UB Law Welcomes Four New Faculty Members

Posted on by Jason Keller in Baltimore Briefs

Professor Jamie Abrams is visiting professor for the full academic year, teaching Torts/ILS, Family Law, and Rules & Reasoning.

Abrams’ research focuses on reproductive and birthing decision-making, gendered violence, legal protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence, and legal education pedagogy.

She previously taught at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, where she received two teaching awards. She has also taught at Hofstra University School of Law and American University Washington College of Law.

In 2014, while at Louisville, Abrams founded the Brandeis Human Rights Advocacy Program to advance the human rights of immigrants and refugees. Prior to entering law teaching, she was in private practice, specializing in complex civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense and environmental law. 

Abrams has a J.D. from American University and an LL.M. from Columbia University, both with highest honors. She earned her B.A. from Indiana University at Bloomington.

Associate Professor Sheldon Bernard Lyke is teaching Property, Trusts and Estates, and Critical Race Theory. His research focuses on anti-discrimination laws regarding racial and sexual minorities in a comparative context. His current research explores anti-affirmative-action practices in higher education.

His work is increasingly observing property law institutions in our shared social world — particularly the realms of higher education, fashion and natural resources (i.e., parks, commons and shared green spaces) — and understanding their role in creating and ameliorating social inequality.

Before joining the UB Law faculty, Lyke was an assistant professor at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law and Whittier Law School. He has also been a visiting assistant professor at University of California Irvine School of Law (Fall 2016) and Northwestern University School of Law (2012 through 2013).

Lyke received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago, a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, and an A.B. cum laude in Sociology from Princeton University. 

Assistant Professor Matthew Sipe’s teaching interests include Intellectual Property, Property, Civil Procedure, Privacy, and Antitrust Law. His research focuses on the relationship among law, innovation and ownership. His work has been published in academic journals such as the Wisconsin Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, and the American University Law Review. 

Prior to joining the UB Law faculty, Sipe taught at George Washington University Law School as the Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor in Intellectual Property. His previous position was at the U.S. Supreme Court, serving an appointment as a Supreme Court Fellow. 

Sipe received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an editor and author for the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal on Regulation. Following law school, he clerked for the Hon. Kathleen O’Malley, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Hon. Samuel Mays, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.  

He received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Virginia.

Assistant Professor Sonya Ziaja teaches Environmental Law; Climate Adaptation, Law and Equity; and Property. Her research interests focus on the overlapping areas of environmental governance and law, technology and society: How can environmental law and institutions sustainably adjust to rapidly changing bio-geophysical conditions and societal demands associated with climate change? And with what consequences for equity and democratic participation? 

Her approach to these questions draws on her interdisciplinary background in geography, water policy and law, as well as her practical knowledge of energy regulation.

Before coming to UB Law, she worked in energy regulation at the California Public Utilities Commission and was the research lead for the Water, Energy, Climate Nexus at the California Energy Commission. Ziaja holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Arizona, M.Sc. in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford, and J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

In Closing: Fight to Vote for the Right to Vote

Posted on by Jason Keller in In Closing
Gilda R. Daniels

We must continue the fight to vote for the right to vote. The country has watched in horror as voters stood for hours, in lines six feet apart with masks and gloves, trying to cast a ballot and protect themselves from the coronavirus.

Yet these images are not new to communities of color. In fact, these are commonplace experiences for voters of color. In the age of COVID-19, voters are faced with seemingly two options: cast a ballot or catch a virus. These alternatives are symptomatic of a country and a democracy in crisis.

This crisis did not start with the coronavirus, but if we work together, we can mitigate the results. Just as we can slow the spread of the virus if we engage in certain activities, we can stop the spread of voter suppression if we adopt procedures that are free, fair and safe so that all voters can participate in the electoral process.

Stay-at-home orders have placed much of the country on lockdown and provided large swaths of people an opportunity to reflect and prepare for the days to come. We must use this time to plan for the November 3, 2020 election. Democracy is in crisis, and as with other issues facing our country, when communities of color were sounding an alarm that voter suppression was real, America decided to focus on other issues — such as the undetectable and nonexistent voter fraud claims — instead of the hundreds of thousands of voters impacted by solutions in search of a problem: voter ID, proof-of-citizenship laws and the like.

Voting by mail had been a viable option until this summer, when President Trump attacked the process as potentially fraudulent and appointed a postmaster who intentionally slowed mail delivery. How many Americans will choose to vote absentee, and how many completed ballots will be received at elections offices in time to be counted, remain concerning questions at this writing.

Even before this recent attack by the Republican Party, vote-by-mail was not widely accepted or utilized in communities of color. Additionally, in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, more than 50,000 mailed ballots, primarily from voters of color, were rejected due to the state’s exact-match requirements. It is worth noting that the election was decided by approximately 55,000 votes.

Much more effective options for increasing poll access include longer periods for early voting, additional polling stations, drop boxes for ballots, and making Election Day a state holiday. Without a doubt, these measures have costs to implement. But it is imperative that we consider the damage done to democracy because of voter suppression to be an untenable outcome that must be avoided at all costs.

We the people have the power to change how we conduct elections. To realize this power, I ask people to do four things: educate, legislate, litigate and participate. We must educate ourselves and others about how to register, how to cast a ballot, and to know the deadlines for standard processes, such as voter registration and Election Day.

We also need to study candidates and their positions on issues that are meaningful to us. Additionally, legislation that impacts the right to vote and access to the voting booth must be amplified and analyzed. Many legislative actions are done in a vacuum, yet they have longstanding implications on the right to vote.

We also have an obligation to partner with organizations that fight for the right to vote, such as Advancement Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Demos, and Latino Justice/Puerto Rican Legal Defense & Education Fund.

