Weeklong Intensive Wraps on a High Note With Students and Alumni Meetings and Celebration
President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer in conversation with Sanford G. Hausner ’85 as part of the 2025 Business Boot Camp.
After a four-day deep dive into learning about the business world, the 60 students who participated in Brooklyn Law School’s 13th annual Business Boot Camp put their networking skills to the test when they met with alumni in small groups in breakout rooms and then connected with other participants at a larger reception at the Subotnick Center Thursday evening.
The festive gathering concluded a week in which students learned how to think not just like lawyers but also like businesspeople during a four-day intensive class led, on the faculty side, by Professor Michael Gerber, Michael Simmons and Michael Gerber Professor of Law, and taught by professionals from Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory, as well as the school’s own faculty and many of its alumni. As part of the course, students follow the life cycle of a family-owned restaurant that goes public and embarks on an acquisition binge. In the process, they learn about developing a business plan, financing, accounting basics, valuation, and M&A basics. The curriculum, which is continuously updated, included a session this year on the impact of generative AI on legal practice.
Interspersed with the classroom work were informative Q&As featuring prominent alumni and less formal opportunities for students to meet experienced graduates in groups and individually.
The Business Boot Camp’s keynote session Thursday afternoon featured President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer interviewing Sanford G. Hausner ’85, whose successful international legal career was an around-the-globe adventure influenced by historic events and a willingness to pursue unique opportunities. Hausner spent 25 years practicing international law with a niche in emerging markets. Now an entrepreneur and a philanthropist (with Brooklyn Law among the beneficiaries of his generosity), Hausner got his first big career break in law when he decided to stand out among his peers at a Big Law firm in 1990 after the Berlin Wall had just fallen and formerly Communist countries were adapting Western systems of governance and law.
“The head of the firm came into this room of 25 corporate lawyers and said, without a lot of detail, ‘Raise your hand. Who wants to go to Poland?’” Hausner said. “Nobody in the room raised their hand, except me, because I had to distinguish myself from the other 24 people.” The assignment was supposed to last three to four weeks. Nine years later, he was still there, running a new Eastern European practice for the firm. Hausner became known for his expertise in emerging markets, a niche that prompted regular offers from recruiters and led him to join other international law firms. Hausner also offered solid tips and advice to students, including the importance of developing a sound study plan for law school, and to avoid hopping around too much from law firm to law firm during their careers.
Earlier in the afternoon, a panel on “Practical Day-to-Day Legal Advice” featured several alumni, including Board of Trustees member John P. Oswald ’84, who is president of Capital Trust and who financially supports the Business Boot Camp and is a co-founder. Joining Oswald on the panel were Board of Trustees emeritus David Barse ’87, who is founder and chief executive officer of XOUT Capital, an index company; DMB Holdings, a private family office; and an executive producer of Academy Award- and Grammy winning documentary Summer of Soul. Other panelists were Asim Grabowski-Shaikh ’02, a partner at BakerHostetler specializing in corporate and securities law; Jennifer Horowitz ’96, a corporate partner at Cole Schotz and co-chair of its corporate, finance & business transactions department; Stacy J. Kanter ’84, an independent board director and audit committee chair, and a former head of global capital markets practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Kenny S. Terrero ’14, a corporate and securities partner at Sidley Austin.
On Thursday morning, Nick Kaluk III ’11 co-taught a module on Valuation. He is a counsel in Debevoise & Plimpton’s restructuring and special situations group.
On Wednesday afternoon, a session titled “Buying and Selling Businesses” drew accomplished alumni panelists sharing their extensive experience and knowledge with students. Panelists included: Board of Trustees member Eileen Nugent ’78, now of counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and previously partner and global co-head of Skadden’s transactions practice; Mitchell Littman ’83, founding partner of Littman Krooks and head of the firm’s corporate and securities department; Kathleen Chastaine ’06, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Trillium Trading; Revel Atkinson ’20, associate at Lowenstein Sandler and a member of its mergers and acquisitions and private equity groups; and Amanda Kadish ’21, associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in the firm’s corporate mergers and acquisitions group.
Also Wednesday, a luncheon conversation featured Oswald and Fred Curry, III ’03, partner, practice leader (retired) of Deloitte Advisory Anti-Money-Laundering and Economic Sanctions Group within Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics. After starting out with humble means, both men described working tirelessly throughout college and law school and soaking up as much knowledge and expertise as they could, gaining credentials and experience before achieving highly successful careers combining law and business. Oswald's advice to job seekers? Choose a job you like doing, don’t even ask about how often you can work remotely, and be a team player who others want by their side on tough projects. Added Curry: “Partner with people who have complementary skills. Use emotional intelligence. In this age of specialization in technology, it’s rare to find people who can do both, who are competent in their jobs and good with people... Can they move people, can they understand people, can they read between the lines?”
On Tuesday, a panel on “Advising New Ventures & Small Businesses” featured alumni with a range of experiences who provided insights on client relationships, including Isaro Carter ’19, founder of boutique law firm The Carter Firm; Alex Kerzhner ’10, partner at Forchelli Deegan Terrana; John Rudikoff ’06, founder of John Rudikoff Law and visiting assistant clinical professor of law and director of graduate programs at Brooklyn Law School; and Christina Simpson ’15, principal attorney of the Law Office of Christina Simpson.
Earlier Tuesday, a luncheon featured Gloria Greco ’98, a retired compliance and operational risk executive who spent four decades at Merrill Lynch and then went on to retire from Bank of America. Compliance is an ideal career for those who are curious about “how things work,” and for those who don’t want to laser-focus on a single legal niche, Greco said in a Q&A with Gerber. "For me, compliance was a great way to take the legal knowledge that I have, but also really understand business strategies,” she said. Her career also allowed her to learn every day as regulations changed and technology evolved, and to work across a range of the company’s businesses such as wealth management and corporate law. She recommended to students who are interested in following in her footsteps that they go work for a regulatory agency, become a prosecutor, or work in compliance at a law firm.
Brooklyn Law School has offered the pioneering Business Boot Camp during the winter break annually since 2013. In addition to Gerber and Oswald, other program presenters include Curry, of Deloitte, and his colleague Anthony Campanelli, a Deloitte risk and financial advisory partner in the forensic & financial crime practice, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. Campanelli, who has been part of the course since the beginning, was joined by colleagues who assist with teaching.
Boot Camp 2025 Wrap Up Photogallery by Brooklyn Law School