(China Daily | Jan. 5. 2021) New leader is on the way, but wounds could take time to heal in a polarized nation
The year 2020 has passed into history with a series of cascading events in the United States ranging from racism protests to a traumatic presidential election－all played out against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic.
The past year will make itself felt in 2021 as a more divided country grapples with twin health and economic crises.
The US casualties from the novel coronavirus, which the nation’s scientists now believe first infected people there in mid-December 2019, had surged past 351,000 on the first days of 2021. That’s roughly one of every 1,000 residents, the most in the world for a single nation.
But the pandemic wasn’t the only event that shaped the year.
William Banks, distinguished professor emeritus at Syracuse University College of Law in New York, summed up 2020 in three phrases: COVID-19, racial justice, and democracy threatened.
The pandemic will mark 2020 as equivalent to 1918 when a similar pandemic killed huge numbers of people, Banks said.
“The lessons learned hopefully are preparedness, planning, and leadership,” he told China Daily. “The US lacked all three this year” …
Each of you came to Syracuse to learn the law. You were no doubt driven by various conceptions of what the law means, whether our laws are just—or justly applied—or what a career in the law might look like for you.
As your faculty, we pride ourselves on our knowledge of the law, and it is our role to help you learn it, interpret it, analyze it, apply it, and—yes—challenge it, even criticize it.
But yesterday’s violent storming of the Capitol by a mob angry with the outcome of the election illustrates more dramatically than any classroom instruction the most important function of the law—to serve as the framework for maintaining a peaceful, orderly, and well-functioning society.
Acts like those perpetrated on Jan. 6, 2021, not only are unprecedented in our country’s history, they also threaten the very roots of our democracy and chillingly demonstrate its fragility.
Whatever your political persuasion, we can surely agree that the rule of law must always be paramount, that disagreements are to be resolved through the democratic process, not violence, and that the periodic transfer of power must take place peacefully. A colleague reminded me yesterday of Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson’s statement in his concurring opinion in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer:
… [W]ith all its defects, delays, and inconveniences, men have discovered no technique for long preserving free government except that the Executive be under the law, and that the law be made by parliamentary deliberations. Such institutions may be destined to pass away. But it is the duty of the Court to be last, not first, to give them up.
The events of January 6 remind us of the truths in this statement, that “free government” is not inevitable—it may “pass away”—and that the Courts, and we lawyers, as officers of the Courts, are afforded both the privilege and the profound responsibility of being the last defense against its demise.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass wrote that “nations are taught less by theories than by facts and events.” Take stock of the facts and events that have unfolded before you—yesterday and throughout this election process—and as you prepare to resume your studies this semester, know that you are being offered the most valuable lesson of your legal education.
Most importantly, I urge you to commit yourself in whatever way you are able to work toward preserving the framework of law that has secured the freedom we have for so long enjoyed.
Several College of Law faculty members will be among the participants in the 2021 Society of Socio-Economists (SOS) Annual Meeting. Hosted by the College of Law and titled “Pressing Social Issues,” the meeting will take place via Zoom on Jan. 10, 2021.
The issues to be discussed include wealth and income distribution; race, gender, and class justice; environmental sustainability; inclusive capitalism; the economics of war and peace; corporate fiduciary duties, social responsibility, and governance; and the ethical dimensions of economic analysis.
Included among the featured participants are Syracuse University College of Law professors Robert Ashford, Christian Day, David Driesen, and Shubha Ghosh. The full program can be found at societyofsocio-economists.com.
For more information, contact Professor Robert Ashford, Program Co-Chair for the AALS Section on Socio-Economics.
Read Professor Ashford’s introductory overview of socio-economics can be read at SSRN.
U Law Professor Saddened, Concerned About Democracy’s Future
(Spectrum News | Jan. 7, 2021) Sadness: That’s how Syracuse University Law Professor Bill Banks felt when he watched a mob rush the Capitol on Wednesday. A group of people took extreme measures to vindicate a president who refuses to accept defeat, he said.
“It’s quite an ironic and disturbing spectacle to have the president of the United States engage in sedition,” said Banks. “That is in violent, illegal attempts to overthrow the government of the United States.”
Capitol police were overwhelmed Wednesday afternoon. The logistics are still unknown.
Law enforcement in Washington, D.C., is unique because the Defense Department usurps the city’s power, said Banks. He says either the police misapprehended where the group was or they were underprepared.
“They simply didn’t have the numbers to stand up to the thousands of violent thugs who were using any means available to them to break into the building,” said Banks …
CNY Reactions to Washington D.C. Attack on Congress from Disgust to Anger to Blaming Trump
(WAER | Jan. 7, 2021) Reactions to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building by a large number of President Trump supporters Wednesday sparked some strong reactions from New York’s Congressional delegation and political experts in Central New York …
Syracuse University Professor William Banks, founder of the Institute for Security Policy and Law says the mob and its activities fall short of a coup attempt, though said it was appropriate for police to use force to quell rioting …
Although David Katz and Danielle (Wilner) Katz took two very different paths to get to the College of Law—where they met in 2016 before getting married in 2018—their journey shared one thing in common: each decided to attend Syracuse Law because of the quality education and collaborative environment it offered.
David, a Cornell University grad, knew since fifth grade he wanted to study law. Danielle, a Toronto native, had landed a job in guest service management after her undergraduate study in Canada but she needed more of a challenge.
So Danielle began researching law schools. She decided on Syracuse, which was the perfect distance from home, and is surprised even today at how much she enjoys living and working in Central New York as a change from her big city roots in Toronto.
“Syracuse is great. I love the person I’m with and the work that I do,” she says.
When David and Danielle met in the fall semester, neither of them thought much of each other. Danielle was just starting law school, and David was entering his last year.
But in the spring semester, David came across Danielle stressing over an assignment. He offered to take her to get something to eat. She agreed, but wanted to make it quick, thinking they would swing by McDonalds. But David—a local from Liverpool, NY—was a regular at Phoebe’s, down Irving Avenue from campus, so that’s where he took her.
“I was so stressed, I couldn’t enjoy myself,” Danielle admits.
