News

The Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel announced that Jeff Gewirtz, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, will be honored as its 2014 Sports Counsel of the Year. Gewirtz, along with fellow honorees, will be presented with his award at a black tie gala on January 9th at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.

Leanne Welds ’14 has been awarded the 2014 Brown Award by The Judge John R. Brown Scholarship Foundation for her paper “Giving Local Municipalities the Power to Affect the National Securities Market.” The Brown Award recognizes excellence in legal writing in American law schools. This is the first time a BLS student has taken first place in the national competition, which awards a $10,000 stipend to the winner.

The Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, Inc. (CHCF) has selected Grace C. Bonilla ’04 as its new president and chief executive officer. She assumes the position on Jan. 5, 2015.

A record ten graduates, a mix of public defenders and prosecutors, are the recipients of this year’s Brooklyn Law School Criminal Justice Post-Graduate Fellowship, which awards $10,000 to graduates working in the criminal justice field.

In October, Justine Luongo (Tina) ‘02 was appointed as the Attorney-in-Charge of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Practice. In this role, Luongo oversees 1,100 staff members representing more than 230,000 indigent New Yorkers a year; The Legal Aid Society is the oldest and largest nonprofit in the nation serving clients who cannot pay for legal services.

Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Brooklyn Law School Class of 1956 is the subject of a recent cover story and special tribute section in a local magazine, The Positive Community.

Carol Buell `80, a founding partner of Weiss Buell & Bell, was awarded a 2014 Leading Practitioner Award by the National LGBT Bar Association at the Lavender Law Conference last month.

Jennifer R. Kasman `05 recently launched her own real estate and business law firm in Washington, D.C., JR Kasman, PLLC, and was featured in Real Estate Bisnow.

Anjanette Cabrera ‘00, a shareholder in the New York City office of the employment and labor law firm Littler Mendelson P.C., was recently elected to the Executive Committee of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) as its National Vice President of Membership for the 2014-15 term. 

David E. Leach III ’76 was recently promoted to Regional Director of the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB)’s Regional Office in Newark, New Jersey (Region 22). An adjunct professor at the Law School since 2001, Leach will enforce the nation’s primary labor law covering private sector employees in northern and central New Jersey.

Johane Severin ’08 was recently selected as a member of the newly created Racial Justice Training Institute (RJTI), a groundbreaking program that prepares advocates to advance issues of racial justice. 

Scott Foletta ‘14 was recently named a recipient of the Immigrant Justice Corps Fellowship, awarded by the Immigrant Justice Center (IJC). The highly competitive fellowship debuted this year with the goal of providing critical legal counsel and support for poor immigrants and their families.

Peter Travitsky ’14 has been awarded the Borchard Foundation Center on Law & Aging Fellowship. The Borchard Foundation Center on Law & Aging is dedicated, through education, research and service, to helping improve the quality of life for elderly people, including those who are poor or otherwise isolated by lack of education, language, culture, disability, or other barriers.

Three BLS recent alumni have been awarded coveted fellowships for the 2014-2015 year: Cody Carlson ’13 and Justine Pelham ’14 received the Equal Justice Works Fellowship; and Daniel Faessler ’13 received the Tom Steel Post-Graduate Fellowship.

Nithya Das ’06 was one of six named to the 2014 “Women of Power and Influence” by the National Organization of Women.

New York’s 9/11 museum will finally open its doors on May 21. It’s taken nearly 13 years to transform this hole in the heart of downtown New York City into a memorial, museum, and tribute to the nearly 3,000 lives lost on that morning in September.

Two Brooklyn Law School graduates -- Vinoo Varghese ‘00, Varghese & Associates, and Benjamin Fischer ‘02, Morvillo Abromovitz Grand Iason & Anello -- were named to The New York Law Journal’s list of 2014 Rising Stars.

Horace Ng ’93 was named a 2014 Corporate Counsel Award finalist this week, as selected by the San Francisco Business Times. Ng, who placed in the Best IP Lawyer category, is Managing IP Counsel and Director of IP Development at Marvell Semiconductor Inc., a worldwide semiconductor firm.

Colleen L. Caden '99, a partner in the New York office of Pryor Cashman LLP and chair of the firm's Business Immigration Group, was recently featured in Law 360's "Female Powerbrokers Q&A.”

Noah Hanft ’76 was today appointed President and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), effective May 1, 2014. Earlier in the day, Hanft announced his retirement from MasterCard, where he currently serves as General Counsel and Chief Franchise Officer, overseeing legal and regulatory affairs, public policy, and compliance.

Stan Wilcox ’88, the Athletic Director of Florida State University, was recently featured in an article in Sports Business Journal.

Claire S. Kedeshian ’89 and Carolyn Pokorny '94, both Assistant U.S. Attorneys at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, and Steven G. Sanders '95, Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, were awarded a Federal Law Enforcement Foundation (FELF) "Prosecutor of the Year Award" in November 2013. FLEF’s annual awards ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria recognizes excellence in service during the preceding year.