As chair of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice’s Elder Affairs Committee, Professor Nina Kohn has helped draw attention to policies that closely align with nursing home reforms the Biden administration announced in February.
Featured in this ABA Journal article, Kohn explains, “the ABA has played a leadership role historically in thinking through the law around long-term care. That has been in part through particular entities within the ABA, such as the Commission on Law and Aging, which has been an important resource for advocates, but also through some discreet resolutions the ABA has adopted over the years.”
More than 200,000 lives of nursing home residents and staff have been taken by COVID-19 in the past two years. Due to this severe impact, the administration has tasked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office (HHS) with developing and implementing reforms aimed to improve the safety and quality of nursing home care, hold nursing homes accountable for the care they provide, and make the quality of care and facility ownership more transparent so that potential residents and their loved ones can make informed decisions about care.
“For decades now, the ABA has understood how important enforcement is in this space,” Kohn says. “On paper, nursing home residents have robust rights related to the quality of care and quality of life. The problem is that there is ineffective enforcement of those rights and, as a result, what are on paper very clear requirements end up being treated more than aspirational goals.”
President Joe Biden has repeatedly invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA), previously used mainly as a procurement tool for the armed forces, to manage the economy throughout his current presidency.
Speaking to the Economist, the Hon. James E. Baker, Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law, explains, “given the depth of America’s supply problems today, it is good public policy to test the limits of the DPA, to see what it can accomplish.”
In March, Biden used the DPA to encourage the domestic production of minerals needed to make batteries for electric vehicles. A few months later in May, he called upon the law to ramp up the production of infant formula in the face of the shortage across the country. He also used it to spur the production of clean energy such as solar power.
Professor Emeritus William C. Banks joined CBS News live before the first House select committee hearing on the January 6 Capitol riot.
“I think the hearings are going to be another important component of establishing a historical record. It’s about preserving our most important institutions of our democracy. It’s fundamental to our democratic society that we’ve had for nearly 250 years and when that comes under threat as it did just this past year, I think the whole world pays attention,” says Banks.
Professor Roy Gutterman L’00, Director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, tells People Magazine that the recent verdict that Amber Heard defamed Johnny Depp in her December 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post was “shocking” to some.
“At this point, it is difficult to assess the long-term effect this decision will have on defamation law and whether it will chill future speakers and writers from addressing potentially controversial issues,” Gutterman said. “I think it might have a chilling effect. The defamation claim is based on a statement in a newspaper column. The weeks of testimony were at times lurid and even entertaining, but I’m not sure it adequately proved anything beyond the fact that two movie stars had an extremely volatile relationship.”
According to Heard, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote the first draft of the op-ed, and teams of lawyers vetted it before finalizing the story. Heard later testified that she did not write or approve the headline used in the online version, which differs from the one used in the print newspaper as it included the term “sexual violence.”
As a result of the trial, the jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages, which the judge later reduced to $10.35 million due to a state law in Virginia. Heard was awarded $2 million in her defamation countersuit, and plans to appeal the verdict.
The Syracuse University College of Law’s Burton Blatt Institute was recently featured in a U.S. News and World Report Article as one of two of the most prominent law schools in the country with specific centers or programs focused on disability rights or advocacy.
The article contains advice for law school applicants with disabilities, offering them tips to successfully navigate the admissions process and the full law school experience. Topics range from disability accommodations for the LSAT and in law school, to the option to disclose disabilities as a law school applicant and programs and resources for law students with disabilities.
Professor Peter Blanck, chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute, notes, “applying to law school requires strong self-advocacy and patience that puts a unique burden on students with disabilities.” Depending on an applicant’s specific disabilities, those burdens can vary, from stress and time burdens to practical barriers. Not all disabilities are visible, and some applicants may also have impairments such as cognitive or learning disabilities and/or mental health issues.
“Just be the best lawyer you can be,” Blanck advises. “In a competitive legal environment, it is important to have a basic grounding to be a well-rounded lawyer.”
