Empire Mock Trial Tournament – Judges Needed!

Earn 3 free CLE credits while educating top collegiate mock trial competitors!

The nonprofit Empire Mock Trial, in conjunction with NYU, is pleased to invite you to our tenth annual Downtown Invitational mock trial tournament on January 23-25 at the EDNY (225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn). The 2016 Downtown brings together eighteen of the top collegiate trial advocacy teams. This year’s field includes Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Duke, Princeton, and Yale.

You can help teach these exceptional college students about the law by volunteering just a few hours of your time. In exchange, we’ll provide you with 3 free non-transitional CLE credits in the category of skills. We particularly need volunteers for both rounds on Sunday, January 24 (Rounds 3 & 4).

Find out more on our website at The Downtown. Ready to register? Do so here.

General information:

  • Features four preliminary rounds of competition, and you can judge as many or as few as you like—no litigation experience is required
  • Please feel free to invite a friend or colleague to co-judge with you at the tournament.  We’ll pair you together!
  • 18 top trial advocacy teams will compete including Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Duke, Princeton, and Yale
  • We’ll serve complimentary food and beverages as a token of our appreciation
  • Registering takes less than a minute – do so here

We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.  Feel free to call (917-426-3682) or e-mail us ([email protected])

Volunteer to Judge at Empire Mock Trial

Earn 3 CLE credits for FREE while taking part in a great cause!

The nonprofit Empire Mock Trial is pleased to invite you to participate as a judge in its “World Championship” mock trial program on October 24-26 at the federal court in Brooklyn.  Over 550 talented high school students from across the globe are traveling to the Big Apple and they need you to serve as their mock judges and jurors but real life educators!  By volunteering just a few hours of your time, you can make a meaningful impact in these young people’s lives while earning CLE credit in the process.  It’s a win-win for everyone!

General information about the program can be found below, and you can register to judge here.  

  • Features four preliminary rounds of competition, and you can judge as many or as few as you like—no litigation experience is required. 
  • Please feel free to invite a friend or colleague to judge with you at the program.  We’ll pair you together!
  • Our participants hail from 7 countries (Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States) and 24 states.
  • We’ll serve complimentary food and beverages as a token of our appreciation.
  • Registering takes less than a minute – you can do so here.

If you have any questions call (917-426-3682) or send email to [email protected]. Thank you!

2014 Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition

2014 Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition

St. John’s Law Team Achieves at Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition

St. John’s Law Team Achieves at Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition

Thomas Tang Moot Court Judges Needed for NAPABA Convention

We need your help to serve as judges for the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition on Friday, November 8, 2013, during the NAPABA Convention in Kansas City, MO.  The rounds will take place from 9:15 to 10:15 and 10:30 to 11:30 at the Convention Hotel, Kansas City Marriott Downtown.  

Please sign up to judge either one or both of the preliminary rounds via Wejoinin.   (http://wejoinin.com/sheets/usknvhttp://wejoinin.com/sheets/usknv).  

This year’s problem addresses the following issues:

I.  Whether § 66.04 of the Apalsa Revised Statutes (“ARS”) precluding a public defender from withdrawing on the basis of excessive workload or lack of resource violates the right to effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

 A.  Whether ARS § 66.04 is facially unconstitutional.     

 B.  Whether ARS § 66.04 is unconstitutional as applied in this case.

 II.  Whether the sanctions imposed on Appellant by the Professional Ethics Board of the State Bar of Apalsa violated her rights under the Constitution of the United States.

A.  Whether the sanctions imposed for refusing to comply with a court order to represent a criminal defendant violate the Fifth Amendment right to due process.

B.  Whether the sanctions imposed for Appellant’s public statement regarding her refusal to comply with a court order to represent a criminal defendant violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression.

Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition Deadline Coming Up Sept. 19

Law students: Gain valuable oral advocacy and brief writing skills while getting your shot to compete for scholarships totaling $10,000. Sign up now for the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition, organized by the NAPABA Foundation and NAPABA Judicial Council.

The Northeast Regionals are being held at Brooklyn Law School on October 5. Brief is due September 19. For more information, contact [email protected].

For more details about the Thomas Tang Moot Competition, including entry forms and rules, go to http://bit.ly/tangmoot.

