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.        

 

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Professor Patrick Connors .

Continue reading →

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.      

 

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Eli Nachmany .

Continue reading →

On this week’s episode of the Touro Law Review Podcast, we are joined by published author and “recovering” attorney, Reyna Marder Gentin.  Gentin is the author of three novels, all written after she practiced law for more than twenty years.  As Gentin discusses with Associate Dean Rodger Citron, she worked in the New York Office of a large international law firm, as a law clerk for a federal judge, and as a public defender.  As a criminal defense lawyer, she worked primarily as an appellate lawyer.   

Though Gentin didn’t realize it at the time, her experience writing briefs helped her become a novelist.  As Gentin explains, being an effective appellate advocate requires the lawyer to be a good storyteller.  When she decided to stop practicing law, Gentin wasn’t sure what would come next.  After taking a class on memoir writing with a friend, Gentin began writing her first novel, Unreasonable Doubts, which is about a public defender on the cusp of making some important decisions.  Gentin discusses the challenges and rewards of writing this novel and two others during the podcast.  And, Gentin says, she’s now working on her fourth novel.  

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review.   

Our guest today is Reyna Marder Gentin .

Continue reading →