individuals. The year 2020 marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. During the past three decades, disability law and policy, including the law of the ADA itself, have evolved dramatically in the United States and internationally. As the book illustrates, walls of inaccessibility, exclusion, segregation, stigma, and discrimination have been torn down, often brick-by-brick. But the work continues, many times led by advocates who have never known a world without the ADA and are now building on the efforts of those who came before them.

Mastering Criminal Procedure (3rd Ed.) Professor Sanjay K. Chhablani, et al. Carolina Academic Press, 2020

Mastering Criminal Procedure, Volume 1: The Investigative Stage provides a concise treatment of the relevant federal constitutional doctrines that guide and constrain interactions between the police and individuals in the investigation of criminal conduct. Volume 2: The Adjudicatory Stage focuses on the charging and trial process of a criminal case from the filing of charges against a defendant through the pre-trial and trial stages of the prosecution, culminating with post-conviction proceedings.

Advanced Introduction to Law and Entrepreneurship Professor Shubha Ghosh Edward Elgar, 2021

This Advanced Introduction considers the multiple ways in which law and entrepreneurship intertwine. It explores key areas defining the field—including lawyering, innovation policy, intellectual property, as well as economics and finance—to enhance both legal and pedagogical concepts. Key features include: a survey of critical scholarly articles in the field of law and entrepreneurship; analysis of challenges to legal professions in the new technological environment; and a tracing of the roots of entrepreneurship and law and the scholarly study of intellectual property.

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Faculty Publications

Hon. James E. BakerProfessor of LawDirector, Institute for Security Policy and LawProfessor of Public Administration, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (by courtesy appointment)

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesFrom Shortages to Stockpiles: How the Defense Production Act Can Be Used to Save Lives, Make America the Global Arsenal of Public Health, and Address the Security Challenges Ahead, 11 J. NAT’L DEC. L. & POL’Y 157 (2020).

Leadership in a Time of Pandemic: Act Well the Given Part, 11 J. NAT’L DEC. L. & POL’Y 1 (2020).

Reports, News, and CommentaryEthics and Artificial Intelligence: A Policymaker’s Introduction, CSET POLICY BRIEF (Ctr. for Sec. & Emerging Tech, Walsh Sch. of Foreign Serv., Georgetown Univ.), Apr. 2021.

A DPA for the 21st Century: Securing America’s AI National Security Innovation Base, CSET POLICY BRIEF (Ctr. for Sec. & Emerging Tech, Walsh Sch. of Foreign Serv., Georgetown Univ.), Apr. 2021.

Good Governance Paper No. 21: Obedience to Orders, Lawful Orders, and the Military’s Constitutional Compact, JUST SECURITY, Nov. 2, 2020.

Kristen BarnesAssociate Dean for Faculty ResearchProfessor of Law

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesReframing Housing: Incorporating Public Law Principles into Private Law, 31 DUKE J. COMP. & INT’L L. 91 (2020).

The Pieces of Housing Integration, 70 CASE W. RES. L. R. 717 (2020).

Todd A. BergerProfessor of LawDirector, Advocacy ProgramsDirector, Philly Ex

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesMale Legal Educators Cannot Teach Women How to Practice “Gender Judo”: The Need to Critically Re-Assess Current Pedagogicwal Approaches for Teaching Trial Advocacy, 45 J. LEGAL PROFESSION 1 (2020).

Peter D. BlanckUniversity ProfessorChairman, Burton Blatt Institute

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesThirty Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Law Students and Lawyers as Plaintiffs and Advocates , 45 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY REVIEW OF LAW & SOCIAL CHANGE/THE HARBINGER 8 (2021).

Disability Inclusive Employment and the Accommodation Principle: Emerging Issues in Research, Policy, and Law, 30 J. OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION 505 (2020).

Gig Workers with Disabilities: Opportunities, Challenges, and Regulatory Response (with Paul Harpur), 30 J. OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION 511, (2020).

Diversity and Inclusion in the American Legal Profession: Workplace Accommodations for Lawyers with Disabilities and Lawyers Who Identify as LGBTQ+ (with Fitore Hysein & Fatma Altunkol Wise), 30 J. OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION 537 (2020).

