September 9, 2024
Cornell Law Set to Launch First NYC-Based Law Clinic
Hannah Rosenberg/Sun File Photo
The Cornell Daily Sun just ran an article about the expansion of Cornell Law School’s Entrepreneurship Law Clinic to the Cornell Tech campus in NYC, where I am now located:
Cornell Law School is set to launch its first law clinic in the Big Apple.
Beginning in January 2025, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic will expand from Ithaca to the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island.
Through the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, law students provide pro-bono legal services to emerging businesses, entrepreneurs and startups in the Ithaca area and under the guidance of law school faculty.
Students assist with business formation, hiring and employment, intellectual property management, commercial contracts and public service initiatives, such as aiding small businesses during COVID-19.
All of the law school’s other clinics are located in Ithaca, where the law school is based.
Established in 2018, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic stands as the law school’s only transactional clinic, which means students gain hands-on legal experience in business.
The law school received a donation from Franci Blassberg ’75 J.D. ’77 and Joseph Rice III in 2023, which helped establish the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. The center will use the funding to expand the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic to New York City.
Prof. Celia Bigoness, law, is the founding director of the Blassberg-Rice Center and the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic. Bigoness emphasized the benefits of the new location.
“Law clinics serve two principal purposes, and our expansion to NYC serves both purposes … — providing pro-bono legal services and hands-on clinical training experience for students,” Bigoness stated to The Sun.
“The clinic has been hugely successful — so successful that its capacity isn’t nearly enough to satisfy student demand,” Cornell Law Dean Jens David Ohlin wrote to The Sun. “This expansion will allow us to scale the program while keeping the intensive, hands-on approach that makes it so effective.”
Law students may join the clinic in their second or third years and often stay for the remainder of their degrees.
Kathleen Joo J.D. ’23, participated in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic in her second and third years of law school and is now an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. She believes that the expansion will advance the clinic.
“While I was a student there, … [the clinic] was the closest experience we could get to full-time work,” Joo said. “I imagine the expansion also means that students will get access to a greater variety of clients and projects.”
With this development, students will also be able to spend a semester at Cornell Tech with the J.D. Program in Information and Technology Law.
The law school also hired its second full-time clinical instructor to facilitate the expansion.
Prof. David Reiss joined the law school in July and is the research director of the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. He will teach at the clinic’s New York City location and Bigoness will continue teaching at its Ithaca location.
Reiss previously taught at Brooklyn Law School where he founded its Community Development Clinic. He explained that he is enthusiastic to apply his experiences to the clinic.
“I have represented entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs over the course of my legal career, first in practice and then as a director of a law clinic, and can’t wait to get started at the [Cornell] Tech campus,” Reiss said.
September 9, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
September 6, 2024
Shaping the NYC Skyline
David Shamshovich, Camila Almeida, and Brenda Slochowsky just posted an episode of their podcast, Shaping The NYC Skyline. In this episode (mysteriously titled “Uncovering the Whole Elephant: The Evolution of Real Estate” — mysterious, that is, until you listen to it).
They interviewed me back in May when I was at Brooklyn Law School. The Apple podcast write-up states
Buckle up, Skyliners, for an illuminating episode featuring Professor David Reiss, formerly of Brooklyn Law School and now at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech. Renowned for his expertise in real estate finance and community development, Professor Reiss has shaped countless legal minds, including our very own David Shamshovich, with his practical approach to complex concepts. This episode offers a rare glimpse into his journey from NYU Law School and prestigious law firms to his influential role in academia, where he has spent over two decades demystifying real property law.
Starting as an associate at major law firms, David soon discovered his passion for teaching. This led him to Brooklyn Law School, where he served as a professor and the founding director of the Community Development Clinic. His dedication to education is matched by his commitment to real-world impact, evidenced by his work with not-for-profits and his previous role as Chair of the NYC Rent Guidelines Board.
