The Conversation
Throughout each academic year, eminent leaders, scholars, and experts in a broad spectrum of fields come to Law—to share and debate ideas, to talk about their work and their experience, to explore the urgent issues of the day, and to engage with the Law School’s world-class faculty and exceptional student body. Vibrant and illuminating, the conversations that start here go on to change the world.
“Always remember, positive change is not promised. It doesn’t just happen. It is the result of hard work by committed people like yourselves.”
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder reflected on the challenges facing the nation as he accepted the dedication of the 82nd volume of the New York University Annual Survey of American Law. Read more about the Annual Survey dedication.
“I think lawyers are fundamentally problem-solvers, and you can do that through a law firm or you can do that through bringing a company into the world.”
At the Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital (EVC) Program’s Fall Showcase, PacerPro CEO Anna McGrane ’10 described her path to launching a legal tech business. Read more about the EVC Fall Showcase.
“The lawyer shortage is [also] among lawyers willing and able to charge rates that people can afford, to help them with their basic legal needs: family, probate, estates, housing, consumer, public benefits, and criminal. I think it is not only fair, but very important, to start calling the work that these lawyers do… public interest work.”
American communities need better, more affordable legal services, Justice Melissa Hart of the Colorado Supreme Court said during the IJA William J. Brennan Jr. Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice. Read more about the Brennan Lecture.
“The cases that we’re going to end up litigating are going to be the cases that are studied in law school in 10, 20 years, because [they’re] completely unprecedented.”
At an Law Forum, Jennifer Levy ’96, New York state’s first deputy attorney general, discussed lawsuits filed by states in response to actions taken by the Trump administration. Read more about the Forum.
“The choice of words, even ‘like,’ ‘and,’ ‘the,’ and ‘a,’…can make a huge difference in the outcome of a case.”
In the Distinguished Jurist Lecture, Justice Karen Valihura of the Delaware Supreme Court delved into how courts parse ambiguous language.
“Empathetic judging encourages us to take the extra step of asking in every case where it might matter: what if the roles were reversed? What if the plaintiff on the losing side was someone whose values I supported or the defendant on the winning side was someone whose values I deplored?”
In the James Madison Lecture, Judge Raymond Lohier ’91 of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit suggested that empathy and imagination can help judges avoid bias in deciding important procedural questions. Read more about the Madison Lecture.
“I’ve always thought that the reason to want representation and to want parity has very little to do with actual outcomes. I mean, it turns out that women think a wide variety of things.”
Associate Justice Elena Kagan discussed the impact of having more women on the US Supreme Court during the Sidney Shainwald Public Interest Lecture. Read more about the Shainwald Lecture.
“In some ways, [this] devastating moment for the LGBT community is also a moment where we can say, ‘What do we dream? What do we want? What are we fighting for in the end?’”
Kenji Yoshino, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, explored legal frameworks for protecting transgender and nonbinary rights in the Irving R. Jurow Lecture at ’s College of Arts and Sciences. Read more about the Jurow Lecture.
“It’s totally appropriate for the White House to impose on DOJ new standards for how they think about prioritizing categories of cases or reviewing mergers. It’s not OK for the White House to tell them who to prosecute. And we need people in government who understand that distinction.”
At an Law Forum, Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law, discussed changes in the federal civil service system under President Donald Trump. Read more about the Forum.
“To me the most important recommendation was the total elimination of tax incentives. Tax incentives [are] very popular, but really, economically, don’t serve a purpose. ”
Michael Katz, chair of ENSafrica, described over-hauling South Africa’s tax system during the David R. Tillinghast Lecture on International Taxation. Read more about the Tillinghast Lecture.
“We need a framework that is trauma responsive on the ground.… It means that we need to invest directly in youth and families and in communities, and not in law enforcement equipment and surveillance officers.”
In the Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society, Professor Kristin Henning of Georgetown University Law Center argued that normal adolescent behaviors of Black youth are often criminalized. Read more about the Bell Lecture.
“Oversight is hard for everybody, nobody likes it. And I think that’s especially true when we operate in a legal system that focuses on blame and punishment.”
Susan Friedman, inaugural administrator of the New York State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct, discussed tracking ethics violations by prosecutors during the Kenneth P. Thompson ’92 Lecture on Race and Criminal Justice Reform. Read more about the Ken Thompson Lecture.
“Entering or withdrawing from the Paris Agreement has absolutely no impact on US [carbon] emissions or US emissions reductions. For the US to actually do something, there has to be action from either Congress…or administrative agencies.”
Dean Emeritus Richard Revesz, AnBryce Professor of Law, discussed shifting US climate policies at the Hauser Global Law School Program’s annual dinner. Read more about Revesz's remarks at the Hauser Dinner.