The Safe Harbor Clinic is proud to announce that one of its clients, a political activist from Bangladesh who had been kidnapped, beaten and threatened with death unless he ceased his political activities, was granted asylum in February 2011. He escaped from Bangladesh only to embark on a perilous journey that took two months before arriving in the U.S. The students on the case, Adam Fleming ‘12, Mitchell Laird ‘11, and Maryann Tharappel ‘11, worked on snow days in an otherwise deserted One Boerum Place, from their family’s homes in Texas and upstate New York and from internet cafes in Costa Rica, to prepare the case. They wrote a compelling personal statement, a hard-driving legal memo, gathered evidence from Bangladesh, and compiled a mountainous amount of material about the situation in that country. Bulban Salim ‘13, ably translated from Bengali, becoming a member of the team.

There is no such thing as an “easy” asylum case and these students can be proud of their persistent endeavors that resulted in such a successful outcome.

read more

Brooklyn Law School student Meghan O’Malley ’11 was chosen to make a presentation at City Hall on November 22 as part of her participation in the New York City Department of Design and Construction’s (DDC) Town+Gown project.

Read more.

After an almost two-year stretch, a Safe Harbor client from Tibet was granted asylum. The client had been imprisoned, badly beaten, and tortured for pro-Dalai Lama activities. On the eve of another arrest in January 2008, he escaped with his wife and children by walking through the Himalayan mountains to safety. In fall 2008, clinic students Katharine Bodde '09, JoAnn Ponce '10, and Katie Nicolais '09 compiled an impressive amount of evidence but, for reasons that remain unknown, the claim was referred to Immigration Court.

Read more.

Three students enrolled in Brooklyn Law School’s Safe Harbor Project recently won asylum for a woman from a Caribbean nation who had been assaulted repeatedly for her political beliefs. Dave Hattendorf ’11, Meghan O’Malley ’11 and Bohee Rhee ’11 represented the woman, who was attacked on two separate occasions after she spoke out against calls to riot by a political party. During the second attack, she was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken limb. Soon afterward, she fled to the U.S. and sought asylum.

Read more.

Lydia Potter ’10 has set a new standard for immersion in real-world lawyering through a combination of clinical courses, either for credit or pay through the Law School’s public service grants. Starting in her second year, she worked in a courtroom, financial institution, or government agency during every semester. She also served as president of the Corporate and Securities Law Association. Potter will join Apollo Management, L.P., a private equity investment firm, as a legal associate. She shared some insights about her remarkable clinical experiences at BLS.

Read more.

On July 15, Diane Mirabile Rafal ‘11, a student in Professor Ursula Bentele’s Capital Defender and Federal Habeas Clinic, argued before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of the Clinic’s client, Jerry McBee who has been in prison for felony murder since 1999. Rafal, who will begin her third year at the Law School in the fall, was clear, calm, confident, and deliberate in her argument before the three judge panel that included Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, Judge Barrington D. Parker, and Judge Peter W. Hall. Rafal is the third BLS student in four years to argue before the Second Circuit, and her experience is a perfect example of the opportunities for substantive, real-world practice offered by the BLS Clinical Program.

Read more.

The Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic (BLIP) has been tapped to assist in the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in response to Schwarzenegger v. EMA. Professor Jonathan Askin, founder and director of BLIP, spoke to GamePolitics.com about the collaboration: “It is important to ensure that the rights of both the producers and consumers of video games are guaranteed in this modern day challenge to the First Amendment. We relish this opportunity to help create the best legal understanding at the intersection of law and emerging technology.”

Read more.

The Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy (BLIP) Clinic was recently awarded a $40,000 grant from the New York State Office for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR), making BLS one of only two law schools in the state to receive this prestigious grant.

Read more.

Under the supervision of Professors Stacy Caplow and Dan Smulian, students of the Safe Harbor Project work in teams to represent individuals in applying for political asylum. Recently, three students were successful in securing a grant of asylum for their client who, as a pre-teen, survived the murder of her parents and brother during a period in which persons of her ethnicity were mass victims of genocide. The client later identified and testified against her family’s persecutors and was forced to flee the country, having been threatened with death a second time because of her pursuit of justice. Another student served as the client’s interpreter and helped draw out her tragic story.

Read more.

In a city with a dearth of affordable housing units, co-ops for low-income people are a critical resource. Every semester, the Corporate and Real Estate Clinic represents about 15 such co-ops facing complex legal challenges. The clinic is also involved in broader efforts to preserve affordability.

Read more.

Tanveer Ahmad had been a tax-paying New York City cab driver for years when he was taken into custody and held in an immigrant detention center in New Jersey. In 2005, the 43-yearold man died in jail after enduring hours of agonizing pain, his screams for medical attention unheeded. A fellow inmate who did not know his name sent a note to immigrant advocates describing the terrible death. 

Read more.

View video of event.

Two clinics, the Safe Harbor Project and the Corporate and Real Estate Clinic, held their first reunions this spring, bringing together their extended families of current students, professors, and alumni for enthusiastic celebrations.

Read more.

On Tuesday March 23, the Investor Rights Clinic, the Corporate and Securities Law Association, and the Business and Finance Society, co-sponsored a panel discussion with Theodore Krebsbach and Theodore Eppenstein, the lawyers who argued the landmark Supreme Court decision Shearson v. McMahon. The panel was moderated by Professor Karen J. van Ingen, director of the Law School’s Investor Rights Clinic.

Read more.

Lydia Potter ’10 has set a new standard for immersion in real-world lawyering through a combination of clinical courses, either for credit or pay through the Law School’s public service grants. Starting in her second year, she worked in a courtroom, financial institution, or government agency during every semester. She also served as president of the Corporate and Securities Law Association. Potter will join Apollo Management, L.P., a private equity investment firm, as a legal associate. She shared some insights about her remarkable clinical experiences at BLS.

Read more.