AABANY Law Review Announces Winners of the Scholarly Paper Prize and Student Note Competition

The AABANY Law Review is pleased to announce the winners of its inaugural Scholarly Paper Prize and Student Note Competition:
 

  • Greg Robinson (Professor of History at l’Université du Québec à Montréal) for his article, In Defense of Birthright Citizenship: The JACL, the NAACP, and Regan v. King. The Article tells the story of Regan v. King, in which West Coast nativists brought suit in federal court to disenfranchise American citizens of Japanese origin. The case reaffirmed the birthright citizenship of all Americans (first recognized by the Supreme Court in its 1898 decision Wong Kim Ark) and represents a pioneering instanceof multiracial coalition-building as the NAACP allied itself with the Japanese American Citizens League to fight for their constitutional rights. 
  • Daniel Bowman (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law) for his note, Justifying Disparate Impact: Why a Discriminatory Effect Standard is Essential to the Fair Housing Act. Daniel’s note examines the historical development of the disparate impact standard under Title VII and the Fair Housing Act, and considers the upcoming Supreme Court case of Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc., which will address the question of whether disparate impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act. 

In addition to a cash prize, both authors’ pieces will appear in the AABANY Law Review’s winter issue, and Prof. Robinson will be speaking about his paper at the NAPABA Northeast Regional/AABANY Fall Conference. Congratulations to both, and thanks to everyone who submitted! For more information about the AABANY Law Review, please visit http://www.aabanylawreview.org/ or contact [email protected]

2013 Michael Oshima Diversity Essay Competition

PALS Logo White on Blue

The following opportunity may be of interest to Law Students

                        

THE 2013 MICHAEL OSHIMA

DIVERSITY ESSAY COMPETITION

The City Bar Committee on Minorities in the Profession is now accepting applications for the 2013 Michael Oshima Diversity Essay Competition. Monetary awards will be made to 3 candidates on the basis of their essay and their having demonstrated significant personal achievements and strong community involvement. The first place winner will receive an award in the amount of $1,500, second place will be $1,000, and the third place winner will receive $500.

 

For Eligibility Requirements, Process & Instructions, please visit: www.nycbar.org/oshima

The deadline for the submission/receipt of all materials is

 May 31, 2013. Prize winners will be notified in July 2013.

 

The Michael Oshima Diversity Essay Competition was established in honor of Michael Oshima, an individual who dedicated much of his legal career to ensuring that our profession remains diverse and open to all people no matter their race, ethnic or national origin, sex or sexual orientation. Michael contributed countless hours to the betterment of the legal profession and he served on a number of bar committees, including as Chair of the Committee on Minorities in the Profession of the New York City Bar Association. The Committee on Minorities in the Profession is sponsoring this scholarship to honor the life and memory of such a worthy man.

Before his untimely passing, Michael was Deputy General Counsel at Safe Horizon Inc., an organization that provides support, prevents violence, and promotes justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families and communities. Prior to joining Safe Horizons, he served for six years as the Administrative Partner for the New York office of Arnold & Porter LLP. At Arnold & Porter, Michael counseled corporate officers and foreign governments in Latin America and around the world in securities offerings, lending transactions, loan restructurings and corporate governance matters. Michael was also very active in pro bono work and, for example, helped a battered woman who was not a citizen of the U.S. obtain a self-petition to remain in this country under the Violence Against Women Act. In addition, Michael championed initiatives to increase diversity at Arnold & Porter. During his tenure as Administrative Partner, the New York office twice received (in 2003 and 2005) the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Thomas L. Sager Award, which recognizes law firms’ efforts to improve diversity.

Born on April 4, 1957, Michael was raised in Kona, Hawaii and was a graduate of Brown and Harvard universities. Michael received his J.D. in 1987 from New York University School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Survey of American Law. Michael was also active as a Board member of the Asian American Arts Alliance, Inc. and the Japanese American National Museum. In his biography, Michael described himself as an experienced leader and attorney with strong interpersonal skills, a sense of humor and a grace under fire. He could not have said it any better. The legal community suffered a great loss when Michael passed away suddenly on July 11, 2008.

AABANY Law Review Student Note Competition

The AABANY Law Review is pleased to announce its inaugural Student Note Competition. One student note will be selected for publication in the Fall 2013 issue, and the winner will be awarded a $300 cash prize.  Our hope is that the timing of the competition will encourage those students who are writing relevant seminar papers this spring to satisfy their course requirement while also creating an entry for the competition. Students who have written papers in the past are also welcome to submit them for consideration if they have not been previously published. The deadline to submit a piece for consideration is Monday, June 24, 2013. Statements of intent, inquiries, and submissions should be sent to [email protected].

See http://www.aabanylawreview.org/ for additional information.