Brooklyn Law School

Brooklyn Law School

Students in front of Brooklyn Law School's main building located at 250 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn New York
Type	Private
Established	1901
Dean	Joan G. Wexler
Location	Brooklyn , New York , USA
Campus	Urban
Website	www.brooklaw.edu
Brooklyn Law School Seal

Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a law school located in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City.

History

Founded in 1901 by William Payson Richardson and Norman P. Heffley, Brooklyn Law School was the first law school on Long Island. Using space provided by Heffley’s business school, the law school opened Sept. 30, 1901 with five faculty members (including Richardson as dean and Heffley as president) and two special lecturers.

The year started with five students and ended with 28. In late 1901, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York gave the school a limited charter. Although the school could not grant degrees, the Board of Regents could confer law degrees once students passed the bar exam. By 1902, in its second year, Brooklyn Law School’s enrollment had increased to 112.

From its earliest days, Brooklyn Law School opened its door to minorities, women, and immigrants, and it offered night classes for those with full-time jobs. Dean Richardson also allowed students who had trouble paying tuition to remain enrolled on credit. The school moved twice between 1901 and 1928, when it finally moved into the first building designed and built specifically for it on Pearl Street in downtown Brooklyn. Though the school lacked a campus, dormitories, and a cafeteria, students could engage in a wide range of extracurricular activities.

World War II struck Brooklyn Law School especially hard, and by 1943, enrollment was down to 174 students. St. Lawrence University, which until then operated Brooklyn Law School and conferred its degrees, decided to shut down the school. Prominent alumni were galvanized into action and negotiated the repurchase of the school’s assets, ensuring that Brooklyn Law School would operate as an independent institution.

Rankings

• The 2009 edition of U.S. News ranked Brooklyn Law School 61st in its list of top 100 law schools.
• The 2008 edition of U.S. News ranked Brooklyn Law School’s Legal Writing program 9th in the nation.
• The 2008 Leiter Report ranked Brooklyn Law School 30th nationwide in Student Quality based on the 2007 entering class.
• Three professors at Brooklyn Law School ranked in the 2007 Leiter Report's survey of “Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty.”

Location and facilities

Entrance to Feil Hall, 205 State Street

Brooklyn Law School’s academic and administrative buildings and ten student residences are located in Brooklyn Heights Historical District, across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan. It is a mixed-use area that has seen a commercial and residential building boom recently. Many federal and state courts and corporate and public interest law offices are located here.

Brooklyn Law School’s main academic building at 250 Joralemon Street houses classrooms, faculty offices, a conference center, dining hall, and a four-story law library with 550,000 volumes. The office building across the street at One Boerum Place houses many of the law school’s clinics, the student journals, the bookstore and administrative offices.

Brooklyn Law School guarantees housing in its residences to all entering students, about 500 in all. The largest residence is Feil Hall, a 21-story building at 205 State Street. Designed by noted architect Robert A. M. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, it accommodates about 360 students in 239 furnished apartments of varying sizes and includes a conference center and café.

All the student residences are within a short walk of the main building. In addition to Feil Hall, the law school owns and operates apartment buildings at 2 Pierrepont Street, 184 Joralemon Street, 89 Hicks Street, 18 Sidney Place, 144 Willow Street, and 148-150 Clinton Street; and townhouses at 100 Pierrepont Street, and 27 and 38 Monroe Place.

Faculty

Brooklyn Law School’s faculty includes 68 full-time professors and five emeriti faculty. It also draws on a large body of practitioners, public officials and judges as adjunct faculty to teach specialized courses in many areas of law, including trial advocacy, business crimes and corporate litigation, sports law, real estate development, and border and homeland security law. In addition, in any given semester, visiting professors come from all over the United States and from around the world to teach at the school.

The law school is home to several well-known scholars, including torts expert Aaron Twerski, who holds the Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law Chair at the school; Margaret Berger, the Suzanne J. & Norman Miles Professor of Law and an authority on scientific evidentiary issues; and Rose L. Hoffer, Professor of Law Elizabeth Schneider, an expert on gender, law and civil procedure. All three were highly ranked recently in Brian Leiter’s survey of “Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty.”

In the last two years, the law school has hired 15 new junior faculty whose work draws on a variety of influences to contribute scholarship to fields from scientific evidence to tax havens, and international business law to the secondary mortgage market.

Journals and moot court

Journals

The Law School currently publishes four student-edited law journals: The Brooklyn Law Review, Brooklyn Journal of International Law and The Journal of Law and Policy, and the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial and Commercial Law. Over 290 second and third year students have the opportunity to write for one of the journals.

The journal selection process takes place at the end of the first year of study. Students have the opportunity to take part in a writing competition where they are given 48 hours to write a case comment based on pre-provided materials. The e-board members of each journal select new staff members based on the participant’s performance in the competition.

