Appellate Advocacy

PODCAST: A Conversation with Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks

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United States Magistrate Judges play a vital role in the operation of the federal courts. In this week’s Touro Law Review podcast, Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks discusses why he became a federal magistrate judge, the process for applying and being selected, and his various responsibilities for criminal and civil cases in the Eastern District of New York.

Judge Wicks was inspired, in substantial part, by his clerkship with the Hon. Arthur Spatt and becoming a judge was a “calling” for him. As Judge Wicks explains, the selection process for a federal magistrate is thorough and lengthy, entailing a written application, panel interviews, and an FBI background investigation. In the last part of the discussion with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, Judge Wicks describes his work on criminal and civil cases and provides guidance for attorneys on how to navigate a familiar challenge in civil litigation – discovery disputes – and offers some thoughts on how artificial intelligence (AI) may affect the practice of law.

   

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks.

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PODCAST: The Cases Pending Against Former President Donald J. Trump with Thane Rosenbaum

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When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question,” he surely could not have anticipated all of the pending legal cases against former President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, here we are nearly two centuries later, with four criminal prosecutions and one civil case pending and another civil case likely to be filed soon against Trump.  

Thane Rosenbaum, Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, joins us on the Touro Law Review Podcast to help make sense of the legal cases against Trump.  After describing the cases, Rosenbaum explains to Associate Dean Rodger Citron what he finds problematic about each one.  The conversation focuses on the four criminal cases:  the New York “hush money” case; the federal classified documents case in Florida; the federal January 6 case pending in Washington, D.C.; and the Georgia election interference case.  

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Professor Thane Rosenbaum.

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PODCAST: The Petitioner’s Path to Victory in the Supreme Court in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.   

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As the Supreme Court’s 2022-23 term neared its conclusion, the Court issued an important personal jurisdiction decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.  By a five to four vote, the Court rejected a Due Process Clause challenge to Pennsylvania’s corporate registration statute.  In Mallory, this meant upholding a Pennsylvania court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over a Virginia corporation that did business in Pennsylvania when the corporation was sued by a Virginia citizen for injuries that, he alleged, were caused by the corporation’s conduct outside of Pennsylvania.    

Ashley Keller represented Robert Mallory, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, in the Supreme Court.  In this podcast, Keller discusses with Associate Dean Rodger Citron how he came to take the case, his strategy for getting the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and presenting original public meaning (or originalist) arguments in defense of the Pennsylvania statute, and why he was surprised that Justice Gorsuch ended up drafting the Court’s plurality opinion.  As Keller explains, Mallory is an important case for a number of reasons, including the fact that it shows that plaintiffs may array original public meaning arguments to support their view of the law.      

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Ashley Keller, Esq.

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PODCAST: A Conversation about the Hon. Irving R. Kaufman with His Biographer

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Lawyer and author Martin J. Siegel discusses his biography of the Hon. Irving R. Kaufman on this week’s Touro Law Review podcast.  Kaufman is most well-known today for having presided over the Cold War espionage case of United States v. Rosenberg, in which Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple, were charged with conspiring to share atomic secrets with the Soviet Union, found guilty by the jury, and sentenced to death by Judge Kaufman in 1951.  Two years later, after numerous appeals, the United States executed the Rosenbergs.   

Siegel’s biography shows that there was more to Kaufman’s life than the infamous Rosenberg trial. Kaufman, the son of Jewish immigrants, was able and ambitious.  His appointment to the federal bench in 1949, at the age of 39, was an extraordinary accomplishment. No less interesting is that after President Kennedy appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961, Kaufman became one of the more liberal judges on that court.  Nonetheless, even today, the Rosenberg case casts a long shadow over Kaufman’s judicial legacy.       

As Siegel discusses with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, the author benefited from the cooperation of Kaufman’s family while writing the book, enabling him to shed light on the judge’s personal life.  The podcast concludes with Siegel sharing his thoughts on the relevance of biography in understanding how judges decide cases and, accordingly, how the law develops through judicial decision-making.

   

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Professor Martin J. Siegel.

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PODCAST: A Discussion on the New York Court of Appeals with the Honorable Sol Wachtler

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This week on the Touro Law Review Podcast, we are joined by the Honorable Sol Wachtler, former Chief of the New York State Court of Appeals. This podcast is moderated by Professor Lauren Wachtler. Judge Wachtler has had an exceptional career. Serving for many years in government, and as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and  later elected to the New York Court of Appeals where he served first as an associate judge and then as its Chief over the course of 14 years.

The discussion begins with a conversation about the complicated and confusing nature of the New York court system after which Judge Wachtler dives into the jurisdiction of the New York Court of Appeals, its present mandate that it may only review issues of law on appeal.  Judge Wachtler discusses many present and past cases of interest which have become before the NY State Court of Appeals, including “The Subway Vigilante” case of Bernard Goetz. 

   

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is the Honorable Sol Wachtler.

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

TLR BLOG


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.   

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

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?

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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.

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Lisa Gochman.

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