In this episode, David delves into the critical role the Community Development Clinic has played in providing hands-on experience to students, preparing them for real-world transactional and corporate real estate challenges. He emphasizes the importance of consumer protection in the housing market, drawing lessons from the subprime mortgage crisis. David also shares insights on the evolution of real estate finance, discussing the transition from mutual savings to sophisticated global capital markets, and the lasting impacts of historical events like the Great Depression and the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of how these complex systems work and the importance of regulatory frameworks in protecting consumers and maintaining market stability. David’s ability to simplify intricate concepts has made him a beloved figure among students and colleagues alike, earning him a reputation as one of the best in his field.
Join us as we explore Professor David Reiss’s extraordinary career, his innovative approach to legal education, and his deep belief in the power of practical experience. Without further ado, we present Professor David Reiss, a beacon of knowledge and a guiding light in Shaping the NYC Skyline!
More on Shaping the NYC Skyline:
Website – https://www.seidenschein.com/podcast/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/shaping-the-nyc-skyline/
Instagram – Shaping the NYC Skyline (@shapingthenycskyline)
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@ShapingtheNYCSkyline
September 6, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
August 8, 2024
Tech Entrepreneurship Clinic in NYC
Cornell has just formally announced the creation of its first NYC law clinic, a branch of the law school’s Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, to be located on the Cornell Tech campus. You can read more here.
August 8, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
July 24, 2024
The Wayward Mission of the Federal Home Loan Bank System
Adam Fagen CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
I recently submitted this comment to the Federal Housing Finance Agency in response to its request for input about the mission of the Federal Home Loan Bank System. It opens,
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (the “FHFA”) has requested Input regarding the regulatory statement of the Federal Home Loan Bank System’s (the “System”) mission to better reflect its appropriate role in the housing finance system. I commend the FHFA for being realistic about the System in its Request for Input; it acknowledges that there is a mismatch between its mission and its current operations.
The System’s operations do not do nearly enough to support the System’s stated mission of supporting the financing of housing. The System should recommit to that goal in measurable ways or its name and/or mission should be changed to better reflect its current operations.
While the System was originally designed to support homeownership, it has morphed into a provider of liquidity for large financial institutions. Banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citibank NA and Wells Fargo & Co. are among its biggest beneficiaries and homeownership is only incidentally supported by their involvement with it.
As part of the comprehensive review of the System, we should give thought to at least changing the name of the System so that it cannot trade on its history as a supporter of affordable homeownership. Or we should go even farther and give some thought to spinning off its functions into other parts of the federal financial infrastructure as its functions are redundant with theirs. But best of all would be a recommitment by the System to the measurable support of financing for housing.
This comment draws from a column (paywall) I had published when the FHFA first embarked on its reevaluation of the FLBLS.
July 24, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
July 10, 2024
Best & Worst Places to Rent in America
I was interviewed as part of WalletHub’s Best & Worst Places to Rent in America, 2024 edition. The interview reads,
What tips do you have for a person looking to get the best value in an apartment?
The smartest thing to do is do your homework. Start online to get a sense of the broad range of options. Then visit as many as you have the time for. Not only does it give you a sense of the surroundings (neighbors, neighborhood, shopping, etc.), but it also gives you a sense of the quality of the apartment. Do the appliances look well-maintained? Is there any water damage that may be a harbinger of bad things to come?
What are the most common mistakes that renters make when searching for a new apartment?
It is also smart to ask existing tenants about the landlord. Is it (or he or she) responsive to concerns? You should also search them on the internet to see what others have to say about them.
How can local policymakers make housing more affordable for renters without upsetting homeowners?
Local policymakers need to focus on expanding the supply of new housing. Restrictive zoning (for example, zoning that only allows the construction of single-family homes) keeps housing expensive in many communities. Various forms of restrictive zoning are a big problem in hot markets like the Bay Area in California and the New York Metropolitan Area. Housing takes too long to build, we do not build enough of it, and it costs too much. Local, State, and Federal policymakers all have to work together to increase the supply of housing so that costs go down across the board.
