On Monday, March 29, 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 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.

Hofstra Law student Mark Cantora '10 was a semi finalist in foreclosure.com's writing competition. Mark's essay is entitled, "Strip It Down: A Bankruptcy Solution to the Foreclosure Crisis."

Professor Ashira Ostrow’s paper, "Cooperative Federalism and Wind: A New Framework for Achieving Sustainability," was recently listed as the number one downloaded paper on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Property, Land Use & Real Estate Law and for Administrative Law.