Center Staff 

• Ross Sandler, former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation (1986-1990) and Special Advisor to the Mayor of the City of New York (1981-82), is the founding director of the Center. He graduated from Dartmouth College and New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Law Review, a member of the Order of the Coif, and a Root-Tilden Scholar. Professor Sandler was appointed professor of law at New York Law School in 1993, and teaches courses in state and local government, torts, and New York City law. He has written widely on New York City government, infrastructure, environment, and transportation. He was an adjunct professor of law at NYU from 1976 to 1993, and a visiting lecturer at Yale University School of Law in 1977.
  
  
• Melanie Cash '02, associate director at the Center for New York City Law, received her undergraduate degree in Business Management from Louisiana State University in 1982. After graduation she worked at a New York City investment banking firm. In 1987 she took a leave from work to raise her two children, Todd (19) and Brent (17). Melanie is a 2002 magna cum laude graduate of New York Law School. After graduation, Melanie accepted a one-year fellowship at the Center for New York City Law and then was asked to stay on permanently as the associate managing editor.
  
  
• Molly K. Brennan, a graduate of University of Buffalo School of Law and Boston University, is Editor of CityLand, the Center's new monthly New York City land use publication. Before coming to the Center, Molly practiced land use, real estate transactions and real estate litigation in San Francisco, California. Her practice primarily involved advising clients through land use entitlements and the CEQA, NEPA processes. She also maintained a focus in her practice and pro bono work on the development of low-income housing. Before relocating to New York City, Molly traveled throughout South America and Asia for a year with her husband.
  
  
• Caitlin M. Hannon, Caitlin is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a former student at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. While she is very passionate about the theatre, she has continued to professionally pursue her interests in government. After spending the last three years working for two small private law firms, Caitlin is excited to explore the non-profit legal world. Her background is mainly in administrative work and she is happy to have the opportunity to be creative and a real part of the “process” at the Center for NYC Law. Caitlin plans to eventually attend law school. She is involved with Big Sisters of America, and enjoys running, hiking, yoga, and college football.
  
  
• Jesse Denno, Publication Production Assistant
  
  
• Jeff Hopkins, Illustrator.

The Center annually appoints fellows in New York City Law from the Law School's graduating class. The fellows work full time at the Center, assisting in the writing and editing of City Law and other publications and becoming deeply involved with city government an its legal issues. The fellows usually go on to accept a government position after the fellowship year, either clerking for a judge or working directly for New York City.



• Shlomit Aroubas ’07, Fellow in New York City Law
  Born in Nazareth, Israel, Shlomit came to New York after completing a two year service with the Israeli Air Force. For their love of urban chaos, Shlomit and her husband made New York City their home. Shlomit earned a BBA in Marketing-Management from Bernard Baruch College. In 2004, she fulfilled a life-long dream and enrolled in law school. In law school, Shlomit focused her interest on public service and international law. She co-founded the Lawyers Without Borders Student Division in New York Law School and participated in international moot court competitions. She also co-authored the New York Law School 2007 Robert F. Wagner Labor and Employment Law Competition fact pattern and bench brief.

• Jonathan Reingold ’07, Fellow in New York City Law
  Jonathan was a clerk at a commercial litigation firm in midtown for the last year of law school. Previously, he interned at Miller Tabak Roberts Securities, The Legal Aid Society, and the New York State Attorney General?s Office. Before attending law school, Jonathan received a B.A. in Political Studies with a concentration in International Affairs from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. As an undergraduate, Jonathan interned at the Financial Times newspaper and freelanced for various publications. Jonathan grew up in Portland, Oregon.

• William Vidal ’07, Fellow in New York City Law
  William joined the Center to study urban development. In law school, William focused on public policy law as a research assistant for Professor Ruti Teitel and the Justice Action Center. To provide the NYLS community and the wider public with a neutral and global coverage of human rights, William co-created the Global Human Rights Bulletin, a monthly newsletter. Raised between Paris and Albuquerque, William decided to settle in New York City with his fiancé after graduating from Franklin and Marshall College.

The Center also employs several New York Law School students per semester.

This semester's students are:
Caitlin Walsh ’08, Harlan Scholar
Sumi Lee ’09
Clint Daggan ’09, Harlan Scholar
Sam Porter ’09
Brent Reitter ’10

Center Scholars   [Return to top]

• Andrew Berman, Associate Professor of Law
  
  Professor Andrew Berman has been largely responsible for a surge of interest in real estate law among New York Law School students. He is working with the Law School’s Center for New York City Law on land use and real estate development issues to create opportunities for students to gain practical experience in the real estate community and make contacts for future employment.
  
