Around Syracuse Law

Once and Forever Orange

The College’s oldest living alumnus turned an amazing 103 years young in June, and to celebrate that milestone—not to mention his service to country, community, and profession—the College of Law honored Robert “Bob” Gang Jr. ’39, L’42 not once, but twice in 2021.

First—fittingly on June 6, 2021, the anniversary of D-Day—Dean Boise and other Syracuse Law representatives celebrated Gang’s birthday at his Syracuse home and presented him with a proclamation recognizing the day as “Bob Gang Day.” 

Then, in September, Gang was invited back to his alma mater for Law Alumni Weekend 2021. The photo shows Gang at the  Syracuse University National Veterans Resource Center cutting his cake with a ceremonial sword, surrounded by faculty, alumni, students, family members, and other honored guests. Gang also received a special citation from New York Rep. John Katko L’88.  

Also pictured is Gang’s Army jacket, now on display in Dineen Hall. As an undergraduate, Gang served in the Syracuse ROTC. He cut his third year at Syracuse Law short to serve our nation from 1942 to 1951. As a US Army infantry officer, Bob used his legal training to represent soldiers charged with misconduct. After serving his country, he came back to Syracuse to begin a successful career in private practice.

Thank you for your service, Bob. Once Orange, Forever Orange!

Syracuse Law alumni help their alma mater in many ways, and in this feature we offer a few vignettes about how they have offered their time and talent over the past year—from creating scholarships, guest lecturing, hosting externs, hiring graduates, and more.

We not only ask what alums are doing but why they do it. Remember, every way you contribute makes a difference for our students, not least in the personal and professional bonds that are formed among generations of Orange lawyers. 

STEWARDING A SCHOLARSHIP

“Don’t Forget the Commitments”

When a student receives a scholarship, the bonds that are created can sometimes stretch far beyond the transactional.

That is not to say that students don’t express their heartfelt thanks for the financial assistance that helps make their career dreams a reality. In fact, many scholarship stewards receive warm letters from recipients, and those letters are received with equal gratitude. Sometimes they are so cherished, they lead to unique bonds between generations of Orange lawyers. 

That certainly was the case with letters that Bill Burrows L’55 has received over the years from Class of 1955 Scholarship recipients, a fund that Burrows has stewarded for many years. When former recipient Lauren G. Blau L’17 agreed to take over that task from Burrows, as part of the hand-over, he sent her a folder full of thank-you notes—and hers was on top. 

“My letter told him how much the scholarship meant to me and how it allowed me to stay in Syracuse while I studied for the bar,” says Blau, an associate specializing in matrimonial and family law at Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda LLP in New York City. “Mr. Burrows wrote back telling me he was glad the scholarship went to me as he could see what a difference it made.”

The Class of 1955 Scholarship was an enormous benefit for Blau, especially when tragedy struck her family during her third year. “My mother was diagnosed with cancer, so the scholarship came at a time when I was dealing with that, as well as the stresses of my 3L year,” she explains. “It just took a burden off me.”

One criterion for the scholarship was a particularly good fit for Blau. The recipient, it asks, must demonstrate service to the College. In that respect, Blau has been giving back from day one. She was part of the Student Bar Association for three years, involved with two clinics at the College, was the Lead Articles Editor of the Journal of International Law and Commerce, an honorary member of the Moot Court Society (now the Travis H.D. Lewin Advocacy Honor Society); and a Student Ambassador, among other activities. 

“When Mr. Burrows was looking for someone from the next generation to be the steward of the Class of 1955 Scholarship, he was inspired that the scholarship had resonated with me,” says Blau. 

Burrows agrees, “I think Lauren is perfect for this job. She was a great student, she has a good career ahead of her, and she’s dedicated to the alumni association. I wanted to have confidence about the 1955 fund, and now I can go to sleep at night!”

As Burrows mentions, Blau continues to serve the College as Chair of the SULAA Engagement Committee, encouraging fellow alums to get involved with their alma mater, through philanthropy and other means. 

