Generative artificial intelligence technologies, including ChatGPT, are revolutionizing the legal world, raising complex questions involving AI sentience, personal privacy, and the future of legal ethics, education, and employment. “The New AI: The Legal and Ethical Implications of ChatGPT and Other Emerging Technologies,” a day-long symposium co-sponsored by the Fordham Law Review and Fordham’s Center on Neuroscience and Law, recently explored these issues and more. “Neuroscience, which seeks to study the human brain, is central to developing the next generation of these technologies,” said Professor Deborah Denno, founding director of the Neuroscience and Law Center. “Thanks to the latest neuroimaging devices,…
Author: Sejla Rizvic
Judge Eileen Bransten ’79, a justice on the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, was a pathbreaking leader on the bench and mentor who helped shape the Commercial Division during her decades-long career. In a moving tribute held at Fordham Law, she was honored by her former colleagues, teachers, and law clerks. “Eileen Bransten was a trailblazer,” said Dean Matthew Diller of Bransten, who died in 2022. “She was a woman leading the way in the field of commercial and business law, which was an incredibly male-dominated field.” Dean Emeritus John Feerick ’61, who…
Sherrilyn Ifill knew since she was a young child that she wanted to become, in her words, “someone who makes a difference.” Today, she is one of the most renowned and accomplished civil rights lawyers in the country, having spent her career advocating for voting rights, racial justice, and the fight for democracy. Ifill was honored for her trailblazing work as the recipient of the Fordham-Stein Prize in early November. The award is presented annually by Fordham Law School to a member of the legal profession whose work exemplifies outstanding professional conduct and promotes the advancement of justice. “Sherrilyn Ifill…
Four Fordham Law professors have been awarded named chairs in recognition of their outstanding scholarship in the fields of contract law theory, race and law, immigration and employment, and constitutional law. The new chair holders are Professors Aditi Bagchi, Bennett Capers, Jennifer Gordon, and Andrew Kent. “These four distinguished professors are at the forefront of legal scholarship, constantly pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the law and influencing legal discourse. We take immense pride in acknowledging their exceptional accomplishments,” said Dean Matthew Diller. Three of the chairs—the Ignatius M. Wilkinson Chair, the John D. Feerick Research Chair, and the…
From pro bono counsel to philanthropy to direct legal advocacy on issues including immigration and domestic violence, nine people were honored for their legal work at this year’s Fordham Law’s Feerick Center awards celebration. The Feerick Center, founded by Fordham Law Dean Emeritus John D. Feerick ’61, works with social justice groups, legal services, and public sector organizations to respond to the needs of marginalized people, including low-income New Yorkers, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied minors. Each year, the Center recognizes the impact of exceptional lawyers who have made a difference through their public interest and social justice legal work. At…
Now that the Supreme Court has ended race-conscious admissions policies in higher education, what does that mean for Asian American communities? Fordham Law’s Center on Asian Americans and the Law recently brought in a panel of experts to address the issue at a program titled, “The Past, Present, and Future of AAPIs and Education.” The speakers noted that there is a long and complex legal history involving education and Asian American students. “We’ve gone from Asian students being turned away from schools because they weren’t white to the suggestion that there are too many Asians in certain schools,” said Denny…
Speaking to an audience of Blockchain insiders and legal experts, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) advised them that “political engagement” with Congress is crucial to the future of their industry. Gillibrand spoke at a fireside chat at Fordham Law’s Blockchain Regulatory Symposium, held on October 2. The annual event brings together regulators, legal professionals, academics, and business practitioners to discuss current issues around innovation and regulation shaping the blockchain sector. “I would really urge you to start talking to your elected leaders and ask for meetings,” said Gillibrand. “Asking for meetings is the most important thing you could do with your…
Can lessons be learned from the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 to prevent a future humanitarian crisis? A new report from Fordham Law’s Leitner Center for International Law and Justice examines the disastrous evacuations and provides a series of guidelines aimed at policy- and decision-makers and the broader international community. The report, titled “The World Simply Gave Up”: International Law and the Role of Non-State Entities in Humanitarian Evacuations in Afghanistan, is an attempt to answer the question, as Leitner Center Executive Director and report co-author Elisabeth Wickeri puts it, of “why governments were not…
When the organizers of Fordham Law’s executive education program focused on women in the legal profession needed a keynote speaker, they didn’t have to look any further than Fordham University President Tania Tetlow. Tetlow, who worked as a commercial litigator and federal prosecutor before entering academia, reflected on her personal experiences with double standards, biases, and the excessive expectations placed on women working in the legal field. “The framework I had coming up in the profession was: if, as a woman, you clear the bar by double, you will do fine. If you work twice as hard—if you are extraordinary—you…
New York City has committed to closing the infamous Rikers Island jail by 2027, but to do so the City will need to cut the jail’s population nearly in half. Speaking at a Fordham Law event, Jonathan Lippman, who chaired the 2017 Rikers Commission that examined conditions at Rikers, said that addressing the mental health crisis at the jail differently might be the “secret potion” to doing so. More than half of all people held in Rikers Island have been diagnosed with a mental illness, making the jail the largest provider of psychiatric services in New York City, and one…