Camile (Tucker) Campagna joined Office of the Sarasota County Attorney, in Florida, as an assistant county attorney May 2019.

Adam Kahn, an associate at Miller & Milone, was selected in October 2018 by Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas to be a member of the first multidisciplinary team on Long Island focused on protecting elderly residents from abuse.

The post Class Notes: 2013 appeared first on Hofstra Law News.

Taylor Cary joined Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carone as an associate in March 2019.

Lisa Gomez joined Linda G. Nanos, P.C. as an associate in 2017.

Robert Gore joined Holland & Knight in the firm’s Jacksonville office as a trial attorney in March 2019.

Courtney Klapper joined Goldberg Segalla in the firm’s Global Insurance Services practice as an associate in April 2019.

Susanna Laruccia, an attorney at Nassau/Suffolk Law Services, was selected in October 2018 by Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas to be a member of the first multidisciplinary team on Long Island focused on protecting elderly residents from abuse.

Christopher Pearsall joined Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carone as an associate in March 2019.

The post Class Notes: 2015 appeared first on Hofstra Law News.

Jared Sherman joined Uniondale, NY-based Farrell Fritz as a corporate associate. He previously served as an associate at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, both in New York. He also spoke at Hofstra Law’s Admitted Student Day on April 7, 2019.

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Gabriel Arevalo joined Rawle & Henderson in the firm’s New York office as an associate in January 2019.

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Matthew Baldassano, an associate at Bullard Law Group, was featured in “Movers & Shakers” in Long Island Business News in December 2018.

Cristen Callan, an attorney at White & Case, was selected as a guest speaker at the New York City Bar’s Association Medal and Portrait Unveiling for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on March 7, 2019.

Kyle Gruder joined Farrell Fritz in the firm’s Water Mill, NY, office as an associate in February 2019.

Melissa Scarabino joined Melville, NY-based Tenenbaum Law as a law clerk in April 2019.

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Hofstra Law alumnus William A. “Bill” Munck ’92 is the managing partner of Munck Wilson Mandala, LLP, a technology-focused law firm headquartered in Dallas. He chairs the firm’s IP section and has successfully grown Munck Wilson Mandala from five to over 70 attorneys in the past two decades. The firm ranks as the second-largest patent law firm in North Texas and the 10th-largest in Austin. In 2018, Munck Wilson Mandala received recognition as an Inc. Best Workplace and a Texas Lawyer Litigation Department of the Year finalist, and its client Raytheon was issued the historic patent number 10 million by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Tell us about your career — where did you start and how did you get to where you are now?
I grew up on Long Island. My dad was a cop and my mom was an office worker. The way I was raised instilled in me a diligent work ethic and a respect for family and honor, which I believe shaped who I am as an attorney and a leader today.

I was the first in my family to attend college, and I earned a B.S. and an M.S. in computer science at Hofstra. I worked as a software engineer before attending law school. My first job as a lawyer was with a 300-attorney regional firm in Dallas that had a small IP practice. Within my first year there, I took on files for Dell, House of Blues and the creator of Barney (the purple dinosaur).

My wife and I felt like North Texas was poised to be a very significant high-tech business center, and we knew that it was a great place to raise our family. We had to relocate back to New York when my father passed a couple of years later, but we did return to North Texas later in the ’90s and raised our boys, and I have been with the same firm, ranked the second-largest IP law firm in Dallas, since 1997.

What is a standout moment or accomplishment you are most proud of in your career?
In May of 2017, I celebrated 20 years of leadership at Munck Wilson Mandala. When I took the lead in the late ’90s, we had less than 10 attorneys. Today we have 70 attorneys, with offices in Dallas, Austin and Los Angeles.

How did your Hofstra Law education help shape your career?
I learned how to wade through masses of information to get the relevant points necessary for law professors, which eventually translated to solutions for clients. Today, that is a huge skill to have because lawyers will always be challenged by mile-high volumes of information and they need to know how to curate the facts or areas of law that matter for their clients.

What trends do you see in your practice area?
We are filing many more patent applications related to functions being performed by “smart” devices or embedded devices. We are also filing many more patent applications related to functions that rely on the availability of large amounts of processing power, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

What advice do you have for students entering the legal market?
Be worthwhile. As simple as that sounds, there is a lot more to it. Being worthwhile means that you look at everyone as your client — teachers, peers, friends, strangers — because you never know where your work is going to come from. Several of my clients came from me coaching their kids on a state team and had nothing to do with me being a lawyer.