“I give back to the College not only through SULAA but also by donating to the Class of 1955 Scholarship that helped me,” Blau explains, adding that as part of her stewardship she wants to encourage other recipients to remember the fund that supported their law school career and support it in turn. 

“I want to remind alums that someone helped them through law school, so please don’t forget the commitments that others have made in the past,” Blau adds. “The College needs alumni to remember those who gave to them and to give back, by donating to the College or by providing mentorship and career opportunities to students.” 

Syracuse Law alumni help their alma mater in many ways, and in this feature we offer a few vignettes about how they have offered their time and talent over the past year—from creating scholarships, guest lecturing, hosting externs, to hiring graduates, and more.

We not only ask what alums are doing but why they do it. Remember, every way you contribute makes a difference for our students, not least in the personal and professional bonds that are formed among generations of Orange lawyers. 

HIRING GRADUATES 

“Don’t Forget Your Beginnings”

Giving back, for Kimberly Lau ’03, L’06, is a way to express what she calls her “personal love of the University”—where she received both her undergraduate and law degrees—and a way to recognize how Orange connections helped launch her successful career.

“I was awarded scholarships for both my undergraduate degree and law school, so I’ve always felt supported by Syracuse, and also I understand the importance of the alumni network because that is how I got my first job,” says Lau. 

Currently, Partner and Chair of the Title IX/College Disciplinary Department at New York City law firm Warshaw Burstein LLP, Lau’s first job was with white shoe Manhattan firm Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti LLP. “University alumnus Daniel Carroll ’66 hired me for a litigation job there, and I haven’t looked back.”  

“When I reflect on my positive experiences at the University, I ask myself, how can I give back? That’s what drives me,” Lau explains. And now that she is in a position to hire externs, interns, and associates at Warshaw Burstein, she can positively affect the careers of young Syracuse grads the way Carroll did for her.

A case in point, Lau has signed on with the Office of Career Services to accept spring externs and summer interns. In the summer of 2019, one of those interns was Aubre Dean L’20. 

“Aubre performed very well as an intern,” says Lau. “I was familiar with her work and received positive feedback about her work with other partners. I could see she had potential. She was sharp, analytical, and able to anticipate questions.”

By the end of that summer, Lau knew that Dean was full-time associate material. “Aubre is still in her first year with us, and she’s doing well,” notes Lau. “She has definitely learned a lot, and the traits she brought during her internship summer continue to guide her positive development as an attorney.” 

Hiring isn’t the only way Lau continues to help the College and University. “I donate every year to scholarship funds, and I jump at opportunities to speak with students at the law school. My advice to other alums when thinking about giving back is to look inward and don’t forget your beginnings.”  

Syracuse Law alumni help their alma mater in many ways, and in this feature we offer a few vignettes about how they have offered their time and talent over the past year—from creating scholarships, guest lecturing hosting externs, hiring graduates, and more.

We not only ask what alums are doing but why they do it. Remember, every way you contribute makes a difference for our students, not least in the personal and professional bonds that are formed among generations of Orange lawyers. 

TEACHING IN THE JDI PROGRAM

A Meaningful Way

For Prashanth “PJ” Jayachandran L’98, giving back to his alma mater also meant fulfilling an aspiration to teach law. “I’ve been in private practice for close to 25 years,” says Jayachandran, Chief Supply Chain Counsel at Colgate-Palmolive Company. “I’ve done some guest lecturing and training, but I wanted to teach in a more meaningful way for some time.”

A conversation with Dean Boise led to the suggestion that Jayachandran could teach in the College’s JDinteractive online law degree program, from his home in New Jersey. 

However, while talking with Associate Dean of Online Education Kathleen O’Connor, in fall 2021, they concluded that Jayachandran’s proposed class—“The Corporate Lawyer in a Sustainable World”—would be perfect for an in-person, three-day JDi residency course. 

As lead counsel for Colgate-Palmolive’s global supply chain Jayachandran oversees global commercial contracting and provides advice on legal issues related to logistics, international trade, and labor. Additionally, he works closely with Colgate-Palmolive’s sustainability and responsible sourcing teams. 

