About the Program

Over the past several years, specialized public high schools in major urban centers have faced scrutiny over their admissions practices. In the courts and in the media, critics have raised challenges over the racial composition of student populations at schools that admit students solely on the basis of an academic examination. In response, policymakers have begun considering legislation to alter these schools’ admissions practices. Underlying the debate over whether admission by test is an appropriate or desirable policy for urban public schools are deeper questions about merit and equity in the education context.

The future of admission by test in U.S. cities remains an open question. The Fordham Urban Law Journal provides a forum for this discussion at its 2022 Symposium, “Testing the Limits: Admissions Exams in Urban Public Schools”. Alongside professors, attorneys, scholars, economists, parents, and advocates, the Symposium will explore potential legal challenges to and defenses of admissions tests, representation in exam schools, the finances associated with admissions tests, and psychometric questions about who should make admissions exams and what they should test.

Panel Topics

Panel 1: Representation in Exam Schools

Robert Garda, Jr., Fanny Edith Winn Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Janel George, Associate Professor of Law; Director of the Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic, Georgetown Law
Osamudia James, Professor of Law, UNC School of Law
Ian Rowe, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Moderator: Tanya Hernández, Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law

Panel 2: The Socioeconomics of Admission by Test

Ray Domanico, Senior Fellow and Director, Education Policy, Manhattan Institute
Chris Kwok, Board Director, Asian American Bar Association of New York; Adjunct Faculty in Asian American Studies, CUNY Hunter
Lucas Liu, Co-President, Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education
Raquel Muñiz, Assistant Professor, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch School of Education and Human Development & School of Law
Charles Russo, Director, Ph.D. Program in Educational Leadership; Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton
Moderator: Karuna Patel, Deputy Director, Feerick Center for Social Justice, Fordham University School of Law

Panel 3: Defining and Measuring Merit in Urban Public Schools

LaToya Baldwin Clark, Assistant Professor of Law, UCLA Law
Preston Green III, John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Educational Leadership and Law, University of Connecticut
Richard Kahlenberg, Director of K–12 Equity and Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation
Kevin Welner, Professor, University of Colorado Boulder, School of Education; Director, National Education Policy Center
Moderator: Aaron Saiger, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law

Panel 4: Lessons from Higher Education for K-12 Admissions

Jonathan Glater, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Chris Kieser, Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Rachel Moran, Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Maimon Schwarzschild, Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law
Moderator: Tracy Higgins, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law

7th Annual ICULC Proceedings

Posted on January 19, 2022

View the official 7th Annual ICULC Proceedings Page here.

ARTICLES & ABSTRACTS

Promoting the Migration Governance Policies to Stimulate Inclusive Socio-Economic Integration for Foreigners’ Migrants in Egypt
Samar Alarif

Abstract: Cities around the world are facing rapid demographic changes due to migration. As a result, migrant integration has gained significant global interest by promoting inclusive policies and creating inclusive cities. Diversity of population origins and skills enable economic productivity and offer inhabitants a better quality of life. Migration governance policies force expanding economic opportunities for both the immigrants and the host communities. Egypt is currently hosting many migrants and refugees from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Sudan who face socio-economic challenges with the new society. At the same time, like any host community, Egypt faces the challenges of lowering the level of unemployment, informality, and the social tensions related to the competition on available economic opportunities.

This paper explores the migration socio-economic integration policies that can support the Egypt case, as well as policies that help immigrants and refugees become an active part of society. The paper involves an online questionnaire with migrants’ entrepreneurs and workers. The paper also reviews and reports the relevant policy documents and studies prepared by researchers and the various entities related to the research topic. Upon initially investigating how migrants in the Egyptian cities contribute to the local economic and social domain, one finds a certain degree of successful socio-economic integration for Syrian migrants, which is not the case for other migrants. However, several challenges persist, mainly the lack of enforcement, the coordination amongst various entities, the formalization of businesses, and the recognition of enterprises. Results and findings include recommendations on what needs to be promoted in respect to migration governance in Egypt.

