Transition
Over the past few months, I have increasingly come to believe that this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment of transformational change and dynamic opportunity for The George Washington University. Recent studies indicate that seventy percent of the world’s population has access to web-enabled mobile computing devices. Yet, so far, most institutions of higher education have been slow to develop models that will allow them to scale their educational approach to meet the global demand. Accordingly, we have a window of possibility, if we move aggressively and immediately to explore the exciting opportunities in online and executive education, to build high-quality education models for a rapidly expanding population. I would very much like to assume an integral role in this educational revolution.
I am therefore extremely pleased to announce that Steven Knapp, the University President, and Steven Lerman, the Provost, have offered me the new position of Vice Provost for Online Education and Academic Innovation, to begin January 16, 2013, and I have accepted. In this role, I will help to craft a long-term strategy for GW’s growth in these new educational frontiers, where academic excellence and academic innovation meet. Such growth is obviously crucial to the future of the University and its global footprint, and I am excited by the challenge. In addition to my responsibilities as Vice Provost, I will continue teaching the law students whom I have come to love, as the new Manatt/Ahn Professor of Law.
This move will allow me to continue my ongoing commitment to innovation in higher education, but it will mean that I will step down as Dean at the Law School. I leave the deanship with mixed emotions, but with a sense of gratification regarding all that the law school has achieved over the past year. We have completed one of the most successful 14-month periods of fundraising in the law school’s history. We increased the total number of donors contributing to the Law School’s Annual Fund as well as the total number of dollars raised. I traveled the country and abroad, engaging with over 2500 alumni, and our efforts resulted in a large increase in total alumni engagement. Meanwhile, in a very difficult economic environment, the law school ended fiscal year 2012 with a surplus. The spirit of innovation this past year has been amazing: We have brought to life a new mentoring program, new professional development training and career service initiatives, new efforts in health law and policy, energy law and policy, and cybersecurity law and policy, a new collaborative interdisciplinary degree with the Business School on Government Contracting, a new Intellectual Property Masters Degree Program for non-lawyers, and many other initiatives that will benefit the law school community for years to come. It has been an exciting time.
I want to thank President Knapp and Provost Lerman for the trust they have shown in asking me to assume a leadership role in the University’s initiatives in the area of online and executive education and to play a strategic role in fostering academic innovation more broadly.
I also want to thank the many alumni and supporters of the law school who have become true, deep, and lasting friends even in such a short time, and the faculty and staff of the law school who have worked so hard to build for the future of this great institution. And to the many law students with whom I have interacted, I pledge my full support to the efforts of future law school administrators to enhance your educational and professional experiences at GW. My sincere best wishes to each of you.
Sincerely,
Paul Schiff Berman
Dean and Roger Kramer Research Professor of Law
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Message from Steven Lerman
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
The George Washington University
To the George Washington University Community:
It is with pleasure that I announce that Paul Berman, currently dean of the George Washington University Law School, will join my staff as Vice Provost for Online Education and Academic Innovation effective January 15, 2013. I have asked Dean Berman to take on this new challenge as part of the university’s efforts to realize the great promise of online and hybrid education. This new position will help us develop strategies for how to utilize new technologies to create innovative and effective programs for our students.
During his tenure as dean, he has helped build strong ties between the Law School and the other schools by exploring new programs in key areas such as government contracting and intellectual property law. He has also developed stronger links to the members of the Law School’s national advisory councils. Throughout his career, Dean Berman has distinguished himself as a driver and champion of innovation and I look forward to him bringing that creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to this newly created role.
While he will resign as dean effective January 15 to accept this new opportunity, I am pleased that he will continue to serve as a tenured member of the Law School faculty as Manatt/Ahn Professor of Law. Please join me in congratulating him and welcoming him to this new position. I will be working with President Knapp on a leadership transition plan for the Law School in the weeks ahead.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights Awards Resounding Victory to GW Law Clinic Client
Professor Carrillo, here with clients Richard Vélez and Sara Román, after his oral argument before the IACHR in February.
Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights announced victory for the plaintiffs in Vélez Restrepo and Family v. Colombia, a case that had been litigated by our International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC), directed by Professor Arturo Carrillo, since 2005. The clinic’s clients are a Columbian television cameraman and his family, all of whom the court found had been victims of serious human rights violations. As a result of the decision, the court ordered a reparations package worth over $300,000 of compensation for the material and moral harm suffered by the family members. You can read details of the case and its outcome here.
Congratulations to Professor Carrillo and the IHRC, whose effective legal advocacy on behalf of their clients resulted in such an important victory.
I would also like to express gratitude to Microsoft, which supported the litigation as part of our Global Internet Freedom and Human Rights Project.
I am pleased to share the news that our Immigration Clinic, led by Professor Alberto Benitez, has been selected to receive the District of Columbia Courts’ Hispanic Heritage Celebration Committee Community Agency Award. The award honors those who have been a positive force in the DC Latino community.
Congratulations to Alberto and the staff and students of the Immigration Clinic on this honor. I believe the award is a reflection of the important work that these individuals do on behalf of all members of our local community who seek their assistance.
Those who wish to attend the awards ceremony on Friday, October 19, from 3-5 pm at the Moultrie Courthouse, should RSVP to Darryl Lesesne at darryl.lesesne@dcsc.gov.
Prof. Lawrence Cunningham’s New Book, “Contracts in the Real World,” the Subject of Online Symposium
Professor Lawrence Cunningham’s new book, Contracts in the Real World: Stories of Popular Contracts and Why They Matter, is the subject of an online symposium on the legal blog Concurring Opinions. Over the course of the three-day symposium, which is being held October 16 to 18, reviews of the book will be posted by a dozen legal academics and at least one student. It is clear from the reviews and comments to date that Larry’s new approach to an old subject is resonating with both teachers and students, and that the book is highly accessible to general readers as well. I encourage you to follow the symposium here.Zachary Bastian, JD ’12, has co-authored a white paper with Michael Byrne of the Federal Communications Commission titled, “The National Broadband Map: A Case Study on Open Innovation for National Policy.” The paper is published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where Zack is an Early Career Scholar in the Center’s Science and Technology Innovation Program. The Wilson Center will hold a panel discussion on October 15 announcing the paper. Keynote speaker Haley Van Dyck of the Wilson Center’s Executive Office of the President, Sean Gorman of Esri, and Wilson Center Presidential Innovation Fellow Ben Balter, a current GW Law 3L (JD/MBA candidate) will discuss the project as an example of open innovation, crowdsourcing, and government transparency.
The panel discussion and white paper announcement will be held from 9:30-11:00am on Monday, October 15 at the Wilson Center. All members of the Law School community are welcome to attend.
Congratulations to Zack on this impressive work!
I’m pleased to announce that four faculty members—Naomi Cahn, Orin Kerr, Scott Kieff, and Jonathan Siegel—have been appointed to endowed academic positions, a recognition of high academic achievement in their respective fields. Named professorships recognize extraordinary excellence. The faculty chosen for such honors are among our most accomplished scholars, most effective teachers, and most important thought leaders. The exemplary work of Naomi, Orin, Scott, and Jonathan inspires their students and peers alike, and helps ensure the strength of our school. I am also especially grateful to our generous donors for their gifts that will advance GW Law by supporting these amazing professors.
Pictured clockwise are Professors Naomi Cahn, Orin Kerr, F. Scott Kieff, and Jonathan Siegel.
These new appointments are:
Naomi R. Cahn has been named the Harold H. Greene Professor of Law.
