Elisabeth Haub School of Law News

Smith is taking a “calculated risk” by bypassing the ordinary appellate process and seeking immediate Supreme Court review, Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon.

“I believe he feels very confident that given previous Supreme Court decisions on presidential immunity, his chances of winning are very high,” Gershman said.

Professor Randolph McLaughlin speaks with Lohud about the family of Sean Harris, who died after Clarkstown police engaged him in a standoff at his Central Nyack home, intending to sue the County of Rockland and Clarkstown Police Department— and the story gets picked up by Yahoo News.

Professor Bennett Gershman provides expert insight to NPR about how Ohio prosecutors broke rules to win convictions and got away with it.

Former prosecutor Bennett Gershman, who now teaches at Pace University's School of Law in New York, called the pattern of prosecutors who repeatedly act improperly in cases in Ohio a "microcosm" of the criminal justice system in states across the country.

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law team for the National Trial League Competition broke a record this year as they were the only school to remain undefeated in the National Trial League’s regular season, with a solid finish of seven wins and zero losses.

“A directed verdict motion says this: There’s not enough evidence here for the case to go to a jury," Pace University law professor Randolph M. McLaughlin, laughing. "The only wrinkle here is, there's no jury! They’re asking the judge to direct a verdict against himself." “I’ve never heard of a lawyer asking on multiple occasions for a directed verdict – I’ve never heard of it,” McLaughlin added. “I understand you have to make motions, but some of what they’re doing borders on frivolousness. I don’t think they have any shame at all.”

The claim that holding a trial during an election year constitutes “election interference” is “farfetched” and “a ploy to prevent” Trump from facing accusations that any other citizen would have to face, Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon. “If accepted, this claim would produce dangerous consequences for the justice system and the rule of law,” Gershman said. “Does it mean that a corrupt congressman running for re-election cannot be indicted or tried? That removing Trump from the ballot because he led an insurrection, as the Constitution mandates, constitutes election interference? That the current civil trial in New York must be stopped, that at least five upcoming trials must be postponed, and that Trump should get a free pass without legal jeopardy until he hopes he’ll get elected and then have a chance to pardon himself?”