News in Brief

Honoring Florence Davis ’79

On May 9, family, friends, and colleagues of the late Florence Davis ’79, vice chair and longtime member of NYU Law’s Board of Trustees, gathered to share tributes to Davis and witness the unveiling of her portrait, which will hang in Greenberg Lounge. The Starr Foundation, the philanthropic organization where Davis served as director and president for nearly 25 years, announced a major grant to NYU Law in Davis’s honor. It will support the Law School’s Loan Repayment and Assistance Program (LRAP) Plus, which offers aid to alumni who work in public service. Read more about Florence Davis.

Local Hero

Talia Scott JD/MBA ’25 received a 2023 David Prize, which recognizes five New York City changemakers each year and includes $200,000 in funding. Scott said that she would apply her award to Legally BLK Fund, the nonprofit organization that she founded to provide financial and application support, mentorship, and professional development opportunities to Black women applying to law school. Read more about Talia Scott.

Slam Dunk

At the annual Deans’ Cup basketball game in April, a team from NYU Law brought the trophy back downtown, besting Columbia Law School players 61–54 before an enthusiastic crowd. The Deans’ Cup, a tradition since 2002, raises funds to benefit the public interest law programs at both law schools. See more photos of the game.

Showtime

Suffs—about American women fighting for the right to vote in 1913—debuted on Broadway in April and earned two Tony Awards. Among the activists featured in the musical is Inez Milholland (1912), a labor lawyer and a leader in the women’s suffrage movement. Following the May 9 performance, NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center (BWLC) hosted a discussion with BWLC executive director Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Dean Troy McKenzie ’00 about gender equity and democracy. “It was a thrill to witness the flair and moxie and principle [that Milholland] demonstrated,” Weiss-Wolf said of Suffs. “Today, our community continues to stand up for reproductive rights, for voting rights, for democracy, for workplace equity.”

Love at NYU Law

For these three couples, romance bloomed at NYU Law in class sections, at rooftop parties, or in study groups.

Lauren Godshall ’03 and Hector Linares ’03

Lauren and Hector sat next to each other in Civil Procedure, which was taught by then-Dean John Sexton, Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law. “At that time, there had been a couple that had gotten married in every single section that John Sexton had taught,” recalls Hector. “And he took personal credit and responsibility for this. So, on the first day of class, he said: ‘Look to your left, look to your right, some of you are going to get married.’” “And it worked, he was correct!” says Lauren.

David Feldheim ’72 and Andrea Chilnick Feldheim ’72

David and Andrea met in 1970 in Hayden (now Lipton) Hall. “Andrea had an arrangement with my roommate to give him notes if he missed class,” says David. “One night, she knocked on the door to give him notes and he wasn’t in. I was, and that’s how we met.”

Benoît Charrière-Bournazel LLM ’00 and Sylvia Carreno LLM ’00

For Benoît and Sylvia, their Introduction to American Law class also introduced them to each other. The pair shared their first kiss at a Law School party atop one of the Twin Towers. Their wedding took place at the city clerk’s office the day before NYU Law Convocation, Benoît recalls: “At graduation, [Dean John Sexton] had us be the very last ones to come onstage and hood each other. There were about 10,000 people clapping.”

Read more about these couples.

Winning Arguments

Four NYU Law alumni who appeared in oral arguments at the US Supreme Court won victories in the 2023–24 term.

In Harrow v. Department of Defense, the justices ruled 9–0 for the federal employee represented by Joshua Davis ’93, finding that a 60-day filing deadline to appeal a US Merit Systems Protection Board decision was not jurisdictional.

Theane Evangelis ’03, an NYU Law trustee, prevailed in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson when a six-justice majority upheld a municipal law prohibiting encampments on public property.

In Devillier v. Texas, the Court held unanimously that the property owners represented by Robert McNamara ’06 could bring their Takings Clause claims in state court.

Representing three states, Mathura Sridharan ’18 helped obtain a 5-4 decision staying the US Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement of an ozone pollution rule in Ohio v. EPA.