Acquan is the first African American and first African American Woman to hold this title.
The JGRO is a biennial academic journal run by Syracuse University College of Law students and serves as a platform for cutting-edge legal scholarship and research in the area of human rights.
Professor Cora True-Frost L’01 is the faculty advisor to JGRO.
Professor Jack Graves provides insight into the lack of regulation in domestic and international cryptocurrency exchanges and its risks and implications to consumers at Crypto Compass.
Graves explains that whereas exchanges reminiscent of Coinbase are licensed cash transmitters, they don’t seem to be broker-dealers. “As soon as you talk about broker-dealers of securities, that triggers a bunch of disclosure and custody requirements,” Graves states. “I happen to use Fidelity as my brokerage company, and if Fidelity goes bankrupt, I’m not an unsecured creditor in bankruptcy. So, I have a claim to my assets before all the unsecured creditors.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022
CIVILIAN
7,200 / 11,800 Civilians killed + wounded
8 million Ukrainian refugees
900,000-1.5 million Civilians forcibly deported to Russia
5.4 million Internally displaced persons
MILITARY
120,000 / 200,000
Ukrainian + Russian soldiers killed or wounded
2,000
Russian tanks destroyed
100,000
US-made Howitzer rounds sent to Ukraine
8,000 / 1,600
US-made Javelins + Stingers sent to Ukraine
INFRASTRUCTURE
1,582 Ukrainian cultural + heritage sites damaged
$54 billion Cost to repair residential buildings
$36 billion Cost to repair Ukraine’s critical infrastructure
LEGAL & ECONOMIC
66,000 Reported war crimes
$138-750 billion Total estimated cost to rebuild Ukraine
35% Drop in Ukraine’s GDP in 2022
Sources & additional statistics
Presented by the Institute for Security Policy & Law
Professor Mary Szto has published the paper “Barring Diversity? The American Bar Exam as Initiation Rite and its Eugenics Origin” in the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal. The article appears in 21 Conn. Pub. Int. L.J. 38 (2022).
Abstract
The American bar exam is an initiation rite that bars diversity in the legal profession.
According to the 2020 census, the US population is over 42% minorities. However, only 14% of the legal profession is. In 2020 the American Bar Association released data that the first-time bar exam pass rate was 88% for Whites, 80% for Asians, 78% for Native Americans, 76% for Hispanics, and 66% for Blacks.
Initiation rites often involve a separation from society, a liminal period, an ordeal, and then reincorporation into society. The bar exam follows this pattern. However, many minority candidates cannot afford months of unpaid isolated study, much less further bar attempts.
Racial disparities in first time bar passage rates are not coincidental, but rooted in the eugenics origin of the bar exam. Bar admissions standards arose amid teachings about Anglo-Saxon white supremacy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Eugenics theory was then mainstream science and held that non-whites should be denied access to property ownership, education, and the legal profession. Minorities were excluded from most law schools, and there was widespread fear of immigrants diluting the US white population and the legal profession.
Eugenics-inspired federal redlining policies from the 1930s also led to huge racial wealth gaps then and now. Homeownership is the chief way Americans build intergenerational wealth. Redlining prevented non-whites from owning homes by blocking access to federally subsidized home mortgages. Thus, in pre-pandemic 2019 White families had eight times the wealth of Black families and five times the wealth of Hispanic families. Therefore, to diversify the legal profession, we must acknowledge this eugenics history and racial wealth gap and institute the diploma privilege, or create sequenced open book bar exams or other alternatives that do not require costly isolated study and bar preparation courses. Healing reform will help all candidates, and the public we serve.
2L Jennifer Arinze was elected the Editor-in-Chief of the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce (JILC) for the 2023-2024 academic year. Arinze is the first African American and first African American Woman to hold this title.
First published in October of 1972, the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce is one of the oldest student-edited international law reviews in the United States. In the forward to its inaugural issue, the Journal was described as an “organ of expression for students with an interest in international legal and commercial studies,” with the primary purpose of training students in the skills of legal writing and research.