Before the Accommodation Principle: Disability and Employment Among Union Army Veterans (with Larry Logue), 30 J. OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION 565 (2020).

California’s Response to the Status of Gig Workers with Disabilities: An Update (with Paul Harpur), 30 J. OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION 689 (2020).

Diversity and Inclusion in the American Legal Profession: First Phase Findings from a National Study of Lawyers with Disabilities and Lawyers Who Identify as LGBTQ+, (with Ynesse Abdul-Malak, Meera Adya, Fitore Hyseni, Mary Killeen, and Fatma Altunkol Wise) 23 UDC/DCSL L. REV. 23 (2020).

Doron DorfmanAssociate Professor of Law

Book ChaptersThe Universal View of Disability and its Danger to the Civil Rights Model, in DEFINING THE BOUNDARIES OF DISABILITY: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES (Licia Carlson & Matthew Murray, eds.) (2021).

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesThe Professionalization of Urban Accessibility (with Mariela Yabo), 47 FORDHAM URB. L.J. 1213 (2020).

Disability Rights as a Necessary Framework for Crisis Standards of Care and the Future of Health Care (with others), 50 HASTINGS CENTER REP. 28 (2020).

Reweighing Medical Civil Rights (with Rabia Belt), 72 STAN. L. REV. ONLINE 176 (July 2020).

Discover faculty research at papers.ssrn.com.

Treatment of Disability Under Crisis Standards of Care: An Empirical and Normative Analysis of Change Over Time During COVID-19 (with Ari Ne’eman, Michael Ashley Stein & Zackary D. Berger), J. HEALTH POL. POL’Y & L. (Mar. 2020).

Book Reviews54 LAW & SOC’Y REV. 530 (2020) (reviewing DAVID PETTINICCHIO, POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT: DISABILITY RIGHTS AND THE CYCLE OF AMERICAN POLICY REFORM (2019)).

Reports, News, and CommentaryMask Exemptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic—A New Frontier for Clinicians (with Mical Raz), 1 JAMA HEALTH FORUM (July 2020).

Opinion, How an Unexpected Collaboration Led Utah to Amend its Discriminatory Triage Plan, THE HILL (Aug. 28, 2020).

Opinion, Thirty Years Later, Still Fighting Over the ADA (with Thomas F. Burke), REGUL. REV. (Dec. 7, 2020).

David M. DriesenUniversity Professor

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesThe Unitary Executive Theory in Comparative Context, 72 HASTINGS L.J. 1 (2020).

Implied Presidential and Congressional Powers (with William C. Banks), 41 CARDOZO L. REV. 1301 (2020).

Reports, News, and Commentary Opinion, How Science Will Save the World, Dec. 16, 2020, THE HILL (Dec. 16, 2020)

Opinion, How Private Companies Could Step Up to Help Save Our Election (with Eric W. Orts & George Aposporos), THE HILL (Aug. 25, 2020).

Opinion, This Election Is About the Survival of Our Democracy, SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, July 26, 2020, at E1.

Opinion, The Seila Law Case: Liberty and Political Firing, THE HILL (July 1, 2020).

Trump’s Quislings, HIST. NEWS NETWORK (Apr. 26, 2020).

Book Review10 J. ENV’T STUD. & SCI. 362 (2020) (reviewing RICHARD J. LAZARUS, THE RULE OF FIVE: MAKING CLIMATE HISTORY AT THE SUPREME COURT (2020)).

Professor Mary Szto: There Must Be a Reckoning Against Anti-Asian Hate

Harsh political rhetoric and distasteful comments referencing China as the source of the coronavirus outbreak have had an unwelcome effect on Asian Americans in the United States. Between March 2020 and March 2021, for instance, the STOP AAPI HATE reporting center received more than 3,700 reports of coronavirus discrimination against Americans of Asian descent.

