Brooklyn Law School - Brooklyn Law Bridge - September 2024

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The Pathbreaker

Professor Alice Ristroph will officially become the inaugural Les Fagen Professor at Brooklyn Law School, on Oct. 1. In an interview, she discusses why the mission of access that inspired the professorship is so meaningful to her and her research into questions such as what is meant by “violent crime,” how carceral political theory divides people into “criminals” and “law-abiding citizens,” and the role of racial inequality in criminal law.  “I think that there were several decades in which inequality was seen as a fixable problem in criminal law, rather than part of the very core of the enterprise,” Ristroph said.

Scholars of Influence

The scholarly culture of Brooklyn Law School faculty continued its upward trajectory with the release of the triennial Scholarly Impact Ranking for U.S. law schools, which ranked Brooklyn Law School at No. 29. It was in a three-way tie at No. 33 in the most recent previous ranking, in 2021, and was ranked 44th in the 2018 ranking. “Brooklyn Law School’s scholarly impact rating demonstrates how the work of our faculty continues to influence scholarship, law, and policy around the country, year after year,” said Jocelyn Simonson, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship, who is just one of the 10 most-cited professors at Brooklyn Law School.

New BLS Class Brings Diverse Talents

There are more than 400 new students enrolled at Brooklyn Law School this semester, and in addition to being a highly diverse group—the first-year J.D. class alone includes students whose birthplaces span 5 continents and 23 countries—they bring an intriguing mix of experiences, both academic and professional, to our community. Among the newcomers are a former footwear entrepreneur, a former intern in the Westchester County D.A.’s cold case bureau, and a former ESL teacher for adult immigrants, Evelly Boiguene ’27. “I have always wanted to pursue a J.D. because I see lawyers and attorneys as advocates for those who cannot speak for themselves,” Boiguene said.

True Crime

Lawyer-turned-writer Dan Slater ’05 explores the secret history of an off-the-books band of Lower East Side Jewish crime fighters at the dawn of the 20th century in his new work of nonfiction, The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld, published over the summer. Slater, a former Wall Street Journal legal affairs reporter, also wrote Wolf Boys, about two American teenagers recruited as killers for a Mexican drug cartel, which is now in development for a TV series. “Although I loved studying the law, the practice of it was not in my heart. Storytelling has always been a part of who I am,” Slater said.

Erica Carter

Erica Carter ’15 is senior counsel at Epic Games, the latest move in an impressive career as in-house counsel for a series of companies that are embedded in our pop culture.  “Work in as many entertainment placements as you can, in in-house settings, because it starts to train your mind to think like an in-house lawyer, which is a very different perspective from law firm lawyers, because your risk analysis is different,” Carter said as advice to students. “The way you communicate with clients who are internal businesspeople is much different…After I went to internships at Chanel and then to Burberry, I found the structure where I learned how to act as in-house counsel, and I don’t think there’s any other way to learn those skills.”

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