Moot court

Best Moot Court Programs ranks Brooklyn Law School’s Moot Court Program 7th in the nation based on its performance in the 2006-2007 season. The law school has both trial and appellate advocacy moot court divisions. Each year the law school enters approximately 30 teams in national moot court competitions. These competitions span all areas of the law, from family law to criminal procedure, from white-collar crime to international law.

In the 2006-2007 school year, BLS took home four national titles and top regional titles. The Bankruptcy Appellate Advocacy Team placed first in a field of 42 teams in the Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition, the Immigration Team defeated Georgetown University Law School in the semi-finals and Harvard Law School in the finals to take first place in the 2nd Annual Immigration Law Competition. The Ethics Trial Advocacy Team won first place at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law Trial Advocacy Competition and the Civil Rights Trial Advocacy Team II took top honors at the St. John’s National Civil Rights Competition judged by leading national trial experts.

Jerome Prince Evidence Competition

Each year Brooklyn Law School hosts the Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition, a national moot court competition. Named in honor of the late BLS Dean and renowned evidence scholar, the competition draws over 30 law school teams from across the country. Many of the students from the Moot Court Honor Society are involved in the coordination of the Prince Competition, and a few students have an opportunity to work with faculty members to research and write the problem – an issue at the forefront of evidentiary law – that is used in the Competition.

Academic offerings

Brooklyn Law School's main building located at 250 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn New York

Brooklyn Law School offers students courses and seminars in over 190 courses in the law.

Centers

• Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law - Established by the Law School to study and shape international business law and policy.
• Center for Law Language and Cognition – Explores how developments in the cognitive sciences – including psychology, neuroscience and linguistics – have implications for the law at both theoretical and practical levels.
• Center for Health, Science and Public Policy - Provides students knowledge and skills necessary in health and science law.

Fellowship programs

• International Business Law Fellowship - provides educational experience for students interested in pursuing careers in the field.
• Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship - places fellows in summer internships at public interest organizations across the United States, as well as abroad.

Joint degree programs

Brooklyn Law School offers five joint degree programs:

• J.D./Masters of Business Administration - Brooklyn Law School and Baruch College jointly sponsor a program leading to the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.) and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Business Administration and Policy.
• J.D./Masters in City and Regional Planning - Brooklyn Law School and Pratt Institute jointly sponsor a program leading to the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) in City and Regional Planning.
• J.D./Masters in Library and Information Science - Brooklyn Law School and the Graduate School of Information and Library Science of Pratt Institute jointly sponsor a program leading to the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Science in Library and Information Science (M.Sc.).
• J.D./Masters in Political Science - Brooklyn Law School and Brooklyn College (City University of New York) jointly sponsor a program leading to the award of the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Arts (M.A.) in Political Science, with a concentration in Policy Analysis.
• J.D./Master in Urban Planning - Brooklyn Law School and Hunter College's Graduate Program in the Department of Urban Planning (Urban Affairs and Planning) jointly sponsor a program leading to the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.).

Study abroad initiatives

Summer abroad

Brooklyn Law School, in conjunction with Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, runs two summer abroad programs each year. Students study international or comparative law for two or three weeks in Beijing or Bologna and earn academic credit.

• The Beijing Program is hosted at China’s University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). The program offers students the opportunity to study a range of international or comparative law topics. Courses are taught in English by faculty from BLS and Loyola, with lectures by members of UBIE’s Law Faculty. The program also allows time for visits to local cultural and legal institutions and for meeting Chinese law students.
• The Bologna Program is hosted by the University of Bologna. Founded in the 11th century, it is the oldest university in Europe, and a center of law study since the Middle Ages. Courses in international business law and comparative topics are taught by faculty from American and European law schools.

Semester abroad

• Exchange Program with Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany
  

Each year, the Law School selects two students to attend Bucerius Law School, and Bucerius selects two German students to study at Brooklyn Law School. The program is aimed towards international business law.

• Exchange Program with University of Essex in Colchester, England
  

The law school's newest exchange program, begun in fall 2008, allows two students to attend the University of Essex while two English students are chosen to study at BLS. Courses focus on international law.

