NEW FACES
Four New Faculty Members Join Fordham Law
Doni Bloomfield
Associate Professor of Law
Associate Professor of Law
Doni Bloomfield works in the areas of intellectual property, antitrust, and health law. His recent scholarship has studied the relationship between market competition and supply resilience, the application of export controls to biosecurity risks, and the intersection of FDA and patent law. Bloomfield was previously a senior research associate at Johns Hopkins University, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, and a biotechnology reporter at Bloomberg News.
Mariam Hinds
Clinical Professor of Law
Clinical Professor of Law
Mariam Hinds is an expert on criminal law, criminal procedure, and race and joins Fordham as clinical associate professor of law in the Criminal Defense Clinic. Hinds was previously a practitioner-in-residence and acting co-director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. She also taught a seminar on Criminal Defense Theory and Practice and the ethical, legal, and practical dimensions of criminal defense practice.
Gowri Krishna ’06
Clinical Professor of Law
Clinical Professor of Law
Gowri Krishna ’06 is a clinical educator with a strong focus on economic, racial, and social justice. She has maintained a focus on confronting the country’s widening wealth gap and addressing threats to immigrants’ and workers’ rights, and she is an expert on immigrant-owned worker cooperatives. Krishna was previously a professor of law and the founding director and supervising attorney of the Nonprofit and Small Business Clinic at New York Law School.
Ela Leshem
Associate Professor of Law
Associate Professor of Law
Ela Leshem is a legal theorist who teaches and writes about the property and personhood status of human bodies, nation states, animals, fetuses, venerated objects, and artificial intelligence. Previously, she was a fellow at the Senate Judiciary Committee and clerked for Chief Judge David Barron of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Leshem earned her B.A. and J.D. from Yale, and her doctorate and master’s degree at Oxford.
CAREER CONNECTOR
Elizabeth Acevedo Named Assistant Dean of the Career Planning Center
Elizabeth “Beth” Acevedo was chosen as the new assistant dean of the Career Planning Center at Fordham Law School, where she now oversees all operations, including student counseling services and employer outreach. Acevedo previously led career service initiatives as the assistant dean for the Center for Career Development at Rutgers Law School in Newark.
GLOBAL SCHOLARS
Fulbright-John Lewis Fellowships Awarded to Two Fordham Law Graduates
Fordham Law graduates Connie Ticho ’24 and Nate Johnson ’22 earned the Fulbright-John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship, a supplementary award for Fulbright U.S. Student Program awardees studying nonviolent movements around the world. The Fulbright-John Lewis Fellowship honors the legacy of John Lewis, a politician and civil rights activist who led the first Selma-to-Montgomery march and helped to organize the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr. A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis served in the House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020. In addition to the benefits of the standard Fulbright fellowship, recipients are invited to a lecture series and receive leadership training and professional development opportunities. Fordham is one of only three universities nationwide to produce more than one Fulbright-John Lewis fellow.
Nate Johnson ’22 (left) and Connie Ticho ’24 (right)
Keith Roberts (center) with (left to right) Sherry Gui ’25, Nell Fitzgerald ’25, Adjunct Professor Leonard Noisette, and Anushka Sarkar ’25
JUSTICE DELIVERED
Fordham Law Clinic Helps Secure Exoneration for Wrongfully Convicted Man
Fordham Law Adjunct Professor Leonard Noisette and students from the Criminal Defense Clinic were instrumental in exonerating a man wrongfully convicted of murder. Though their client, Keith Roberts, was released from prison in 1994, he has been fighting since then to clear his name for a crime he did not commit. Roberts served eight years in prison before accepting a plea deal in 1995 to a lower charge so he could stay at liberty after his original conviction was reversed on appeal. The reinvestigation found that the sole eyewitness was not credible, Roberts’ alibi was plausible, and there was an inadequate police investigation. “Keith Roberts spent years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and since his release, he and his family have endured the hardships that come with living with a felony conviction,” said Noisette. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez shook Roberts’ hand and apologized to him for being wrongly incarcerated.
The first cohort of REAL Scholars celebrated their graduation from Fordham Law School.
FIRST CLASS
First Cohort of REAL Scholars Program Graduates from Fordham Law
Eighteen students in Fordham Law’s inaugural cohort of the Realizing Excellence and Access in the Law (REAL) Scholars program graduated from the Law School in 2024 and earned their J.D. degrees. The leadership program, launched in 2021, aims to help students from underrepresented backgrounds, including first-generation law students, feel prepared, confident, and welcomed into the Fordham Law community. The program provides early exposure to important intellectual, academic, professional, wellness, and social skills necessary for success in law school and beyond. REAL scholars participate in simulated classes, build community with fellow students, and meet faculty, senior staff, and upper-class students. At a celebration of the cohort’s achievement, Kimathi Gordon-Somers, assistant dean of student affairs and diversity, recalled “how green the students all looked” when they first arrived to pre-orientation in 2021: “This whole thing called law school was ahead of you, but yet here you are today—accomplished leaders, doing amazing things and going on to do more amazing things. This is a bittersweet moment for me.”