Previously the John Theodore Fey Research Professor of Law, Professor Cahn has written numerous law review articles on family law, feminist jurisprudence, and reproductive technology. She is the author of several books, including The New Kinship (forthcoming 2012) and Test Tube Families: Why the Fertility Market Needs Legal Regulation (2009). The Greene Professorship was endowed in honor of alumnus Judge Harold H. Greene, J.D. ’52, who presided over the landmark 1982 AT&T antitrust case and was created to be assigned to individuals who embody the same personal characteristics for which Judge Greene was renowned: integrity, compassion, and commitment to the dignity of individuals and the rule of law. The chair was established by an endowment gift of $1.5 million from entrepreneurs David and Maria Wiegand of Orange County, California and was previously held by Professor and former Dean Jerome A. Barron since its creation in 2000.
Orin Kerr and F. Scott Kieff have been named Roy L. Stevenson Research Professors of Law.
Orin Kerr is a nationally recognized scholar in the fields of criminal procedure and computer crime law. His articles have appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, and many other top journals, often multiple times. Professor Kerr’s scholarship has been cited in over 70 judicial opinions, including decisions by the United States Supreme Court and all of the regional U.S. Courts of Appeals. In a recent study, he ranked seventh among criminal law and procedure scholars in the United States for citations in academic journals.
F. Scott Kieff became a Professor at the Law School in 2009 and also serves as the Ray and Louis Knowles Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. There he directs the Project on Commercializing Innovation, which studies the law, economics, and politics of innovation, including entrepreneurship, corporate governance, finance, economic development, intellectual property, antitrust, and bankruptcy, and also serves on Hoover’s Property Rights Task Force. Professor Kieff is a faculty member of the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center at Germany’s Max Planck Institute; and previously has been a visiting professor in the law schools at Northwestern, Chicago, and Stanford, as well as a faculty fellow in the Olin Program on Law and Economics at Harvard. Professor Kieff was recently nominated by President Obama to serve on the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Roy L. Stevenson, B.A. ’34, J.D. ’37, passed away in 2004 at the age of 93 and left the entire contents of his estate to GW Law, designating in his will that his estate be used to establish a faculty research fund at the Law School and ensuring a lasting legacy for future generations. “He wanted to see future GW students benefit as much as he did from the University,” said Richard A. Lash, LLM ’91, the executor of Stevenson’s estate. A shareholder at Buonassi, Henning & Lash in Arlington, Va., Lash is the grandson of Stevenson’s lifelong best friend, Katherine Bour Devonald, who attended GW. “I saw him often when I was growing up, and he always said how much he loved GW and valued his GW education,” Lash says.
Jonathan R. Siegel has been named the Elwood P. Davis Research Professor of Law.
Professor Siegel’s research and teaching interests include civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, administrative law, and intellectual property. Professor Siegel joined the Law School in 1995, following four years as a member of the Appellate Staff, Civil Division, of the U.S. Department of Justice. At Justice, he briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of the president and numerous other government officials and agencies. Prior to that, he served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Patricia M. Wald of the District of Columbia Circuit. The F. Elwood and Eleanor Davis Professorship was established through an endowment from the Davis family. A native of Washington, DC, Davis earned undergraduate and law degrees at GW before becoming an ensign in the U.S. Navy. After the war, Davis worked in the Trust Department of Riggs National Bank and later co-founded the law firm of Reasoner, Davis & Vinson. Davis served as general counsel to the George Washington University and worked extensively on the issue of Home Rule for Washington, DC. Elwood P. Davis, J.D. ’43, passed away this year at the age of 96.
Prof. Naomi Cahn to Act as Reporter for New Uniform Act on Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets
Professor Naomi Cahn has been asked to serve as the Reporter for a new Uniform Act on Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets that is being drafted by the Uniform Law Commission. This is a perfect opportunity for Naomi to translate some of her path-breaking scholarship into real-world applications. Congratulations!
Dan Solove
On October 2 the professional networking site LinkedIn announced that it will begin featuring exclusive essays from “150 of the most influential thought leaders” in the country. Professor Dan Solove is included in this group, along with Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Delos Cosgrove, President Barack Obama, Sr. Editor at Large at Fortune Magazine Adam Lashinsky, Newark, NJ, Mayor Cory Booker, and many more from academia, industry, medicine, government, and the media.