But after Danielle turned in her assignment, she realized what a great time she had had with David. They became fast friends, so much so that when she couldn’t get home for Passover, David invited her to his family’s home for Easter instead.
“We weren’t dating, but his whole family thought we were,” Danielle recalls. Adds David, “My uncle pulled me aside and said, ‘You think she is just your friend, but there’s more to this!’”
Shortly after Easter 2016, the couple made it official and began dating. In November 2018, they took a weekend off from Danielle’s final semester and were married in Toronto. They held off on a honeymoon until after graduating and settling into their work lives.
Last winter, the Katzes were finally able to honeymoon in St. Lucia. Having had a great time on the Caribbean island, they arrived home just as the whole world was shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic. After almost a year on lock-down as newlyweds, they have not only survived but thrived during an unprecedented time.
The couple has the alumni community as a support structure and work they share in common and which they love. David is a civil litigation associate at Smith Sovik Kendrick & Sugnet PC while Danielle practices corporate transactions and trusts and estates at Barclay Damon LLP. They couldn’t be happier, they say.
“Because we don’t work in the same area, it’s really cool to get different perspectives on working in the same profession,” David explains.
“Essentially he goes to court and I don’t,” Danielle notes.
Jay Brown, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest and studied finance and economics at Santa Clara University, combined two desires when he came to Syracuse in 1992: the study of law and the experience of going East. He didn’t expect to meet his future wife, Consuela Pinto.
Growing up in North Jersey, Consuela was thrilled to go out of state to Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. She always knew her aim was college, as her first-generation Italian parents desperately wanted their children to become either doctors or lawyers.
She was settled and established in Boston, working in human resources for a bank that wanted her to stay after graduation. However, with law school in the back of her mind, Consuela knew if she didn’t go right after graduation, she may never go.
In their words, Jay and Consuela’s relationship started as a solid, comfortable friendship. Cast together in Professor Richard Ellison’s 1L Law Firm section, they ended up in a small study group.
In the second semester, Jay asked Consuela to have dinner at Pastabilities in Armory Square. There, they started a pastime that still holds after 23 years of marriage—debate, or what Consuela calls “ridiculous discussions.” That night they deliberated over the existence of New Hampshire’s coastline (for the record, the state does have a 13-mile stretch of Atlantic shoreline called the Seacoast Region).
Consuela, who had also graduated with an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School, says, “Jay is very calm and I’m the polar opposite, and if there was a point in my life when I needed an infusion of calmness, it was my time in Syracuse.”
After graduation, the couple headed to Washington, DC, where Consuela went to work for the Department of Labor. This was the perfect location for Jay as well, because his focus was antitrust law.
Making their home in Silver Spring, MD, the couple have raised two children. Isabel is in Boston attending Northeastern University, while Matthew is a high school junior studying from home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Upon leaving the labor department, Consuela, who had been the President of the DC Women’s Bar Association, became a shareholder at FortneyScott, a leading management employment law firm. Her focus is Equal Employment Opportunity compliance, with a specialty in government investigations.
Today, Jay is still steeped in business law as Deputy General Counsel at the US Chamber of Commerce. He says 2020 was a busy year for the Chamber with the discovery that going virtual added the benefit of reaching a larger audience. Before the pandemic, he says, they would draw hundreds to an onsite event, now they virtually reach thousands at a time.
Both have been working from home for the past year, which they say has turned out to be great, adding tremendously to family time. Cutting out the commute, they can even have breakfast together; with the bonus of being available for Matthew if he has study questions.
Referring to his career spent in the nation’s capital, Jay compliments the College of Law’s impact, noting its great alumni network. “Our class had a particularly large group of graduates relocate to DC. Among them are alums who have reached high levels in government agencies, prominent firms, and well-known companies with offices in the capital.”
Maggie and Gunther Buerman at the Newport Car Museum
Gunther Buerman L’68 could lay claim to being “The Most Interesting Man in the World!”
Through a legal career that saw him grow the Harris Beach PLLC law firm from 20 lawyers to over 200, to founding and owning the American Rock Salt Company, to his competitive sailing endeavors, to establishing what USA Today calls one of the “10 Best New Attractions in America”— the Newport Car Museum—Buerman also embodies Dean Boise’s belief that a “well-rounded person makes a well-rounded lawyer.”
Buerman competes in sailing events from his home in Newport, RI.
Buerman’s path to the College of Law started as an undergraduate at St. Lawrence University, where he studied history and government. He thought about teaching, but when he learned his friends were applying to law schools, he took the law boards and scored in the 98th percentile.
“Syracuse was gracious to see what I did in undergrad, and provided me with a full scholarship,” he recalls.
Buerman, on the left, is presented with a trophy after a race.
“Be entrepreneurial”
While in law school, business-related courses caught his interest. “Going back to undergrad, I was always interested in learning how to run a business, so courses on Contracts and Financial Transactions have served me well all these years and continue to do so,” Buerman says.
Upon graduating from Syracuse Law, Buerman began his legal career in Rochester, NY. He became Harris Beach’s Managing Partner by age 40 and served in that role and Chief Operating Officer for nearly 30 years, overseeing the tenfold growth in the firm’s personnel.
“The business of running a law firm was a constant in my legal career,” says Buerman. “How does a firm in Upstate New York serve its clients with a good team, and how do you add to that team?” he says. The answer, he reveals, is to be entrepreneurial, and to instill that mindset in the attorneys and staff. Embracing new technologies quickly helps a firm stay on top, he adds.
Along the way, Buerman assembled a sizeable private collection of automobiles. He had become hooked on the art of car design while at St. Lawrence. “I almost majored in fine arts. Cars are kinetic art and a reflection of the culture of when they were built. For example, the 1950s and ‘60s cars of the new jet and rocket age had rocket- like fins and tail lights like jet planes, and rocket exhausts. The collection started with an old ’66 Ford Mustang I inherited and fixed up. Then a Porsche, and from there it kept snowballing.” So much so, he had to install lifts in his home garage to store his collection.
“Let’s start a Museum!”