Throughout the pandemic and during the rise in attacks on Asian Americans, Professor Mary Szto has provided local and national media with important context, analysis, and suggestions on how to combat discrimination. In March 2021, speaking to Buzzfeed News, Szto placed the current Anti-Asian racism in its historical context: “Although today they may seem like quaint tourist attractions, Chinatowns arose because of discrimination,” she explained. Also in March, the Albany Times-Union spoke to Szto in the wake of the Atlanta, GA-area shooting of multiple Asian people: “We have to tell the story of anti-Asian violence,” observed Szto. “Unless we tell the story, and admit the story, we’re going to repeat the story.” Szto shared her own experiences with Anti-Asian racism with NPR-affiliate WAER-FM in April 2021, noting the irony of labeling Asian Americans the “model minority,” observing that it “drives a wedge” among minorities and puts “Asians in a box, by labeling them as a model of assimilation.” In May 2021, speaking to NPR-affiliate WRVO-FM, Szto explained the “taunting that people do as children has turned into verbal assaults that we see during the pandemic.” In order to break the cycle of hate, she said, there must be “a reckoning,” including an apology from the government regarding past mistreatment of Asian Americans.

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Ian GallacherProfessor of Law

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesHere’s Tae Us, Wha’s Like Us: Some Thoughts on the Future of Legal Writing in American Law Schools, 24 J. LEGAL WRITING INST.29 (2020).

Shubha GhoshCrandall Melvin Professor of LawDirector, Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesMyriad Post-Myriad, 47 SCI. & PUB. POL’Y 638 2021).

Do the Games Never End? 71 FLA. L. REV. F. 76 (2020).

The Elusive Quest for Digital Exhaustion in the US and the EU: The CJEU’s Tom Kabinet Ruling a Milestone or Millstone for Legal Evolution?, 8 HUNG. YB INT’L L. & EUR. L. 249 (2020).

A Revolution Ignored?, 65 ANTITRUST BULL. 606 (2020).

Book ReviewRecognizing and Correcting a Discrepancy, JOTWELL (September 21, 2020) (reviewing MARKETA TRIMBLE, THE TERRITORIAL DISCREPANCY BETWEEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INFRINGEMENT CLAIMS AND REMEDIES, 23 LEWIS & CLARK L. REV. 501 (2019)).

Lauryn P. Gouldin Crandall Melvin Professor of LawDirector, Syracuse Civics Initiative

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesReforming Pretrial Decision-making, 55 WAKE FOREST L. REV. 857 (2020).

Reports, News, and CommentaryOpinion, Why Is There Over-Policing for Low-Level Offenses?, THE HILL (Apr. 23, 2021).

Roy Gutterman Director, Tully Center for Free SpeechAssociate Professor, Newhouse SchoolProfessor of Law (by courtesy appointment)

Reports, News, and CommentaryAssaults on Press Freedom, Here and Abroad, Endanger Democracy, SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, April 30, 2021.

Is Election Disinformation Free Speech or Defamation? Courts Will Decide, SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, February 26, 2021 at E1.

Biden Must Swiftly Restore Press Freedom, SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, December 13, 2020 at E1.

The Right to Vote Is “the Essence of a Democratic Society.” Exercise it., SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, October 25, 2020 at E1.

Faculty Publications

Advice for Individuals, Not Governments, to Safeguard Free Speech, WASH. POST, August 2, 2020 at B6.

Trump, Twitter and the Distraction of Censorship Order Likely Violates First Amendment and Contradicts His New Neutrality Policy, SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, May 31, 2020 at E3.

Book Review25 COMM. L. & POL’Y 418 (2020) (reviewing LARISSA LIDSKY, PRYING, SPYING, AND LYING: INTRUSIVE NEWSGATHERING AND WHAT THE LAW SHOULD DO ABOUT IT, (73 Tul. L. Rev. 173 1998)).

Paula C. JohnsonProfessor of LawCo-Director, Cold Case Justice Initiative

Reports, News, and CommentaryJohn Lewis and C.T. Vivian Made an Impact on SU, Too, SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, July 19, 2020 at B4.

Arlene S. KanterLaura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching ExcellenceProfessor of LawDirector, Disability Law and Policy ProgramFaculty Director of International ProgramsProfessor of Disability Studies, School of Education (by courtesy appointment) Reports, News, and Commentary Individuals with Disabilities Are not “Them,” They Are “Us,” SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, December 3, 2020 at A19.