Professor Elizabeth Kubala, Executive Director of the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, was recently awarded a grant from the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) to attend the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) 15th Judicial Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
A statewide health foundation in New York, NYHealth plays a key role in building the field of professionals working to improve veterans’ health in New York State. NYHealth hopes not only to support those already engaged in these efforts but also to attract new professionals to the field. By providing funding for professional opportunities like conference attendance, NYHealth supports veterans’ advocacy leaders by enabling them to learn, grow, share, and advance their work.
A part of the yearly Judicial Conferences held for Judges of the court, this year’s program focused on the challenging landscape of veterans’ law. Highlights included guest speakers such as U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and the Honorable Denis McDonough Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Topics ranged from legal trends to the Appeals Modernization Act and ethics. The event also featured discussions with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Board of Veterans’ Appeals.
“As a veterans legal clinic director, I gained tremendous knowledge and insights through this conference,” said Kubala. “Collaborative opportunities like the CAVC Judicial Conference help us refine the way we both assist our veteran clients and teach our student-attorneys. I’m thankful for NYHealth’s generosity in supporting conference attendance at such an impactful convening of legal experts focused on improving access to veterans’ healthcare and benefits.”
The conference also served as an official Continuing Legal Education training for Kubala and other veteran law practitioners.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently extended protections for the nursing home industry from COVID-19-related liability lawsuits, in addition to reducing the amount of resident care the facilities are required to provide residents. According to Professor Nina Kohn, this is a dangerous step in the wrong direction for resident well-being.
“Research shows that both staffing levels and the availability of skilled nursing staff are important predictors of the quality of care that nursing home residents receive,” said Kohn, an expert in elder law. “Florida’s new law reduces the number of hours of certified nursing staff time that facilities must provide to residents each day. This opens the door to nursing homes substituting trained staff for essentially unskilled labor. That is dangerous for residents and a clear step in the wrong direction.”
The full Lever News article includes additional details on the nationwide pattern of shielding nursing homes from lawsuits, and how some facilities are reducing the quantity and quality of care to cut costs.
Hannah R. Arterian, dean emerita of Syracuse University’s College of Law who oversaw the building and opening of the school’s state-of-the-art facility, Dineen Hall, died April 8 in Los Angeles. She was 72.
Arterian served as dean of the College of Law from 2003-15. During her tenure, she increased the quality and size of the college’s faculty, diversified educational opportunities for students, and brought Dineen Hall, one of the most ambitious building projects in the University’s history, to life. The College of Law moved into Dineen Hall, a 200,000-square-foot building on the western side of campus, in August 2014. The building brought together the law school community under one roof for the first time and has been rated as one of the most architecturally attractive law school buildings in the world.
“Our College of Law community mourns the loss of Dean Emerita Hannah Arterian,” says Craig Boise, dean of the College of Law. “Her leadership and influence, her impact on the lives of countless alumni, faculty, and staff, and her many accomplishments as dean, including the successful fundraising campaign that gave us Dineen Hall, will always be a part of our story.”
Arterian was raised in Staten Island and attended Elmira College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature magna cum laude in 1970 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She attended the University of Iowa College of Law, where she was the first woman to hold an editorial position on the Iowa Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif.
After earning her juris doctorate, Arterian worked for the New York City law firm Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood, practicing corporate tax law. She then returned to University of Iowa’s law school as a visiting professor and joined the faculty in 1978, one of the first women to teach at the college.
Arterian went on to hold teaching positions at Arizona State University (ASU) and University of Houston’s law schools before returning to ASU in 1985. Arterian became the first woman to serve as the college’s associate dean in 1992. When she began teaching at ASU in 1979, she was the only woman on the college’s law faculty and only the second to hold a faculty position in living memory. There, she taught courses on labor relations, employment law, and employment discrimination and wrote in the area of Title VII— particularly on the dilemmas for pregnant women employed in chemically toxic work environments.
She was named the 11th dean of Syracuse University’s College of Law—and the second woman appointed to the position—in 2002. She fundraised $1 million during the first year of her tenure and laid the groundwork for financial success and opportunities for the school. Arterian cultivated a diverse and accomplished faculty, developed relationships with alumni across the globe, and recruited many of the college’s board of advisors, with the long-term goal of increasing the quality of the college’s legal education and constructing a new building.
