PODCAST: Art, Commerce & Trademark Law: A Discussion with the General Counsel of MSCHF about Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC  


This week on the Touro Law Review podcast we are joined by John Belcaster, the General Counsel of MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based art collective. MSCHF (pronounced “mischief”) produces artworks that critique and comment on American culture. The podcast discussion with Belcaster focuses on Jack Daniels Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, a trademark case currently pending before the Supreme Court.  As he explains, MSCHF filed an amicus brief (available here: MSCHF SUPREME COURT AMICUS BRIEF.indd.) in the Supreme Court that, among other things, asked the Justices and their law clerks to draw pictures – and thereby create art. The purpose of the brief, according to Belcaster, is to illuminate the issues raised by Jack Daniels Properties and to persuade the Court to take a broad view of what constitutes protected artistic expression.   

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Our guest today is John Belcaster.

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PODCAST: What Is It Like To Argue A Case Before The United States Supreme Court?


This week on the Touro Law Review podcast we are joined by Lisa Gochman to talk about her experience arguing the landmark criminal sentencing case, Charles C. Apprendi Jr. v. New Jersey, before the highest court in this country — the United States Supreme Court.  This week’s Touro Law Review Podcast episode is centered around Lisa’s compelling memoir, At the Altar of the Appellate Gods: Arguing before the US Supreme Court, which captures the terror, wonder, and joy of appearing before the nine justices in Washington, D.C.. Lisa defended the constitutionality of New Jersey’s Hate Crime Statute, which authorized the sentencing judge, rather than the jury, to consider the criminal defendant’s racial animosity toward his victims as a sentencing enhancer. This discussion follows Lisa’s fascinating experience as the case moved through the New Jersey State court system and up to the United States Supreme Court where Lisa faced a very hot bench.

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Our guest today is Lisa Gochman.

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PODCAST: Professor Michael Lewyn on Zoning and The Bar Exam


Professor Michael Lewyn joins us on this week’s Touro Law Review podcast to discuss his forthcoming article, Zoning and The Bar Exam.  Over the course of the discussion with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Professor Lewyn talks about proposed changes to the bar exam and comments on the Real Property topics tested on the exam.  As indicated by the title of his article, Professor Lewyn believes that zoning should be one of those topics.  Among other things, Professor Lewyn notes that zoning disputes often result in litigation – something that can’t be said of all the Real Property topics tested on the bar exam.    

Professor Lewyn’s article Zoning and The Bar Exam is available here: https://works.bepress.com/lewyn/243/

 

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Our guest today is Professor Michael Lewyn.

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PODCAST: The Arbitration Paradox

This week on the Touro Law Review podcast we are joined by Professor Lisa Pomerantz and our first ever student moderator, Stephanie Stephenson. This discussion is centered around what Professor Pomerantz has termed, the “Arbitration Paradox.” The podcast commences with an overview of an article that Professor Pomerantz co-authored entitled Overcoming the Arbitration Paradox: Towards a More Collaborative Approach to Commercial Arbitration and a discussion on why this topic is so important. Professor Pomerantz explains some of the most significant amendments to the AAA Commercial Arbitration rules and how they may further empower future arbitrators to overcome the Arbitration “paradox.” The conversation concludes with some advice that Professor Pomerantz will give to attorneys on how they can overcome the Arbitration paradox.

 

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Our guest today is Professor Lisa Pomerantz.

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PODCAST: A Discussion on the New York Court of Appeals

This week on the Touro Law Review podcast we are joined by Professor Patrick Connors to talk about the highest court in the State of New York – the New York Court of Appeals.  Now a professor at Albany Law School, Connors clerked on the Court of Appeals, argued one case before the Court, and now writes about the Court as a scholar.  As Connors discusses with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, state courts tend to be underappreciated in the law school curriculum.  For New York citizens and the lawyers who represent them, the Court of Appeals almost certainly will be important and impactful than the United States Supreme Court.  Connors also provides a brief history of some of the Court’s most famous judges and notes a number of recent developments with the Court, including the decline in the number of cases reviewed and decided on the merits in the past few years.        

 

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Our guest today is Professor Patrick Connors .

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PODCAST: Fair Housing On Long Island: Where We Are Since Newsday’s Long Island Divided Investigation

On this week’s episode of the Touro Law Review podcast we are joined by Ian Wilder and Patrick Fife for a discussion on fair housing on Long Island. The podcast is moderated by Professor Peter Zablotsky. Mr. Ian Wilder is the executive director of Long Island Housing Services and Mr. Patrick Fife is the associate general counsel for the Long Island Board of Realtors. Among other things, Mr. Fife and Mr. Wilder discuss the changes that were made in real estate practices and laws following the Newsday Long Island Divided investigation. Since the investigation, testing and transparency has become a main priority for fair housing and equal treatment in real estate. Additionally, the adoption of the Realtor Code of Ethics has set the industry apart by requiring that all realtors become real estate licensees and that realtors abide by a code of ethics.

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Our guests today are Patrick Fife and Ian Wilder.

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PODCAST: A Discussion on the Supreme Court Decision, West Virginia v. EPA with Eli Nachmany

On this week’s episode of the Touro Law Review Podcast, we are joined by Eli Nachmany for a discussion of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in West Virginia v. EPA. In that case, the Court applied the major questions doctrine in interpreting the underlying grant of statutory authority for an Environmental Protection Agency rule that would have required coal-fired power plants to “reduce their own production of electricity or subsidize increased generation by natural gas, wind, or solar sources.”  In his conversation with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Nachmany discusses a number of administrative law issues raised by the major questions doctrine, including whether the doctrine should be understood as a canon of statutory construction or a development in the nondelegation doctrine.  They agree that, while it is clear that West Virginia v. EPA is an important case, the exact contours of the major questions doctrine will be determined in future cases.      

 

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Our guest today is Eli Nachmany .

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