Religious Freedom Is No Reason to Deny People with Disabilities the Right to Equality in the Workplace, THE HILL (July 26, 2020).

Turning Their Back on People with Disabilities in the Name of Religious Freedom, JURIST (July 26, 2020).

Can Faculty Be Forced Back on Campus?: Several Covid-Related Regulations and Federal and State Laws Provide Guidance, THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, June 15, 2020.

Stop Press!During the academic year, College of Law experts appeared in more than 1,500 local, national, and international news outlets, helping to bring a measured, educated perspective to sometimes noisy debates, as well as boosting the College’s academic reputation.

AMONG THE TOP MEDIA HITS OF 2020-2021:

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks: NBC News (civil-military relations); The Wall Street Journal (President Trump’s Second Impeachment)

Professor Emily Brown L’09: Voice of America (Amazon union drive)

Professor Doron Dorfman: Slate (video game accessibility)

Professor Greg Germain: CBS News (NRA bankruptcy)

Professor Shubha Ghosh: The Washington Post (Apple anti-trust case)

Professor Lauryn Gouldin: NBC News (bail reform)

Professor Roy Gutterman L’00: Associated Press (Gov. Andrew Cuomo); Associated Press, The Washington Post (defamation); Axios, CNN (free speech); The Guardian (sedition laws); Reuters (voter fraud); The Washington Post (news leaks)

Professor Nina Kohn: ABC News, NPR 1A, USA Today (nursing homes, voting, and COVID-19); Associated Press, Newsweek, The Washington Post (long-term care reform); BBC, CNBC (guardianship reform); NBC News, NPR (Britney Spears and conservatorship)

Professor Jonathan Martinis: The New Yorker (Britney Spears and conservatorship)

Professor Mark Nevitt: Newsweek (climate change and national security); The Washington Post (domestic extremism); Women’s Wear Daily (climate change and the fashion industry)

Professor John Wolohan: The Washington Post (college athletics and COVID-19)

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Aliza M. MilnerTeaching ProfessorDirector, Legal Communication and Research

Book ChaptersTriple Step: The Choreography of Teaching Reading in the Doctrinal Classroom, in LAWYERING SKILLS IN THE DOCTRINAL CLASSROOM: USING LEGAL WRITING PEDAGOGY TO ENHANCE TEACHING ACROSS THE LAW SCHOOL CURRICULUM (Tammy Pettinato Oltz ed., 2021).

Mark P. NevittAssociate Professor of Law

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesDomestic Military Operations and the Coronavirus Pandemic, 11 J. NAT’L SEC. L. & POL’Y 107 (2020).

On Environmental Law, Climate Change, and National Security Law, 44 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 321 (2020).

Reports, News, and Commentary Should the COVID-19 Vaccine Be Required for the Military?, JUST SECURITY, Apr. 12, 2021.

Is Climate Change a National Emergency?, JUST SECURITY, Feb. 25, 2021.

Tragedy at the Capital: Four Questions That Demand Answers, JUST SECURITY, Jan. 9, 2021.

Important Context Missing from the Austin Nomination Debate, JUST SECURITY, Dec. 17, 2020.

Climate Change, National Security, and the New Commander-in-Chief, JUST SECURITY, Dec. 2, 2020.

Good Governance Paper No. 6 (Part Two): Domestic Military Operations—The Role of the National Guard, Posse Comitatus Act and More, JUST SECURITY, Oct. 21, 2020.

Good Governance Paper No. 6 (Part One): Domestic Military Operations—Reforming the Insurrection Act, JUST SECURITY, Oct. 20, 2020.

Climate Change, Arctic Security, and Why the U.S. Should Join the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, RULE OF LAW POST (Center for Ethics & the Rule of L., U. Pa.), Sept. 30, 2020.

As Climate-Related Disasters Intensify, Retreat Emerges as Adaptation Strategy, ENERGY POLICY NOW (Podcast, Kleinman Center for Energy Pol’y, U. Pa.), Sept. 15, 2020.

Climate Change: A Threat to International Peace and Security?, OPINIOJURIS (Int’l Comm’n of Jurists), Aug. 29, 2020.