Arterian introduced an expanded orientation program for incoming students into the College of Law, which included alumni from all over the United States, as well as formal ceremonies to welcome new students into the college. One of her major projects was building the College of Law’s alumni association, as well as reinvigorating alumni connections to the school.
She worked with colleagues to forge strong relationships with Korean alumni by attending annual meetings and alumni events in Seoul. These visits included visiting the Korean Constitutional Court and discussing U.S. and Korean Supreme Court decisions with justices of the Korean Supreme Court. These international connections were also cultivated through Arterian’s work with colleagues to further develop the Law in London Program. Many programs and institutes, such as the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (now the Institute for Security Policy and Law); the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and Media; the Veterans Legal Clinic (now the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic); Securities, Arbitration and Consumer Law Clinic; Elder Law Clinic; and the externship program, were created, expanded and/or fostered under Arterian’s leadership.
With her colleagues and the Board of Advisors, Arterian raised $40 million to construct Dineen Hall, one of the nation’s premier law facilities.
“She is part of the ethos of that place. She was a visionary,” says Alexandra Epsilanty L’92, former associate dean of advancement in the College of Law and a close colleague of Arterian.
“Dineen Hall and the education of the next generation of legal minds are part of her legacy. She fought tooth and nail for the law school. It was like one of her kids. She cared about the law because she cared about civil society.”
During her tenure at ASU and at the College of Law, Arterian worked with the American Bar Association (ABA) to perform site inspections of law schools throughout the country and assess the qualifications of nominees to the federal judiciary and served on committees for the ABA, as well as the American Association of Law Schools. She was also a co-editor, with Jeremy Paul, of the SSRN Journal on Legal Education. In 2007, Arterian aided in the vetting process of then-vice-presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68. In 2009, she joined AccessLex Institute (formerly Access Group), a nonprofit comprising representatives of accredited law schools with the mission of education financing and debt management for law graduates, as well as investigating loan options and loan policy advocacy. After becoming a member of its executive committee in 2011, Arterian was elected as the chair of the AccessLex Board of Directors in 2014.
Arterian is survived by her children, William Furnish, Susannah Arterian, Diana Arterian, and Cordelia Arterian; three granddaughters, Marnie and Celeste Arterian, and Helena Muñoz Furnish, and her sister, Susan Arterian.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the organizations Arterian held dear—the Fresh Air Fund, Humane Society Legislative Fund, or to your own alma mater or institution of learning.
By Robert Nassau, Associate Director, Office of Clinical Legal Education; Director, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic; and Teaching Professor
Robert Nassau
Except for two weeks at the start of the spring semester, things were pretty much back to normal in the Office of Clinical Legal Education during the 2021–2022 academic year . . . although it’s probably more accurate to say: “back to a new normal.”
While in-person meetings between Student Attorneys, Clinic Directors, and clients resumed, Zoom meetings and hearings are certainly not a thing of the past and will likely remain prevalent moving forward. It’s hard to imagine what current legal practice would look like if the pandemic had not occurred, although it likely just accelerated a move to more online, hybrid, and remote work—something our Student Attorneys gained experience doing throughout the year.
Below are brief summaries of some of the amazing work performed by our Student Attorneys and Clinic Directors during the past academic year. These summaries are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg for all that we have accomplished. To repeat what I wrote last year: while the pandemic has created significant obstacles, it also provided teachable moments and learning opportunities that will better prepare our Student Attorneys for legal practice in a post-pandemic world.
CLINIC REPORTS
Bankruptcy Clinic
Director: Adjunct Professor Lee E. Woodard
The Bankruptcy Clinic had a successful and busy year with a Student Attorney enrollment of ten new students (plus one or two returning Clinic II students) each semester. The Clinic filed between 20 and 30 Chapter 7 bankruptcy petitions for clients. Several Student Attorneys obtained 2022 Summer Clerkships in the Bankruptcy Departments of “Big Law” firms, and one of our former Student Attorneys became a confidential law clerk to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge for the Utica Division of the Northern District of New York.