Brazilian Cities and Facial Recognition: A Threat to Privacy
Fernanda Catao & Igor Baden Powell

Abstract:

This work was presented at the 7th Annual International and Comparative Urban Law Conference on July 15, 2021, and examines issues surrounding the widespread use of facial recognition systems—particularly, potential threats to the data and privacy of citizens in Brazil’s “Smart Cities”. The work focuses on the threatening combination of facial recognition software and big data and evaluates potential harm to privacy as a result of the unregulated use of the software. The work critically examines the current legal framework designed to protect private information, gaps in the implementation of those frameworks, as well as the level of threat associated with the implementation of facial recognition systems. The work proposes that the Government of Brazil enforces its data and privacy protection laws through an active authority and demands that both the private and public sectors implement facial recognition technology with a clear regard for data subjects’ privacy and fundamental rights.

Legal Remedies against Pharmaceuticals
Tarun Arora

Abstract: This work was presented at the 7th Annual International and Comparative Urban Law Conference on July 17, 2021 and proposes a multipronged and comprehensive framework by which public and private actors can effectively reduce unlawful disposal of expired or discarded pharmaceutical compounds. The work focuses its remarks on the harmful environmental effects of improper discharge of pharmaceutical compounds in the urban areas of the State of Punjab. The work critically examines existing legal and regulatory mechanisms, gaps in the implementation of those mechanisms, as well as the lack of public participation in the proper disposal of pharmaceuticals. The work proposes an integrated approach that implements refined legal and regulatory frameworks, technology, and scientific research on the prevalence of pharmaceutical compounds in the environment.

Between Fear and Recognition of New Traditions
Iman Hegazy

Abstract: Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, millions of Syrians have been displaced either as refugees or migrants. Until March 2021, Egypt officially received 132,000 Syrian asylum seekers. This paper aims to qualitatively hear Syrian refugees’ voices in order to better understand their daily life interactions and socio-cultural impact in the host society of Egypt, relying on site visits, observations, and interviews with both refugees and Egyptian citizens. This paper demonstrates that social recognition, such as in the 6th of October City, is far more effective than legal recognition. With refugees importing their Syrian traditions to their Egyptian settlements, they have become increasingly socially recognized through their socio-cultural impact on Egypt’s host society. This is in spite of difficulties Syrians face in remaining legally in Egypt as refugees, including the inability to register businesses absent a partnership with an Egyptian citizen or have bank accounts.

Catalyzing Sustained Urban Development of Bengaluru through Social Entrepreneurship
Nikhil Ravindra

Abstract: Bengaluru, the city named as the World’s most dynamic city by World Economic Forum in 2017; besides being India’s tech capital, is known for innovation, technological progress being home to several startups, social enterprises and entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurship is defined as solving social problems through innovative ways categorized by their openness to learning and driven by social and ecological values.

Several urban law governance approaches are in place to support social enterprises, however the challenges linked to it are numerous. At the National Level: long-pending policies, taxation issues, hurdles are faced by startups in terms of infrastructure and bureaucracy. At Karnataka State Level: not having favorable policies including filing for exit and bankruptcy. Whereas at the city level, there are low awareness levels beyond the metro cities. The Global Startup Genome Report 2019 highlights the low ranking of Bengaluru in terms of policy and research related to social entrepreneurship, having scored just 3 out of 10. This is due to the weak policy environment in India and low levels of research production in related sectors. To overcome such challenges, several initiatives are being carried out with regards to international mobility for skill transfer and with the commitment to make India “the skill capital” of the world. However, the focus has been more on training the locals to be competent in markets outside of the country than within.

The research aims for essential social entrepreneurship policies to catalyze and regulate sustained growth of Bengaluru, through the objectives of exploring the entrepreneurship governance ecosystem of the country, investigating social enterprises avenues in the city and suggest essential urban law remedies to boost social entrepreneurship.

