Alumni Dinner 2025 Celebrates Accomplished Alumni, the Law School’s String of Successes
It was a memorable evening for the 324 alumni, friends, faculty, and staff who gathered for the Brooklyn Law School Alumni Dinner Thursday night and had the chance to reconnect with classmates, learn more about the Law School’s successful year, and honor two exceptional alumni for their accomplishments.
Alumni Association President Colleen L. Caden ’99 kicked off the festivities at the elegant Cipriani 25 Broadway venue by welcoming guests and introducing President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer.
“I am very grateful to you for this turnout, which is a sign of the very good health of Brooklyn Law School,” Meyer said, adding that a record 38 sponsors supported the dinner, whose proceeds go to the Bar Examination Preparation Fund, which helps students who are studying for the bar by providing funds for bar classes and more.
Indeed, among the school’s greatest accomplishments over the past year is a 9 percent increase in the bar passage rate, the highest in a decade, Meyer said. Faculty excellence helped the Law School achieve a Sisk scholarly impact ranking of #29 in the country. The school has enjoyed its best fundraising year in more than a decade, Meyer said. Additionally, the school will soon release record job placement results for the Class of 2024.
Following a live auction event with trip and event giveaways, a new addition to the dinner this year, two alumni were honored with awards. Howard Rothman ’71 was named the Alumnus of the Year and Erica Carter ’15 was named the school’s Rising Star.
Alumnus of the Year Howard Rothman ’71
Rothman was a Partner, Chair of the Tax Department, and member of the Executive Committee at Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel for more than two decades. Since retiring from the full-time practice of law, he has served as the Chairman and President of The Taft Foundation, whose mission is to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in leading fulfilling lives and to enhance the well-being of children facing serious illness.
Under Rothman’s leadership, The Taft Foundation has granted more than $120 million to upwards of 230 nonprofits, and has established and help fund Brooklyn Law School’s Disability and Civil Rights Clinic, led by Professor Prianka Nair, and another similar clinic, inspired by Brooklyn’s, which is based in Miami.
“But his vision goes far beyond these financial contributions,” Nair said in introducing Rothman. “By establishing legal clinics at Brooklyn Law School and Nova Southeastern University, he has also created platforms that provide critical legal services and educate future advocates. Howard has shown us that the true measure of the legal career is not just professional success. It is the lives we uplift and the barriers we help dismantle.”
After taking the stage, Rothman told a story about his “inauspicious” beginnings at Brooklyn Law School when he was first learning the Socratic method during a Torts class. After a few “embarrassing responses” that had the entire class staring at him, the professor said, ‘Mr. Rothman, sit down.’” (That professor was Hon. I. Leo Glasser ’48, who recently turned 100, he noted after his speech.)
The Law School experience, including the flexibility Rothman discovered here, stayed with him. When he entered school in 1967, Rothman said, he hoped to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War and thus took a job at an elementary school in Queens during the day and attended law classes at night. “I was able to do this seamlessly, thanks to support from the Law School,” Rothman said. “Then, when I made Brooklyn Law Review, I didn't have the time to source check notes or do the comments review that all Law Review members are required to do, but instead the editor in chief and I agreed that as long as I wrote and published a law review article every year, I could stay on.”
Later, as a successful lawyer, Rothman remembered the generous way he was treated at the Law School, and he returned it in kind. “Whenever the dean of the school, or their designee, asked me to do something for the school, I said ‘yes.’ In fact, evidently, I would not even say ‘hello.’ I just said ‘yes,’” he added.
Rising Star Erica Carter ’15
Carter, who is Senior Counsel in Epic Games’ Legal and Business Affairs department, has focused her career on providing in-house counsel. She previously was counsel in Sesame Workshop’s Legal and Business Affairs department and currently sits on the Copyright Society’s Board of Trustees where she serves as the Executive Committee Member-at-Large.
