26th Annual Auction Supported Paid Summer Public Interest Fellowships

Posted on by Jason Keller in Baltimore Briefs

The Feb. 28 UB Students for Public Interest (UBSPI) auction was a great success. With additional support from the law school, Maryland Legal Services Corporation and the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association, 14 students were able to enjoy paid summer public-interest fellowships this year. These fellowships provide critical work experience for law students at nonprofit and government agencies.

UBSPI is a student group that informs students about the breadth of opportunities in public interest law and works to connect students to opportunities in this area of the law.

The grants supported students working at St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, Senior Legal Services, The Esperanza Center, Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, FreeState Justice, Baltimore City Office of the Public Defender, Disability Rights Maryland, and other organizations.

“I came to law school knowing I would do public interest work,” says Shannon K. Thomas, a member of the Class of 2021 who completed her summer fellowship at FreeState Justice. ”I come from a difficult background and was always someone who was underestimated because of that. 

“I knew that I had to do something to improve real people’s daily lives, or nothing I did would matter inside my heart.” 

Thank you to everyone who supported the auction and UBSPI, including our generous in-kind sponsors, volunteers, attendees and everyone who bid on auction items. We couldn’t have done it without you! 

26th Annual Awards Ceremony: UB Law Held Its Virtual Awards Ceremony on May 12

Posted on by Jason Keller in Baltimore Briefs
Naseam Jabberi
Naseam Jabberi
David Jaros
David Jaros
Jaime Lee
Jaime Lee

For the Class of 2020, Rebekah Nickerson was valedictorian, and Raquel Flynn was salutatorian. Tia Holmes won the 2020 Pro Bono Challenge Award.

The Law Faculty Award winners were Sumbul Alam, day student, and Joshua Perry, evening student.

Ryan Bixler received the 2018–19 J. Ronald Shiff Award for Academic Excellence in Tax. The Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Outstanding Student Award went to Lisa Whiteleather, for her work in The Bob Parsons Advocacy Clinic. Naseam Jabberi received the Center for International and Comparative Law Director’s Award for 2019–20.

Clinical Excellence Awards went to Christina Araviakis, for her work in the Human Trafficking Prevention Project, and Ryan Fish, for his work in the Innocence Project Clinic.

The award for Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Faculty Member went to Prof. David Jaros, and Arturo Estrada received the award for Outstanding Teaching by an Adjunct Faculty Member. The Saul Ewing Award for Outstanding Teaching in Transactional Law went to Prof. Cassandra Jones Havard. 

Prof. Margaret E. Johnson received the Faculty Scholarship Award for Traditional Research, and Prof. Michele E. Gilman was given the Faculty Scholarship Award for Public Discourse.

The Law Faculty Service Award went to Prof. Jaime Lee, and the Rose McMunn Distinguished Staff Award went to Laurie Schnitzer.

Movement Lawyering Is Focus of Non-Credit Reading Series for Students

Posted on by Jason Keller in Baltimore Briefs
Veryl Pow, Community Development Clinic teaching fellow

In the wake of the May 25, 2020 killing of George Floyd, and the sustained, massive social movement for racial justice that followed it, UB Law this fall launched a reading series for students on movement lawyering and organizing for social change.

Led by Prof. Elizabeth Keyes, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, and Veryl Pow, clinical teaching fellow in the Community Development Clinic, the weekly lunchtime series features selected readings and virtual visits from leaders in the movement for social change.

“Already, in its short time, the movement has resulted in tangible policy changes across jurisdictions nationwide,” says Pow. “These events confirm that structural social change in this country follows waves of protest, movement activity and grassroots organizing.”

For lawyers, says Keyes, this surge of organizing and movement activity on the streets has brought to the surface the question of how we should relate to and enhance the platform of organizers and protesters. And the non-credit series was designed to help answer that question.

The reading group is part of several efforts to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion at the law school. It will feature discussions with organizers and community lawyers from Baltimore and beyond, organizing on critical issues such as anti-racism, urban equity, education, sexual violence, domestic worker rights, international labor solidarity, and more.

The reading group will cover nine themes designed to introduce students to various models and philosophies of law and organizing — ranging from “movement lawyering” to “rebellious lawyering” — and then address more nuanced issues in today’s organizing environment.

These themes include:

  • Models of Social Justice Lawyering
  • Critique of Law/Rights: Role of Law in Creating and Reproducing Subordination
  • Critique of Traditional Public Interest Lawyering Models
  • Movement Lawyering in Praxis
  • BLM and Law 4 Black Lives
  • Intersectional Resistance
  • Rebellious Lawyering: Direct Collaboration in Organizing
  • Popular Resistance and Mass Movements: 2020 George Floyd Rebellion, and
  • To Work Within or Without: Reform v. Abolition
“As future lawyers, students need to have the skills and analysis to work alongside organizers to be effective advocates for change, and through these weekly sessions, they will begin learning from the rich scholarship and experiences of people who do this work, day in and day out,” says Keyes.

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.

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.”