On Thursday, March 11, Hofstra Law students will venture down to Panama to work with disadvantaged communities to develop and implement legal empowerment strategies alongside Panamanian legal professionals. The Hofstra students will be spending time in both the urban and rural regions. In Panama City, the students will focus on business licensing. In Cocle, students will learn organic and fair trade certification procedures and organize community workshops on alternative dispute resolution.

Law Brigades is one of Hofstra Law’s newest student organizations. Vivienne Nguyen is the current president and founder of Law Brigades at Hofstra Law and Professor Serge Martinez advises the organization.

SUPPORT
The Hofstra students are excited to be furthering the public interest spirit of the law school and are currently fundraising for this trip and for the sustainability of the program for future Hofstra law students. Any support would be greatly appreciated.

The following students are on this year’s Law Brigades team going to Panama:

1. Michael An (1L)
2. Matthew Berger (1L)
3. Nataliya Binshteyn (2L)
4. Gina Choe (1L)
5. Amanda Cully (2L)
6. Tyson Erdmann (2L)
7. David Greenberg (2L)
8. Elizabeth Lopez (2L)
9. Vivienne Nguyen (2L)
10. Nicholas Ruberto (2L)
11. Maayan Vodovis (1L)

For the third successive year, Hofstra Law Dean Nora V. Demleitner has been named among Long Island's Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business by the Long Island Business News.

The awards gala will take place on Thursday, May 20, 2010 from 6-10 p.m. at the Crest Hollow Country Club. As a third-time honoree, Dean Demleitner will be inducted by Long Island Business News into its Hall of Fame.

Professor Norman I. Silber wrote the following article for the website The Baseline Scenario.

Uncontrolled Lending to Consumers Spawned the Financial Crisis
by Norman I. Silber and Jeff Sovern
March 5, 2010

EXCERPT:

Zywicki is right that we need “simplified and streamlined regulation.” The problem is that the existing structure, with consumer protection split among an alphabet soup of agencies, such as the OCC, OTS, NCUA, FDIC, HUD, FTC, and, of course, the Fed, among others, is not likely to produce simplified and streamlined anything. We share Professor Zywicki’s concern that the Truth In Lending Act needs pruning, for example.

The best way to attain simplified and streamlined regulation is to simplify and streamline the agencies that produce it-by reducing them to one. Doing so would concentrate consumer protection expertise in one place and enable accountability. And, we assert, if it had been done a few years ago, the financial crisis might have been averted.

Professor Frank Gulino recently served as a Brief Judge in the National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare & Adoption Law at Capital University Law School.

Professor Eric M. Freedman has been named as this year’s recipient of the Public Justice Foundation’s David A. Diamond Distinguished Public Service Award.

Professor Freedman will receive this honor during the live portion of PJF’s 21st Annual Auction on Thursday, March 4th. The live auction will take place in Room 308 from 6:30 - 10:00 PM.

Since its inception, Hofstra Law School has demonstrated a commitment to public interest law. The Public Justice Foundation ensures the continued viability of that commitment by funding public interest law fellowships for students each summer.

For more information about PJF and the auction, click here.