Kareem Le-Mar Blair, who works for Nike as the design director for Jordan Streetwear introduced Carter as part of his “chosen family,” and a deeply warm and supportive friend with whom he has navigated life’s challenges, from first jobs to promotions to personal setbacks.
“She looks at everything with unwavering confidence and optimism and has a general way of transforming challenges by seeing them not solely as obstacles, but as an invitation to growth,” Blair said. “If I had to guess Erica's love language, I would say it is acts of service and words of affirmation. She gives with her whole heart, and in turn, the universe has blessed her abundantly.”
After taking the stage, Carter said her sole reason for coming to New York City was to attend Brooklyn Law School, and the community she found there was invaluable. “It changed my life. Thank you, Brooklyn Law School for recognizing me, acknowledging me, and celebrating me, someone who did not take a conventional career path, someone who likes to defy norms pretty often,” Carter said.
The lifelong friendships she made at the school have been life changing. “We support each other, we love each other, and I do not know whether you make that the culture, or the culture made us…. I have had some of the most soul-fulfilling relationships and friendships that came from Brooklyn Law School,” Carter said. At the Copyright Society, she met some of her favorite people, Carter said, and she credited her tenure at Sesame Workshop as a pivotal career point. “They decided that they saw something in me and helped me build the foundation to the lawyer I am today,” she said.
Thank you to all of our generous sponsors and supporters, including: Platinum Sponsor Frank Aquila ’83, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Diamond Sponsors: Colleen Caden ’99, President of the Alumni Association; Wanda Denson-Low ’81, Board of Trustees and Cameron Low ’19, Alumni Association; Howard S. Hershenhorn ’89, Board of Trustees, Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & MacKauf; Kramer Levin, Robert Schmidt ’89, Alumni Association; Sasha L. Linney ’11, Vice Chair, Board of Trustees; Perkins Coie, Meeka Bondy ’94, Chair, Women’s Leadership Committee; and Pryor Cashman. Gold Sponsors: Allegaert Berger & Vogel LLP, David Berger ’89, Alumni Association; Family Management Corporation Investment Advisors, In Honor of Our Friend Howard Rothman; Valerie Fitch ’88, Alumni Association and Ed Flanders ’89; Friends of Fred Curry ’03; Katten, Roger Griesmeyer ’04, Alumni Association; Leech Tishman, Neil S. Goldstein ’67, Alumni Association; Phillips & Associates, Bryan Arce ’09; Howard Rothman ’71 and Joan Rothman; Richard and Margie Schneidman; S&E Azriliant, P.C., Evan Azriliant ’92, Alumni Association; and Wiggin and Dana. Silver Sponsors: Ogletree Deakins, Aaron Warshaw ’07, Alumni Association; Trolman Glaser Corley & Lichtman, P.C., Joel Glasser ’01, Alumni Association. Bronze Sponsors: New York State Assembly Member & Majority Whip Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn ’24, Board of Trustees; Citrin Cooperman; DEH Consulting, Debbie Epstein Henry ’94, Board of Trustees; Devine Team Real Estate, Sean Devine ’08, Alumni Association; Goldberg & Cohn LLP, Andrew Fleming '16, Alumni Association; Steven Cohn ’73, Alumni Association; Gloria Greco ’98, Alumni Association and Elizabeth Crea ’98; Stacy J. Kanter ’84 & Eric M. Kornblau ’84, Alumni Association; Kilpatrick; Kirkland & Ellis; Daniel Kobin, AESNYC.com; Hon. Stuart A. Minkowitz ’92, Prof. Carol Zeigler & Martin Minkowitz ’63, The Minkowitz Charitable Foundation, Alumni Association; Winston Paes ’03, Alumni Association; Stephen B. Popernick ’13, Alumni Association; Mark Rosen ’75; Jeremi Roux ’12, Alumni Association; Lily Smith ’16, Board of Trustees.
Click here for photo highlights from the Alumni Dinner.
Click here for the full album from the Alumni Dinner.