Clinic students are rewarded by helping their clients get a new post-bankruptcy start in their lives. Between inflation and the end of COVID stimulus funds, bankruptcy cases will continue to be on the rise for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Bankruptcy Clinic will continue to be a needed and valuable resource in our community.
Judge Ramon Rivera administers the oath to student lawyers.
Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic
Executive Director: Professor Elizabeth Kubala
The Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC) provides representation for veterans and their families who are either seeking benefits from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) or upgrading a military discharge.
Student Attorneys in the VLC performed a broad array of administrative actions and court appeals to challenge wrongful denials of federal veterans’ benefits. The students adapted to the VA’s new tele-hearing format and regularly appeared with their clients before Veterans Law Judges at the Board of Veterans Appeals. Appeals to the Board involved issues. Students collaborated to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims on cases dealing with a veteran’s chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as a deceased veteran’s claim for asbestos exposure that his widow is continuing to pursue on his behalf Finally, Student Attorneys are practicing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of a widow who has been denied the military’s survivor benefit plan.
Over the past year, Student Attorneys in the VLC embraced new and innovative ways to best serve our community’s veterans. In the fall of 2021, the Office of Clinical Education migrated its law practice management system to a new cloud-based legal platform that provides students with direct experience with industry-leading law practice management technology. Our students are getting hands-on experience managing the daily tasks of running a law firm and technical experience in matter management, timekeeping, and management skills that provide them a competitive edge for their future legal careers.
The VLC remains engaged with the local community. As part of the Central New York Veterans Parade and Expo, Student Attorneys from the VLC teamed up with the Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY for Valor Day at the New York State Fairgrounds where Clinic students and local attorneys provided free legal consultations for veterans and their family members as part of our area’s Veterans Day events.
The VLC joined SyracuseServes this year, an initiative of Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families. In collaboration with the City of Syracuse, the SyracuseServes network connects veterans and their families to local community providers to ensure that care, resources, and services are easily and successfully navigable. Student Attorneys in the VLC are trained to identify veteran clients who require resources beyond the legal services we provide. The VLC then refers those veterans to SyracuseServes for efficient and timely support.
Events like Law Alumni Weekend strengthen connections between the VLC and our alumni. In 2021, the VLC hosted an event titled “Serving Veterans at the College of Law and in the Community.” Current VLC students shared clinic and Syracuse University-wide updates and impact with our alumni. The oldest living College of Law alumnus and WWII and Korean War-era veteran, Robert Gang L’42, 104, was recognized in front of current faculty, alumni, students, and honored guests
Rising 3Ls Ryan Carson, Domenica “Sunny” Lostritto, and Abigail Gorzlancyk
Wrapping up the year, three students from the VLC traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims 15th Judicial Conference. Students gleaned valuable insights into new developments in Veterans Law from judges, government attorneys, private practitioners, and public officials. A highlight of the conference was hearing from Senator Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough who addressed attendees and answered questions. All three students who attended the Conference have internships this summer in the field of veteran law.
Low Income Taxpayer Clinic
Director: Professor Robert Nassau
The operative word this year in the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC), for both Student Attorneys and our clients, has been “patience.” As the media have accurately reported, anything involving the Internal Revenue Service or the United States Tax Court takes a very long time to reach a resolution. It can easily take a year for the IRS to review an Amended Return, a taxpayer’s response to an Audit Letter, or a Petition filed with the Tax Court. Hopefully, these timelines will improve soon.
In the meantime, the Student Attorneys of the LITC continue their work as the “Public Defenders of Tax.” Among the many tax controversies that LITC Student Attorneys helped resolve this year were those involving: the earned income tax credit and other child-based tax benefits; stimulus payments; identity theft; innocent spouse relief; and collection alternatives. Perhaps most notably, LITC Student Attorneys obtained a client’s proper New York State tax refund, after a hearing in the Bureau of Conciliation and Mediation Services; and successfully resolved a long-running Tax Court case involving the proper tax treatment of a post-bankruptcy deed in lieu of foreclosure.
