On EDNY Day, Federal Judges Visit Brooklyn Law School to Teach and Engage With Students

Brooklyn Law School students and faculty are meeting a distinguished group of special guests today, April 13, as the school hosts some two dozen judges from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) for EDNY Day. 

Judges will fan out across the law school over the course of the day, serving as guest lectures in classes on Federal Courts, Evidence, Legal Writing, and more. Members of the judiciary including all three chief judges—Chief Judge Margo Brodie, Chief Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon, and Chief Bankruptcy Judge Jil Mazer-Marino— are participating in our EDNY Day lunch panel discussions  on clerking, bankruptcy practice, and effective courtroom lawyering. The judges will also join a plenary Town Hall with Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer on how AI is reshaping litigation in the courts. Throughout the day, students will have an opportunity to mingle and interact with the judges, including at an evening reception. 

"This event is a wonderful reflection of the deep, wide-ranging partnership between Brooklyn Law School and EDNY," Meyer said. "We are so grateful to have that close relationship, including with the members of the court who serve on our adjunct faculty and as mentors to our students, many of whom have benefited from EDNY externships and clerkships over the years." 

An Intertwined History 

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), located just blocks from campus on Cadman Plaza, is one of the nation’s busiest federal courts, handling a wide range of fascinating cases, including white-collar crime, bankruptcy, terrorism, and civil rights matters. Its ties to Brooklyn Law School run deep.

Ten BLS alumni have served as EDNY judges, many judges have taught at the Law School, and a few, notably Hon. I. Leo Glasser ’48 and Hon. David G. Trager, have been deans of the school. Students and graduates regularly clerk or intern at the court, whose jurisdiction spans 8 million people across five counties (Kings, Queens, Richmond, Nassau, and Suffolk) and encompasses major international seaports and airports.  

The Hon. Ramon E. Reyes Jr. ’92, who became a U.S. District Court Judge for the EDNY in November 2023, and previously served as magistrate judge for the court since 2006, will participate and helped organize the day, including collaborating with the dean and Professor Maryellen Fullerton on the Town Hall portion. A Brooklyn native and a member of the Board of Trustees, Reyes said EDNY Day solidifies the bonds between the court and Brooklyn Law School—and benefits students and judges alike. 

"Most students don't get to talk with judges at all, let alone in their first year. Simply sitting down in a classroom with a judge and asking questions and getting answers is valuable," said Reyes. "Students also really need to know about clerkships in their first year, as soon as they come in the door, because judges want to see students with excellent grades and with different types of classes." He currently employs two BLS law clerks and two BLS interns, and considers the Federal Courts and Evidence classes to be essential.  

"Students who participate in EDNY Day get to see us as ordinary people, and when they learn about us, it brings home that we were, not that long ago, sitting in their seats and being a judge is something that they can do too," said Reyes. His chambers feature a wall of New York Yankees memorabilia, including a gifted and framed signed Aaron Judge jersey with "Judge" and 99 printed on the back. But perhaps most significantly, they are the former chambers of his mentor, Judge Trager, for whom he clerked in 1994.  

Brooklyn Law School’s first EDNY Day was held in 2019, at the suggestion of then-Chief District Judge Dora L. Irizarry who said, "we’re their home court, so why not?" according to Reyes, who helped organize it. The emergency of COVID-19 in 2020 interrupted the ongoing EDNY Day plans, but the EDNY Day program resumed in 2024. This year marks the third EDNY Day.  

The Journey to BLS – and the Bench 

Reyes’ own journey to the bench had some fateful twists and turns, and Brooklyn Law School played a key role.

The story begins when Reyes declared his intention to become a judge to his schoolteacher mom when he was 7 after watching a movie called "The Magnificent Yankee" about the famed jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. (He remembers the movie, but the career announcement is family lore.) 

After graduating from Cornell University, Reyes took a year off and was then accepted to Brooklyn Law School, where he joined a new six-week program called "Summer Legal Process," developed by Professor Linda Feldman which, he said, excellently grounded him in legal principles and catapulted him into his first year, when he received top-notch grades. With Professors Feldman and Maryellen Fullerton on his list of mentors, Reyes went on to serve as Editor in Chief of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law, became a member of the Moot Court Honor Society, and a Fellow in the Center for the Study of International Business Law.  

Despite his positive Law School experience, his plan to become a judicial clerk seemed to collapse after graduation. "I had interviewed with 15 federal judges, from the Circuit Courts on down, from Detroit to Boston to Birmingham, and spent thousands and thousands of dollars traveling. I did not get a clerkship, and was quite disappointed about that," Reyes said. He went to NYU and earned an LL.M. in International Legal Studies, but still could not get that coveted clerkship, and started working for the New York City Council as a legislative attorney, the one offer he received. It was a fascinating job, but one day a call came in from the assistant of then Dean Trager who asked if he was still interested in clerking, since Trager was about to be confirmed as a District Judge at the EDNY by the U.S. Senate.  

"I immediately re-do my resume, get the cover letter together, the writing sample, and all the necessary extras, and I send it to him for this clerkship interview," Reyes recalled. When he arrived at the interview, Trager asked what all the paperwork was for. 

Flabbergasted, Reyes explained that it was common procedure for a clerkship interview, and Trager said, "No. I think you misunderstood when I called you. I just wanted to have you come in and talk to see when you could start."  

Getting this dream job so unexpectedly was like an out-of-body experience for Reyes, who did not know what had gone on behind the scenes. Fullerton and former Dean Joan Wexler (then vice dean) had highly recommended that Trager give Reyes the job – and he agreed. Trager became Reyes’ treasured mentor who recommended the steps to take to become a federal judge, including working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District, which he did.  

Reyes met his wife Jane Landry-Reyes ’93 at the Law School, "which is the most important thing, in my life," he said. He expressed his deep gratitude to BLS on many levels.  

"All of this comes back to Brooklyn Law School. If I went somewhere else, maybe it would have happened, but I don’t think so," Reyes said.