Professor Lauryn Gouldin was an invited speaker at the Arizona Criminal Law for Legislators Panel on Criminal Law, hosted by the Academy for Justice at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University—in conjunction with the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council.
Professor Gouldin spoke on the issue of pretrial decision-making during the Initial Appearance, Arraignment, and Pre-Trial Release session.
Retired Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, Deputy Director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law contributed the opinion article The Path to Peace in Ukraine Will Start on Ukrainian Terms” at The Hill.
In the article, Murrett recounts the impact of the war in Ukraine as it nears its one-year mark, including the geopolitical situation and the imperatives for ending the war.
Murrett concludes, “Ukraine presents a threat to Putin and his inner circle because of their warfighting skills, but more importantly because of what they stand for: an open, free and authentic democracy, and a proud people determined to choose their own destiny and to protect that right for future generations of Ukrainians. That reality represents a genuine, long-term, and existential threat to the Kremlin leadership.”
Professor Gregory Germain, director of the Bankruptcy Clinic, recently spoke with WalletHub on the topic of secured credit cards and what consumers need to know about this financial product.
Germain explains, “The purpose of a secured credit card is to simulate a credit card in the hope that the credit rating agencies will not notice that, in fact, you do not have any credit. Does it work to fool the rating agencies into believing you have credit? I doubt it, at least not very much.”
The New York State Adult Survivors Act allows people who were the victims of sex crimes to file lawsuits against their abusers and any institutions that perpetuated abuse that occurred in New York state regardless of when it occurred. The one-year window to file lawsuits started on Nov. 24.
In this Syracuse.com article, Professor Nina Kohn notes that since survivors only have a year to file a lawsuit, they should start searching for an attorney now. “It is a ‘hurry up and wait. It can take a while for individuals to find an attorney, who is both willing to bring the case and has the necessary skill set and experience to do so,” says Kohn.
Syracuse University plans to continue to pursue diversity and equitable admissions through recruitment in the case the Supreme Court bans affirmative action in college admissions, an SU spokesperson told The Daily Orange in a written statement. The Court heard arguments in early November for two cases against Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, questioning the use of affirmative action and race consideration in admissions processes.
Vice Dean Keith Bybee said the implications of the court’s decisions, which will likely come in June 2023, will differ based on the court’s arguments. He said the court could decide to interpret the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI in the same way, or interpret and apply them differently.
“You can think of this like a table with rows and columns. It depends what box we land in,” Bybee said. “How do we understand the language in this statute? Are we going to interpret it in such a way that allows for affirmative action or extremely restricted circumstances, or are we interpreting in some way that it’s a across the board prohibition on the use of race and ethnicity?”
he U.S. Supreme Court reduced the power of the EPA to regulate carbon emissions in June.
A panel at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ Center for Policy Research covered the decision’s implications along with the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, which increased credits for renewable energy sources and allocated funding toward electric transportation.
University Professor David Driesen participated on the panel, highlighting that the court stopped the EPA from enforcing regulations on coal-fired power plants. The agency initially attempted to reduce the industry’s emissions by 11 percent, but Driesen is unsure if the court will stop at the EPA’s original goal. “(The decision) might even be saying that there’s some number before that,” Driesen said.
Driesen is currently studying the impact of carbon pricing through his Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Syracuse University College of Law has hired Adrienne Graves as its Director of Alumni Relations. Graves brings more than ten years of experience in higher education and alumni relations. Graves will lead the Office of Advancement and External Affairs’ alumni engagement work, with the goal of meaningfully engaging College of Law alumni and promoting philanthropic support of the College of Law’s mission. In her role, Graves will report to Assistant Dean of Advancement and External Affairs Sophie Dagenais and be responsible for maintaining and growing the College’s relationship with the Syracuse University Law Alumni Association (SULAA.)
