News in Brief

Papal Prize

Pope Francis awarded a 2022 Ratzinger Prize to Joseph H. H. Weiler, University Professor and Joseph Straus Professor of Law. Weiler, whose work focuses on issues of European integration, globalization, and democracy, has written about the need to consider religious heritage in discussions of European integration. In 2011 he obtained a landmark ruling at the European Court of Human Rights that upheld Italy’s right to display crucifixes in public school classrooms. Read more about Weiler’s award at the Vatican. 

All Ears

Strict Scrutiny, the Supreme Court podcast co-hosted by Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor Melissa Murray and two other constitutional law professors, won a 2023 Ambie Award for Best Politics or Opinion Podcast.

Opening the Door

In April 2023, NYU Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, co-led by James Weldon Johnson Professor Alina Das ’05, secured a final waiver against deportation for Jean Montrevil, a Haitian American immigrant rights activist. Montrevil was deported in 2018 on the basis of 30-year-old drug convictions for which he had already served time. Clinic students Diana Rosen ’21, Lauren Wilfong ’21, Aidan Langston ’23, and Sarah Butterfield ’22 helped him obtain a pardon and facilitated his return to the United States through federal court litigation. More recently, Yulanda Lui ’23 and Gabriela MacPherson ’24 represented Montrevil in the hearing that finally waived his past grounds for deportation. Read more about the Immigrant Rights Clinic’s work on behalf of Montrevil. 

JAGs at Sea

Military attorneys Anne Preis ’13 and Amy Zajac ’16 completed a seven-month Pacific deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Preis is the command judge advocate  for Commander, Carrier Strike Group Three, and Zajac is the deputy command judge advocate for the Lincoln. 

Love at NYU Law

For these alumni—amid writing papers, running for Student Bar Association, arguing a contract dispute in Lawyering, or recovering from a sprained ankle—love blossomed at NYU Law. Read more about these alumni couples.

Alan Klinger ’81 and Susan Wagner ’81

Darilyn Olidge ’93 and Mechelle Evans ’93

Parvin Moyne ’02 and Zachary Sturges ’02

Diana DeGette ’82 and Lino Lipinsky ’82

Free Library

In May, Assistant Professor Daniel Francis JSD ’20 and Christopher Jon Sprigman, Murray and Kathleen Bring Professor of Law, published Antitrust: Principles, Cases, and Materials, available for free download. Their book follows a tradition of openly licensed textbooks by NYU Law faculty that includes a trademark law casebook by John M. Desmarais Professor of Intellectual Property Law Barton Beebe and a copyright law textbook by Sprigman and Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Intellectual Property Law Jeanne Fromer.

“The debate around competition issues is livelier today than it has been in many decades,” Sprigman says of the new textbook. “We were a little surprised that there was no established zero-price option already,” Francis adds. “After all, antitrust loves new entry and low prices!” Read more about Francis and Sprigman's free antitrust casebook.

Voting Rights Win

A US Supreme Court ruling on June 8 gave a win to voting rights advocates in Alabama, including lead plaintiff Evan Milligan ’16, when it found that the state’s congressional districting map unlawfully diluted the impact  of Black voters. Milligan is the executive director of Alabama Forward, a statewide network  of nonpartisan organizations advancing democratic engagement.

Well-Regulated

In January, Dean Emeritus and AnBryce Professor of Law Richard Revesz became administrator of the US Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and  Regulatory Affairs, the unit responsible for reviewing rules drafted by federal agencies and overseeing implementation of rules and regulations across the federal government. Read more about Revesz’s appointment. 

Supporting Public Interest Work

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation selected six graduating NYU Law students to receive two-year fellowships for public interest work. (From left to right: Matthew Escalante, Legal Aid Chicago, Chicago; Zakiya Lewis, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC; Annie Lo, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York; Bex Rothenberg-Montz, Housing Works, Brooklyn, New York; Michaela Shuchman, Bronx Legal Services, New York; David Sunshine Hamburger, Georgia Legal Services Program, Savannah) Read more about our Skadden Fellows.

One of Time's "Women of the Year"

Time magazine honored Ayisha Siddiqa, a youth fellow with the Law School’s Climate Litigation Accelerator (CLX), as one of its 2023 Women of the Year. A co-founder of climate advocacy group Polluters Out, Siddiqa is the inaugural youth fellow for CLX, a global hub of lawyers and advocates seeking to catalyze legal action against climate change. Read more about Siddiqa and her work. 

Removing Outdated Obstacles to Custody

The Parental Equity Act, legislation co-drafted  by Family Defense Clinic director Christine Gottlieb ’97, became law in New York in December 2022. Under previous New York law, unmarried fathers whose children were placed in foster care by the state were often considered ineligible for hearings to prove their fitness to parent. The new law changes that, giving unmarried fathers the opportunity to maintain custody of their children. Gottlieb co-authored the act with Amy Mulzer, senior attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services  and a former fellow at the Family Defense Clinic. Read more about Gottlieb’s work on the new law.  

Election Winners

In 2022, NYU Law graduates were elected to federal and state public offices around the country. Hakeem Jeffries ’97 became the first Black leader of a major political party. Read more about Jeffries.

Diana DeGette ’82, US House of Representatives, CO, 1st District

Hakeem Jeffries ’97, House Minority Leader US House of Representatives, NY, 8th District

Scott Peters ’84, US House of Representatives, CA, 52nd

District Phil Weiser ’94, Attorney General of Colorado

Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick LLM ’99, New York State Senate, 9th District

Brian Kavanagh ’98, New York State Senate, 26th District

Catherine Rombeau ’04, New Hampshire House of Representatives, 7th District

Brandon Lofton ’04, North Carolina House of Representatives, 104th District

Votes of Confidence

Inspired by their coursework in The Law of Democracy, taught by Richard Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law,
55 NYU Law students traveled to Pennsylvania on November 8 to help ensure midterm election voters’ access to the polls.