Bennett Capers

How a Verdict by a Jury of 11 People in Queens Made Legal History

For 342 years, New York has guaranteed that criminal defendants would be tried by a 12-member jury. But a verdict by 11 jurors recently stood in a criminal case, breaking precedent. Bennett Capers (@bennettcapers.bsky.social), Fordham Law's associate dean for research, weighs in. via @nytimes.com

University Autonomy Stems From Corporate Rights (opinion) To preserve institutional autonomy and defend academic freedom, universities should exercise their powerful claims to corporate rights, Michael Banerjee writes.

Interesting op-ed by Michael Banerjee in Inside Higher Ed about another way universities can defend themselves from attacks on academic freedom and autonomy. Check it out!

Fordham Law Faculty Share Their Summer Book Recommendations From thought-provoking science fiction and razor-sharp satire to a deep exploration of Talmudic history, discover your next summer read with these recommendations from Fordham Law faculty, who shared ...

So cool to see what my brilliant colleagues at Fordham Law (@fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social) have on their reading lists this summer, from Elias Canetti to Octavia Butler to Kazuo Ishiguro to @deborahnarcher.bsky.social. Check it out!
news.law.fordham.edu/blog/2025/06...

Such a great panel at Law & Society discussing pedagogy and chapters from the forthcoming book Critical Evidence! Thanks to organizer Anna Roberts and panelists Andrea Dennis, Daniel Harawa, Ngozi Okidegbe, and Rebecca Wexler, with a special shoutout to my co-editor Julia Simon-Kerr!

Congrats to my @fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social colleague Courtney Cox (@coxlaw.bsky.social) on being awarded the Distinguished Research Award for Interdisciplinary Studies for her recent article "The Uncertain Judge," 90 U. Chi. L. Rev. 739 (2023), and her current work on deception! Well-done!

So cool to see my brilliant @fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social colleague Ethan Leib featured here in JOTWELL for his article "Good Faith in U.S. Constitutional Law," which Paul Horwitz (U of Ala. Law) identifies as one of the best works relating to Constitutional Law. conlaw.jotwell.com/i-love-beati...

Panel discussion at Fordham Law School with four participants seated at a table with microphones, name tags, flowers, and pride flags.

Three panelists are seated at a table during a discussion at Fordham Law School, with name tags, flowers, and pride flags visible on the table.

Four panelists seated at a table during a discussion at Fordham University School of Law. The table features microphones and small red floral arrangements. Each panelist has a name tag in front.

Fordham Law’s queer student affinity group OUTLaws recently hosted its 12th annual symposium during Fordham’s 2025 Week of Abolition and discussed the consequences of federal, state, and local elections on LGBTQ+ rights.

Read more about this year’s event:
fordhamobserver.com/79891/recent...

Race, the Academy, and <i>The Constitution of the War on Drugs</i> David Pozen’s new book chronicles the constitutional arguments that American litigants once deployed to protect a “right” to use drugs. This Review supplements and critiques Pozen’s important contribu...

It's live! Very proud of this piece I wrote with Jeffrey Bellin (@bellinj.bsky.social) for the Yale Law Journal. And thanks to Dave Pozen of Columbia Law School for writing such a provocative book for us to engage with!
www.yalelawjournal.org/review/race-...

Women's Day 2025: Meet first UAE female lawyer to win 'law firm leader of the year' Discover how Emirati women are breaking barriers in the legal profession, with rising numbers but still facing challenges in leadership roles. Learn about Maha Bin Hendi's journey

The number of Emirati women in the legal profession is steadily rising, but leadership roles remain elusive, according to Fordham Law graduate Maha Bin Hendi, LL.M. '13.

Read more about her journey and the challenges women face in the profession, via @khaleejtimes.com:

Some photos from the first ever Critical Evidence Colloquium at Fordham Law (@fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social). Thanks to UPenn Law and UConn Law for co-sponsoring!

A Conservative Lawyer Was Asked to Fix the Eric Adams Mess. Instead, He Made It Worse. The problem is, Clement’s recommendation is hardly adversarial at all.

I couldn't resist weighing in on Trump's efforts to dismiss the criminal charges against Mayor Eric Adams. The title says it all.
slate.com/news-and-pol...

Fordham Law’s Center for Race, Law and Justice Launches Gun Law Reform Toolkit for Youth Activists More than 2,526 American children died by firearms in 2022—an average of seven deaths every day, according to a report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. AtRead More

Fordham Law's Center on Race, Law and Justice (@fordhamracelaw.bsky.social), in partnership with the Peer Defense Project, has developed a new toolkit aimed at preventing future gun violence by giving people information and tools needed to understand their constitutional rights.

Opinion | The Bewildering Irony Behind the Trump-Musk Partnership The president is handing over the viability of his second term to a figure who is accountable to no one but himself.