After retiring from Harris Beach, Buerman and his wife Maggie began splitting their time between Newport, RI—where they would race his TP52 and 12 Metre sailboats during the summer weekends— and a home in Florida. Their automobile collection was scattered between the two residences.
“Maggie and I realized we weren’t able to drive and enjoy the cars as much while racing the sailboats, so I said to her that we should sell them or start a museum. Her immediate response was, ‘Let’s start a museum!’” says Buerman.
Using his experience as a lawyer, he and Maggie established the Newport Car Museum, a 501c(3) organization that occupies a former Patriot missile factory in nearby Portsmouth, RI. The Museum opened in 2017 and displays approximately 85 cars representing six decades of automobile innovation.
Having the Museum cars—all of which are from Buerman’s collection—open and accessible to visitors was an important feature for Buerman. Each car is on a platform and without ropes around them, which enables easy access and the ability to have them driven on the Museum grounds.
The Newport Car Museum features approximately 85 cars representing six decades of automobile innovation.
“Experience life”
Like for other businesses and attractions, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the Museum. “We closed on March 15 but were open in a limited capacity by early June,” Buerman explains. “You couldn’t just open the doors. We had to put in place a whole new set of COVID-19 protocols. Since we have a lot of physical space, people could be socially distanced.” Now we are fully opened, without any COVID-19 restrictions.
Again, Buerman’s background as a lawyer helped the Museum navigate new regulations on labor issues that became critical during the pandemic. The Museum is seeing a rebound in traffic as vaccines are rolled out and pandemic restrictions are rolled back. Buerman is bullish about the immediate future: “I see a ’Roaring ’20s scene about to happen again. People are looking for opportunities to get out and experience life. Maybe even the Charleston will come back!”
“Looking back, I was lucky to go to a law school that served me so well and continues to do so,” Buerman adds.
Where do you stand on the “left brain v. right brain” debate? Anecdotally, you may know of effortlessly creative people—artists, actors, writers, musicians—who get a little flummoxed by math, and of brilliantly rational minds who wonder at the emotions others feel for paintings, songs, or movies.
But in reality, there is plenty of debate about whether our brains really are wired in such a strict, bicameral way. In fact, when it comes to practicing law, the ability to combine and balance our rational and artistic “sides” might give those entering the profession from creative disciplines special advantages. But what are they?
In the 2020 Stories Book, we explored the nexus of creativity and law with alumni who write fiction and non-fiction. In this issue, we turn our lens on five musician- attorneys—four alumni and one professor, representing a spectrum of instruments— and ask them about how their passion for music has affected their practice of law.
Organizing the article in a form familiar to musicians of all abilities, we present their perspectives in five lessons …
Lesson 1: Pursue your passions, both within and outside the law.
As a partner at Northern California firm Hanson Bridgett LLP, David Miller L’69 has enjoyed a long and successful career in public agency law. Over the years, he’s provided counsel to the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District and the Caltrain commuter rail system, among other high profile clients, and this deep experience has meant invitations to offer his wisdom to graduating students.
“When you go into practice, don’t let go of what drove you into those other areas of your life. Be multidimensional.”
“I once gave a commencement address about pursuing one’s passions,” Miller recalls. “I told the graduates that you might be entering a field that you spend a good part of your day doing, but anything that’s an avocation is a vital piece to carry forward, be it acting or music or art. When you go into practice, don’t let go of what drove you into those other areas of your life. Be multidimensional.”
David Miller L’69 with his daughter, and singer, Rebecca DuMaine. (Rosaura Studios)
Miller certainly practices what he preaches. His avocation is piano, particularly jazz piano: “I was trained classically, but today I play a range of jazz styles.” His combo has been productive during the coronavirus pandemic, recording two CDs—featuring his daughter Rebecca DuMaine on vocals—for Summit Records, Someday, Someday and The Mask-erade. “Both CDs, but particularly Someday, Someday, include tunes that speak to loss of the types experienced by so many during the past year.”
Encouraged by his musically gifted family—and especially his maternal grandmother—to pursue musical study, Miller admits that the piano lid was closed while he studied law. But as a young attorney in California, his love of playing re-emerged, thanks in part to happenstance. Miller recalls a Hanson Bridgett function that had booked a three-piece jazz combo, but when the pianist didn’t show up, Miller filled in. “That function was 38 years ago. I wound up making a lifelong friendship and partnership [with drummer Bill Belasco] out of that gig!”
After that event, music continued to dovetail with his practice, often because his public service clients requested music at events. “One example was when I worked with former US Sen. Barbara Boxer. Through this relationship, I got to play political events and was invited to Senate retreats, where I would accompany musical shows the senators put on,” recalls Miller. “The connection between work and music seemed natural to me.”
Lesson 2: Music can balance a sometimes stressful occupation.
Also dovetailing—or to use a term familiar to a drummer, syncopating—his law career and love of music is Michael W. Tyszko L’15, a business and tax practice associate at Syracuse, NY, firm Bousquet Holstein PLLC.
Like many attorneys, Tyszko is active in his community, and for him that service has a musical flair. He plays drums in Bousquet Holstein’s company band, which has participated in Syracuse’s Rockin’ the Red House Battle of the Bands fundraiser (for the Red House theater) since 2016. His jazz combo— which includes fellow alum Joseph Frateschi L’14, of Baldwin, Sutphen & Frateschi PLLC, on saxophone— plays local fundraisers and other events, including for the Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County, the Women’s Bar of Central New York, and the College’s Law Alumni Weekend.
Mike Tyszko L’15 (drummer) and Joseph Frateschi L’14 (sax) play at the 2019 Law Alumni Weekend.
Rounding out the styles this versatile percussionist plays, Tyszko also has time for a brass ensemble. “Since before law school, I’ve played in the percussion section of the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble,” says Tyszko, who currently serves as Chair of the group’s Board of Directors. “It’s a great community of friends, and I want music to be like this, to be joyful.”
“I always had to prove my chops earlier in life,” says Tyszko, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Michigan and who at one point wanted to be a school music director. “Now I don’t want to take myself too seriously.”
