Fordham Law School announced today the launch of the Voting Rights and Democracy Project, a nonpartisan initiative whose stated mission is “to train the next generation of voting rights lawyers.” The Project will sponsor election-related classes and seminars, host panel discussions on constitutional issues, work to place students in government and at nonprofit organizations, and publish a new online academic journal on voting rights and election law.
The Voting Rights & Democracy Project’s inaugural event will be held Monday, March 21, 1:00–2:00 p.m. EST. The program, “Protecting Our Constitutional Democracy—What Lawyers Can and Should Do,” will be a virtual panel discussion featuring Sheila Boston, president of the New York City Bar Association, alongside voting rights lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Demos.
Jerry H. Goldfeder, an award-winning adjunct professor at Fordham Law School and special counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, has been appointed director of the project. Goldfeder is a nationally recognized election law, campaign finance, and voting rights attorney. He will continue his practice at Stroock and his regular “Government and Election Law” column for the New York Law Journal.
“The protection of voting rights is one of the nation’s most pressing issues,” said Fordham Law School Dean Matthew Diller. “Efforts in state legislatures around the country to limit voting rights threaten to undermine our free elections. This new project will equip our students with the educational resources necessary to defend the foremost right of our nation’s democracy.”
“I am so pleased to be part of Fordham’s continuing commitment to preserving our constitutional democracy through excellent legal education,” said Goldfeder.
The Voting Rights and Democracy Project will be an ongoing resource for student organizations at Fordham Law. Housed under the umbrella of the Law School’s Public Interest Resource Center, it will provide the legal community and the public with the kind of information and analysis required to understand and respond to this critical point in our nation’s history.
The Project’s Advisory Board includes a diverse group of civil rights lawyers and advocates. Among its members are two Fordham Law School alumni: U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler (Class of 1978) and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (Class of 1999).