AI Governance Now
Emile Loza de Siles

Abstract: This work in progress was presented at the 7th Annual International and Comparative Urban Law Conference on July 15, 2021, and proposes a multipronged and comprehensive legal development strategy by which meaningful and informed governance can be established for artificial intelligence (“AI”) domains. The work focuses its remarks on government uses of AI, the exposure of people to these systems, and the increasingly predominant model for governments to procure access and outsource these computational functions to private sector vendors. The work applies its multipronged legal development strategy to algorithmic bias and discrimination and the concomitant civil rights concerns that are prevalently raised in the popular and legal literatures.

Potential and Current State of Urban Cycling Laws in Egypt
Ahmed Tarek Alahwal & Omar Aboutaleb

Abstract: Many cities are turning to programs promoting bicycle use to combat increasing pressure on roads and public transportation and support a cleaner mode of mobility. Egypt is one such city that could benefit from such programs. This paper aims to review the legal aspects of urban cycling in Egyptian law and draws recommendations from a comparative international perspective on the topic. The main objective is to investigate the recognition of the bicycle commuters’ rights in Egyptian streets and the possibilities to promote cycling as a mode of mobility within the Egyptian legal frameworks. This paper reviews the rights and responsibilities of the cycling commuters in Egyptian streets and discusses the relationship between cycling and other means of mobility in Egyptian cities and the possible conflicts or collaborations that might occur between the cyclists and other street users or vehicles in the Egyptian context (e.g., buses, cars, tuk-tuks, animal-drawn carts, pedestrians, etc.). The research shows that Egyptian cycling-related laws are quite limited and demonstrates the importance of both introducing legislation and including the discussion of such legislation in public debates and advocacy.

Cities and Companies: A Critical View of the Sectoral Inclusion of the South African Municipal Councils in King IV
Isolde deVilliers

Abstract: Expanding upon Doreen Massey’s After Neoliberalism: The Kilburn Manifesto, this paper argues that the corporate characterization of South African cities seen in the King IV report will create a loss of the sense of the city as a public space. Set against the background of the July 2021 protests against the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma, the paper argues that the disparity seen in those affected by the protests was caused by persistent divisions and inequalities throughout the county. With the King IV report calling inhabitants of the city shareholders of the municipality, these disparities will not be dismantled but rather entrenched. While there are positive aspects of including municipal councils in a document on corporate governance, there are already sufficient regulatory mechanisms, legislative, and policy frameworks to regulate these municipalities. Therefore, this paper argues that the King IV report is not filling a gap in policy but is politically shifting the conception of the city to a business perspective, which may have negative implications for South Africa.

Current Issue (49.1)

Posted on December 6, 2021

Our Best Shot: The Legality and Options Surrounding Vaccinations

ESSAYS:

Vaccinating Urban Populations in Response to COVID-19: Legal Challenges and Options
James G. Hodge, Jr., Jennifer L. Piatt, Leila F. Barraza, Rebecca Freed & Summer Ghaith

Tribes, Vaccines, and COVID-19: A Look at Tribal Responses to the Pandemic
Adam Crepelle

NOTES:

Emergency Rulemaking’s Democracy Deficit: Lessons from the United States’s Paid Sick Leave Experiment
Kacie Candela

Making Wage Theft Costly: District Attorneys and Attorneys General Enforcing Wage and Hour Law
Anthony Damelio

Under Pressure: Addressing Warehouse Productivity Quotas and the Rise In Workplace Injuries
Julia Lang Gordon

Occupational Licensing as a Barrier for People with Criminal Records: Proposals to Improve Anti-discrimination Law to Address Adverse Employment Impacts from the Criminal Legal System
Georgia Decker

Presumed Prejudice: When Should Reviewing State Courts Assume A Defendant’s Conflicted Counsel Negatively Impacted the Outcome of Trial?
Tyler Daniels