In introducing the JDi residency students to the “growing and evolving area” of sustainability Jayachandran touched on climate change, human rights compliance, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“We opened the course by telling the students that they had been hired as sustainability counsel by a fictitious public company that is launching a global sustainability program,” explains Jayachandran. “We then covered various topics related to the sustainability program, with the students split into teams to analyze and debrief on key issues. I enjoyed it immensely.” 

Jayachandran says he particularly appreciated teaching JDi students whose journeys to law school are non-linear. “The students were a hard-working group, many with full-time jobs and distinguished careers, and some who traveled a long way to Syracuse, as far as from Hawaii and Europe,” he says.

Jayachandran is slated to teach the course again in spring 2022. But in fact, he again offered his expertise during Law Alumni Weekend 2021, as moderator of the Corporate Law Society panels addressing in-house counsel and corporate counsel practice. 

Also sitting on the in-house counsel panel was PJ’s wife, Neena Patil, Chief Legal Officer and Senior Vice President at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, whom Jayachandran met while they both worked at the Syracuse-area law firm, Bond, Schoeneck & King.

“The panels were made up of very accomplished lawyers,” observes Jayachandran. “I hope that students feel their Syracuse law degree will offer them the same kind of opportunities to pursue success like the kind we witnessed on the panels.”

“The panelists did a good job of explaining how an in-house corporate career differs from other legal careers,” Jayachandran adds. “As an in-house lawyer, you are a business advisor with a law degree, and that point was well-made. You need a good legal skill set, but you must have the curiosity and desire to understand the business you are in.”

Syracuse Law alumni help their alma mater in many ways, and in this feature, we offer a few vignettes about how they have offered their time and talent over the past year—from creating scholarships, guest lecturing, hosting externs, to hiring graduates, and more.

We not only ask what alums are doing but why they do it. Remember, every way you contribute makes a difference for our students, not least in the personal and professional bonds that are formed among generations of Orange lawyers. 

HOSTING EXTERNS

“We all enhance each other”

The Hon. Thérèse Wiley Dancks L’91 became a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York in 2012, and in that same year, she began working with the Office of Career Services to host externs at her chambers in downtown Syracuse. 

Since the 2012-2013 academic year Judge Dancks has hosted 41 externs, including her current cohort of students, and 36 of those externs have been from Syracuse Law. The only summer she missed during that time was summer 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Judge Dancks took time out of her busy schedule to discuss what externs can expect while working in her chambers, and about her rule for who buys lunch … 

Why do you continue to support externship programs and host externs? 

For two reasons. First, I believe all of us practicing and working in law careers have an obligation to train the next generation of lawyers. Second, it’s important that students also get practical experience. Here, they get to know the workings of the courts from backstage, so to speak, understand what goes into decision-making, learn how a good brief is written, and see what to do and—importantly—what not to do in a courtroom or chambers.

My law clerks agree with me and buy into this—including my Career Law Clerk Jill C. Levy L’05—so I credit them for their willingness to help train the next generation.

What sort of tasks do your externs perform?

When we have a new cohort of externs coming in, I will talk with my clerks about cases that are coming up or that are fully briefed and ready for decisions. We then try to start the externs off with distinct projects such as a discreet issue within a larger motion.

After that, we’ll give them a larger project within a case, such as a civil rights matter or social security appeal. My clerks will oversee and check the externs’ work by assisting them with organizational structure, legal reasoning, supportive authority, and other revisions before it comes to me. Our goal is to help the students improve their written and analytical skills.

How many hours do your externs typically work?

Summer externs might be here for as many as 40 hours a week, with academic year externs putting in about 12 hours a week. We want them to get a substantive practical education. We’ll bring them along slowly at first, but by the end of their time with us, they may have worked on two or more full case motions, under supervision from my clerks.

I also encourage the externs to watch proceedings in other courts and see what other judges are doing. You learn a lot by observing. I know I did. The students do great. I have rarely been disappointed.

Do you keep in touch with former externs? 