“Law can be such a stressful profession at times,” Tyszko continues, admitting that during his undergrad studies, music “got wound up” with stress too. “I was starting to think of it as a job. I didn’t want my music to be like that, so that was the beginning of my move into law.”
Today, Tyszko says that he sees music as a “balance point” for his legal career, or as he observes— paraphrasing jazz drumming great Art Blakely—“music washes away the dust of everyday life.”
Lesson 3: Skills required by music can give lawyers an edge.
Miller and Tyszko address how music can both complement and balance a legal career, but what of skills that transfer between the two disciplines? It seems that, like a good duet, there’s plenty of interplay.
“In my opinion there is a great deal of transfer of skills,” says Tyszko, noting that one of these transferable skills is problem solving “which for a musician means working on a passage of music and being aware of how it is performed before presenting it.”
Another skill is what David Miller calls “refinement,” akin to a writer’s editing and shaping process. “What do we learn in law school? To refine our ability to communicate, to be logical and understandable, and to simplify complex issues,” he observes.
To these commonalities, Professor David Driesen offers another: “There’s a special skill both law and music require, to quickly and intuitively respond to a complex situation.” Much like musicians learning to play as an ensemble, lawyers must process and synthesize information quickly. In law, says Driesen, “You need to read a lot of cases, see patterns, and intuitively understand them.”
Like Miller and Tyszko, Driesen was formally trained—he holds a master’s degree in trumpet performance—before switching disciplines and becoming one of the nation’s leading experts on environmental law and the rule of law. Earlier in his music career, he played orchestral works, “but today I play in the SU Brass Ensemble and the Excelsior Cornet Band.”
Professor David Driesen (back row, second from right) poses with the Excelsior Cornet Band.
The latter bills itself as New York State’s only authentic Civil War-era brass band, performing period music on 19th century instruments. That means Driesen must master a different kind of brass: the modern trumpet is a piston valve instrument, but for the cornet band he picks up the rotary valve Bb saxhorn (sometimes called a rotary valve cornet).
“It’s good exercise to flit back and forth between writing and music playing. That’s just good for your mind.”
Having been a professional musician in his 20s, Driesen says that—like Miller—playing took second fiddle once his law career began. Today, like Tyszko, he sees playing as “a sort of balance thing.”
“If you are working all day in one way, it gets stale. It’s good exercise to flit back and forth between writing and music playing. That’s just good for your mind,” says Driesen. “These days, I don’t have the time for three hours of practice a day and hustling for gigs. With Excelsior and the brass ensemble, I have found a nice balance.”
Lesson 4: A critical common skill is performance—whether playing for an audience or advocating for a client.
Fear of public speaking is a potential barrier for anyone entering the law. Whether being called upon in class, speaking in court, or advocating for a client in front of a stern hearing panel, young lawyers must learn to speak in front of others with confidence and flair.
Musicians call this fear stage fright, something which afflicts even top professionals, such as singer Barbra Streisand and guitarist Robbie Robertson. But it seems that if you can overcome stage fright, public speaking comes more naturally.
“I find public speaking to be a lot easier since I have been a professional musician,” observes Driesen. Similarly, Tyszko notes that, “As attorneys we must persuade and influence a court or third party to be favorable to our client. A lawyer’s work product can be thought of as a performance.”
Vocalist Gabriela Wolfe L’16, an Assistant Public Defender in the Monroe County (NY) Public Defender’s Office, knows the trials of public performance only too well. In fact, pushing through a bad turn and eventually triumphing is at the heart of one of her enduring law school anecdotes.
“It’s tradition for a 3L to sing the national anthem at Commencement,” Wolfe recalls when asked about singing the National Anthem at the 2016 ceremony. That year, Wolfe—who has no formal training in music but grew up singing in church—decided she would audition, not knowing that the speaker would be now President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68.
Gabriela Wolfe L’16 meets now President Joseph R. Biden L’68 at the 2016 College of Law Commencement.
“I was very nervous and remember warming up my voice in my car before the audition,” Wolfe recalls. She hadn’t sung in a while, and initially the audition did not go well. “When I reached a high note, my voice cracked,” she says. “So I yelled an expletive, touched my toes, took a few breaths, and was determined to try again.” The judges looked as though they had seen enough, she says, “but I insisted.” Suggesting they turn their chairs around, the judges let Wolfe have another go. “I sang again, and I got the part.”
Asked whether Biden’s presence made her nervous on the day all over again, Wolfe explains, “By the time I heard he was speaker, I was so nervous in general, it didn’t make much difference!”
In the end, Biden helped Wolfe relax, and her performance was flawless. “I didn’t realize I’d have so much interaction with him. As soon as he shook my hand, it calmed me down.”
The take-away? “For me, performing is about proving to yourself that you are capable,” Wolfe says. “I’m the first in my family to go to college, so I always want to throw my hat in the ring. When showtime comes, I give it all I’ve got. I’m so grateful I didn’t let my first attempt to sing the anthem be the end of it.”
Lesson 5: There’s a reason they call it “practice”.
For pianist and Board of Advisors Member Susan K. Reardon L’76, two threads that bind music and law have intertwined throughout her successful career—which culminated in her serving as Director of International Policy, Worldwide Government Affairs, and Policy at Johnson & Johnson—and into her retirement, which came in 2014.
Susan K. Reardon L’76 continues to play piano at home “almost daily.”
First is the ability of music to balance stress. “Playing piano requires total concentration, so you are immediately removed from daily and global sources of stress,” says Reardon, who took lessons in childhood at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute of Music and who would sneak into the University’s Crouse College piano practice rooms to play as a student. “When I was working, I still managed to set aside most Sunday evenings to play two or three hours with my duet buddy before I delved into what I had to do in the week ahead. That planning was made less stressful with the lingering joy of music making.”
Second is performance. Although these days Reardon mostly plays solo or with her duet partner, there was a time when she gigged. “That was many years ago at a Gay 90s bar in Ocean City, MD, as part of a trio with banjo and trumpet. That is the only time I was paid to play. We weren’t very good though!”
