Professor Katherine Macfarlane’s article “Higher Education’s Accommodations Mistake” was recently accepted for publication in the Georgetown Law Journal, where it will be published this Fall. A draft of Professor Macfarlane’s article is available here.
The article examines the “fundamental alteration” defense, which applies to claims brought pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and how the defense impacts reasonable accommodation requests made by undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities. Professor Macfarlane is a leading expert in disability law and higher education accommodations.
She directs the College’s Disability Law & Policy Program and teaches Constitutional Law, Disability Law, and Civil Rights Litigation.
Brett VanBuren L’25 went to college at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with the intention of serving his country. But, his college plans were sidelined by an injury that resulted in an honorable discharge. Still, he remained true to West Point’s mission of creating “leaders of character” who were “ready for a lifetime of service” on a new path that led him to Syracuse University College of Law.
After finishing his bachelor’s degree at Marist College and working in marketing in New York City, he enrolled at Syracuse Law in 2022. Today, VanBuren is a 3L who has made the most of his time at Syracuse Law, taking on leadership roles in several of the School’s societies, including president of the Corporate Law Society and treasurer of the Military and Veterans Law Society, the Intellectual Property Law Society and the International Law Society.
During the 2022-2023 academic year, he served as president of the Class of 2025. And, in 2023, VanBuren was issued the Unsung Hero Award by the Syracuse Student Bar Association (SBA) in recognition for the hard work and achievements in organizing many in-person and virtual events, volunteering at SBA functions and raising the most money in recent history for a first-year class at Syracuse Law. VanBuren is the former law school representative to the Syracuse University board of trustees, which is the highest appointed leadership position for a Syracuse Law student.
“I’m involved in a lot of activities. When I was a 1L, I was the person organizing a happy hour during orientation week, so we could all get to know each other, or, this year, planning the General Counsel Symposium through the Corporate Law Society that brought students together with alumni and other general counsels from across the country,” he explains. “I’m grateful that others see me as a leader and someone who will advocate for them or acknowledge that their complaints or ideas have been heard. I think it’s important to be a leader wherever you go.”
His original intention was to work in corporate law. But, it was Teaching Professor Elizabeth Kubala, director of Veteran and Military Affairs and Executive Director of the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, who knew VanBuren had attended West Point and asked if he’d ever considered the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). According to VanBuren, JAGs serve as lawyers in a wide range of legal roles for the Army, covering a wide gambit of topics. In a legal assistance capacity, JAGs help with divorce, child custody issues, immigration, writing wills and any other legal assistance that soldiers, veterans or their dependents need. They also handle administrative law issues related to labor and employment, environmental law, working with international partners, and issues related to laws or war and laws of armed contract, as well as criminal law and court-martials.
With his interest piqued, VanBuren was accepted into the highly competitive JAG Corps Intern Program, which only takes 30 1Ls each summer from across the country. Following his first year of law school, he spent the summer at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where he helped soldiers and their dependents in the Legal Assistance Office. The following summer, he continued with the program, this time in Italy, where he was sent to Caserma Ederla, an Italian military base outside of Venice. There he worked with Italian legal authorities and assisted the commander of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, a contingency response force in Europe. He also enjoyed having the chance to soak up the culture of Italy during his three-month stay. These experiences convinced him that the JAG Corps would be an excellent career path for him. So, when VanBuren was recently offered a commission into the JAG Corps following the completion of law school, he was honored to accept.
“My career path wasn’t the one I had originally planned, but it seems it is working out. Syracuse Law has been a big part of making my dream of being a lawyer come true, while at the same time helping me find my way back to the U.S. Army.”
—Brett VanBuren L’25
“I’m excited to work not only as a lawyer but also as an army officer. It forces me to not only be competent in my legal tasks but also my warrior tasks,” he explains, noting that while he doesn’t yet know where he’ll be stationed, he hopes to work his way up to be a brigade judge advocate, someone who serves as a general counsel to a brigade commander. “It’s really rewarding work assisting a commander in getting the mission done.”
VanBuren poses with classmates and professors outside the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland during the International Tax Law short course in 2024.
While VanBuren plans to stay with the Army for a while, his long-term goal is to be a general counsel for a Fortune 500 company. However, for now, he is concentrating on his studies as a 3L and passing the New York State bar exam, while continuing to be involved with various activities at Syracuse Law.
“My career path wasn’t the one I had originally planned, but it seems it is working out. Syracuse Law has been a big part of making my dream of being a lawyer come true, while at the same time helping me find my way back to the U.S. Army,” he says. ”I’m grateful for everyone here who was part of my law school experience.”