People remember those that take the time to understand them, their business and their business’s legal needs, and formulate actionable suggestions about improving their professional lives. If you focus on being worthwhile, you will be a successful attorney.

How do you spend your leisure time?
I am very close with my family and we have many traditions, such as an annual vacation to Disney World, a Thanksgiving golf outing, and other events throughout the year. Our firm also has several nonwork events, such as an annual golf tournament, movie days and annual holiday parties. We involve our families. I am fortunate to have a close circle of friends I have known since childhood that I see on occasion, and during lacrosse season I travel to watch my younger son who plays for Skidmore College.

The post Alumni Spotlight: Bill Munck ’92, Managing Partner of Tech-Focused Munck Wilson Mandala appeared first on Hofstra Law News.

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The article “Tinder Lies” by Professor Irina D. Manta, associate dean for research and faculty development, was published in the Wake Forest Law Review (54 Wake Forest Law Review 207 [2019]) earlier this month.

The article examines the world of online dating and its possible legal ramifications.

Abstract
The rise of Internet dating — in recent years especially through the use of mobile-based apps such as Tinder or Bumble — forces us to reexamine an old problem in the law: how to handle sexual fraud. Many people with romantic aspirations today meet individuals with whom they do not share friends or acquaintances, which allows predators to spin tales as to their true identities and engage in sexual relations through the use of deceit on a greater scale than was previously practicable. Indeed, according to some studies, about eighty percent of individuals lie on at least some part of their online dating profiles, and a subset of those individuals tell lies that undermine their sexual mates’ subsequent ability to give consent. Whether and how to criminalize this type of fraudulent behavior has been debated for some time, and the difficulties involved in prosecutions in this context have made criminal law a fairly ineffective tool. Previous proposals for tort recovery have failed to gain many adherents for similar reasons, and courts have been unwilling to extend existing tort doctrines due to a reluctance to legally recognize noneconomic harms. This Article seeks to strike a new path by first proposing that we harness the tools of trademark law to reduce search costs and deception in the dating marketplace, just like we do in the economic marketplace. Second, it argues that we should use a streamlined process through small claims courts to discourage behaviors that may bring significant dignitary, emotional, and other harms to people’s lives and to offer victims a pragmatic path to legal recovery. Third, it proposes the use of statutory damages to alleviate the difficulties in accurately gauging the remedy level for the harm from a given instance of sexual fraud. By providing recovery in cases of material lies, like trademark law does in cases involving deceptive marks, this Article takes an important step towards aligning the legal framework of sexual fraud with those of other types of misrepresentation, incentivizing transparency in the increasingly murky dating world, and protecting individuals’ ability to meaningfully consent to sexual relations.

Read the full article (PDF) on the SSRN website.

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Associate Clinical Professor Michael Haber, attorney-in-charge of the Community and Economic Development Clinic, presented on the panel “Labor, Activism and New Solidarities” at the “Our Economy! Economic Democracy and System Change” Conference on April 12. The event was hosted by the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Labor and Urban Studies.

The topic of Professor Haber’s presentation was “The New Activist Non-Profits.” The panel explored the implications of three models of economic democracy in the workplace: a coop school run by unionized teachers and students, democratic decision-making models for nonprofits, and a public sector union’s plans to develop cooperative, worker-owned businesses.

About the Conference
Can the economy be democratized? How can we transform it into a more socially inclusive and ecologically sustainable system? How can we combat the growing concentrations of power and wealth? What current practices point toward a participatory democracy and resilient next system?

Our current political economy is unjust, anti-democratic, and ecologically unsustainable. This reality has led to a host of efforts to transform our political economy. This conference will bring together leading academics, researchers, advocates, and practitioners for a day of discussion on how we can achieve systemic transformation and make a political economy that is equitable, democratic, and sustainable.

View more information about “Our Economy! Economic Democracy and System Change” on the conference website.

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Assange arrest: Trump claims to ‘know nothing about WikiLeaks’ despite past praise — as it happened
By Tom McCarthy, Frances Perraudin, Matthew Weaver and Gabrielle Canon
The Guardian
April 11, 2019 (Updated April 12)

Excerpt:
Some thoughts and commentary on those US charges against Assange. …

Julian Ku
@julianku

So he is being charged with helping Chelsea Manning steal classified documents from US databases (by helping [her] crack passcodes, create new usernames). He is not being charged with publishing the docs.

Read the full article on the Guardian website (Professor Ku’s tweet appears on page 5 of 8).