“Both music and law require, to a degree, showmanship,” Reardon continues. “As a lawyer, I brought those skills together to perform for judges, juries, clients, and employers. As a pianist, I perform almost daily, albeit mostly for myself. Music and the law have contributed enormously to my quality of life.” Ultimately, Reardon says, both music and law “are characterized by order, discipline, and beautifully crafted language. Learning to read music and learning how to think like a lawyer require training your brain through hard work and concentration.”
“Playing piano requires total concentration, so you are immediately removed from daily and global sources of stress.”
To an outsider, it might seem odd that lawyers “practice” their profession. Don’t you already have a law degree?! But Reardon gets at the heart of why the two disciplines share that word in common, for both require the constant application and exercise of skills and craft built over a lifetime.
Or, as Mike Tsyzko puts it with a drummer’s final crescendo: “Law is called a ‘practice’ because you are improving all the time and working on the fundamentals, working toward more refinement.”
Given his current line of work, one of Adom M. Cooper’s L’12 pieces of advice to current law students is entirely appropriate: if you want to enter the field of national security and international affairs, he says, “really think about what risks you are willing to take.”
As an Operations Planning Specialist, High-Threat Programs at the US Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Cooper works in a part of the state department that spends a great deal of time assessing hazards for those who serve abroad in embassies and consulates. His journey to this niche career in public service was itself filled with risk—and plenty of reward.
“Hooked on learning”
At the University of Michigan, Cooper—whose father is an anesthesiologist— was contemplating a science and biology track before he took his first risk and switched to political science and communications. But when he took part in a summer 2008 WorldTeach service project in Namibia, his career began to bend toward the law and specifically its interaction with diplomacy, development, security, and social justice.
“In Namibia, I helped schools and teachers get acquainted with computer literacy and the Internet after the Ministry of Education passed a law mandating that all teachers must have a basic, working knowledge of computers. Many of them had never used a computer before,” Cooper says.
“I can’t tell you how many information interviews I have done, even with my peers. As an African American, there are constant barriers to entry, and you have to squeeze every resource around you for all they are worth.”
His post was in the far north of the country, beyond the “red line,” a 600-mile fence (officially for pest control measures) that demarcates the rural north from the former colonial south. “I helped a school get its first Internet connection, and I became hooked on learning how laws worked differently in different countries.”
Returning home to the 2008 economic crash, Cooper decided to take another chance and switch from journalism—where jobs were becoming scarce—toward legal studies and Syracuse.
Another big leap saw Cooper return to southern Africa at the end of his 1L year. “I wanted to get involved in international law, so in summer 2010 I studied abroad at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, as part of a Howard University-run program.” While in Cape Town, Cooper took international law classes, worked at a law firm, and in the evenings enjoyed World Cup games being played across South Africa that year.
Back in Syracuse, Cooper continued to specialize, taking national security classes with professors William C. Banks and David Crane L’80, international law classes—such as Law of the Sea with Professor Tara Helfman—and international relations classes at the Maxwell School.
“Squeeze every resource”
Graduating with certificates in national security and postconflict reconstruction, Cooper spent time networking and shopping his resume, especially at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
His second piece of advice to students is borne out of these experiences. “Find ways to get connected to people in your chosen field,” he observes. “I can’t tell you how many informational interviews I have done, even with my peers.”
“As an African American, there are constant barriers to entry, and you have to squeeze every resource around you for all they are worth. Many internships and fellowships, which lead to great job opportunities, are unpaid. This instantly rules out candidates from marginalized and untapped communities.”
His determined networking eventually led to a job at the UN Population Fund, where he helped edit a landmark report called “Marrying Too Young: End Child Marriage.” He also coordinated legislative initiatives pushing countries to raise their legal age of marriage to 18 and organized a high-level panel event for the 2012 International Day of the Girl Child, which included luminaries such as Desmond Tutu and Michele Bachelet. “I later packaged up the report and sent it to all 193 member countries,” he adds.
After that essential experience, Cooper moved to Washington, DC, as an International Law Fellow at the American Society of International Law (ASIL). Because of the fellowship’s low stipend, Cooper notes that “I was only able to move to DC as my godparents live here and were gracious enough to host me, changing my career trajectory.”
“A historical lens”
After ASIL, Cooper joined consultants Lee Bayard Group LLC as Legislative and External Relations Director. Then, after responding to an ad on a Syracuse University listserv, he moved to the state department in early 2015.
Cooper says the focus on “high threats” at the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is a response to the 2012 attack on US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, which led to the deaths of two diplomats and 10 government investigations.
One recommendation from the 2012 unclassified Congressional Accountability Review Board called on the state department to reform its security approach at “high threat posts,” or embassies and consulates in conflict zones. With his background in national security, development, and international law and relations—as well as his experiences abroad—it’s work Cooper is well- suited to do.
Today, in addition to his state department duties, Cooper is a fellow at the Truman National Security Project, a leadership development project of the Truman Center for National Policy for which Cooper has returned to another of his vocations: writing.
“The Truman Center encourages its members to get their voices out there. So in 2020, I started writing and publishing more,” says Cooper, whose work has been featured in Just Security, NY Daily News, USA Today, and elsewhere. “I write about things that aren’t often addressed, and I like to look at contemporary issues of national security through a historical lens.”
“Find your tribe”
Cooper’s Just Security article— “US ‘National Security’ Must Apply to the Entire Nation”—is an example of his approach. It connects his maternal grandfather’s service on a World War II submarine chaser to his and his African American compatriots’ experiences before and after the war (“continually exposed to domestic enemies at home, in the forms of institutionalized racism and hate groups”), to the importance of the US “effectively addressing foreign policy and national security challenges and issues” by doing more “to acknowledge, accept, and confront its flawed history.”
Recently, Cooper contributed a personal narrative to a Truman Center report— “Transforming State”—about modernizing and diversifying the state department.
Like his opinion pieces, this narrative also interrogates the nation’s “flawed history.” He writes about his uncomfortable experience passing Confederate flags and monuments while on a temporary tour of duty (TDY) near Charlottesville, VA, at the time of the notorious 2017 “Unite the Right” rally. “The fact that I was working on international security issues during this TDY while there were clear and present domestic security issues close to me is sadly ironic and dysfunctional.”
