Outstanding Faculty
Brooklyn Law School faculty are as diverse as their backgrounds and experience. They are active in shaping law and policy in the outside world and are known for their extraordinary contributions to legal scholarship, public service and the practice of law. Here are some examples of their work and contributions:
Bill Araiza is an expert in constitutional and administrative law, and teaches Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law III: First Amendment, and Sexuality and the Law.
Aissatou Barry is a civil rights attorney dedicated to advocating on behalf of traditionally marginalized communities through social justice initiatives. Her teaching focuses on Civil Rights, Clinical Education, and Housing Law and Policy. She has represented tenants at the Bronx Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society in nonpayment and holdover housing proceedings since 2017. Professor Barry also served as a Housing Attorney Trainer providing housing-related CLE trainings for Legal Aid Society staff.
Elizabeth Chen is an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing. She teaches Gateway I/II. Her research focuses on anti-discrimination law, reproductive justice, and relationships and the law. She has litigated on behalf of caregivers and pregnant workers and as a plaintiff-side employment firm on behalf of civil rights plaintiffs.
Susan Hazeldean is founder of the Law School’s LGBT Advocacy Clinic. Her work focuses on gender, sexual orientation, immigration, and civil rights.
Alexis Hoag-Fordjour teaches and writes in criminal law and procedure, evidence, and abolition, and she co-directs the Center for Criminal Justice. Her scholarship interrogates the policies, doctrines, and practices within the criminal legal system that erode people’s constitutional rights and perpetuate racial subordination.
Meg Holzer is an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing. Her scholarship interests relate to legal education pedagogy with a focus on equity and accessibility for all learners. She serves on the faculty support committee for the Student Advisor and Mentorship Program.
Louis Jim is an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing. His scholarship interests focus on whether traditional methods of teaching legal communication concepts still apply and using technology to better teach today’s law students.
Yuvraj Joshi teaches and writes on constitutional law and issues of equality. His career experience includes extensive work in human rights research and advocacy, including for Human Rights Watch and Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund. His research is in the areas of constitutional and comparative law, racial equality law, gender and sexuality law, and human rights.
Joy Kanwar is Professor of Legal Writing and was named the Arthur Pinto & Stephen Bohlen Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity and Professor of Legal Writing as of July 1, 2023. Kanwar’s recent scholarship explores questions about inclusion and exclusion in immigration and citizenship law through historical and narrative lenses. She has also published about techniques to help students become lawyers who are prepared to enter the profession in a well-trained, reflective, and “whole person” way.
Catherine Y. Kim teaches Immigration Law, Administrative Law, Anti-Discrimination Law, and Civil Procedure. Her research focuses on the role of courts and agencies as engines for social justice reform.
Louis Kimmelman, Professor of Practice, teaches International Commercial Arbitration, the International Commercial Arbitration Seminar: VIS, and International Litigation. He is an independent arbitrator with over 40 years of experience in resolving international commercial, construction and investor-state disputes.
Shirley Lin is an Assistant Professor of Law. She is a scholar in employment law, critical legal theory, and civil rights. Her research explores constructions of race, disability, and gender, and their legal regulation within the political economy.
Samuel Murumba teaches and writes principally in the fields of intellectual property and international human rights. He teaches Copyright Law, Human Rights and Intellectual Property, International Human Rights, Property, and Trademark and Unfair Competition.
Prianka Nair teaches Interviews and Counseling and is Co-director of the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic, which represents adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities with respect to a range of issues, including access to public benefits, housing and guardianship termination, and restoration of rights.
Brittany Persson ’07 is Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Library whose scholarship involves the field of legal research. She teaches advanced legal research and legal research within the 1L Legal Writing program. Professor Persson serves as the treasurer of the national Black Law Librarians’ Special Interest Section, and chair of the Academic Law Libraries’ awards committee.
Karen Porter is Associate Dean for Inclusion & Diversity. An expert in AIDS policy, law and medicine, and public health law, she is the Executive Director of Brooklyn Law School's Center for Health, Science, and Public Policy. She teaches Public Health Law and runs the Health Law Externship.
Vijay Raghavan is former Deputy Director of the Division of Financial Institutions with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation. His scholarship focuses on consumer finance, and his current research interests include distributional equity in financial markets and the justifications for consumer financial regulation.
Anna Roberts is a Professor of Law teaching Evidence and Criminal Law. Her scholarship focuses on aspects of trial procedure—peremptory challenges, prior conviction impeachment, jury disqualification, and jury decision-making—with a particular interest in the assumptions and stereotypes that fuel, and are fueled by, the criminal system.
Alberto Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing, whose instruction is informed by his extensive litigation experience representing individuals, corporations, and government agencies. His scholarship interests relate to labor and employment law, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and the intersection of civil rights and technology.
Faiza W. Sayed is an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Safe Harbor Project. Her scholarship focuses on how immigration law intersects with other areas, including criminal and national security law, and explores the ways in which we can protect the rights of vulnerable and other populations while still achieving desired immigration policy outcomes.
Naveen Thomas teaches courses in contracts and business law. His scholarship follows two main paths. First, he illuminates and develops innovations in corporate governance and social enterprise. Second, he identifies and bridges gaps between theory and practice in contract design, by refining conventional doctrines to reflect real-world transactions and by formulating methods for lawyers to implement academic insights.
Our faculty take pride in being accessible to students and maintain an open-door policy. To learn more about them, visit the Faculty Directory.