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As the spring semester gets underway, Brooklyn Law School welcomes three visiting professors who will not only teach classes in criminal procedure, property law, and trust and estates law, but also enrich our intellectual community with their signature areas of scholarly research. Visiting Professor Justin Murray, who teaches Criminal Procedure: Adjudication, focuses his scholarship on prosecutorial discretion and on strategies for preventing and penalizing illegal conduct on the part of prosecutors and other criminal justice actors. He joined New York Law School as an associate professor of law in 2019, teaching criminal law, criminal procedure, constitutional law, and race bias and advocacy, and serving as co-director of the school’s Criminal Justice Institute. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University and B.A. from Harvard University. Visiting Assistant Professor Oren Tamir, who is teaching Property, focuses his research primarily in public law, both domestic U.S. and comparative. He was a Global Hauser Post-Doctoral Fellow at NYU School of Law and an adjunct professor of law there in the summer of 2023. He is also a co-author of a new forthcoming constitutional law casebook, with Professor Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law School. Tamir earned an S.J.D. and LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where he is also a post-doctoral research fellow, and an LL.B. from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Visiting Professor Margaret Ryznar, who teaches Trust and Estates and rejoins us after teaching here in the spring and fall semesters of 2022, is an expert in the areas of family law, tax, and trusts & estates. Her research interests include how people hold and transfer property among themselves, as well as how tax impacts society, including its smallest unit, the family. She is the author of over 100 academic publications on law, has edited the Family Law Prof Blog, and has been a contributor to the Huffington Post. Her work has been featured in the media, including Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, The Guardian, France 24, and Bloomberg.

On February 9th, Class of 2019 alums Rebecca Meyer and William Curreri joined their lives in matrimony, in a ceremony held in the iconic Moot Court Room, officiated by their mentor and fellow alum the Honorable Claire R. Kelly ’93. “We met during undergrad at Penn State, but only began dating during our first year at Brooklyn Law School,” said Rebecca. As they pursued their legal education, the couple also discovered a lifelong connection with each other. So, despite planning a destination wedding in Spain, Becca and Will chose their home of Brooklyn, and the halls of the Law School, where their love story flourished, to make their marriage official. For the couple, having Judge Kelly officiate was personal. “I clerked for Judge Kelly, and we’ve remained close ever since,” Becca said. “She’s a wonderful mentor and is always my first call when I need career advice.  Most importantly, Judge Kelly is an incredible person who I admire and respect immensely!” Becca, currently an associate at McDermott Will & Emery, is also a Brooklyn Law adjunct professor teaching International Investment Law & Arbitration. For her, the Moot Court Room brings back memories of days as a member of the Moot Court Honor Society. William, a former member of the Law School’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Honor Society, is currently an associate at the Kennedys firm. “As a community that values the bonds formed within these walls,” said Judge Kelly, “let us extend our heartfelt congratulations to Rebecca Meyer and William Curreri on this joyous milestone. May their journey together continue to be filled with love, happiness, and shared success.”