Cover Image for Fordham 48.1 announcement

Fordham Urban Law Journal Vol. 48, No. 3

Posted on March 30, 2021

ARTICLES:

That is Enough Punishment: Situating Defunding the Police Within Antiracist Sentencing Reform
Jalila Jefferson-Bullock
Jelani Jefferson Exum

ESSAYS:

A Black Man’s P.O.M.E. (Product of My Environment)
Antoine Henderson

Black Redemption
Daniel S. Harawa

Abolition as the Solution: Redress for Victims of Excessive Police Force
Alexis Hoag

Conditions, Cognitions, and Choices
Kamalah Nicole Cordell

Statement against Racial Violence

Posted on June 10, 2020

The Fordham Urban Law Journal condemns the systemic violence against Black people in the United States and worldwide. We stand in solidarity with our Black peers in Fordham’s Black Law Student Association (BLSA) and with the larger Black community. We also vehemently support the Black Lives Matter Movement because Black lives matter, and Black people deserve better.

We recognize that anti-Blackness is endemic in American society, and it does not start or end with the criminal justice or judicial systems. There are systematic voting, housing, education, employment, and health care policies and practices that were and are in place to oppress Black people across the nation. As law students, we are in a unique position to work towards ending anti-Blackness. And as a law journal, it is our duty to educate about and be a platform for the rights and voices of the oppressed and marginalized in the law and society. It is also imperative that we continuously advocate for change through interdisciplinary dialogue in the pages of our Journal and our symposia.

In order for us to stand in solidarity with our Black peers and the larger Black community and be sincere and impactful allies, we must simultaneously address the anti-Blackness within our school community and current Journal practices and policies. As such, the Fordham Urban Law Journal commits to the following actions as a starting point:

Creating internal policies and practices to diversify our staff and leadership positions;
Collaborating with both external and Fordham public interest groups and initiatives that address legal issues impacting the Black community;
Encouraging the involvement of board members and staffers in public service initiatives;
Making greater conscious efforts to include more Black writers and authors in our publications. Ensuring the Senior Articles Editor, Colloquium Editor, and Symposium Editor select authors and presenters who represent a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences;
Inviting more Black legal scholars, practitioners, and leaders to speak at our colloquiums and symposiums and contribute to the respective books;
Holding the administration accountable and demanding:
- It recruit, admit, and offer scholarships to more Black students;
- It provide Black students with substantial institutional support to alleviate some systemic discriminatory impacts;
- At least one mandatory instructional unit, for every mandatory 1L doctrinal class, that directly addresses the substantive legal history and impact of/on race, class, diversity, and inequity (e.g., Criminal Law should include, at the least, a unit on “Racism and Criminal Law”), and a mandatory upper-level Critical Race Theory class;
- Access to race-conscious mental health resources, like the New York City People of Color Healing Circle within your free counseling programs to help Black students and students of color navigate the trauma of attending a predominantly white institution;
- Create, and make public, clear goals for increasing the number of faculty of color, particularly Black faculty, and include gender diversity in that effort.

We strongly encourage our members and anyone else to read BLSA’s “Statement Against Recent Acts of Racial Violence,” donate to bailout, protest, community, and mental health funds, and read literature on systemic anti-Blackness. At the broader level, we demand justice for Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, and countless others who did not garner national attention.

To say we mourn for Black people who are victims of police brutality, grieve with survivors and/or families of survivors, and condemn continuing anti-Black enforcement, criminal justice, and judicial practices is and will never be enough. We hope, however, to help alleviate some of the institutional anti-Blackness in higher education and help make law school safer and “more equitable” for Black law students.

Sincerely,
Volume XLVIII Editorial Board and Staff

Introducing the Volume XLVIII Editorial Board

Posted on April 24, 2020

We are excited to present the masthead for Volume 48 of the Fordham Urban Law Journal. Their ideas are inspiring, and dedication unparalleled. We look forward to their upcoming contributions to our amazing Journal.