Cooper urges the state department to find “the personnel, ethos, or resources” to ensure the safety of its increasingly diverse personnel, “and it must address this domestically in the same manner that it does abroad.”
This latter comment brings us to Cooper’s final piece of advice to students, especially “students who look like me interested in this kind of career.” It echoes his “Transforming State” narrative and its call to support people from marginalized and untapped communities in national security.
“You will need a close group of friends to bounce ideas off and to vent to,” he notes, admitting that the path won’t always be smooth. “Every day, I still connect with three other African American alums—David Chaplin L’13, G’13; Yemi Titus Falodun G’12; and Jonathan Marshall G’11—via a group text we started before we graduated. No topic is off limits, and we support each other. We talk about everything: relationships, finances, sports, politics, and life decisions. So, I’d tell students to ‘find your tribe!’”
ALUMS REFLECT ON THEIR JOURNEY FROM LAW SCHOOL TO THE C-SUITE
The College of Law has produced extraordinary leaders throughout its history. Today, our alumni include a president of the United States, congressional representatives, a state attorney general, college presidents, numerous judges, and other public servants, as well as business and nonprofit executives, entrepreneurs, managing partners, and many others in positions of influence.
In this second edition of The View from the Corner Office, we celebrate not only the journeys four alums have taken from the classroom to the executive suite but also their exemplary public service, on local, national, and international stages.
Along the way, we learn that for an Orange lawyer, almost any career benefits from a Syracuse law diploma. Look for more C-suite stories in future issues of the Stories Book!
John Hartmann L’88
COO, Bed Bath & Beyond; President, buybuy Baby
As career changes go, John Hartmann’s move from a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond and President of buybuy BABY may seem unusual, but in this interview he explains the organic logic of his path and the skills he easily transferred from public service to corporate leadership.
Hartmann’s path from the FBI to BBB began with a senior role at Cardinal Health, a health care services and logistics firm, where he leveraged his skills as an operative and his knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry he’d gained at the Bureau. His time at Cardinal Health led him to the logistics of the home improvement industry, first serving as Chief Executive Officer of Mitre10 then joining The Home Depot and HD Supply, where he had roles in technology, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions.
Tapped to be President and Chief Executive Officer of True Value Company, he led the company—one of the world’s largest hardware wholesalers—through its transition from a dealer-owned co-operative to a network of independent retailers. Under his leadership, True Value implemented a successful “hyperlocal” marketing model and doubled the size of its sales force.
It is no surprise, therefore, that Hartmann’s journey eventually led him to his current position at one of the largest houseware goods specialty stores in the nation.
Did you imagine in law school that you’d eventually land in a corporate leadership role?
I knew that my Syracuse education would prepare me for an exciting career, but I didn’t know I’d end up in a senior leadership role. As I progressed through law school, I was preparing for parallel career options. On one track I was preparing to be a practicing attorney in a law firm or company, but I was also interested in federal law enforcement and intelligence. After I took the bar exam, I became an FBI agent.
I’ve always had a passion for leadership. I was a member of the Army Reserve and President of the Law Student Senate while at Syracuse. During my tenure in the FBI, other leadership opportunities presented themselves. In my final year, I was a supervisory special agent, working with teams across the country and around the globe. I also investigated how foreign governments steal American technology, so economic espionage became a focus, and I learned a lot, about a lot of industries, such as in one particular investigation about pharmaceuticals.
That experience helped my transition to Cardinal Health, where I was exposed to all aspects of business, which led me to The Home Depot in 2002.
How did law school prepare you for your current role?
Everything that is gained in a legal education can be applied to business. That includes critical thinking, listening to different perspectives, learning how to negotiate, and analytical thinking, which helps get at the root causes of business challenges and their solutions. “Part of the fundamental intersection between my law school training and my experience at the FBI is the critical and analytical thinking, as well as emotional intelligence, that my day-to-day work at BBB requires.”
What elements of your legal training—and your work at the FBI—do you apply in your position at Bed, Bath & Beyond?
Part of the fundamental intersection between my law school training and my experience at the FBI is the critical and analytical thinking, as well as emotional intelligence, that my day-to-day work at BBB requires.
At the FBI, you learn interpersonal and hone investigatory and problem solving skills. The vast majority of an agent’s time is spent interviewing people, searching for truth and data points, and asking pertinent questions. You also gain social experiences by talking to thousands of people from all walks of life, all demographics. In turn, those critical formative experiences help develop emotional intelligence, which is very important in whatever direction you take your career.
In a rapidly changing world, what innovation has most affected your industry?
There’s nothing more dramatic in retail than the proliferation of data and the ability to use that data to satisfy a customer’s desire for prompt and effective solutions. Consumer expectations have changed dramatically. Now transactions take place in stores and online at about the same rate, and that dynamic continues to evolve.
How has your business overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Bed Bath & Beyond pivoted dramatically to continue to serve customers even while the majority of our stores were closed. Our online fulfillment model was already underway, but we accelerated our digital transformation to ship products and to offer curbside pickup and “buy online/pickup in store,” or BOPIS, once stores reopened.
There is still absolutely a place for the store experience, however. Our customers desire it, and they help us inform that experience. We continue to meet the customers where they are and curate an experience that is inspirational, whether online, curbside, or in store. In the end, COVID-19 accelerated the direction retail was already heading.
What memory from your law school days is dearest to you?
Thinking of the formal side of law school, there was my experience on the Law School Senate and the superb relationships I developed with professors, especially Professor William C. Banks. I admire Professor Banks not only for the work he did teaching us Constitutional Law but also for his work in national security law and for the United States in general. He’s a tremendous asset to the law school and the country.
Informally, there was a group of us that would go out on Thursday nights together. We weren’t of extravagant means back then, but we would head to a local establishment and talk about our experiences, decompress, and build the kind of Orange experience that Syracuse promises—and delivers.
