Beth Lyon, Clinical Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Experiential Education, Clinical Program Director, and Director of the Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic

Political pressure on clinics is increasing around the country, and at Cornell Law we have been working to strengthen academic freedom in our own institution and nationally. Last spring Dean Ohlin appointed a Clinical Program Task Force to examine our internal processes and express our commitment to academic freedom. Our faculty are also responding to the moment through board leadership, scholarship exploring how to define and protect clinical academic freedom, and participation in a recent comparative study of good practices.

Over the winter and spring we celebrated appellate successes in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the New York State Appellate Division Third and Fourth Departments, and the Court of Appeal of Tanzania. Students in the Appellate Criminal Defense Clinic argued two cases before the Appellate Division, First Department. A special appreciative shoutout goes to all the students and faculty who did the hard work of standing by their clients and arguing excellent appeals that were ultimately not granted.

We also had a particularly active amicus curiae brief practice in recent months, including Transnational Disputes Clinic filings in the 1^st Circuit, the D.C. Circuit, and two in the Supreme Court: Al Otro Lado, et al. and Barbara, et al. In addition, the Securities Law Clinic had a filing in the Second Circuit, drawing on the clinic’s experience representing retail investors.

As the school year draws to a close, I’m thrilled to welcome Estelle McKee to the role of Clinical Program Director and Cornell Law’s second Associate Dean for Experiential Education. She will step into the role on July 1. Estelle is a member of the Lawyering (legal writing) and clinical faculties, founding director of the Asylum and Convention Against Torture Clinic, and an appellate litigator representing noncitizens challenging removal orders throughout the United States. It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my professional life to collaborate with my colleagues to support the experiential curriculum, and I am grateful to Estelle for taking the program into the future.

You will read about these and other developments in our newsletter, and as always, please do stop in and see us if you find yourself here “high above Cayuga’s waters.”

Walk gently,

Beth