2019 Cooper-Walsh Colloquium: Urban Intelligence and the Emerging City

Posted on October 8, 2019

The Fordham University School of Law Urban Law Journal presents the:
2019 Cooper-Walsh Colloquium:
Urban Intelligence and the Emerging City
Friday, October 25th, 2019
8:30 A.M. – 5:30 P.M.
CLE Credit Will Be Available

Fordham Law School
Costantino Room (Second Floor)
150 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023

Urban intelligence is the operationalization of data in urban spaces through data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. An ever-growing field, urban intelligence is transforming urban spaces, behavior, and governance. While urban intelligence may empower cities to improve efficiencies in areas such as infrastructure, sustainability, and social services, its increasing use implicates a myriad of rights, including privacy, due process, and equal access. As users and consumers of urban intelligence, urbanites face inevitable growing pains, particularly by way of the use of data which may reflect racial, gender, economic, and ethnic biases of the past and present.

The inevitable growth and consequent reach of urban intelligence necessitates increased investigation into the phenomenon’s regulatory and rights-based consequences. The 2019 Fordham Urban Law Journal Cooper–Walsh Colloquium provides such a forum. Alongside urban intelligence industry leaders – from developers to regulators, and practitioners to academics – the Colloquium promises to be a lively and diverse conversation on the challenges, possibilities, and ways forward in the intersection of urban intelligence and the law.

AGENDA:

Check-in and Breakfast
8:30 A.M – 9:00 AM

Join us for coffee and breakfast before the Colloquium begins!

Panel 1 – The Evolution of Urban Intelligence
9:00 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.

Urban intelligence is increasingly ubiquitous within urban living and governance. To anticipate what is to come in the arena of urban intelligence, from technological, to regulatory, to social and legal consequences, we must understand the field’s roots. The first panel will provide a common baseline from which Colloquium participants may grow. Broadly speaking, what is urban intelligence? What technological advancements and regulatory schemes have brought us to where we are today? What are, and what have been, the sociological and legal implications of this growth? Who, or what, is at the center of the end product of urban intelligence?

Panelists:

Nestor Davidson, Albert A. Walsh Chair in Real Estate, Land Use, & Property Law & Faculty Director, Urban Law Center at Fordham Law School

Constantine E. Kontokosta, Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning, Marron Institute; Director, Urban Intelligence Lab; Director, Civic Analytics; Associated Faculty, Department of Civil and Urban Engineering at New York University

Arnaud Sahuguet, Project Lead for the Urban Tech Hub at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute

Dan Wu, Privacy Counsel & Legal Engineer at Immuta

Moderator:

Geeta Tewari, Associate Director | Urban Law Fellow, Urban Law Center, Fordham Law School

Panel 2 – Urban Intelligence, Governance, and Social Services
10:15 A.M – 11:30 A.M.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are increasingly used in governance decisions, including the allocation of social services and welfare. Cities are uniquely well suited to the collection of such information, and consequent actions based on collected information, due to population density. Predictive analytics contribute to determinations of governance, child welfare and homeless services, as well as to the distribution of food stamps, and other social benefits. What are the legal, social, and regulatory implications of such provisions? What are the possible benefits and challenges?

Panelists:

Greta Byrum, Co-Director of the Digital Equity Laboratory at The New School

Ellen P. Goodman, Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School

Shaina Horowitz, Vice President of Product & Programs at New Lab

Stefaan G. Verhulst, Co-Founder & Chief Research & Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory at New York University

Moderator:

Olivier Sylvain, Professor of Law and Director of the McGannon Center for Communications Research, Fordham Law School

Panel 3 – Urban Intelligence and Public Safety
11:45 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

Urban intelligence allows for the collection and aggregation of data, often collected in the name of public safety and security. Initiatives to combat violence and terrorism include facial recognition, predictive policing, and vulnerability assessment tools, all operating within urban bounds. This panel seeks to understand how personal data is collected, assessed, and the costs and benefits associated with the collection of the data and its application in urban environs. How do cities gather such information? How do they contract with private companies? What kind of oversight exists in such agreements? What rights are implicated? How does an era of combatting domestic terrorism compare in surveillance considerations to one in which foreign terrorism is the primary focus?