Art Lussi L’88
President, Crowne Plaza Lake Placid
Art Lussi is President of the Crowne Plaza Lake Placid, a resort in the Adirondack village that hosted the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympics. Restored and expanded, the resort now spans more than 1,000 acres of the Adirondacks and includes 45 holes of championship-level golf.
A Lake Placid native, Lussi excelled in tennis and skiing at Dartmouth College, and during law school he skied in the World University Games in Czechoslovakia. Admitted to the bar in New York State and Washington, DC, Lussi worked as a ski coach in Vail, CO, before returning to Lake Placid to help his family operate the Holiday Inn, now the Crowne Plaza.
A member of the Lake Placid Vacation Corporation since 1991, Lussi was involved in the village of Lake Placid and town of North Elba Community Development Commission, which produced a Comprehensive Plan in 1997, mapping the economic future of the area. He is also a Commissioner for the Adirondack Park Agency and a Board Member of the Olympic Regional Development Authority and New York Ski Education Foundation, having served as the foundation’s Chairman for 10 years.
Did you imagine in law school that you’d eventually land in a corporate leadership role?
I thought I would be a sports agent, but I soon learned that you have to be an extremely aggressive negotiator and marketer to be successful, so I decided to coach ski racing after law school. After three years in Vail, teaching, working in a ski shop, and meeting my wife on the chairlift, I decided to join my family in the hospitality business.
How did law school prepare you for your current role?
The summer legal educational opportunity program helped me realize that I could become a lawyer, and it was professors Samuel Donnelly and Emil Rossi L’72 who gave me the confidence to lead a business and stand up for environmental protection. Professor Robert Anderson was the zoning guru who prepared me for years as an Adirondack Park Agency Commissioner. Now I lead our family through local zoning issues in resort development.
What elements of your legal training do you apply in your position at Crowne Plaza?
Thinking like a lawyer really works! I’m an active listener—to employees, customers, and my family—and I document when the parking lot is plowed and the sidewalk shoveled! I also have defended employees in court when our insurance companies have recommended we retain outside counsel, and those wins have been especially sweet.
“I also have defended employees in court when our insurance companies have recommended we retain outside counsel, and those wins have been especially sweet.”
In a rapidly changing world, what innovation has most affected your industry?
People now make reservations at the last minute in resort areas based on weather reports and real time adjustments, and we are fixated with online reservation services, so keeping up reservation availability and rate structures remains challenging.
How has your business overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
We are fortunate to be in a remote area where visitors can play outside on our mountains and in our parks, on our golf courses, and on our ski slopes—and still remain socially distanced. We “super clean” our hotel rooms, and we are lucky to be able to provide fresh air directly to our guest rooms through sliding glass doors.
What memory from your law school days is dearest to you?
In January 1987 I was selected to represent the College in Alpine skiing in the World University Games in Czechoslovakia, but I needed Acting Dean Stephen Wechsler’s approval. He said, “Young man, you do not take three weeks off to go ski racing in Europe and stay in law school.” However, Professor Peter Bell supported me, and the Dean relented—but he gave me my only D in law school later that spring, in contracts.
There was no internet back then, and I remember on my return, in a cab in DC, asking the driver how the Orange was doing in the Big East Tournament. The driver said, “Man, Where you been? Them Orangemen’s in the Sweet Sixteen of the Big Show.” SU kept on winning, and I ended up flying to New Orleans with fellow classmate— and now judge—Mike St. Leger L’88 for the Final Four!
Erica White-Dunston L’98
Director and Chief Diversity Officer for the Office of Civil Rights for the Office of the Secretary, US Department of Interior (DOI)
An expert in civil rights and employment law, Erica White-Dunston is Director and Chief Diversity Officer for the Office of Civil Rights for the Office of the Secretary, US Department of Interior (DOI). As Director, White-Dunston is responsible for developing and implementing workplace strategies that aid DOI in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. She also provides oversight to DOI bureaus, identifying and eliminating discriminatory practices via applicable Title VI and Title VII laws.
From 2001 to 2010, White-Dunston worked at the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), first in the Office of General Counsel as a trial attorney in systemic litigations, with collateral duty assignments with the Office of Federal Operations and the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO). In 2006, White- Dunston was reassigned to OEO, where she performed federal sector review for complaint processing. In 2008, she chaired the agency’s Disability Task Force, which resulted in the restructuring of the agency’s Disability Program.
Recognizing her superior knowledge in human rights and Equal Employment Opportunity laws and training, in 2014 White-Dunston became one of only 11 Internal Revenue Service employees named a Department of Treasury Certified Strategic Partner. In 2015, she became a Presidential Management Council Interagency Fellow, a program to nurture excellence through cross- agency exposure, and she served a six-month detail to the Chief Human Capital Officers’ Council at the Office of Personnel Management. In May 2016, White-Dunston returned to EEOC as the new OEO Director.
As a law student, White-Dunston received the Seely Johnson Award for Outstanding Leadership in an African American student, the Ralph Kharas Award for Outstanding Leadership in Moot Court, and the Order of the Barristers.
Did you imagine in law school that you’d eventually land in a government leadership role?
No! I knew I would be focused on serving underserved communities, but not in this capacity.
How did law school prepare you for your current role?
My class was comprised of a spectrum of races, national origins, and religions, and there was always something to learn from everyone, so I developed skills that focused on collaborative partnerships and the interpersonal and negotiation skills necessary to obtain buy-in from differing points of view.
What elements of your legal training do you apply in your position at the US Department of the Interior?
I use every bit of my legal training when assessing claims of discrimination and delivering findings. I approach questions through the IRAC (issue, rule, analysis, and conclusion) model, which I learned in law school and which I have taught my staff.
In a rapidly changing world, what innovation has most affected your industry?
The ability to electronically file and respond to complaints of discrimination increases opportunities and access to address not only Title VI and VII complaints, but all equity, diversity, and inclusion-related concerns in the workplace.
How has your department overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Because my department was already heavily focused on complying with tech requirements as mandated by the EEOC, we were not as affected by the pandemic challenges. We were immediately able to meet our customer needs while working from the safety of our homes with little to no break in customer service and organizational support.