  Formerly a partner at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood’s New York Real Estate Group, Professor Berman spent fourteen years in private practice prior to joining the faculty at New York Law School in 2002. While at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, he represented clients in all aspects of commercial real estate finance, including complex financing transactions such as mezzanine loans, preferred equity, and financings intended for securitization markets. Professor Berman also has extensive experience in real estate development projects, the sale and acquisition of real property and mortgage loan portfolios, and complex commercial leasing, including Times Square signage and telecommunication transactions.
  
  A native of New York City, Professor Berman is a 1984 graduate of Princeton University and holds a J.D., cum laude, from New York University School of Law. He joined the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell as a Corporate/Real Estate Associate directly from law school. He then moved to Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz for four years as a Real Estate Associate before joining the Real Estate Group at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood in 1995, becoming Partner in 1998.
  
  Professor Berman's previous academic experience includes teaching Real Estate Transactions at City University of New York School of Law and Lawyering at New York University School of Law. He has been Editor of Metes & Bounds, a newsletter published by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and is currently working on an article called "Capital Markets and Real Estate Finance Strategies for Developing Co-Housing Communities."
  
  Professor Berman is actively involved with the Real Property Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Urban Land Institute.
  
  
• Kathleen Grimm '80, Deputy Chancellor, Finance and Administration for the New York City Department of Education.
  
  
• Eric Lane, professor of law at Hofstra University and former Counsel and Executive Director to the 1988 and 1989 Charter Revision Commissions, teaches New York Law School's New York City Charter course.
  
  Professor Lane is co-author of two books with former U.S. appeals court judge and White House Counsel Abner J. Mikva. The first, titled The Legislative Process, is a casebook that has been widely adopted in law schools throughout the country. The second, An Introduction to Statutory Interpretation and the Legislative Process, is a text for law students and lawyers. He is also the author of a number of articles on governmental decision-making.
  
  Professor Lane also spent six years (1981-1986) as chief counsel to the New York State Senate Minority. He serves on the boards of the Vera Institute of Justice, The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and the American Museum of Natural History (as an appointee of the Comptroller of the City of New York). He also serves as a consultant for the Justice Project of the Center for Court Innovation.
  
  
• David Schoenbrod, professor of law at New York Law School and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, is a nationally-recognized expert on Congress' delegation of its law-making powers to regulatory agencies, as well as legal remedies and environmental law. He is a frequent contributor to the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal.
  
  Professor Schoenbrod has worked with government agencies, non-profit groups, and private firms. He is a consulting attorney on a variety of constitutional and environmental issues for the American Petroleum Institute. He has worked for the Project on Urban Transportation with the Natural Resources Defense Council; the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Electric Power and the Environment; the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration development program; and clerked for Judge Spottswood Robinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals. He is also a member of American Tree Farmers' Association, reflecting his ardent interest in the environment.
  
  A 1963 magna cum laude graduate of Yale College, he attended Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar gaining a graduate degree in economics and then completed Yale Law School (LL.B., 1968), where he was an editor of the law journal. Professor Schoenbrod is the author of Power without Responsibility: How Congress Abuses the People Through Delegation (Yale University Press, 1993), an examination of how Congress circumvents responsibility by delegating power to make laws to administrative agencies. He also has published articles on environmental law, remedies, and the law and politics of regulation in scholarly journals.

Affiliated Faculty   [Return to top]

• Mark Barnes, a partner at Proskauer Rose, teaches Public Health Law.
  
  
• Hon. Richard Berman, a judge on the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, teaches Family Court.
  
  
• Raymond Brescia, director for the Mental Health Project, the Urban Justice Center, teaches Poverty Law in Theory & Practice.
  
  
• Albert Butzel, specializes in real estate development in his private practice and is chair of the Hudson River Park Alliance. He teaches Land Use Regulation.
  
  
• Stephen Dobkin, a partner at Collins, Dobkin & Miller, teaches Landlord & Tenant Law.
  
  
• Anthony Crowell, Counselor to the Mayor, City of New York.
  
  
• Herschel Goldfield, an associate at Proskauer Rose, teaches Public Health Law.
  
  
• Ernest Hart, Commissioner of Personnel for the City of Yonkers, New York, teaches Labor Relations Law in the Public Sector.
  
  
• Arthur Leonard, professor of law at New York Law School and regular media commentator on labor and employment law, teaches Labor Relations Law in the Public Sector.
  
  
• Edward A. Purcell Jr., professor of law at New York Law School and award-winning author, teaches Civil Rights Law.
  
  
• Hon. Stella Schindler, retired Family Court judge and judicial hearing officer for Criminal and Supreme Courts, teaches Family Court.
  
  
• Edward Wallace, a partner at Greenberg Traurig, teaches Landlord & Tenant Law.

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