July 10, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
June 19, 2024
NYC Rent Guidelines Board Final Vote Interview
I was interviewed on WCBS AM’s Drive Time about the vote of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. Click here to hear it.
June 19, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
April 3, 2024
Public Service Awards
I was happy to be sandwiched between two great public interest attorneys, Steve Banks and Jane Landry-Reyes, at last night’s Public Service Awards at Brooklyn Law School:
In a special ceremony, Brooklyn Law School honored public service work with awards for those in the field, as well as Class of 2024 members who have performed exceptionally by working in the Law School’s own clinics and on various pro bono projects.
The students honored at the April 2 event devoted a combined 87,000 hours to assisting immigrants, small business owners, survivors of domestic violence, people threatened with eviction, and many others in need of legal service. They worked with a wide range of government agencies and entities that provide critical public services, such as the Legal Aid Society, the Veterans Advocacy Project, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Additionally, three awards were presented for those who have distinguished themselves in public service careers.
President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer opened the event, describing the school’s public service work, including its five-plus decades of clinical work, as representing the “lifeblood of Brooklyn Law School.” Noting that housing justice was a key theme of the work of this year’s honorees, Meyer presented the Distinguished Commitment to Public Service Award to keynote speaker Steven Banks, special counsel in the pro bono practice at Paul, Weiss. Banks previously served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services from 2014 to 2022, where his accomplishments included establishing the first-in-the-nation Right to Counsel program for low-income tenants.
He also spent three decades at New York City’s Legal Aid Society. While there, Banks said, he visited local law schools, including Brooklyn Law School, and would have liked to hire as many graduates as he could. He recognized that while some students would go into public service, others would end up at private law firms, doing pro bono work and making an impact in other ways, he said.
“Whatever public service path you choose, the most important thing is to wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say to yourself, ‘I’m going to go to work to make a difference today,’ whatever you choose in the practice of law,” Banks said. “It is hard work to make a difference, but that’s really what your North Star has to be and can be. Do not forget what you knew before you went to law school, when you knew there were people who needed help. Your law degree gives you the ability to provide that help, no matter what path you choose.”
The Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service was presented to Professor David Reiss by Assistant Professor of Law Naveen Thomas. Reiss, who is the founding director of Brooklyn Law School’s Community Development Clinic, was a pioneer in “using legal education as a tool to teach practical skills, to instill in students the lasting value of pro bono work, to empower underserved individuals and communities, and to promote economic growth from the ground up,” Thomas said.
“People often assume that business lawyers are focused solely on maximizing profits and promoting corporate interests detached from the realm of public service,” Thomas said. “But to the contrary, one of my principal goals as a law professor has been to dispel this notion by demonstrating to students that business law and public service are not incompatible, and that, in fact, when properly used, the first can be used to advance the second and David personifies this.”
In his remarks, Reiss shared some advice for students: “Always remember that feeling, in a clinic or when you are doing pro bono work of helping a person. Maybe they are faced with eviction, maybe they’re faced with the loss of their home,” Reiss said. “Remember that feeling of incredible personal satisfaction in yourself of making that difference. And everyone in this room has felt that.”
Even that very day, Reiss said, he felt that sensation of helping others when civil lawyers asked him to testify at a hearing next month for someone whose home was lost in a foreclosure rescue scam a decade ago, and to utilize his knowledge of a “very obscure area of the law” to shed light on this type of case. “They needed somebody who is very specialized to explain it to the judge in this hearing, and they asked me to do that, and I was very happy to do it,” Reiss said.
Brooklyn Law School’s write-up of the event went on to sing the praises of Jane Landry-Reyes. It was also great to hear about the arc of her career in legal services and government.
Congratulations to all of the students who won awards. Special thanks to my colleague, Naveen Thomas, for his very kind words.
April 3, 2024 | Permalink | No Comments