Transactional Law Clinic
Director: Professor Jessica Murray
The Transactional Law Clinic (TLC) has been working with many clients in food-related businesses who are interested in protecting their brands with a U.S. or New York State trademark registration. (It is probably not a coincidence that Clinic Director Jessica Murray loves food and cooking.) Clinic trademark clients have included entrepreneurs with pudding, taco, pasta sauce, olive oil, and vegan cheese businesses.
With the involvement of Student Attorneys during four successive academic years, the TLC successfully registered two trademarks for The Shuga Pie Shop (name used with permission), a bakery that sells exclusively what they call “cake sandwiches,” delicious sandwiches made of two circles of cake with frosting between them, in many creative flavors.
One of the many benefits of being back in person: this year’s Student Attorneys were able to celebrate their work when The Shuga Pie Shop provided samples for the class. Services provided by the TLC to The Shuga Pie Shop included submitting trademark applications and responding to several Office Actions, resulting in the successful registration of the marks.
The TLC participates in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Law School Certification Program. As part of that program, representatives of the USPTO visited the TLC and the College of Law’s Intellectual Property Law Society—via Zoom—to discuss the work of the USPTO and careers there.
The TLC also worked with numerous clients who were starting not-for-profit organizations and non-food-related businesses, providing such services as incorporating, dissolving, forming LLCs, obtaining federal and state tax exemptions, counseling about intellectual property rights and protection, and drafting various types of agreements.
The College of Law’s externship program continues to evolve to meet the educational and professional demands of today’s law students, including those in the JDinteractive program, well beyond the core regions of Central New York, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The summer of 2021 was the first time JDi students participated in externships, joining a growing number of residential students who accelerate their practical experiences and legal skills via field placements to complement lessons learned in the classrooms. With JDi students stationed all over, the program was able to place students throughout the country.
As always, College of Law alumni came out in full force, and with their assistance, the Office of Career Services placed 145 students, including 60 JDi students, in 29 states, for whom the externship is a graduation requirement during the academic year.
As she ramped up the program, Director of Externships and Career Services Dafni Kiritsis ’97 (pictured left) also implemented a few systems changes for real-time data collection and tracking and to ensure ABA compliance.
2022 Program Highlights
JDI:
3L JDi student Meghan Steenburghwas a full-time extern this summer with the Defense Intelligence Agency which has led to a post-graduate employment offer. The DIA is one of the only members of the Intelligence Community to offer legal placements to law students, including three Syracuse Law students in 2022! As an extern at the DIA, Steenburgh gained experience working for an organization that provides military intelligence in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition.
NYC:
2L Sam Brewster completed a full-time spring externship with BSE Global, a new externship placement partner in New York City. BSE Global manages and operates Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Long Island Nets. BSE Global also provides several shared services to the New York Liberty, the WNBA sister team of the Brooklyn Nets.
CNY:
This spring, 2L Paul DiPaduaexterned at Carrols Restaurant Group, a new externship placement in Central New York. Carrols Restaurant Group is a dynamic publicly traded company located in Syracuse and is one of the largest restaurant companies in the United States, operating over 1,000 restaurants and employing 25,000 people.
Externship Placements
Of the 145 placements, the overwhelming majority of hosts are College of Law alumni. The success of the externship program is reliant on these partnerships. The College of Law thanks all placement hosts for their support.
Summer 2021 Externship Placements
JDi Externships:
Apple
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Legal Aid Hawaii
International Reproductive Law Group Inc. Page Law Firm, LLC
Lewis & Clark Criminal Justice Reform Clinic Washington Appeals Court
New Jersey Superior Court, Judge Rodney Thompson L’93 Legal Aid of Southeastern PA
Montana Legal Services Association
CNY:
Syracuse City Corporation Counsel
United States Attorney’s Office for the NDNY United States Attorney’s Office for the WDNY Gregg A. Starczewski, Esq.