More than 150 members and friends of the Brooklyn Law School community gathered Tuesday evening to celebrate the career of Professor Debbie Bechtel, who founded the influential Corporate and Real Estate Clinic, and is retiring after 27 years of teaching, mentoring, building connections citywide, and helping to bolster the school’s reputation for excellence in practical training. Upon beginning her teaching career in 1997, Bechtel founded the Corporate and Real Estate Clinic the same year to address both the need for free, high-quality legal services to assist struggling low-income cooperative boards and a desire to provide Brooklyn Law School students with transactional clinic experiences. Every semester since, students have helped preserve hundreds of affordable housing units by negotiating and closing loans needed to discharge arrears and address rehabilitation crises. Students have also been part of teams working to avert foreclosures and provide extensive advice to co-op boards of directors. President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer, in his remarks, described feeling a mix of happiness for Bechtel in her retirement, awe at hearing those in the room describe her staggering accomplishments in the affordable housing advocacy community, and trepidation at losing her as an educator who students repeatedly describe, in her teaching evaluations, as simply amazing.  One student wrote, “She is smart, well-connected, and truly cares about her students. I would not have survived Law School without her,” said Meyer, who noted Bechtel’s unofficial yet celebrated roles as a “model career placement director” and a “model alumni network director” for the school. “As a dean, I have a very knowing sense of what an enormous loss this is for Brooklyn Law School, to lose Debbie from the role that she has played for 27 years,” Meyer said. “So many of you are the living testament to the impact that she has had through her network, her irrepressible desire to help people, to make connections, to mentor, and so I offer my deep gratitude and tribute to Debbie for the service that she’s done for all of us and for Brooklyn Law School and beyond.”   Professor Stacy Caplow, who was the law school's first dean overseeing all aspects of clinical and experiential education, said she worked with Bechtel longer than anyone present, and asked attendees to raise their hands if they’d worked with her as well through various decades in the clinics since the beginning of her career. Across the room, many hands went up. “And how many people who worked with Debbie would say that she had a profound influence on your careers?” Caplow asked. “And how many people in here were adjuncts or professionals who Debbie corralled to be part of the Brooklyn Law School community to teach or to mentor students?” The room burst into applause on both counts. Caplow saluted Bechtel for having a “brilliant idea” 27 years ago to create a transactional clinic at a time when Brooklyn Law School clinics and others around the country largely focused on client representation. “There were very few, if any, clinics where students learned the types of skills and client representation and project work that a transactional clinic provides,” Caplow said. “It was a great idea because it was a social justice focus for housing preservation and housing security, for all of the properties and people who lived in those buildings that she and her students represented over the years.”  In presenting Bechtel with gifts, Caplow noted that the New York City Mayor’s and Brooklyn Borough President’s office had each presented her with certificates of recognition for her service. Another speaker was Director of Graduate Programs John Rudikoff ’06, who is also an adjunct professor of law and a former student of Bechtel and the clinic. “I’ve known Debbie for about 20 years now, and in that time, she’s been an excellent professor and mentor, but most importantly a friend, which I think many of you can relate to. In the 10 or so years that I was unaffiliated with the law school, before I came back to teach, she was the single connection I maintained to the Law School,” Rudikoff said, adding that she was always willing to give insight and support to graduates with her signature good sense of humor. “As demonstrated by many of the people in this room, this is an experience that many of us had with Debbie.” In remarks, Bechtel, whose family members also joined the event, expressed gratitude to members of the community, including the adjunct faculty members who she credited for taking on teaching real estate courses, especially in the evening. “I really want to thank our adjunct faculty members. They really helped the real estate program here at BLS,” Bechtel said. “I’m especially proud of the ones that are alums of my clinic and externship, which are a fair number now, [Professor] Richard Sobelsohn ’98, who you heard remarks from, [Adjunct Professors] Evelyn D'Angelo ’13, Eleor Cohen ’13, Mary Willis White ’13, John Rudikoff ’06, and Celeste Russell ’21.” She added her thanks to other adjunct professors on the team, and applauded the work of the Law School’s Real Estate Society and said she was privileged to work with the many affordable housing community advocates in the room and thanked them for “trusting your projects to us.” “I deeply appreciate all the BLS alums who have paid it forward in so many different ways, advising students hosting externships, giving guest lectures, participating on panels, we prize these contributions,” Bechtel adding that she will be an emerita professor, and will retain her school email address. “Going forward please keep in touch with me. I also should have more time to go out to dinner and have drinks,” she said to cheers from the crowd. Other speakers including faculty members: David Reiss, the founding director of the Community Development Clinic who teaches property-related courses and is the research director for the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE); and Associate Dean for Academic and Student Success Karen Porter, who is also associate professor of clinical law; former students: Niki Tsismenakis ’11, partner at Goldstein Hall; Jon Popin ’21, Duane Morris special counsel; Tim Oberweger ’05, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co., vice president; and Melissa Rivero ’08, book author. Additional speakers included Earline King and Kianah Danine, who were 2178 Atlantic Avenue clients of the clinic. Among those who shared written congratulations and well wishes with Bechtel was Chris Allred, assistant commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, who thanked her for the many years in which she guided and helped the organization as it worked to improve the oversight of affordable cooperatives in the city. “Many people know of the tremendous support you provided affordable cooperatives through your work at Brooklyn Law, and the knowledge and guidance you gave to generations of affordable housing attorneys,” Allred wrote. “I doubt as many know how much the city relied on you for your knowledge and insights. You were an invaluable resource and partner to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. In addition to the behind the scenes help you gave us, you testified before City Council, you advised the Attorney General’s office, and you guided elected officials…The residents of affordable cooperatives have never had a better champion and many thousands of families have better lives thanks to your efforts.” Indeed, Bechtel has garnered praise for her decades of work to help create and preserve affordable housing in New York City, including being honored by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board as a “Housing Hero” in 2017 and in November 2020, winning the Sondra Roach Community Partnership Award by Habitat for Humanity New York City for her work on helping save 16 families who lived at 2178 Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn from a foreclosure and bankruptcy that also preserved the affordability of their building. In 2020, she was the author of the paper, New York City Low-Income Cooperatives: A Guide, which was published in the N.Y. Real Property Law Journal, a New York State Bar Association title. In 2022, Brooklyn Law School presented Bechtel with the Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service. To see photos of the event on Flickr, click here.