Dan’s work has been widely recognized for its contribution to the public policy debate on privacy law, as well as being well-received by a general readership. I congratulate him on winning a well-deserved place in this prominent public forum.
You can follow Dan’s posts on LinkedIn here.
Let’s Go Nats!
Students Michael Peres, Nicole Beck, Alex Kutrolli, and Susie Coggin, and Associate Dean Susan Karamanian, Dean Paul Berman, and Associate Dean Alan Morrison show their Nationals spirit.
As the Washington Nationals take the field today as the first-ever National League East Champions to represent Washington, DC, we celebrate not only their title but also the accomplishments of three distinguished GW Law School graduates. I’m proud that the leadership of the Washington Nationals is shared by GW Law alumni Theodore N. Lerner, AA. ’48, L.L.B, ’50, Marla Lerner Tanenbaum, J.D., ’83, and Robert Tanenbaum, J.D, ’82. Other Lerner family members are graduates of GW’s School of Business: Mark Lerner, BBA ’75, and son Jacob Lerner, BBA ’10, MBA ’12.
While the history of the Nationals in DC is short, the history of support that Ted and his family have contributed to George Washington University and the Law School is very long. From the creation of Lerner Hall, which has provided the main entrance to the law school for generations of students, to many additional generous gifts that have advanced the student experience at GW, the Lerner family has continually made significant and lasting contributions to our school. Most recently, these include the endowment of the Lerner Family Associate Dean for Public Interest and Public Service Law, currently held by Alan B. Morrison, and the creation of The Annette and Theodore Lerner Family Health and Wellness Center.
As we cheer on the Nationals during their playoff run, I hope we all remember how important the Lerner family is to our community – as a school, a University, a city, and a nation.
When I recently met 3L Prerna Lal, she told me something of her work in support of the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), and how her own struggle as an undocumented student influenced her activism. Prerna subsequently shared with me a detailed account of her efforts to obtain lawful permanent residence status, which I am including below.
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Prerna Lal
My parents are from Fiji and they brought me to the United States when I was 14 years old in order to escape ethnic tensions and persecution in our home country. My mom’s entire family is here so we were sponsored by my grandmother, who is a U.S. citizen. Of course, family sponsorship usually takes years to come through due to immigrant visa backlogs in certain categories. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, graduated from high school in 2002, but did not have any place I could attend college because I did not have any immigration status. My mother enrolled me in community college, and then I attended the local state school because we simply could not afford anything better and I had to remain in the area and help my parents with the cleaning business. I worked my way through undergraduate and graduate school doing odd jobs, working under the table, and doing janitorial work at night while learning about international political economy during the day. I was always told not to worry about my immigration status because sooner or later, paperwork through my grandmother would come through.
Alas, by the time that happened, I was 24 years old. My parents became green card holders. I was left out because I had aged-out at 21. I knocked on the doors of many immigration firms, asking for help. Some told me to simply get married (I can’t because even marriage to my U.S. citizen partner does not fix my immigration status due to the Defense of Marriage Act); others told me that there was nothing I could do but wait in line all over again for another 7–10 years. I had nowhere to go at that point. Frustrated, I turned my attention to the federal DREAM Act, a legislation that would have given certain undocumented students like myself a pathway to citizenship. With the connections I made, I founded a network of young undocumented immigrant students that I connected with in online chat rooms and forums. We started with collecting our stories—narratives of young people who were brought here as kids, who grew up in America and consider it their home. Soon enough, we formed a huge network of around 200,000 young immigrants around the country and started lobbying for change, putting pressure on the Obama administration to stop deporting us, and conducting civil disobedience actions around the country to spark change and bring attention to the matter. After spending 2 to 3 years traveling through various parts of the country, teaching undocumented youth how to use social media to drive change and organize their communities, I decided to come to law school to find a solution to my own situation.