I keep a list of all of them, and I follow their careers to cheer them on and let them know they are not alone. When externs work in my chambers, they know my door is always open, and they can ask me anything about work, career, school, and life. 

I also always invite students to stay in touch as they progress through their careers. Some stay in touch regularly, and others pop up every now and then to fill me in on their lives. It is very gratifying to know I played some small part in their legal education, and I love to see them succeed. 

Mentoring young lawyers is so important to keeping our profession civil and respected, and in the long run, to help uphold the rule of law.

So, what is your special rule about who buys lunch?

One rule in my chambers is that no student is ever allowed to pay for their lunch when we get take-out or go out as a group. I know the students are on budgets, so I just ask that they plan to do the same for a student somewhere down the road in their careers. This goes for mentoring too when they are at a place in their careers to do so. I tell them that we all enhance each other with our successes, so it is important for them to help other Orange alums succeed.

Have any of your externs returned to you as clerks?

None yet, but some have become clerks for other judges. We train them well for someone else, I guess! I know that they are much more attractive as clerks because they have seen what goes on in chambers and the backrooms of courts. 

Syracuse Law alumni help their alma mater in many ways, and in this feature, we offer a few vignettes about how they have offered their time and talent over the past year—from creating scholarships, guest lecturing, hosting externs, to hiring graduates, and more.

We not only ask what alums are doing but why they do it. Remember, every way you contribute makes a difference for our students, not least in the personal and professional bonds that are formed among generations of Orange lawyers. 

CREATING A SCHOLARSHIP

Giving Students an Edge

The August 2021 Syracuse University obituary of alumnus W. Carroll “Nick” Coyne ’54, L’57 illustrates the twin passions of the late University Life Trustee, who was a labor relations attorney for more than 40 years at Hancock & Estabrook LLP.

A baseball and basketball letterman, who was honored with the 1977 Letter Winner of Distinction Award, Coyne loved sports and he loved the Orange. These passions helped spark a life-long friendship with fellow law school alum and athlete Art Lussi L’88.

Now, Lussi has memorialized their long friendship by creating an academic scholarship in Coyne’s name, for deserving students entering Orange Edge, Syracuse’s summer pre-law program. 

Lussi, the President of Crowne Plaza Lake Placid, first got to know Coyne in the Adirondack resort town. Coyne’s daughter Christina ’94 played tennis with Lussi’s younger sister, and the Coynes would often stay in an area lodge. Lussi was an avid ski-racer “and Nick knew that my competitive spirit would serve me well if I gained admission to the law school.” 

However, Lussi admits that his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College had taken a back seat to his skiing career, so to give him a jumpstart on law school, Coyne encouraged him to enroll in the Law Education Opportunity (LEO) Program, the predecessor to Orange Edge.   “LEO was a six-week summer course then, and if you passed it, you were admitted into the 1L year,” recalls Lussi. “The course helped you to prove that you could hang with the regular admits, and it gave me the confidence that I could survive academically and do well as a law student.”  

“Emil Rossi L’72 and the late Samuel Donnelly taught my course,” Lussi continues. “Both of them got you thinking like a lawyer. Donnelly in particular was instrumental because he knew many of the LEO students were intimidated. He was a brilliant person, and we became good friends.” 

In addition to motivating Lussi to apply for law school, Coyne encouraged him in other ways. “I continued to ski-race while in law school, and Nick was a big supporter of staying athletically involved as well as academically involved.”

And when it came to Lussi’s career, Coyne inspired him to use his legal training to get deeply involved in his community. “He encouraged me to broaden my legal horizons, so I became an Adirondack Park Agency commissioner, and later I joined the Olympic Regional Development Authority. Nick was a big fan of Lake Placid’s Olympic facilities.” 

Adds Lussi, “I miss Nick’s company at football, basketball, and lacrosse games, my perfect study breaks during law school. I hope the recipients of this Orange Edge scholarship continue the tradition of studying hard and cheering hard for the Orange.”