Andrew Miller joined Brooklyn Law School as Assistant Professor of Law in the summer of 2025, bringing expertise in privacy law and technology, including artificial intelligence (AI). He teaches Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, and Artificial Intelligence and the Law. Professor Miller previously taught at Yale Law School, where he was a Clinical Lecturer in Law, Clinical Fellow in Private Law, and Associate Research Scholar in Law. He also served as the Director of Yale Law’s Private Law Clinic, which he co-founded in 2022 and where students worked on cutting-edge and theoretically challenging matters in consumer protection, contract, tort, and property law. Professor Miller’s research focuses on developing theoretical, doctrinal, and procedural tools that can help us better address the risks posed by emerging technologies.  He is also a frequent presenter at scholarly symposia on AI and the law, speaking on topics such as surveillance pricing, bias in AI, deepfakes, the regulation of facial recognition, AI federalism, and the future risks, opportunities, and challenges of AI. After graduating from Yale Law School in 2018, Professor Miller clerked for Judge Diane Wood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and spent two years at Loevy & Loevy, a Chicago civil rights firm. At Loevy & Loevy, Miller focused on seeking redress for people harmed by the misuse of facial recognition, digital surveillance, and other artificial intelligence technologies. Prior to law school, Professor Miller worked as a legislative staffer for two U.S. senators, advising on a wide range of economic policy matters.

On Jan. 12, 2021, in a rare joint statement, 157 law school deans from schools across the country, including Dean Michael T. Cahill, published a statement addressing the 2020 election and the events that took place in the United States Capitol last week. “The violent attack on the Capitol was an assault on our democracy and the rule of law,” reads the statement. “The effort to disrupt the certification of a free and fair election was a betrayal of the core values that undergird our Constitution. Lives were lost, the seat of our democracy was desecrated, and our country was shamed.” The joint statement reflects upon the roles that lawyers played in recent events and affirms the deans’ commitment to working together to repair the damage to democratic institutions and rebuild faith in the rule of law. “Many lawyers and judges worked honestly and in good faith, often in the face of considerable political pressure, to ensure the 2020 election was free and fair. However, we recognize with dismay and sorrow that some lawyers challenged the outcome of the election with claims that they did not support with facts or evidence. This betrayed the values of our profession.” The deans conclude with a call to action to “restore faith in the rule of law and the ideals of the legal profession. We have enormous faith in the law’s enduring values and in our students, who will soon lead this profession. We call upon all members of the legal profession to join us in the vital work ahead.” Read the full statement and list of signatories Read the American Constitution Society’s statement of law professors Read Dean Cahill’s message to the Brooklyn Law School community

Last week’s mass shooting in Atlanta was just the latest in a recent series of despicable acts of violence claiming Asian victims. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition organized to combat the rise in racism against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 2,800 incidents of anti-Asian hate were reported between March 19 and Dec. 31. Such bigotry has a long and deplorable history in the United States and remains all too real today. Our community stands against racism of every kind and stands in solidarity with our Asian and Asian American members. Our faculty Diversity Committee is working with the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) to organize a Community Conversation—currently planned for lunchtime this Wednesday, March 24— so that we can come together and share our reactions, reflections, experiences, and emotions in an effort to help, to heal, and to strengthen our shared commitment to eradicating hate in all its forms. This is also an opportunity for our students, faculty, and staff to share any similar concerns they may have about their own communities. For example, we also recognize that similarly appalling violence and abuse has been directed toward members of the Orthodox Jewish community during the pandemic. For students who are experiencing stress, anxiety, or trauma in the wake of recent events, know that we want to help and that there are resources available to you. Please take advantage of Brooklaw.care, which provides free 24/7 medical and mental-health services. Reach out to Tami Adelson, our Acting Dean of Students, or to Karen Porter, our Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity. Let us work together to build a community, profession, and society where racism, hate, and intolerance has no place.   Sincerely yours, Michael T. Cahill  President, Joseph Crea Dean & Professor of Law