Finally, we must participate, not just on Election Day, but every day. We do need poll workers and others who will work to provide nondiscriminatory access on Election Day. However, voting is more than a one-day activity. The struggle for nondiscriminatory, free and fair representation is a 24/7/365 endeavor. We must all engage in the fight to vote for the right to vote.

Gilda R. Daniels is an associate professor at the UB School of Law and director of litigation at Advancement Project National Office. She is the author of Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America (NYU Press, 2020) and a former deputy chief in the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section.

Alumni Train and Serve as Legal Observers During Nationwide Social Protests

Posted on by Jason Keller in Baltimore Briefs
Aneesa Khan

Across the nation, millions of people have participated in Black Lives Matter protests in response to the killings of Black men and women while in police custody. Clashes between activists and law enforcement have led to numerous arrests, necessitating an increased demand for legal services and guidance, which local National Lawyers Guild (NLG) chapters can provide.

The NLG is an organization comprising lawyers, legal workers, jailhouse lawyers, political activists and law students advocating for the protection of constitutional, human and civil rights. In response to national protests this past summer, the NLG has seen increased interest in its legal observer training program, especially here in Baltimore, according to Aneesa Khan, J.D. ’17.

Khan, a public defender who serves on the NLG national board as the Mid-Atlantic representative, described the influx as humbling. “During a typical training, we see about 30 people,” Khan says. “But during the past two training sessions, we have trained almost 200 new legal observers.”

Legal observers are behind-the-scenes volunteers at public demonstrations where there is potential for conflict between activists and law enforcement. During protests, legal observers monitor and record police interactions, with the goal of later using this information as an objective account of events.

“Our legal observers are not mediators during a protest. They are simply there to take notes,” Khan says. “Then observers may become witnesses in cases alleging police misconduct or the infringement of activists’ constitutional rights.”

For Charlie Kerr, J.D. ’18, this experience is personal. In 2012, she was among the thousands of people participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City. She was also among the 70 people arrested. While waiting for her court appearance, an attorney introduced himself as part of the NLG.

“I was completely inspired by this experience,” Kerr says. “During a time that I needed legal guidance, the NLG was there for me, and it encouraged me to attend law school.”

A Baltimore native, Kerr returned home to attend UB Law, where she joined the student NLG chapter co-founded by Khan while she was a student.

“I knew I always wanted to use my legal education outside of traditional lawyering,” says Kerr, who now serves as the mass defense chair for the Maryland NLG chapter. “I’m using my legal skills to assist the community I grew up in, and there is a huge need in Baltimore for this work.” 

Khan co-founded the student chapter with five classmates during her second year of law school, in response to the protests following the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore police custody. In less than a year, she helped grow the new chapter from six members to more than 60. 

“It was amazing to see the willingness of my fellow students engaging in such important work,” says Khan. She was honored by the NLG in 2017 with the C.B. King Award, which is granted to just one law student in the nation, for her work in the UB Law and Baltimore communities.

Stephanie DeLang, a third-year law student and president of the student chapter of the American Constitution Society, currently leads the student NLG chapter. As Khan did in 2015, DeLang says she has seen a growing interest among her classmates to participate in local social justice actions.

“The student chapter is here to provide resources and information to the UB Law community so that people can contribute in positive ways,” says DeLang, who assisted in legal observing during Baltimore’s Black Lives Matter protests this past summer. “As law students, we often have more flexible schedules than full-time professionals to attend protests during the day, and it’s a great way to practice our legal education.”

DeLang’s inspiration stems from her drive to help others. “I came to law school to become a public defender. It’s not that I feel like I need to be a defense attorney, but I believe legal services should be and need to be more accessible to those who can’t find or afford a lawyer.” 

Dean’s Letter – Fall 2020

Posted on by Jason Keller in Dean's Letter

We are living through an extraordinary moment in American history. Six months into a global pandemic with no available vaccine or cure, on the eve of a highly consequential election, our nation is suddenly undertaking the most searching examination of racial inequality since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In both bad ways and good ways, it’s enough to make your head explode.

University of Baltimore law students are grappling with these issues, bringing their varied experiences and passionate perspectives to the table. That table is a virtual one for now, since our law school is operating remotely this semester in light of public health imperatives. The John and Frances Angelos Law Center, usually a beehive of activity, is silent as classes and student services have migrated to Zoom, TWEN and other internet platforms.

But even remotely, UB Law students are readying themselves to address the issues of the day. I have reminded them that they chose to become lawyers in order to take on just the kinds of challenges our society confronts. Lawyers are problem solvers, policymakers and often leaders. We have a unique responsibility to rise above the maelstrom and work to make things better.

In this issue of Baltimore Law, you’ll read about some of the ways our law school makes a positive impact on the world around us. You will read about the 30-year history of our nationally renowned clinical law program and its mission to bring justice to those on the margins of society. You will learn about alumni who are working to define the legal impact of technology, in particular artificial intelligence, which offers many benefits but which may threaten privacy. 

And you will meet young alumni volunteering with the National Lawyers Guild, monitoring law enforcement activity at public protests and advising protestors of their rights.

In this issue, we also say farewell to three beloved faculty members who have retired: Garrett Epps, Elizabeth Samuels and Jane Murphy all contributed much to UB Law. We are grateful for their service, and we wish them much happiness as they embark on new chapters.

I hope this issue of Baltimore Law reminds you that UB is more than a law school; it is a vibrant, accomplished and passionate community. Never content to sit on the sidelines, our students, faculty and alumni are rolling up their sleeves to make a difference. Now more than ever, we welcome their labors.

Ronald Weich
Dean