Syracuse Law alumni help their alma mater in many ways, and in this feature, we offer a few vignettes about how they have offered their time and talent over the past year—from creating scholarships, guest lecturing, to hosting externs, to hiring graduates, and more.

We not only ask what alums are doing but why they do it. Remember, every way you contribute makes a difference for our students, not least in the personal and professional bonds that are formed among generations of Orange lawyers. 

CREATING FELLOWSHIPS

Supporting Careers in Social Justice Law 

Marty Feinman L’83, Director of Juvenile Justice Training, The Legal Aid Society, is shown visiting Dineen Hall in October 2021, where he had lunch with the executive board of the Syracuse Public Interest Network, met with students interested in public interest law careers through a dedicated “office hour,” and later visited Professor Lauryn Gouldin’s Criminal Justice Reform Seminar to discuss the evolving world of juvenile justice.

Feinman has more than 30 years of experience in the field of social and juvenile justice, advocating for children and families, defending indigent adults, training young attorneys, and advising policymakers.

For many years, he has supported student exploration of careers in public interest law careers through the Children’s Rights and Family Law Clinic and the Syracuse Public Interest Network, by encouraging The Legal Aid Society to host Syracuse interns and externs and to hire graduates, and in recent years by funding fellowships to help build a deeper bench of advocates for the field.

In addition to continuing his direct interactions with students as a mentor and guest lecturer, in fall 2021 Feinman will endow a special fellowship fund to support students who wish to pursue a career in the field he has so passionately represented. 

Specifically, distributions from the fund will make available, on an annual basis, three fellowships in support of students who wish to pursue a career in public interest and who demonstrate a commitment to the field with a focus on criminal defense on behalf of indigent persons and juvenile justice. The annual Feinman Fellowship Awards seek to build the field by reducing the impact of the financial barriers an externship or job in certain positions present. 

Two awards of $2,500 will be conferred to 3L students who select for their externship a public interest or public service position, and a postgraduate fellowship award of $5,000 will be made to a graduating student who chooses in their final spring semester to pursue and accept postgraduate employment in the field.

In considering applications, preference will be given to students who secure an externship doing (a) criminal defense work on behalf of indigent persons; and/or (b) legal advocacy on behalf of children in the juvenile justice system or direct representation of children in the welfare system; and/or (c) legal policy or research promoting criminal and/or juvenile justice reform on behalf of an organization whose mission it is to represent the rights of those populations.

As Feinman told Syracuse Law magazine in November 2020, “Social justice law work can be intimidating and emotionally overwhelming, but on the flip side, it’s just so extraordinarily rewarding. You are engaged in work that can be life-saving and difference-making.” With this new endowed fund, he is betting on Syracuse Law students to continue the important work of representing our most vulnerable populations and ensuring their equal access to justice.

THE ANNUAL GIVING LEADERBOARD

Our alumni family’s generosity continues to drive Syracuse Law’s success, enabling us to offer a forward-leaning legal education, recruit and retain the best and brightest students and an outstanding faculty, and build upon our traditions and strengths. 

We couldn’t do it without you. Thanks to your gifts, each year we have new philanthropic successes to report:

• During a global pandemic that tested us all, we exceeded our overall fundraising goal by more than $1 million, and we saw increased giving to our priority funds: the Law Annual Fund and the Scholarship and Financial Aid Fund. 
• We also successfully endowed new scholarship funds, including the Syracuse Black Law Alumni Collective William H. Johnson L’1903 Endowed Scholarship—named in honor of the College’s first African American graduate—and the Deborah and Sherman F. Levey ’57, L’59 Endowed Scholarship. These two new funds represent a landmark step in our continued efforts toward increased diversity, for our law school and the legal profession at large. 
• Moreover, our alumni consistently lead the University in giving participation when compared to their Orange peers and continue to lead the University in Forever Orange campaign participation. Our alumni family has much to be proud of! 

In this chart, we highlight the top 10 classes by giving participation for the Fiscal Year 2021, as well as the top classes by giving participation for each decade. Congratulations and thanks to these classes for their outstanding contributions!

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