Panelists:

Chad Marlow, Senior Advocacy & Policy Council at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Kelly Orians, Rising Foundations

Shreya Subramani, Anthropologist at Princeton University
Moderator:

Albert Fox Cahn, Founder and Executive Director, S.T.O.P.

Lunch Break
1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M

Panel 4 – Urban Intelligence and the Built Environment
2:00 P.M. – 3:15 P.M.

From autonomous vehicles to public broadband, and smart lighting to sensor-powered common payment system applications, urban intelligence is transforming the ways in which urbanites interact with the built environment. This panel will investigate how the cyber environment interacts with the built environment, and the effect of that interaction on engagement of and between individuals, governance structures, and other forms of technology. What do governments hope to achieve through their use? What considerations are contemplated in deploying such technologies? How are privacy considerations, and the preservation of legal rights, weighed against services rendered?

Panelists:

James Koenig, Co-Chair & Partner, Privacy & Cybersecurity at Fenwick & West LLP

Bilyana Petkova, Assistant Professor, Department of International & European Law at Maastricht University; Associate Scholar, Yale Information Society Project

Ira Rubinstein, Senior Fellow, Information Law Institute at New York University School of Law

Olivier Sylvain, Professor of Law & Director of the McGannon Center for Communications Research at Fordham Law School

Moderator:

Nestor Davidson, Albert A. Walsh Chair in Real Estate, Land Use, & Property Law & Faculty Director, Urban Law Center at Fordham Law School

Panel 5 – Closing Plenary: A Comparative Perspective
3:30 P.M. – 4:15 P.M.

We will close the Colloquium with a plenary, where panelists and attendees will collectively discuss the implementation and ramifications of the use urban intelligence in various cities, while looking to the future of the use of data in urban areas. In having learned of the use of urban intelligence in contexts of the built environment, public safety, governance, and social services, how might a rights-based approach to urban intelligence be implemented? Should it be?

Panelists:

Martha F. Davis, Associate Dean for Experiential Education, Professor of Law, & Faculty Director of the human rights program and the NuLawLab at Northeastern University School of Law

Sheila R. Foster, Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Urban Law & Policy at Georgetown University; Co-Director of LabGov

John Wagner Givens, Assistant Professor, School of Government & International Affairs at Kennesaw State University

Moderator:
Susan Block-Lieb, Professor of Law and Cooper Family Chair of Urban Legal Studies, Fordham Law School

Wine & Cheese Reception
4:15 P.M. – 5:30 P.M.

Fordham Law Women 2nd Annual Symposium

Posted on September 26, 2019

This Friday, September 27th, we invite you to attend the Second Annual Fordham Law Women Symposium!

About the Symposium:

Last year, Fordham Law Women hosted its first ever symposium, a collaboration with all six of Fordham Law School’s journals, to commemorate 100 Years of Women at Fordham Law. As the name of the symposium suggests, Fordham Law Women organized a day of highlighting legal issues that disproportionately affect women, through the lens of each journal’s specialty area. This year, Fordham Law Women’s second annual symposium will continue the student organization’s mission of bringing important gender and policy issues to the attention of members of the Fordham Law and New York legal community.

Fordham Urban Law Journal is especially proud to team up with the Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law to sponsor a panel on Impact Investing For Women. This panel is scheduled from 1:30 – 2:20 PM. Don’t miss it!