I started my first semester at GW Law and was mostly busy lobbying Congress for the DREAM Act. I remember when the House passed the bill; I was sitting down for my first law school final in Contracts. Alas, the Senate failed us. But we did not give up. We reorganized and occupied political offices, detention centers, and streets. I decided to go ahead and file for a green card, knowing that I would be placed in deportation proceedings, but also knowing that I had enough legal arguments and political support to not really be at risk of deportation. I received my work authorization but was later denied a green card at my interview. I hoped that I would be placed in deportation proceedings, because that would be the only way I could renew my filing for a green card and renew my work authorization.
I sought the help of Dean Renee Devigne, who referred me to Professor Alberto Benítez, who directs the Immigration Clinic. Professor Benítez recommended that I see GW Law alumnus Andres Benach about helping me with my deportation proceedings. Mr. Benach is regarded as one of the best immigration lawyers in the country, and he was gracious enough to take my case pro bono, which saved me thousands of dollars I would otherwise need for tuition. Sure enough, I was placed in deportation proceedings last April, as I sat my 1L law school finals.
In the meanwhile, my friends occupied and emptied out Obama’s OFA offices in battleground states, demanding an executive order to stop the deportation of undocumented youth. Panicked, the President directed the Department of Homeland Security to issue a memo deferring the deportation of everyone who met a certain criteria and announced the program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) on June 15, 2012. Even though it is a temporary solution, DACA would help an estimated 1.7 million young individuals finally get the paperwork they need to call this country home, and move forward in their lives.
This past summer, Mr. Benach hired me for his new law firm, Benach Ragland LLP, where I continue to work part-time during the school-year. Over the past few months, I’ve been featured or quoted in the following news pieces abroad and at home:
2012 – NousCatalan (Catalan) – Obama festeja el vot llatí per ser reelegit president
- 2012 – Voice of Russia (Russia): Obama Gives Illegal Youth A Chance
- 2012 – ARD (Germany) – Obamas “Dream Act” macht Einwanderern Hoffnung
- 2012 – Departmento 19 (Honduras) – La Historia de Lal
- 2012 – El Pais (Spain): “Supe a los 21 que era una irregular”
- 2012 – San Jose Mercury News – Relief Arrives for Young Illegal Immigrants
- 2012 – Fox News Latino: Despite New Obama Policy, Dreamers March On Washington
- 2012 – New America Media: It’s More Complicated Than Legal v. Illegal
- 2012 – National Public Radio (NPR): Latino USA
- 2012 – The Guardian (United Kingdom): Dream Act Dreamers: “There’s Still So Much We Have to Do“
With the help of Mr. Benach and Mr. Ragland, I wrote and filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit in De Osorio v. Mayorkas, challenging the government’s narrow interpretation of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), which is supposed to allow aged-out derivative beneficiaries of immigrant petitions, such as myself, to keep their place in line. Basically, the CSPA was passed in 2001 and says in part that even those children who turn 21 and lose their place in line for immigrant visa petitions, should be able to keep their original assigned priority date and apply it to a subsequent petition filed on their behalf. Over the past decade, the USCIS has issued contrary regulations, limiting the interpretation of this law to only a certain category of limited young beneficiaries, while denying thousands of young people who age out of petitions filed by their grandparents and uncles/aunts, the right to keep their place in line.
On September 26, 2012, the Ninth Circuit, sitting en-banc, joined the Fifth Circuit in rejecting the government’s interpretation of the law. If the law stands, this would allow thousands of young people to immigrate to the United States with their parents and stop the separation of legal immigrant families. It would also allow many young undocumented persons, who may or may not be eligible for DACA, to eventually adjust their status to lawful permanent residence. And finally, it would mean that the United States government has been unlawfully denying me a green card since September 2010.
I am scheduled to go back to San Francisco Immigration Court on October 11, 2012, where we will ask the Immigration Judge to schedule a date for the adjustment of my status to lawful permanent residence with all deliberate speed, pursuant to the recent Ninth Circuit decision.
~Prerna Law, 3L
20th & H: GW Law Dean's Blog 