Climate Adaptation Strategies: How Do We Manage Managed Retreat?, (Report, Kleinman Center for Energy Pol’y, U. Pa), August 2020.

Secretary Pompeo’s Surprising Defense of International Law, Allies, and the Law of the Sea Convention, JUST SECURITY, July 15, 2020.

The President and the Domestic Military Deployment of the Military: Answers to Five Key Questions, JUST SECURITY, June 2, 2020.

Michael A. SchwartzAssociate Professor of LawDirector, Disability Rights Clinic

Book Chapters Deaf Research Methodologies? Confronting Epistemological Silences and Challenges in Qualitative Research (with Bronagh Byrne), in SOCIAL RESEARCH AND DISABILITY: DEVELOPING INCLUSIVE RESEARCH SPACES FOR DISABLED RESEARCHERS (Ciaran Burke & Bronagh Byrne eds., 2021).

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesEnhancing Deaf People’s Access to Justice: Implementing Article 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (with Bronagh Byrne & Brent C. Elder), 23 SCANDINAVIAN J. DISABILITY RSCH. 74 (2021).

A. Joseph WarburtonProfessor of LawProfessor of Finance, Whitman School of Management

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesBusiness Development Companies: Venture Capital for Retail Investors, 76 BUSINESS LAWYER 59 (2021).

Nina A. KohnDavid M. Levy L’48 Professor of LawFaculty Director of Online Education

Book ChaptersFiduciary Principles in Surrogate Decision-Making, in OXFORD HANDBOOK OF FIDUCIARY LAW (R. Sitkoff et al. eds., 2019).

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesNursing Homes, COVID-19, and the Consequences of Regulatory Failure, 110 GEO. L.J. ONLINE 1 (2021).

How the Guardianship System Can Help Address Gun Violence, 48 Supp. J. L. MED. & ETHICS 133 (2020).

Reports, News, and Commentary It’s Time to Care About Home Care, THE HILL (May 31, 2021).

COVID Awakened Americans to a Nursing Home Crisis. Now Comes the Hard Part, WASH. POST (Apr. 28, 2021).

Netflix’s “I Care a Lot” Should Worry You (with David M. English), THE HILL (Feb. 24, 2021).

When it Comes to Healthy Aging: Location, Location, Location (with Jennifer Goldberg), THE HILL (Oct. 15, 2020).

Coronavirus Isolated Nursing Home Residents. Now it Might Keep Them From Voting: States Can Step in to Help, but Many Aren’t, WASH. POST (Oct. 14, 2020).

Older Adults Are Feeling the Heat, Literally (with Karl Pillemer), THE HILL (Aug. 29, 2020).

Come Fall, Universities Must Expand Vision: Traditional Learning Can Be Replicated Online, ALBANY TIMES UNION (June 6, 2020).

Nursing Homes Need Increased Staffing, not Legal Immunity (with Jessica L. Roberts), THE HILL (May 23, 2020).

Move Class Online ... But Do it Right, SYRACUSE.COM (Mar. 19, 2020).

Robin Paul MalloyErnest I. White Chair and Distinguished Professor of LawKauffman Professor of Entrepreneurship and InnovationDirector, Center on Property, Citizenship, and Social EntrepreneurismProfessor of Economics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (by courtesy appointment)

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesAdvancing Accessible Communities, 27 VA. J. SOC. POL’Y & L. 233 (2020).

Mary Helen McNealProfessor of LawDirector, Elder and Health Law ClinicCo-Director, LondonEx

Law Review and Other Scholarly ArticlesAddressing Elder Abuse: Service Provider Perspectives on the Potential of Restorative Processes, 32 J. ELDER ABUSE & NEGLECT 357 (2020).

Elder Restorative Justice (with Maria Brown), 21 CARDOZO J. OF CONFLICT RESOL. 91 (2019).

Faculty Publications

An Impressive Year for Legal ScholarshipRe-affirming Syracuse Law’s position as a leader in cutting-edge legal research, several top 50 law journals accepted or published faculty articles during 2020-2021. Addressing a spectrum of topics—including criminal justice reform, health care, long-term care, climate change, and zoning—notable placements include:

Professor Doron Dorfman: “Suspicious Species,” University of Illinois Law Review (2021) and “The PrEP Penalty,” Boston College Law Review (forthcoming 2022).