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AriZona Iced Tea’s ginseng tea contains no detectable ginseng, lawsuit says
The suit seeks class-action status to represent purchasers of AriZona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey across the country.
By Ken Schachter
Newsday
April 22, 2018

Excerpt:
AriZona Iced Tea’s green tea with ginseng beverage contains no “detectable” amount of ginseng, according to a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Central Islip. …

Two food laboratories hired for the lawsuit conducted three tests of the beverage for “the main chemical constituent” of ginseng and found that if ginseng was an ingredient it was “so minuscule” that it cannot be detected by scientific tests. …

Professor Norman Silber, who teaches consumer law at Hofstra Law School in Hempstead, said the company could present alternative lab tests that show the presence of ginseng. Alternatively, the company could modify the product’s recipe or rebrand it with a revised description, though both of those options could be costly.

Read the full article on the Newsday website.

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Judge Judy Sheindlin Receives Lifetime Achievement Award and Hofstra University’s Presidential Medal

The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and Judge Gail Prudenti, dean, hosted the Law School’s fourth annual Outstanding Women in Law awards on April 22 at RXR Plaza in Uniondale, New York. Fifty-two women attorneys, judges and professors were honored at the awards and dinner reception. The event was attended by over 400 judges, attorneys, business executives, professors and law students.

Over the past four years, Hofstra Law has honored more than 200 women who have made extraordinary contributions to the legal community. “We are proud to recognize such a diverse and accomplished group of outstanding women,” said Judge Prudenti. “They are shining examples of what it means to inspire, to lead and to make an impact. As advocates for the underrepresented, and leaders in the workplace and community, they are also role models and mentors to empower young women aspiring to join the legal profession.”

Judge Judy Sheindlin

Judge Judy Sheindlin, former Manhattan Family Court Supervising Judge and star of JUDGE JUDY, received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Hofstra University’s Presidential Medal, presented to her by Dr. Herman Berliner, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Hofstra University.

In addition to being a trailblazer, Judge Sheindlin is also a mentor and role model. Along with her daughter Nicole, she founded “Her Honor Mentoring,” an initiative that combines the power of youth and the wisdom of experience to inspire young women to reach their full potential.

“It’s thrilling to be surrounded by accomplished women who have found their stride,” said Judge Sheindlin. When asked what advice she would offer young lawyers starting out, Judge Sheindlin said, “be bold, be honest and remember your roots.”

In addition to recognizing exceptional women in law, the Outstanding Women in Law event also raises funds for innovative programs at Hofstra Law, including the Center for Children, Families and the Law.

The event sponsors were also recognized and included Liberty Maritime, Event Sponsor; US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation, Awards Sponsor; and Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles, LLP, VIP Cocktail Sponsor.

View a full list of the honorees and sponsors as well as photos from the awards reception on the Hofstra Law website.

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The Eastern District of California issued a decision on April 16 in United States v. Eguilos (2019 WL 1643234) that cited to the article “(Un)Civil Denaturalization” (New York University Law Review, Forthcoming), co-authored by Professor Irina D. Manta, associate dean for research and faculty development, with her former colleague Cassandra Burke Robertson, professor of law and director of the Center for Professional Ethics at Case Western Reserve University.

Professor Manta wrote about the Eguilos decision at the Volokh Conspiracy blog.

Read Professor Manta’s blog post on the Reason website.

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Eric M. Freedman, the Siggi B. Wilzig Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Rights, served as a discussant at the Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference 7 at Yale Law School on April 26 and 27. The conference was hosted by the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression.

Professor Freedman was the discussant for the paper “The Government’s Speech About Speech (and Why It Matters),” by Helen Norton of University of Colorado Law School.

View more information about the Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference on the Yale Law School website.

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Few Avenues to Discipline Ex-Cole Judge Over Impartiality Doubts
By Melissa Heelan Stanzione
Bloomberg Law Big Law Business
April 22, 2019

Excerpt:
Ethics experts and attorneys said even though it’s likely that Vance Spath won’t face disciplinary action for failing to disclose his efforts to get a job at the Justice Department while serving on the tribunal, there are a few ways that he could face further repercussions. …

Spath could could also be subject to discipline in New York, where he’s licensed to practice law, if a complaint is filed with the state’s attorney grievance committee.

The state bar could pursue him under professional conduct rules that prohibit dishonesty, deceit, fraud, and misrepresentation as well as acting contrary to the administration of justice, said Ellen Yaroshefsky, an ethics professor at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Read the full article on the Bloomberg Law Big Law Business website.