Student organizations

Brooklyn Law School's administrative building located at One Boerum Place, near the Fulton Mall

Brooklyn Law School’s numerous student led organizations reflect the diversity of the student body.[1]

Student organizations include:

• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Constitution Society
• Art Law Association
• Asian Pacific American Law Students Association
• Bankruptcy Society
• Black Law Students Association
• Brooklyn Entertainment Law Society
• Brooklyn Law School Democrats
• Brooklyn Law School Republicans
• Brooklyn Law School Food & Wine Club
• Brooklyn Law School Investment Club
• Brooklyn Law School Legal Outreach- Constitutional Law Debate Program
• Brooklyn Law School Students for the Public Interest
• Brooklyn Real Estate Society
• Chess Society
• Christian Legal Society
• Corporate and Securities Law Association
• Environmental Law Society
• Federalist Society
• Health Law and Policy Association
• Hellenic Society
• Intellectual Property & Technology Association
• Intramural Club
• International Law Society
• Italian-American Law Students Association
• Jewish Law Students Association
• Latin-American Law Students Association
• Law Students for Veterans Rights
• Legal Association for Women
• Muslim Law Students
• National Lawyers Guild
• Phi Alpha Delta
• Phi Delta Phi
• OutLaws
• Secular Society
• Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
• South Asian Law Students Association
• Student Hurricane Network
• Tax Law Association
• Unemployment Action Center
• Yoga Club

Former deans

• William P. Richardson, dean from 1901-1945.
• Jerome Prince, dean from 1945-1971.
• Raymond E. Lisle, dean from 1971-1977.
• I. Leo Glasser, dean from 1977-1983.
• David G. Trager, dean from 1983-1993.

Notable alumni

Brooklyn Law School students outside the main building

Government

U.S. Congress

• Herman Badillo ’54, Bronx Borough President and Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 21st and 22nd Congressional Districts; Member of the Board of Trustees of Brooklyn Law School
• Frank J. Brasco ’57 (1932-1998), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 11th Congressional District.
• John D. Clarke ’11 (1873-1933), Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 34th Congressional District.
• John J. Delaney ’27, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 7th Congressional District.
• Morris M. Edelstein ’09 (1888–1941), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 14th Congressional District.
• Henry J. Latham ’31 (1908-2002), Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts.
• Abraham J. Multer ’22, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 13th and 14th Congressional Districts.
• Bertram L. Podell ’49, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 13th Congressional District.
• David M. Potts ’26, ’33 (1906-1976), Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 26th Congressional District.
• Benjamin S. Rosenthal ’49, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, New York’s 6th, 7th, and 8th Congressional Districts.
• Lawrence J. Smith ’64, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, Florida’s 16th Congressional District.

Other government officials

• Steven Cymbrowitz ’90, Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, 45th District.
• David N. Dinkins ’56, Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993, the first and only African-American to hold that office.
• Jeffrey Dinowitz ’79, Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, 81st District.
• Leonard Garment ’49, White House Counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon.
• Howard L. Lasher ’68, Democratic member of the New York State Assembly’s 46th and 47th Districts. First orthodox Jewish person elected to state office in New York State.
• Thomas V. Ognibene ’74, Republican member of the New York City Council, 30th District; held the position of Council minority leader.
• Nicholas Scoppetta ’62, 31st Fire Commissioner of the City of New York and first Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services.
• Sheldon Silver ’68, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Democratic member of the Assembly, representing the 64th District.
• Benjamin Ward ’65 (1926-2002), first African-American New York City Police Commissioner.
• Mark S. Weprin ’92, Democratic Member of the New York State Assembly, 24th District.

Judiciary

• Frank X. Altimari ’51 (1928-1998), judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
• Henry Bramwell ’48, first African-American judge appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
• Dorothy Chin-Brandt ’74, first Asian-American woman judge in New York State.
• Mark Americus Costantino '47, United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 1971 to 1990.
• I. Leo Glasser ’48, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. He served as Dean of Brooklyn Law School from 1977 to 1983.
• Sterling Johnson, Jr. ’66, senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. He served as the second Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York, serving for 16 years. During that time, the reputation of the office spread nationally and it became known for its expertise in fighting both street level crime and large-scale drug trafficking.
• Edward R. Korman `66, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, serving as Chief Judge from 2000 to 2007. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Brooklyn Law School Board of Trustees.
• Shirley Wohl Kram '50, United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to the present.
• Mary Johnson Lowe '54, United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1978 to 1999.
• Ann T. Pfau ’84, Chief Administrative Judge of the New York State Unified Court System.
• William C. Thompson ’54, justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department. He was the founder of nation’s first community development corporation, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.
• Peter Tom ’75, first Asian-American appellate justice in New York State
• Edwin Torres ’57, New York State Supreme Court justice and is a best-selling author of crime novels.
• James L. Watson ’51 (1922-2001), judge of the United States Customs Court and of its successor, the United States Court of International Trade.