Impact investing by women and for women is essential to narrowing the gender investing gap. Women have had less of a stake in venture capitalism and angel investments. The gender investment gap is the final frontier in paving the path for the long-term financial welfare and prosperity for women on a global scale. Becoming stakeholders and decision-makers in the global deployment of capital will enable women to shape their destiny — one that, until now, has primarily been decided by men. This panel seeks to address how impact investing with a gender lens supports women-led companies, investors, female entrepreneurs, and social enterprises, and how emerging initiatives can help or hinder this progress. The panel will also address how investors, men and women included, in general can close the gender investing gap.

Moderator:

Bernice Grant, Senior Director of Entrepreneurial Law Program at Fordham Law School

Bernice Grant is the Senior Director of the Entrepreneurial Law Program and Founding Director of the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic at Fordham University School of Law.

Before joining Fordham, she was the Clinical Supervisor and Lecturer of the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She previously taught at New York University School of Law, where she was an Acting Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Lawyering Program. Before entering academia, she was a Corporate Associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. She has also worked as Of Counsel to a transactional boutique law firm, Bryant Rabbino LLP.

She received her JD from Harvard Law School, and an L.L.M. from New York University School of Law. Before becoming an attorney, she received a B.S., magna cum laude, and M.S. in Accounting from Wake Forest University School of Business, then worked as a Certified Public Accountant at an international accounting firm.

Speakers:

Ana Demel, Adjunct Professor of Law and Partner, Vice-chair of the board of Pro Mujer, Inc. and former partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLC

Ana Demel teaches The Law and Business of Social Enterprise, Financing Development, and Project Finance at NYU School of Law; she is a member of the board of Pro Mujer. Prior to 2009, Ana was a partner at the international law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP where her practice focused on international financing and business transactions, particularly in Latin America. At Cleary Gottlieb she advised private and public sector clients on a variety of transactions, including structured finance and project finance as well as sovereign debt restructurings and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, she was involved in pro bono matters involving microfinance.

Mary Rose Brusewitz, Partner-in-Charge at Clark Hill PLC and Pro Bono Supervising Attorney at New York University School of Law

Mary Rose Brusewitz is a member in charge of Clark Hill’s New York office. She concentrates her practice on international transactions involving Latin America, Africa, Asia, India, Europe, and the US.

Brusewitz is active in impact investing, sustainability, accountability, ESG/SDG compliance, and corporate governance. She represents a provider of currency hedging to the impact space, as well as several funds active in investing debt and equity in sectors including microfinancing, solar energy, retail, sanitation, and housing. She has substantial experience in emerging markets development and finance. Areas include infrastructure, water, power, oil and gas, renewable energy, and mining. Her expertise includes structuring, implementing, administering, and exiting impact debt and equity investments; coordinating groups of investors, including DFIs, privately managed funds, commercial banks, for-profits, and nonprofits; blended capital structures; project and structured financing; private equity; cross-border investments; joint ventures; restructurings; workouts; insolvencies; and dispute resolution and mediation.

Brusewitz contributes substantial time and expertise on a pro bono basis for impact clients. She was a compliance panel member and panel chair of the independent accountability mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank. She is a pro bono supervising attorney at the International Transactions Clinic at New York University School of Law.

Loretta McCarthy, Managing Partner of Angel Network at Golden Seeds

Loretta McCarthy is Managing Partner, responsible for the Golden Seeds angel network nationwide, including member cultivation, orientation, and engagement. Golden Seeds is a New York-based private equity fund focused on early-stage women-led businesses. It operates with the goal of raising substantial capital for women entrepreneurs and to encourage both women and men to become active venture investors, by providing a venue where they could learn and work together.

She is a frequent speaker – in the United States and internationally – about early-stage investing, women entrepreneurs and gender diversity. Prior to Golden Seeds, she was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at OppenheimerFunds, a leading asset management firm, as well as Vice President of Marketing at American Express. She brings to this role deep experience in strategy, marketing, product development, public affairs, and corporate communications. She has extensive experience serving on boards of directors of corporations and non-profit organizations.

See you there!