On succession planning, Landaw says boards should approach CEO succession “like the general manager of a sports team seeking to build a championship-caliber franchise. Rather than filling vacancies on an ad hoc basis, they must plan ahead, have a keen understanding of the skills and experiences required to meet the company’s evolving needs, and have the gumption to replace CEOs and directors who are no longer the best fit.”
University Professor David Driesen spoke with the Washington Post about Presidential powers, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the unitary executive theory, and Humphrey’s Executor decision that established the constitutionality of independent agencies overseen by multimember boards.
Driesen said allowing presidents to remove members of those agencies without cause could create a dangerous concentration of power, which he likened to countries such as Hungary that have slid toward authoritarianism.
Most functioning democracies have independent agencies overseeing critical sectors such as elections, the news media, banks, and law enforcement to keep them from being politicized, Driesen said. In the United States, concerns about guardrails for criminal and civil investigations have for decades given the Justice Department more independence from the White House than other Cabinet-level agencies.
“It’s very, very dangerous to operate under the unitary executive theory when you have a president with autocratic tendencies,” Driesen said. “If a president had control of prosecution, he could protect his friends and attack his enemies. If the president has control over the election commission, he can tilt elections in his favor. If he controls communications commissions, he can get rid of opposition media.”
Professor Jack Graves spoke with Bloomberg Law about the Trump administration’s stance on memecoins and the change in the approach to crypto enforcement from the Biden administration.
“I think there was a logic to it— [former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary] Gensler didn’t want to get caught up in trying to regulate, didn’t want to get caught up on political question doctrine,” he said.
Professor Emeritus William C. Banks spoke with Stateline for the article “Blue states fear invasion by red-state National Guard troops for deportations.” Banks discussed current federal laws and how Washington State’s proposed legislation might be redundant.
“It’s like an insurance policy,” he said of the bill. “It may be a very good idea to call attention to the independence of the state government and its perspective that they’d very much like to be in charge of their own internal affairs, including migration or whatever else might be going on.”
Banks said the measure, if passed as expected, could be something that state leaders point to if, for example, Idaho or Montana were considering deploying their National Guard units to Seattle to carry out Trump’s immigration enforcement.
However, he said, the whole discussion becomes irrelevant the moment Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which would allow for federal military intervention in a nonconsenting state.
Bess Murad L’26 was named the recipient of the Hon. Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. Scholarship, administered by the Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association.
“Receiving this scholarship is an honor. This past summer, during my judicial internship with Judge Scullin, I gained invaluable insight into the judiciary’s role in delivering justice. I witnessed first-hand the work that goes into administering justice and the impact judicial decisions have on individuals in our community. This experience solidified my interest in working in federal court.,” says Murad.
Murad continues “What makes this scholarship even more meaningful is its connection to Judge Scullin, a highly respected judge in the area. This scholarship embodies the spirit of service and excellence I hope to achieve in my future career. By receiving this award, I am inspired to further my goal of combining my passion for litigation with my commitment to serving my local community, in which I was born and raised.”
Murad is on Syracuse Law Review and is an Academic Success Fellow. She is also a Research Assistant for Professor William Banks focusing on Constitutional Law and U.S. National Security and Counterterrorism.
In December 2005, the Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association (“the Association”) established The Honorable Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. Scholarship Program to recognize exemplary law students who attend Albany Law School, Cornell University College of Law, and Syracuse University College of Law. Each year, the Association selects three scholars, one from each law school, each of whom will receive a scholarship in the sum of $2,000. Students currently in their second year of law school are encouraged to apply for the scholarship.
Luis “Lu” Weierbach L’25, a U.S. Army Captain, attended the Military Commissions proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba this past summer as an observer with the National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ.) Weierbach was nominated to participate by Professor Elizabeth Kubala, a NIMJ Fellow, and submitted a paper to the NIMJ detailing his observations.
Weierbach flew to Guantanamo Bay along with other trial observers, family members of victims, and personnel from the Pentagon’s Office of Military Commissions. He observed a week of pretrial motions in the 9/11 Case, which is a joint trial of four men charged with crimes tied to the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. Weierbach observed motions from the defense to exclude evidence that the defense contends was derived from unlawful interrogations. Defense expert testimony included extensive evidence from Dr. Charles A. Morgan III, a clinical and forensic psychiatrist and an international expert in memory and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These pretrial hearings were to determine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Letterhead Memoranda (“memoranda”) that details the Defendants’ confessions will be admissible during the trial which has not yet been scheduled. For most Defendants, the memoranda are a substantial part of the Government’s body of evidence.