What memory from your law school days is dearest to you?
The friendships that I still have cannot be over-emphasized, but my dearest memory is of the Hon. James Graves L’80. During one of the Coming Back to Syracuse events, I told him of the challenge I was having with administrative law. Despite his busy schedule, he tutored me by phone. His willingness to help has never been forgotten because it made such a difference for me. I never forgot how a small act of kindness can have a huge ripple effect. Because of that kindness, I strive to provide that type of support daily.
“A Really Exciting Time!”
The Role of a Government Diversity Officer Under a New Administration Erica White-Dunston L’98 became Director and Chief Diversity Officer in the Department of the Interior’s Office of Civil Rights in September 2019. DOI employs 70,000 people across 11 bureaus and seven offices. To understand her critical role within her department and the government— especially under the transition to the President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 administration—we asked White-Dunston to describe her mandate and how it is evolving … My mandate is to ensure that every employee has an employee life cycle that provides a work environment that is free from discriminatory animus and hostility.
I ensure that Title VII, and all of the discriminatory bases covered by it, are not evidenced in the workplace. To the extent they are, my role is to ensure that the department eradicates and corrects such behavior. We do this is a number of ways, ranging from proactive prevention with training and consultative services for employees and management to findings of discrimination that may result in compensatory damages and/or some form of discipline for bad actors.
With the recent change in presidential administration, there is a significant change in the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) community— as it is known in the federal sector—because of the issuance of executive orders 13985 and 13988 by President Biden.
Those EOs specifically reinstate diversity and inclusion training that had been held in abeyance since the former administration issued its Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping order in September 2020. The new EOs mandate that every federal agency review its policies, practices, and contracts to determine whether they are being conducted with an EDI consideration.
The Biden EOs also require federal agencies to review whether EDI programs are sufficiently funded to combat the disparity in the employee life cycles of underrepresented groups in federal government.
This review is unprecedented in that there has never been a requirement for this level of consideration of EDI on governmental services. Needless to say, I’m incredibly busy because the work of my program is now a department priority. It is a really exciting time!
Eric Sigmund L’12
Chief Operating Officer, Reddy Vineyards
Eric Sigmund has been Chief Operating Officer at Reddy Vineyards since 2019. “My path to wine came somewhat unexpectedly,” he says. While working in international law in Washington, DC, he took a weekend job at Total Wine & More stocking shelves and selling wine to help pay off student loans.
“Then I made a dramatic shift and took a full- time job at Total,” Sigmund explains, becoming first a sales associate, then a supervisor, then wine manager at the flagship store in Maryland, before landing the role of assistant French Fine Wine Buyer.
An introduction from Sumeet Batra L’12— now a senior business analyst at Amazon who grew up with Akhil Reddy—connected Sigmund with the vintner as he planned to launch the estate-grown Reddy Vineyard wines and build a new state-of-the-art winery. With his extensive on-the-job wine experience and mind for business and law, Sigmund was a good fit.
In February 2019, Sigmund moved his family to Texas to work full-time with the Reddys. Today, the Brownfield, TX-based vineyard has planted more than 300 acres on the fertile Texas High Plains. “I believe in 10 to 15 years, Texas wines will be right up there with California, Oregon, and Washington,” says Sigmund.
Did you imagine in law school that you’d eventually land in a corporate leadership role?
My initial career plan looked much different! After graduating, I worked as a legal adviser for the American Red Cross. It was a wonderful and challenging opportunity, but institutional challenges made it difficult to continue our work. At the same time, I had begun to be interested in wine working at Total Wine & More. This interest developed into a passion. I quickly earned multiple promotions until I became Assistant Wine Buyer at the company’s national headquarters, where I was responsible for procurement, logistics, and compliance for the company’s French wine portfolio.
How did law school prepare you for your current role?
Due to my international law focus, I spent a lot of time with Professor David Crane L’80. He knew how to motivate through honest and direct feedback that would build your confidence, he showed compassion, and he always found a way to elevate my game. Professor SanjayChhablani, revered as a no-nonsense teacher, taught me how to truly prepare for a task and to think critically.
“In my opinion, experiential learning is the single most powerful tool educators can use to prepare their students for the real world.”
What elements of your legal training do you apply in your position at Reddy Vineyards?
The law and the alcoholic beverage industry are intertwined in ways that many people are unaware. Legal compliance touches many facets of my job—from production parameters; to how wines are labeled; to taxes, logistics, interstate sales, reporting, and more. Whether it’s navigating the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s regulations or strengthening direct-to-consumer sales, I use the research, analytical, and writing skills I developed in law school.
In a rapidly changing world, what innovation has most affected your career?
Looking back on my law education, I’d say that experiential learning had the most dramatic impact on my career. Role-plays and simulations prepare students to be far more competent practitioners. In my opinion, experiential learning is the single most powerful tool educators can use to prepare their students for the real world.
How has your business overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
COVID-19 presented significant challenges to our business, but it also presented unique opportunities that we were able to capitalize on in order to grow our business. COVID forced brands to be flexible and evolve industry marketing tactics by years in a matter of months. Reddy Vineyards was very quick to pivot our sales strategy to optimize our digital presence, and we adopted virtual strategies to bring our products directly into peoples’ homes.
We also doubled down on our wholesale strategy, something that very few producers in Texas have chosen to pursue, even accelerating our production timelines to launch a new line of wines to provide greater access to the retail marketplace.
As a result, we found success through the off- premise (retail) alcohol boom, and our products are now distributed statewide in partnership with the nation’s largest distributor. We will continue to diversify our business model this year by opening our first tasting room, looking to capture the rise in wine tourism as the state reopens.
Next year is the 25th anniversary of Reddy Vineyards, so we are already preparing programming to celebrate that occasion. I am incredibly proud of our team’s hard work, and I am excited to see the company continue to grow.
What memory from your law school days is dearest to you?
The College of Law had a unique way of bringing people at all levels together through openness, respect, mentorship, and a desire to elevate everyone in the school. I am grateful to be a part of the family!
