After seeing that community service and civil rights organizations could not meet the legal needs of their South Asian clients, Shivani Parikh ’24 was inspired to start her community’s own legal defense fund. “None of our nonprofits have legal capacity, and this is the heart of it all,” Parikh said of the South Asian Legal Defense Fund (SA LDF), which she founded in January 2024 alongside five attorneys serving on its Board of Directors. “The working-class families that we have here, though they’re provided direct social services, could greatly benefit from legal assistance that is culturally relevant and rooted in…
Author: Erin DeGregorio
From working in public interest and tax law to international law and human rights, Fordham Law’s graduates are beginning their professional careers. The 683 members of the Class of 2024 will graduate on May 20. During their law school journeys, they have established new student organizations, competed in international arbitration, negotiation, and mediation competitions, and held leadership roles at their Law School. Meet some of the members of this year’s graduating class previously featured as part of Fordham Law’s #futurefordhamlawyers series. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fordham Law (@fordhamlawnyc) View this post on…
While years of relatively unchecked commercial data collection has led to a moment of real despair about the state of our internet and the digital economy, there is now momentum to protect consumer privacy through regulatory action and legislation. That was the assessment of Samuel Levine, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who weighed in on the future of consumer protection and privacy as AI transforms the marketplace. Levine, along with a panel of privacy experts, spoke at Fordham Law School in mid-April as part of the fourth annual Reidenberg lecture, which honors…
Fordham Law School’s Right to Housing and Civil Rights Litigation Clinic filed a class action lawsuit against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) on behalf of low-income Black and Hispanic renters who were eligible for federal rental assistance during the pandemic but were told not to apply. The suit says they were left waiting for years or did not receive it at all because of the way the money was distributed. The student-led lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan. Lincoln Square Legal Services, the non-profit law…
As global instability and geopolitical crises—including wars in Europe and the Middle East as well as the displacement of populations and changing migration patterns—continue to make headlines both domestically and abroad, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John O. Brennan FCRH ’77 warned that cybersecurity should remain at the forefront. “A lot of that phenomenon certainly has been around for decades and centuries in terms of geopolitical tensions … but the thing that’s different now, though, is the technological revolution that has been occurring for the past 30 years or so, in terms of how much more interconnected the…
Colombia’s former Chief Justice Manuel José Cepeda Espinosa has traded handing down rulings in landmark constitutional cases in court and spent this semester teaching Fordham Law students. “It’s been a great pleasure to have the space to rethink about so many issues that I had to tackle when I was a judge and to communicate my perspective on issues I had once worked on,” said Cepeda. Sixteen students have benefited from the expertise of Cepeda, who was a member of the Constitutional Court for the 2001-2009 term, in his role as William Hughes Mulligan Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at…
Dean Matthew Diller and alumnus Richard Saenz ’10, who has advocated for transgender people and incarcerated individuals with HIV, were honored for their dedication to public service at the 33rd annual Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) Awards. The awards are held annually at Fordham Law School to recognize members of the Fordham Law community for their contributions to public service. Accepting the Louis J. Lefkowitz Public Service Award Lefkowitz Award, Diller reflected on his own public interest work with the Legal Aid Society, where he started his career, noting that it has shaped everything he has done since. “What I…
A standing-room-only crowd gathered to hear journalist Steve Kornacki talk about his life and career path during an hour-long conversation with Adjunct Professor Jerry Goldfeder, director of the Law School’s Voting Rights and Democracy Project. Kornacki, of course, is known for his on-point political analysis and presentation while using the “Big Board,” an interactive screen providing detailed election data. A national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, Kornancki catapulted to viral celebrity status in 2020 due to his tireless coverage of the U.S. presidential race and election. Outside of politics, he has been tapped to bring his unique analytic…
George Olsen ’85 didn’t begin his legal education until his late 30s. His Fordham Law education became the launching pad for a successful career in real estate, instilling in him a deep appreciation for his alma mater and inspiring him to give back decades later. “I’m of the age where a lot of kids didn’t go to college and, when I started law school, people said you’re going to be 40 years old when you graduate,” Olsen said. “I remember saying, ‘Either I’m going to be 40 and an attorney or I’m going to be 40 and not an attorney.…
Fordham Law School community members had the rare opportunity to interact with eight judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on March 6. The Judicial Day in Residence program is a unique initiative of the Center for Judicial Events & Clerkships, which develops a special collaboration between the Center and a particular area court with the goal of instilling in our student body a broader appreciation for the importance of civics and the rule of law. For this year’s Day in Residence, the Center partnered with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Throughout the day judges on the court…