LawClinic.TV

The Roiling Problem of National Identity - Citizenship and Immigration

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As with so much in American history, our receptivity to immigrants has moved in historical cycles. With nativism currently ascending, issues of national identity, citizenship and immigration are very much in the public eye and on Fordham Law School's agenda.

Here Gina DelChiaro, a recent graduate of the law school, talks about the importance of providing immigration law representation. Gina is really on target.

Through my work in our Criminal Defense Clinic I see the really devastating consequences of our current immigration laws. In one case, we represented a man with a steady job whose friend made a false accusation against him after the two had a disagreement. The friend never pursued the criminal case, which was eventually dismissed, but his brief detention was enough to bring him to the attention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Although he is now at liberty and pursuing an asylum claim, I am still hard pressed to understand who benefits when a productive person faces forced exile because of an arrest based upon a criminal case which turns out to be baseless.

I think many lawyers would agree that immigration law is a very demanding area, full of very technical regulations and practiced in a very unforgiving and difficult administrative arena. Because these issues are so important, and so difficult, I am particularly pleased that my very talented colleague Professor Gemma Solimene, will be offering her Immigrant's Rights and Access to Justice Clinic again this spring, after taking a little time away from that practice area. Gemma and her students do very fine work and I look forward to sharing their experiences next semester.

I want to close this post by noting that Fordham will be hosting a terrific conference, New Dimensions of Citizenship on Friday and Saturday, September 29 and 30. The organizers offer this tantalizing observation: "Today more people than ever live outside their countries of origin. As a result, our conceptions of citizenship, our identities as citizens, and our ideas about how best to prepare citizens to negotiate an increasingly diverse society are all in flux."

-- Ian Weinstein

Fordham, Law School, Clinical Legal Education, Law Clinic, Pro Bono Work, Legal Education, Legal Pedagogy, Teaching Law, Student Lawyers, Law Student, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Fordham Centenial Honors John Feerick

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This is Fordham's Centennial year.  As part of our celebration our current Dean, William Treanor, wanted to honor his predecessor, John Feerick.  Thinking about John's commitment to social justice and his long experience with alternative dispute resolution, Dean Treanor came up with the idea of a center at the law school through which John could build on his work on behalf of homeless New Yorkers and address significant urban social justice issues.  This idea became the Feerick Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution.  This center will focus on one or two significant urban social justice issues at a time and bring all the stakeholders together to find common ground.  Knowing John as I do, I know this initiative will achieve wonderful things in ways I lack the imagination to forecast.

-- Ian Weinstein

Fordham, Law School, Clinical Legal Education, Law Clinic, Pro Bono Work, Legal Education, Legal Pedagogy, Teaching Law, Student Lawyers, Law Student, Feerick Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution

Hands-On Fighting Homelessness - Working to Help NYC's Poorest Residents

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In this next clip, John Feerick (see earlier post) talks about the impact his work as one of three Special Masters on Homelessness appointed by the city of New York (here’s a New York Times article about the impact the Masters’ work has had on him.  I find it extraordinary and inspiring that this fantastically accomplished man sought out these experiences and was so open to really seeing and learning about poverty in NYC at this time in his life.  His frank admission that despite all he had done and seen, he really had not had this kind of first-hand experience with the conditions under which too many live in New York strikes me as so very honest and insightful.

-- Ian Weinstein

Fordham, Law School, Clinical Legal Education, Law Clinic,  Legal Education, Homelessness, New York City