Left to right: Associate Dean Norrinda Brown, Elizabeth Shyer ’24, Sydney Katz ’24, Deanna Bassaragh ’25, and Alex Israel ’24
HOUSING RIGHTS
Fordham Law Clinic Files Federal Lawsuit Alleging Discriminatory Housing Practices
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 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 renters were left waiting for years or did not receive assistance at all. “Tenants nationwide received crucial rental assistance during the pandemic, but thousands of Black and Hispanic public housing residents in New York were wrongfully blocked from receiving the help they deserved,” said Norrinda Brown, associate dean for experiential education and director of clinical programs. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction pausing NYCHA’s evictions, damages for the suffering endured by Black and Hispanic renters because of these policies, and an order to ensure that future housing assistance programs properly comply with discrimination law.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONFAB
Erwin Chemerinsky Discusses Future of Constitution at Fordham Event
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky spoke at Fordham Law in November 2024 about his latest book, No Democracy Lasts Forever. Chemerinsky was introduced by Fordham Law Dean Joseph Landau, and the event was organized by Fordham Law Professor Julie Suk and Fordham Philosophy Professor John Davenport, who also spoke as panelists. Chemerinsky warned he was “fearful for the future of American democracy,” positing that the system of checks and balances isn’t working anymore. He argued in favor of replacing the Electoral College with the popular vote, basing congressional representation on population, and combating gerrymandering. However, he ended his remarks on a hopeful note, suggesting that a better future is possible “if we face the problems and if we have the will to find solutions.”
Milan George ’25
LAW AND TECH
New Tech Externship Gives Students Hands-On Experience
Eight Fordham Law students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the field of data privacy law and regulations through a partnership between the Law School and New York City’s Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), the lead agency focused on streamlining technology operations across the five boroughs. In addition to spending up to 10 hours per week doing fieldwork, students gathered weekly for a class taught by OTI leaders. Through the externships, students obtained a firsthand look at the city’s local privacy laws as well as federal and state privacy laws, conducted legal research and writing, and produced a capstone project focused on privacy law and practice. “Through the partnership, we’re shaping the next generation of privacy advocates who will navigate the complex landscape of privacy laws with diligence and expertise,” said Tom Norton, executive director of the Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham Law.
Left to right: Sarah Hartman ’25, Visiting Professor Carrie Hempel, and Sheridan Hawkins ’25
REAL-WORLD IMPACT
Entrepreneurial Law Clinic Students Work with Small Businesses to Make a Big Impact
Fordham Law’s Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, led this year by Visiting Professor Carrie Hempel and aided by Adjunct Professor Kristen Leibensperger, provided opportunities for 10 Fordham Law students to get hands-on experience serving the legal needs of local entrepreneurs. Clinic students Sheridan Hawkins ’25 and Sarah Hartman ’25 (pictured above with Hempel) worked closely with three sisters to revise contracts and research licensing requirements for their new Ethiopian honey wine business. Hawkins described her time with the clinic as “invaluable in gaining practical experience that goes beyond the classroom.”
INSIDE THE JUDICIARY
Eastern District of New York Headlines Judicial Day in Residence
On March 5, the Fordham Law School community had the unique opportunity to interact with 21 judges from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York through the Center for Judicial Events & Clerkships’ (CJEC) novel Judicial Day in Residence program. This program is part of the CJEC’s judicial engagement mandate reflecting the desire to increase collaborations between the Law School and the judiciary, with the goal of instilling in students a broader appreciation for the importance of civics and the rule of law. Throughout the day and evening, participating judges on the court co-taught all of the 1L students in at least one class, and also taught some upper-division classes. The visiting judges also engaged with faculty and students over an informal lunch, interacted with cohorts of student leaders from various organizations over coffee, and participated in a dynamic town hall discussion with the Law School community followed by a reception. The week before, the CJEC welcomed Judge J. Michelle Childs, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as its 2025 Distinguished Jurist in Residence. Her lecture, “A Distinctive Court: A Glimpse into the History and Significance of the D.C. Circuit,” will be published in the May issue of the Fordham Law Review.
Back row, left to right: CJEC Assistant Dean Suzanne M. Endrizzi ’96, Judge Denny Chin ’78, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, Judge Peggy Kuo, Judge Joseph Marutollo, Judge Nina Morrison, Dean Joseph Landau, Judge Ramón Reyes, Professor James Brudney, Judge Elizabeth Stong, Judge James Wicks, Judge Vera Scanlon, and Judge Robert Levy. Front row, left to right: Judge Marcia Henry, Judge Hector Gonzalez, Judge Lee Dunst, Judge Lois Bloom, Judge Joseph Bianco, Judge Sanket Bulsara, Judge Nicholas Garaufis, and Judge Diane Gujarati. Not pictured: Judges Lara Eshkenazi, Pamela Chen, and Eric Vitaliano.
CELEBRATING SOCIAL JUSTICE
Public Service Leaders Honored at Feerick Center Awards
The 2024 Feerick Center Awards & Benefit Reception featured honorees whose work has made a direct impact on the lives of others through their work with access to justice initiatives, children and families living in poverty, and the Fordham Law School community as a whole.
The 2024 honorees were:
Kimberley Chin ’97, The Honorable Deborah A. Batts Life of Commitment Award
Dean Emeritus Matthew Diller, The Champion of Justice Award
Honorable John F. Keenan ’54 (awarded posthumously), The James F. Gill Spirit of Hope Award
Linda Young ’78 (awarded posthumously) and Nitza Milagros Escalera, The Gail D. Hollister Dedication to Excellence Award
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, John M. Callagy (awarded posthumously), and Michael C. Lynch ’96, The Spirit of Service Award
Skadden Public Interest Programs, Lauren E. Aguiar, Brenna K. DeVaney, Susan B. Plum, and Kathleen Rubenstein, The Spirit of Service Award
Kimberley Chin ’97
Nitza Milagros Escalera (left) and Rhonda Cunningham Holmes ’97 (right)
Mark Young ’02 (left) and Bob Reilly ’75 (right)
Dean Emeritus Matthew Diller (left) and Dean Emeritus John D. Feerick (right)
Robert C. Sheehan, Susan B. Plum, Kathleen Rubenstein, Brenna K. DeVaney, and Lauren E. Aguiar