Brooklyn Law School ranked 32 on the National law Journal list of 50 “Go-To Law Schools” in the nation, an annual ranking that identifies the top 50 law schools with the highest percentage of 2019 J.D. graduates hired as first-year associates at the nation’s 100 largest law firms. The Law School moved up 15 spots, the largest jump on the list, with 16 percent of its graduates at big firms. Brooklyn Law School also was among the top law schools that saw their alumni promoted to partner in 2019, placing 16th in the nation on that list with 19 newly minted partners. “We are gratified, but by no means surprised, to see that so many of our outstanding graduates have been recruited by the largest law firms in the country,” said Dean Michael T. Cahill. “It is a fitting recognition that the skilled lawyers who come out of our Law School are immediately prepared to do great work, both in the private and public sectors.” Karen Eisen, Dean of Career and Professional Development, attributed the strong showing to a combination of factors, including talented, well-prepared students, the excellence of the Law School’s academic program, a robust market for legal jobs, and the success of alumni in Big Law. “Our alumni in the top 100 firms certainly have enhanced our law school’s reputation over the years,” she said. “Their success has created even more opportunities for our students to obtain jobs; employers who hire Brooklyn graduates invariably come to us again.” Read more here (subscription required).

Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will address graduates at the Law School’s 119th commencement at the Ford Amphitheater, in Brooklyn, on May 15, 2020. Bharara served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He oversaw the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases and supervised an office of more than 200 assistant U.S. attorneys who handled cases involving terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, financial and healthcare fraud, cybercrime, public corruption, gang violence, organized crime, and civil rights violations. The New York Times called Bharara one of “the nation’s most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors.” In 2017, he joined the NYU School of Law faculty as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence. He is the executive vice president of Some Spider Studios, the host of CAFE’s “Stay Tuned with Preet,” a podcast focused on issues of justice and fairness, and a frequent commentator on CNN. Bharara graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and from Columbia Law School, where he was a member of the law review. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law. At commencement, Bharara will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, the highest degree conferred by Brooklyn Law School. WHAT: Brooklyn Law School’s 119th Commencement WHO: Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient WHEN: Friday, May 15, 11 a.m. WHERE: Ford Amphitheater in Coney Island, 3052 West 21st Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. For more information, visit: www.brooklaw.edu/about us/commencement

Crain’s New York Business has once again named Susan Herman, Centennial Professor of Law and president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of 50 Most Powerful Women in New York The biennial list also included Herman in the top 50 in 2017. Crain’s noted that this year’s list reflects a “remarkable clustering of women in top positions in major sectors of the city’s economy.” Herman is listed alongside an array of top CEOs, elected officials, industry leaders, and heads of influential organizations. Crain’s lauded Herman’s leadership of the ACLU, mentioning in particular the launch of initiatives such as People Power, a grassroots platform that is moving beyond litigation to focus more on organizing its base. “After the election, people kept asking us, ‘What can I do?’” said Herman. “Now we say, ‘OK, roll up your sleeves.’” Herman was elected president of the ACLU in 2008 after serving on the organization's National Board of Directors for 16 years and as general counsel for 10 years. At the Law School, she teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Law and Literature, and Terrorism and Civil Liberties. She is affiliated with the Center for Law, Language & Cognition and is an Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Committee Member. In 2015, she was named an Icon of Brooklyn Law School. See the Crain’s ranking here.

Kara M. Stein, Former Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), delivered the Abraham L. Pomerantz Lecture at Brooklyn Law School Sept. 24, speaking on the topic Investor Protection in the Digital Age. Professor James Fanto, Co-Director of Center for the Study of Business Law and Regulation, and Professor Roberta Karmel, former SEC commissioner and co-director of the Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law, facilitated the post-lecture discussion. This was the 17th Pomerantz Lecture, which honors the life and work of Abraham L. Pomerantz ’24, who pioneered shareholder suits against major corporations, particularly derivative suits. The lecture is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Business Law and Regulation and the Brooklyn Law Review. Historically, the SEC’s mission has been to protect investors; ensure fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. However, Stein said, increasingly the agency is challenged by new technologies, innovative investment products, and computers trading securities instantaneously without human intervention. She explored the many questions those challenges raise. For example, does the regulatory paradigm created at the beginning of the 20th century still work for cryptoassets, distributed ledger technology, and dark pools? And what changes need to be made to help the agency perform its critical mission in the Digital Age? “Market manipulation and fraud do not disappear,” said Stein. “New forms of manipulation require us to adapt to the environment.” These same technologies that make fraud easier, Stein suggested, should be employed by the SEC in order to combat it, with care and human oversight. Investors, she said, need “trust and information. If either of these are missing, the markets freeze up.” The Pomerantz Lecture series focuses on topics of corporate securities law and related issues of professional responsibility. The law firm of Pomerantz LLP, of which Abraham Pomerantz was the founding partner, provides continuing support for the series. View photos of the event here.

Brooklyn Law School welcomes alumna Harriet Cohen ’74 for a fireside chat and book event celebrating her new memoir, Passion and Power, reflecting on her trailblazing career in family law.