Professor Cora True-Frost L’01 is the faculty advisor to JILC.
Professor Roy Gutterman L’00, Director of the Newhouse Schools’ Tully Center for Free Speech, appeared on CBS News to discuss free speech and censorship issues surrounding the recent revisions to Roald Dahl’s children’s books.
“You would think that publishers, who are generally at the forefront of free expression and free expression rights, would be more cognizant of the message this is sending to other authors and readers…that message is we’re going to edit, we’re going to censor, we’re going to change language that sometimes falls out of favor or might offend people through a 21st-century model.”
College of Law Professor Nina Kohn, Distinguished Scholar in Elder Law at the Solomon Center for Health Law & Policy at Yale Law School, and Irina D. Manta, Professor of Law and the Founding Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, have co-authored “Hospitals That Ditch Masks Risk Exposure” at Bill of Health, the blog of the Petrie Flom Center at Harvard Law School.
The post focuses on the potential legal risks to hospitals and other healthcare providers that have ended routine masking requirements even though COVID-19 cases remain high. Kohn and Manta say, “Ending routine masking in hospital settings is a dangerous move. It puts patients and staff at risk for infection, and its potential long-term effects. It also exposes hospitals to the risk of liability.”
Statement from Dean Craig M. Boise
The entire College of Law community sends our deepest condolences to Bob’s wife Holly and his family and friends. Personally, I feel very lucky to have met and gotten to know Bob. His dedication to the legal profession, to country and to service, his palpable commitment to family and community, and his smile were infectious. I am grateful to Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic Director Beth Kubala for making sure that Bob stayed connected to his alma mater, and that we had a chance to learn from him.
Bob served from 1942 to 1951 as a U.S. Army infantry officer. After serving his country, Gang came back to Syracuse and practiced real estate law as a partner at the firm, Smith, Dolan, Gieselman, and Gang, and later at MacKenzie Hughes. Gang also served as Syracuse’s Assistant City Corporation Counsel. In all, he practiced law for 50 years, and continued doing pro bono work well into his 80s.
Bob is survived by his second wife, Holly, eight children, and 15 grandchildren. His sons-in-law, Ed Moses L’68 and Michael P. Williams L’95, and grandson Matt Moses L’97 all received their law degrees from Syracuse Law.
Learn more about Bob Gang’s life in this article. Read his obituary here.
Gary Loope prevailed over Gabriella Amaturo in the final round of the 13th Annual Hancock Estabrook LLP 1L Oral Advocacy Competition. The competition was judged by the Hon. Thérèse Wiley Dancks L’91 United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York; Lee S. Michaels L’67, adjunct professor at the College of Law and senior firm member of Michaels Bersani Kalabanak; Timothy Murphy L’89, managing partner of Hancock Estabrook, and Christopher J. Baiamonte L’19, associate attorney at the Wladis Law Firm.
This year, 42 first-year students participated in the Hancock Estabrook 1L Oral Advocacy Competition.
3Ls Maureen Blennerhassett and Matthew Mayers have been named Feinman Fellows as Spring 2023 externs. Established by Matin Feinman L’86, the Feinman Fellows receive a financial gift to help defray expenses associated with taking on their spring externship, in recognition of their commitment and dedication to public service. Feinman is the Director of Juvenile Justice Training, The Legal Aid Society of New York City.
Blennerhassett’s Spring 2023 externship is with the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas, Capital Habeas Unit (CHU). CHU is a federal office tasked with representing indigent men and women on Texas’ death row in late-stage appeals of their death sentences, filing federal habeas corpus petitions and applications for clemency.
Mayer’s Spring 2023 externship is with Legal Services of Central New York (LSCNY). LSCNY is a legal aid organization whose mission is to promote equity and justice through law and policy, and advocates for juveniles whose rights have been violated in the context of incarceration.