Jamelle Bouie writes smart stuff, and this op-ed on the Trump-Musk partnership is no exception. Nice to see my Fordham Law colleagues Andrew Kent, Ethan Leib and coauthor Jed Shugerman cited for their Harvard L. Rev. article "Faithful Execution and Article II"!
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/o...

Rochelle Swartz ’14 Takes on the Parole System in HBO Documentary When a person commits an unspeakable crime, can they ever earn redemption? If so, how long should it take, and what must they do to achieve it? Nature of theRead More

Fordham Law graduate Rochelle Swartz '14 returned to campus to discuss her ongoing pro bono work and involvement in "Nature of the Crime," a new HBO documentary that chronicles the journey of her longtime client as he repeatedly applies for and is denied parole.

Fordham Law rocks! And it’s a total honor to be on this list with Bruce Green and Ethan Leib, great colleagues and friends!

One Judge Can Reject DOJ’s Eric Adams Dismissal Motion. He Has Every Reason to Do So. Judge Ho will have a hearing on Wednesday to determine whether to accept the DOJ's motion to dismiss the case against the New York City mayor.

Wrote a little something for Slate on what should happen next. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Read Danielle Sassoon’s Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Annotated Danielle R. Sassoon, who resigned Thursday as Manhattan’s U.S. attorney, writes to Attorney General Pam Bondi to explain her refusal to drop a corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York.

Sassoon's letter makes me proud to be a former SDNY AUSA. What else makes me proud? Seeing my brilliant @fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social colleague and friend Bruce Green cited in Sassoon's letter on the proper role of prosecutors here!
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Read Danielle Sassoon’s Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Annotated Danielle R. Sassoon, who resigned Thursday as Manhattan’s U.S. attorney, writes to Attorney General Pam Bondi to explain her refusal to drop a corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York.

Sassoon's letter resigning from her post as Acting US Attorney rather than kowtowing to Trump and dropping the charges against Mayor Adams is a must read, and brilliantly lays out the case why the judge shouldn't dismiss the charges either.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Law Students Aid Trans Doc Changes Fordham’s Advocates for Trans Law Students host events providing legal assistance for name and gender marker changes.

Fordham’s Advocates for Trans* Law Students (ATLS) has assisted approximately 400 document change petitions at dozens of events since the student organization’s founding in 2022, according to ATLS President Alaina Greene ’27.

And the organization has no plans on stopping.

Not yet, alas…

Honored to be a part of this!

Oh, this is going to be good!

What New York Employers Need to Know About Paid Prenatal Leave in 2025 Starting January 1, 2025, all private-sector employers in New York State, regardless of size, will be required to comply with an important new regulation: the Paid Prenatal Leave (“PPL”) law, introduc...

In this article for Total Food Service, Fordham Law graduate Benedetta Bortoluzzi '21 breaks down what New York employers need to know about paid prenatal leave in 2025.

Three smiling individuals standing on a wooden deck with a pergola in the background, accompanied by a dog in the foreground.

Four people standing together, smiling, in a room.

Four individuals smiling at an indoor event.

Two people smiling and sitting together in a busy bar setting.

See you next time, San Francisco! Fordham Law celebrated its award winners and introduced Dean Joseph Landau to legal scholars from across the country at a reception held at Persona Cocktail Bar, during the 2025 @theaals.bsky.social Annual Meeting. #AALS2025

On day three of programming @ the 2025 @theaals.bsky.social Annual Meeting, Fordham Law Professors Norrinda Brown, Deborah W. Denno, Aniket Kesari, and Adam Shlahet are discussing promotion & tenure, interdisciplinary scholarship, internet & computer law, and the latest ABA proposals, respectively.

Cover of Criminal Law: A Critical Approach which is a blue book with a red insert and gold text.

Just to plug our casebook: Criminal Law: A Critical Approach by @bennettcapers.bsky.social, @rogerfairfax.bsky.social, and myself explicitly discusses municipal criminal law creation as a core source of crime legislation and uses multiple municipal ordinance violation cases.

Today @ day two of the 2025 @theaals.bsky.social Annual Meeting, Fordham Law Profs. Norrinda Brown, @bennettcapers.bsky.social, & Aniket Kesari are respectively discussing the “parenting professor penalty,” critical theory & epistemology, & the integration of technology in legal education. #AALS2025

Great list and discussion! Another amazing film is Origin, directed by @duvernay.bsky.social!

The criminal law casebook I coauthored with @bennettcapers.bsky.social & @rogerfairfax.bsky.social (the only one exclusively authored by Black men) briefly discusses child marriage as a response to rape in our chapter on consent. There is at least one congressman who married a 14 year-old girl

NBC investigation reveals less than 4% of sex crimes result in conviction An NBC News investigation across the nation found that less than 4% of reported rapes, sexual assaults, and child sexual abuse allegations ever result in a sex crime conviction. NBC News’ Bennett Haeb...

4/ If you missed Hallie Jackson's show last night, here is the clip: www.nbcnews.com/now/video/le...