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The article “If We Build It They Might Come: Bridging the Implementation Gap Between ADR Services and Separating and Divorcing Parents,” by Andrew Schepard, the Sidney and Walter Siben Distinguished Professor of Family Law and director of the Center for Children, Families and the Law, Marsha Kline Pruett and Rebecca Love Kourlis, has been published in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review (Vol. 24:25, Fall 2018).

View the full article (PDF) on the Harvard Negotiation Law Review website.

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Professor Barbara S. Barron created, directed and served as the lead instructor for a four-day course for the faculty of Tunisia’s Institut Supérieur de la Profession d’Avocat (ISPA), a postgraduate school for lawyers that was created under the auspices of Tunisia’s Ministries of Justice and Higher Education.

Held in Tunis from April 25-28, the course was sponsored by ABA Rule of Law Initiative and the International Legal Assistance Consortium, an international organization based in Sweden that gathers wide-ranging legal expertise and competencies from around the world to help rebuild justice systems in countries that are in conflict, post conflict, or in transition toward peace and democracy. The course is part of a two-year project to introduce and integrate interactive teaching methodologies in the teaching of advanced courses to Tunisian lawyers.

The focus of the course was twofold: to introduce the ISPA faculty to innovative interactive teaching methodologies, and to apply those methodologies to substantive courses involving Tunisia’s recently enacted Gender-Based Violence Law. The law is groundbreaking for the North African region and criminalizes not only physical gender-based violence acts but psychological and economic acts of abuse as well. Members of the Tunisian Parliament who had promulgated the law were participants in the course.

The curriculum was based on materials Professor Barron had created that simulated a typical domestic violence case involving issues that are prevalent in the region. The course structure tracked the progression of a domestic violence case from initial victim and third-party witness interviewing and counseling to the conduct of a hearing for a protective order. The day-by-day sessions included skills workshops and case analysis sessions.

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The article “The New Activist Non-Profits: Four Models Breaking from the Non-Profit Industrial Complex” by Professor Michael Haber, attorney-in-charge of the Community and Economic Development Clinic, has been published in the University of Miami Law Review (Vol. 73, 2019).

Abstract
Twenty-first century activists — inspired by recent social movements and criticisms of the “non-profit industrial complex” — have increasingly sought to avoid pursuing their activism through the hierarchical, professionally managed non-profit corporations that have been the norm for social justice organizations since the 1970s. While many of these activist groups have chosen to remain unincorporated, some activists have been experimenting with new, innovative structures for non-profit organizations, structures that aim to better align activists’ organizations with their values.

This Article presents four models of activist non-profits:
(1) sociocratic non-profits,
(2) worker self-directed non-profits,
(3) hub-and-spoke counter-institutions, and
(4) swarm organizations.

It describes how these approaches increase volunteer participation, deepen organizational democracy, connect more closely with social movements, and aim to maintain accountability among and between organizational members and other stakeholders. It presents legal constraints on the governance structures of these new organizations and concludes with a description of some best practices for these groups and their lawyers.

View the full article (PDF) on the SSRN website.

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Andrew Schepard, the Sidney and Walter Siben Distinguished Professor of Family Law and director of the Center for Children, Families and the Law, was the keynote speaker for the seventh Family Law Conference of the State Family Law Advisory Committee of the Oregon Judicial Department.

The focus of the conference, held at the Salem Convention Center on May 9-10, was “Oregon Family Law: Building for the Future,” and the topic of Professor Schepard’s keynote address was “Family Law Reform — Past, Present and Future.”

View a PowerPoint presentation from Professor Schepard’s keynote address (PDF) on the Oregon Judicial Department website.

View more details about the conference on the Oregon Judicial Department website.

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Irina D. Manta, associate dean for research and faculty development, professor of law, and founding director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law, on May 8 served as a panelist for a panel discussion titled “Hate Speech on Social Media: Is There a Way to a More Civil Discussion?”

The event was hosted by First Amendment Watch and ConSource and was held at the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Stephen Solomon, the Marjorie Deane Professor of Journalism at New York University and founding editor of First Amendment Watch, moderated the discussion.

Professor Manta’s fellow panelists were Jacob Mchangama, the director and founder of Justitia, a think tank based in Copenhagen focused on human rights, and Nadine Strossen, a professor of law at New York Law School and a former president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

View a video of the panel discussion on the First Amendment Watch website.

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