The Fordham Urban Law Journal Alumni Association (“FULJAA”) is pleased to officially invite you to its annual Alumni Dinner, which can once again take place in person! The dinner is on Wednesday, April 26th, at the Dear Irving on Hudson (310 W 40th St.), within the Aliz Hotel Times Square. Hope to see you all there!
Tickets are now on sale for $105 per person. Click here to purchase a ticket or visit: https://secure.touchnet.com/C20175_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=2398
2023 Symposium: Building a Greener Future Through Urban Sustainability
About the Program
Climate change has been, and will continue to be, one of the greatest global challenges we face. Cities hold a unique position in climate change. The impacts of climate change affect all areas of urban life, including infrastructure, city waterfronts, housing, and human health, and these impacts fall disproportionately on low-income communities and people of color. At the same time, urban areas are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Cities therefore play an integral role in fighting climate change – both as advocates and as targets of reform. It is imperative for cities to take the lead in finding equitable solutions to protect all of their communities and to prevent further damage to the rural and suburban environments that urban activities have negatively impacted.
The second event of the Fordham Urban Law Journal’s 50th year of publication provides a forum for this discussion at its 2023 Symposium, Building a Greener Future Through Urban Sustainability. Alongside scholars, government and agency appointees, technical experts, and advocates, the Symposium will explore a range of topics on urban climate adaptation and resilience, including flood prevention, electrification of the transportation and buildings sectors, efforts to equitably transition to clean energy, and the important environmental justice considerations central to all climate initiatives and policies.
Panel Topics
Agenda 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | Check-in and Breakfast
9:30 – 9:45 a.m. | Welcome Remarks
Matthew Diller, Dean and Paul Fuller Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Nestor Davidson, Albert A. Walsh Chair in Real Estate, Land Use, and Property Law; Faculty Director, Urban Law Center, Fordham University School of Law
9:45 – 11:00 a.m. | Panel 1: The Clean Energy Transition
Genevieve Cullen, President, Electric Drive Transportation Association
Fred Zalcman, Director, New York Offshore Wind Alliance
Laura Popa, Deputy Commissioner of Sustainability, New York City Department of Buildings
Christopher Halfnight, Senior Director, Policy and Research, Urban Green Council
Moderator: Nestor Davidson, Albert A. Walsh Chair in Real Estate, Land Use, and Property Law; Faculty Director, Urban Law Center, Fordham University School of Law
12:25 – 1:10 p.m. | Lunch Break
1:10 – 1:50 p.m. | Keynote Address
Vicki Arroyo, Associate Administrator for Policy, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Rob Rogers, FAIA, Partner, Rogers Architects + Urban Designers
Sara Hughes, Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning; Associate Director of the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, University of Michigan
Dan Tarlock, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Illinois Tech, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Joseph Seebode, Deputy District Engineer and Chief of Programs and Project Management, New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Moderator: Eric Schaaf, Adjunct Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
3:10 – 3:20 p.m. | Break
3:20 – 4:35 p.m. | Panel 4: Urban Climate Policy
Danielle Spiegel-Feld, Executive Director, Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy & Land Use Law, NYU School of Law
Amy Turner, Senior Fellow for the Cities Climate Law Initiative, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
Dalindyebo Shabalala, Professor of Law, University of Dayton Law School; Director, Program In Law and Technology
Arielle King, Director of Programming, Black Girl Environmentalist
Moderator: Sheila Foster, Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Urban Law and Policy; Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University
New York Solicitor General Barbara D. Underwood accepted the Louis J. Lefkowitz Award at the Fordham Urban Law Journal’s (ULJ) annual Alumni Dinner on April 21. Underwood was selected for the award due to her substantial contribution to the field of urban law throughout her distinguished career in public service. Dean Matthew Diller and ULJ Alumni President Vincent Lesch ’14 presented Underwood with the Award.
Underwood has worked as a top adviser to nine different leaders of law offices across local, state, and federal governments. Early in her legal career, she was a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the U.S. Supreme Court. She has worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and served as a leader in the Queens and Brooklyn District Attorney’s Offices. She was chief assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the first female acting solicitor general of the United States. In 2018, she became the first female attorney general of the State of New York.
After accepting the award, Underwood spoke about the benefits of increasing the representation of women and minority individuals on the courts and in leadership positions in government.
Editors of Fordham ULJ Volume 49. Back row (left to right): Georgia Decker ’22, Kevin Winnie ’22, Shazell Archer ’22, and Tyler Daniels ’22. Front row (left to right): Nicholas Loh ’22, Erica Chan ’22, Caitlin Ramiro ’22, Catherine Engelmann ’22, and Nicholas Liotta ’22.
“It’s not because there is a single woman’s point of view that will change outcomes or a single point of view held by Black people or by any other identifiable group,” Underwood said. “Instead, it’s because there are some life experiences that women and members of marginalized communities have—and those experiences can matter in decision-making.”
Underwood drew on the analysis set forth by Justice Marshall, who wrote about the loss of perspective that occurs when a segment of the community is excluded from jury service. “Justice Marshall was explaining why the exclusion of Black persons from juries was harmful not only to Black defendants, but to all defendants, and indeed to everyone,” she noted. “It was the distinctive experience and perspective that mattered, not some predictable distinctive vote.
“Women, and members of other groups too, bring to decision-making a distinctive life experience—and then they each use it differently,” she continued. “Part of that shared experience is the experience of being different, of being the only woman in a room of men, like being the only Black person in a room of white people, and of needing to work especially hard to be heard and taken seriously.”
Underwood joins a long list of distinguished recipients of the Louis J. Lefkowitz award, including Geraldine Ferraro ’60, Mary Jo White, and Robert M. Morgenthau.
Dean Matthew Diller addresses attendees at the 2022 ULJ Alumni Dinner.
The Fordham Urban Law Journal Alumni Association (“FULJAA”) is pleased to officially invite you to its annual Alumni Dinner, which can once again take place in person! The dinner is on Thursday, April 21st, at the Dear Irving on Hudson restaurant, within the Aliz Hotel Times Square.
The FULJAA is also pleased to announce that this year’s Louis J. Lefkowitz Award will be presented to New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood, who we will honor at our dinner on April 21st.
The Fordham Urban Law Journal is thrilled to announce the incoming Editorial Board and Associate Editors for Volume 50. The new masthead is as follows:
Peter Angelica Editor-in-Chief
Katharine Rubery Managing Editor
Jacob Marcus Senior Articles Editor
Nikita Mathur Business Editor
Madeline Johl Writing and Research Editor
Fay Dawodu Online Managing Editor
Sofia Johnson Cooper-Walsh Editor
Anne Bolton Symposium Editor
Sofia La Bella Notes and Articles Editor
Taylor Muentener Notes and Articles Editor
Alysia Lo Notes and Articles Editor
Jack Gilliam Notes and Articles Editor
Seamus Ronan Notes and Articles Editor
Abigail Kucharcyzk Notes and Articles Editor
Callie Ives Notes and Articles Editor
Associate Editors
Grace Brennan
Rachel Ehrlich
Hillary Bendert
We welcome this new Board of Fordham Law students and look forward to their publishing of Fordham Urban Law Journal‘s 50th Volume!