Business

• Milton Cooper ’53, Chief Executive Officer, Kimco Realty Corporation.
• Wanda K. Denson-Low ’81, Senior Vice President, Office of Internal Governance of Boeing Company.
• Noah J. Hanft ’76, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, MasterCard International.
• Lawrence Jacobs ’81, Senior Executive Vice President and Group General Counsel, News Corporation.
• Susan L. Merrill ’86, Executive Vice President and Chief of Enforcement, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
• George H. Ross ’53, Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel, Trump Organization. He appeared on two seasons of The Apprentice.
• Barry Salzberg ’77, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
• Larry A. Silverstein ’55, President and Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.; owner of the World Trade Center at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The company is currently rebuilding part of the World Trade Center Site.
• Stuart Subotnick ’68, partner and Chief Operating Officer, Metromedia Company; Chairman, Brooklyn Law School Board of Trustees.
• Thomas Sung ’64, Chairman and Managing Officer, Abacus Federal Savings Bank.
• Percy Sutton ’50, first African-American Manhattan Borough President and founder of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation.
• Bernard Madoff, Left school after first year. He would have been class of '63 or '64 had he finished.

Private practice

• Frank J. Aquila ’83, senior partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Member of the Board of Trustees of Brooklyn Law School
• Dennis J. Block ’67, senior partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
• John Carro ’56, founding partner, Carro, Velez, Carro & Mitchell, LLP, the largest Latino-owned law firm in New York.
• Bruce Cutler ’74, high-profile criminal defense lawyer.
• Stephen J. Dannhauser ’75, Chairman, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
• Francis E. Dec (1926–1996), infamously become a cult figure conspiracy theorist, subject of a book, a play, and recordings.
• Herbert Dicker ’55, founding partner, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP.
• Todd R. Eisner ’95, prominent real estate lawyer.
• Ronald M. Green ’68, founding partner, Epstein Becker & Green, PC
• Allen J. Grubman ’67 and *Arthur I. Indursky ’67, senior partners, Grubman Indursky & Shire, PC, a leading entertainment and media law firm.
• Lydia Kess ’62, first woman partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP; currently serves as senior counsel.
• Gerald B. Lefcourt ’67, high-profile criminal defense lawyer.
• E. Leo Milonas ’60, partner of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP; former Associate Justice, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; First Department and Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York.
• Burt Pugach, infamously sent to jail for 14 years for hiring three thugs to attack his girlfriend Linda Riss. The thugs threw lye in her face, leaving her blind and permanently scarred. Pugach was the subject of the movie Crazy Love.
• Gerald L. Shargel ’69, high-profile lawyer; Practitioner-in-Residence at Brooklyn Law School.

Sports and entertainment

• Himan Brown ’31, member of the Radio Hall of Fame and recipient of the Peabody Award and American Broadcast Pioneer Award. He created and produced dramatic series such as "The Adventures of the Thin Man," "Dick Tracy," "Grand Central Station," and the "Inner Sanctum."
• Jeffrey B. Gewirtz ’94, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, New Jersey Nets.
• Timothy Kelly ’05, former General Manager for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse; current General Manager of the New York Titans of the National Lacrosse League.
• Irving "Swifty" Lazar ’31 (1907-1993), legendary talent agent and deal-maker, representing both movie stars and authors.
• Geraldo Rivera '69, television journalist, attorney, and former talk show host.
• Lonn A. Trost ’71, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, New York Yankees.

Historically significant alumni

• Frieda B. Hennock ’24, first woman Federal Communications Commissioner.
• Adam Kidan, sentenced on March 29, 2006 to five years and 10 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $21 million, for his involvement in the SunCruz casino deal with Jack Abramoff.
• Sumner Lark ’16, first African-American assistant district attorney, New York City.
• Jerome Prince '33 (1907-1988), former dean, serving from 1953 to 1971; renowned evidence scholar and author of the widely-used text Prince on Evidence.
• Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal (1917 - 2007), highly-decorated pilot in the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. After the war, he helped to prosecute the Nazis in the Nuremberg Trials.

News articles

• In May 2009 US News said that it would be "investigating" Brooklyn Law School's responses to the magazine's annual survey used to rank the country's top law schools.
• In April 2009, the Blackbook Legal Blog published an article illuminating the school's policy with regard to cutting off students who wish to transfer to higher-ranked institutions. The Dean responded that the tactics mentioned were not meant to be binding, and that the school simply discourages (as opposed to coercing) its students not to transfer.
• In March 2008, Crain’s New York Business mentions Brooklyn Law School in an article about law schools which produce large numbers of public service lawyers.
• In September 2007, The Wall Street Journal published an article regarding the waning job market for U.S. lawyers, and questioning the integrity of law schools’ employment data and marketing campaigns, mentioning Brooklyn Law School, among others.
• A May 2007 Bloomberg.com article noted that, due to increasing demand for lawyers, top Manhattan firms which had not traditionally recruited from Brooklyn Law School were now recruiting from it.

External links

• Brooklaw.edu – Official website
• BLSSBA.org – SBA website
• Brooklawtalk.com – Unofficial message board