Professor David Driesen: “The Unitary Executive Theory in Comparative Context,” Hastings Law Journal (2020) and “The Political Remedies Doctrine,” Emory Law Journal (forthcoming 2021).

Professor Nina Kohn: “Nursing Homes, COVID-19, and the Consequences of Regulatory Failures,” Georgetown Law Journal Online (2021) and “Legislating Supported Decision-Making,” Harvard Journal on Legislation (forthcoming 2021).

Professor Lauryn Gouldin: “Reforming Pretrial Decision Making,” Wake Forest Law Review (2020).

Professor Mark Nevitt: “The Remaking of the Supreme Court: Implications for Climate Change Litigation and Regulation,” Cardozo Law Review (2020).

Professor Danielle Stokes: “Zoning for Climate Change,” Minnesota Law Review (2021).

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The College of Law’s photo archive is a fascinating visual history of your alma mater, full of nostalgia, anecdotes—and a few mysteries. That is, some of our prints and slides lack information or captions. That’s where you come in. In this feature, we challenge you to help us recall the people and scenes in our mystery photos. For our new mystery, we’ve unearthed a fascinating photo, or what actually appears to be a tearsheet from a publication. Possibly a classroom scene from White or MacNaughton halls, there is no information accompanying this tearsheet, so if you know the names of any of the students pictured and/or when the photo was taken, please email Director of Alumni Relations Kristen Duggleby at klduggle@syr.edu, and we’ll publish what we discover in a future issue and on our social media.

Our Back Pages

Do You Remember? Help Us Caption Our Mystery Photos!

Supporting the College of Law Annual Fund with unrestricted dollars is the most direct way you can back the mission of your alma mater, impact the next generation of lawyers, and help improve our ranking and reputation.

Our Annual Fund enables us to recruit and retain the best and brightest with the financial resources they need to pursue a career in law. The Annual Fund also helps underwrite our core programs and innovate new opportunities, to ensure our students receive a timely, robust, and practical legal education that propels their extraordinary careers.

Visit law.syr.edu/giving today to Make a Gift.

Questions? Call Sophie Dagenais, Assistant Dean for Advancement and External Affairs, at 315.443.1964.

Thank you for your support!

Raise the Advocacy Program’s profile—and build on last year’s successes both competing in and hosting national and international trial competitions (see p26).

HELP US TO CONTINUE OUR EXCELLENCE IN

21st CENTURY LEGAL EDUCATION

Support leading edge research—such as the Burton Blatt Institute’s exploration of disability workplace accommodations (p29) and the Institute for Security Policy and Law’s inquiry into AI and “human-machine teaming” (p32).

YOUR GIFT TO THE ANNUAL FUND GIFT WILL HELP US TO …

Provide students with first class experiential opportunities—such as our busy Clinical Program and our ever-expanding Externship Program, which welcomes a new Director on p42.

Underwrite faculty excellence—so that faculty members’ published scholarship (starting on p48) continues to raise the College’s profile, attract ambitious students, and innovate the law.

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We can never say it enough—your support, input, and leadership are making a huge impact. Whether it’s our world-class faculty, our high-performing Advocacy Program, or our forward-leaning curriculum, we have much to celebrate even as we improve, adapt, and innovate.

Philanthropic giving is a key factor in reaching our shared goals. A gift to the College of Law Annual Fund is one of the most significant and direct ways you can influence College of Law outcomes. By donating to the Law Annual Fund, you support every aspect of Syracuse Law, including faculty recruitment, our world-renowned research institutes, classroom technology, our expanding Externship Program, the Advocacy Program, the law reviews, and our law clinics.

Your gift is an investment in the future of your College and an investment in tomorrow’s generation of lawyers and leaders.

Together, we are making a difference. Thank you! Contact Sophie Dagenais, Assistant Dean for Advancement and External Affairs, at 315.443.1964 or sdagenai@syr.edu to make a donation.

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