In a presentation recounting what impacted him the most, Weierbach encouraged others to put themselves in the place of the family members of the 9/11 victims. “Imagine the family members, boarding a plane with the team that is defending the detainees and the judge who makes the rulings. And imagine, too, the press, a huge organization that has its own tilt. Certain members of the press have advocated heavily for the detainees. Imagine being a family member and being in such close physical proximity to all these individuals on the flight there.”
Weierbach continued sharing his thoughts. “Then, imagine a week of interesting testimony with an expert who is suggesting key evidence against the accused should be excluded. Imagine yourself as a family member of a 9/11 victim being on the flight back with that witness.” Weierbach astutely shared these and other unusual aspects of the legal proceedings occurring in Guantanamo Bay that differ greatly from legal processes back on U.S. soil.
NIMJ was founded in 1991 to advance the fair administration of military justice and to foster improved public understanding of the military justice system. Following President George W. Bush’s order that authorized military commissions, NIMJ studied and commented on the procedures established to hold and prosecute detainees by the Department of Defense. NIMJ continues to appear regularly as amicus curiae in cases involving detainee issues, to publish reports related to the military commissions, and to educate the public on the military commissions through its website.
The Department of Defense invites a few non‐governmental organizations to observe military commissions in an effort to satisfy the right to a public trial. As part of this program, NIMJ has been sending observers to the military commissions at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2008. While several other organizations observe the proceedings, NIMJ’s observations are unique because of the military justice background of NIMJ board members and fellows. NIMJ’s leadership includes former judge advocates, private practitioners, and legal scholars. NIMJ’s observers attempt to put the proceedings in the appropriate historical, legal, and military context.
The Tully Rinckey Foundation, the philanthropic initiative of Tully Rinckey PLLC, has selected Joshua Farrar L’26 for a Military Scholarship. The scholarship rewards law students who have or are serving in the military or reserves.
Farrar is a Captain in the Texas Army National Guard, having served for the past ten years. He is currently an Information Operations Officer in Austin, TX. Farrar previously worked in Aerial Delivery, obtaining Airborne and Pathfinder qualifications. “I’m most proud of my service on numerous natural disasters including hurricanes, flash floods, tornadoes/windstorms, pandemics, and border humanitarian crises,” says Farrar.
At Syracuse Law, Farrar is the Vice President of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.
“I am honored to receive the Tully Rinckey Foundation scholarship. I’m a father of five, and my wife and family have sacrificed time, trips, opportunities, and activities so that I can attend law school. At times I feel guilty and wonder if this is the best decision for my family. Being selected for this scholarship means a lot to my family, as it validates our sacrifices and helped rekindle my drive and determination to keep pushing forward with law school. Thank you so much for this financial award,” says Farrar.
Graig Cortelyou, Global Chief Operating Officer of Tully Rinckey noted that Farrar was selected due to “his background and experiences that led him to attending law school and becoming a lawyer. Joshua has a passion for the law, along with military and life experiences that will make him an asset to the legal profession.”
The Tully Rinckey Foundation awards scholarships for the Fall 2024 semester to a new or current Albany Law School, University at Buffalo Law School, and Syracuse University College of Law student who has served or is currently serving in the military or reserves.
“Our firm believes our service extends beyond the courtroom and into the communities where we work. Supporting the military, veterans, and their families is an important cause that Tully Rinckey backs in many ways, including the Military Scholarship,” says Mathew Tully. “We were once again honored and humbled to review the stellar applications from the College of Law students, as there were so many qualified candidates. Without a doubt, Joshua is a leader who will make an impact on the legal profession and our society.”
Among Tully Rinckey’s veteran-focused outreach programs are sponsorship of the annual Veterans in Economic Transition Conference (VETCON) in Albany, N.Y., and Turkeys for Veterans where they partner with local supermarkets throughout New York State to give free turkeys to veterans during the holiday season. The College of Law is a partner in the Turkeys for Veterans project in Syracuse.
“The College of Law thanks the Tully Rinckey Foundation for supporting our military and veteran students. Joshua is a well-deserving recipient who has made many selfless sacrifices as a member of the military and matches that commitment to his studies to become a lawyer through our hybrid online J.D. program,” says Professor Beth Kubala, Executive Director of the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic and Director of Veteran and Military Affairs at the College of Law.
He noted that the EITC “can be confusing. Some eligible taxpayers missing the EITC could be lower earners without a filing requirement”. But the EITC is “refundable,” meaning you can still claim a refund even without tax liability.