“Adrienne’s extensive experience in alumni relations, her strong marketing and communications background, and her passion for Syracuse University’s mission and vision will help sustain our positive momentum, deepen the College’s bond with our alumni, and inform new pathways for engaging them meaningfully in service of our students who will follow in their footsteps,” says Dagenais.
Graves comes to the College of Law from Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies where she has held director-level roles in alumni relations and undergraduate recruitment.
“Our alumni play an essential role in shaping and executing on our mission. I am thrilled to welcome Adrienne to our team and look forward to capitalizing on her proven track record as a relationship builder as we cultivate our greatest ambassadors,” says Dean Craig M. Boise.
Graves holds a bachelor’s degree in in Communications; Public Relations and Advertising and a master’s degree in Professional Education with a Higher Education Concentration from LeMoyne College.
The Hon. James E. Baker has always known that he was meant for a life of public service. Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was raised—as his mother once told him—to be a teacher. But he had other plans.
“I came to the conclusion at a young age that anybody who had the educational opportunities I was given had an obligation to perform public service,” says Judge Baker, a professor in Syracuse University’s College of Law and director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law. “Teaching is public service, but I embraced the concept of the citizen-soldier.”
Baker joined the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 18 after spotting several recruitment brochures on the floor of the college post office. “I was looking for the hardest thing I could do and found it on the floor of the post office,” he says. He started his military career as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps and subsequently joined the staff of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, a federal civilian court that hears military justice appeals, for 15 years before retiring in 2015.
It was Sen. Moynihan who urged him to go to law school, an idea that Baker initially wasn’t crazy about but eventually warmed to. “I do love the concept of rule of law. I want to live in a democracy and in a country that’s governed by law. Having the opportunity to support and defend the Constitution, I think, is as high a calling as you can have as a lawyer,” says Baker, who is partial to all corps such as the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. “It is also the oath that service members take defining their ultimate duty: ‘to support and defend the Constitution.’”
Baker has taught at several law schools around the country and says Syracuse University’s commitment to veterans is one of the things that distinguishes the school. He says he encountered only a single veteran on the faculty of the other law schools where he taught. “College campuses tend not to be places where there’s a lot of military experience, and one of Syracuse’s strengths is that they value and embrace that experience,” he explains. “In academics, we recognize diversity as an educational value and a democratic principle. The military is the most diverse institution I have ever been associated with, which is likely one reason it puts so much emphasis on character, commitment and competence as virtues—not where you are from, your school or who your parents are.”
One of the ways the College of Law has been particularly helpful to active duty students is through its online law degree JDinteractive, Baker says. Many of the program’s students are active duty service members, veterans or military-connected. “Syracuse University and the College of Law provided the platform for these students, who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attend law school.”
As the Orange community celebrates Veterans Day, Baker reflects on those who have served a greater good. “I always think about the people who served who didn’t come home. They hold a special place for all of us on Veterans Day.” Three years ago, Baker started a tradition of the law school holding its own Veterans Day commemoration. “I wanted to make sure that, even at a university like Syracuse that genuinely values military service, its law school also made that connection and celebrated this mission of supporting and defending the Constitution.”
Students: See our Study Aids webpage for access to many of the top legal study aids packages. Students will find links to CALI lessons, the Aspen Learning Library, West Academic Study Aids and the LexisNexis Digital Library.
The College of Law hosted a special Veterans Day Ceremony in the Melanie Gray Ceremonial Courtroom this week, sponsored by the Institute for Security Policy and Law, the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, and the National Security Student Association.
The ceremony began with a welcome by 3L R.J. Naperkowski, followed by the presentation of the SU Army ROTC Color Guard and National Anthem sung by the Weedsport High School Chorus. The Honorable James E. Baker, Director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law, then offered opening remarks and for the main event of the ceremony, Lieutenant Colonel Julia Muedeking, Assistant Deputy General Counsel, Intelligence, International and Military Affairs, Office of the Air Force General Counsel served as the guest speaker. The event concluded with an Armed Forces Salute by the Weedsport High School Chorus and Taps.
