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The New York Immigration Coalition has been working with DREAMers, allies, and elected officials for over four years to make DREAM a reality. The New York State DREAM Act would allow undocumented college students who meet certain criteria to be eligible for state financial aid. New York would be the fifth state to do this. In 2014, the Senate failed to pass the New York State DREAM Act by only two votes.

But the fight isn't over. The DREAM Act is linked in the budget to a controversial education investment tax credit initiative - a linkage that we oppose. We'll also need to continue to keep pressure on the Governor and the Legislature to make sure that DREAM is included in the final budget on April 1st.

Here are some things you can do to help us make DREAM a reality:
• Join us on March 3rd for the New York Immigration Coalition's Immigrant Day of Action in Albany to tell our state electeds that New York State DREAM must be included in the final budget! For details, email Murad Awawdeh at mawawdeh@nyic.org.
• Join the NYIC Immigration Advocacy Collaborative to get involved with the campaign. Please email Immigration Advocacy Manager Christina Chang at cchang@nyic.org for details.
• Call Governor Cuomo (518-474-8390) and your local legislator to ask them to make sure that DREAM stays in the budget!
• Donate to the NYIC to help us keep doing this work! 

The 2015 LS Scholars Program will provide up to four law students with $10,000 scholarships toward second-year tuition and paid Summer Associate positions with the firm upon completion of the first year of law school. The 1L summer positions will be located in Roseland, New Jersey, and will offer a salary of $2,700/week or $29,700 for eleven weeks from May 18 to July 31, 2015.

The scholarship may be renewed for the third year if the LS Scholar is offered and accepts a Summer Associate position with Lowenstein Sandler upon completion of the second year of law school, and maintains a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 during his or her second and third years of law school.

Applicants for the 2015 Lowenstein Sandler Scholars Program must be currently enrolled full-time 1L students at Columbia University School of Law, Cornell University Law School, Duke University School of Law, Georgetown Law Center, Harvard Law School, Howard University School of Law, NYU School of Law, Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, Seton Hall University School of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School or Yale Law School, with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0.

To be considered, please submit the following application materials before Friday, January 30, 2015:
● Detailed cover letter presenting your career goals and reasons you would like to be a 2015 Lowenstein Sandler Scholar and a 2015 Summer Associate and your expected contribution to our diverse community
● Current resume
● Undergraduate college and law school transcripts (Unofficial versions are permitted and can be sent when available in February)
● Writing sample from first semester legal writing course (Original student work product)
● Personal essay (up to 500 words) describing your most significant challenge and how you met that challenge
● Two references: Name and contact information for a law professor or legal writing instructor

Please upload your application to the “self-apply” link on our website (http://www.lowensteincareers.com/selfapply/) and also send your documents by email to:

Mary J. Hildebrand, Esq.
Partner and Chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
65 Livingston Avenue
Roseland, New Jersey 07068
mhildebrand@lowenstein.com

Deadlines for the 2015 Lowenstein Sandler Scholars Program:
January 30, 2015 – All Application Materials Must Be Received by this Date
February 2 to 27, 2015 – Semi-finalists Interviewed at Lowenstein Sandler
Weeks of March 9 and 16, 2014 – Scholarship Recipients Announced 

You can read the full article at:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/20/brief-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao-novel-21st-century-best-junot-diaz

You can apply via there website at: http://www.sidley.com/Sidley-Prelaw-Scholars/

This week, District Attorney of Kings County Kenneth P. Thompson announced that our colleague (and incoming Vice President of Committees) Maritza Ming was promoted to become his counsel. This comes shortly after a promotion in April, when Maritza became Chief of the newly created Immigrant Fraud Unit.

Maritza has been an Assistant District Attorney since 1997 and will now advise District Attorney Thompson directly on legal matters concerning the Office. She will be the first person of Dominican descent to hold this position.

We look forward to congratulating Maritza on her accomplishment at the SDNY on Monday, January 12, 2015 when she is sworn in with the 2015 Dominican Bar Association Board of Directors. (RSVP to DBA.RSVP@gmail.com).

The Puerto Rican Bar Association, and its members, stand in solidarity with those communities saddened by the senseless loss of life that resulted from the fatal encounter between Eric Garner and New York City Police Officers. It is clear that the legal practices, policies, rules, and procedures applied to circumstances like that of Mr. Garner demand reflection and review of our current criminal justice system with a vision toward comprehensive reform. It is important for law and order that public confidence be restored in our justice system.

Historically, the purpose of the Grand Jury was to preserve “justice” by preventing private individuals in power, such as kings and monarchs, from bringing unsubstantiated and/or falsified charges against their people. The Founding Fathers included the Grand Jury in the American system of jurisprudence to prevent our government from enacting practices similar to those European monarchs.

Under the current Grand Jury system in New York State, prosecutors have enormous power and possess broad discretion when making decisions about whom to, and how to, charge a crime in our criminal justice system. When there is a potential for a conflict of interest to arise, such as when a police officer is the subject of a criminal investigation, this discretion becomes problematic since all felony cases must be presented to the Grand Jury. Consequently, under the circumstances, a Special Prosecutor should have been appointed to preside over the Garner Grand Jury proceeding or a special investigative Grand Jury empanelled in order to have maintained the integrity of the New York State criminal justice process.

The Grand Jury hears evidence presented by prosecutors and takes action regarding the evidence and legal charges they are to consider. An action the Grand Jury can take, among others, is to vote for an indictment, a written statement charging an individual with the commission of a felony. In order to indict, the Grand Jury must determine that the evidence presented is legally sufficient and that it provides reasonable cause to believe that the defendant has committed the crime. Otherwise, the Grand Jury dismisses the matter. A Grand Jury’s deliberation, and the evidence presented therein, and how the evidence is presented is not open to the public and the record is sealed in most instances.

In this day in age when transparency is held at such a high premium, why should the Grand Jury process be kept secret from the public? What is the rationale for keeping the proceedings secret when anyone with a television or mobile device has most likely seen and listened to the video of the arrest, the most pertinent evidence of the interaction between law enforcement officers and Eric Garner? This is an important question when so much anger and frustration is understandably directed at the finding of the Grand Jury for Eric Garner.
The result of such secrecy is public outrage, and justifiably so.

When the leaders in our community are asked by the public, “How could anyone looking at the video not find some ground for which to prosecute the Officer for his actions?” The answer is that we, the public, really don’t know. The process has kept us in the dark, creating not only a loss of trust in our jurisprudence system, but escalating our frustration, increasing our sense of helplessness as individuals, and specifically, as minorities, and instilling a sense of fear of government as well. When someone asks what was the reasoning behind the Grand Jury’s decision, the answer is that no one really knows, which leads the public to speculate as to what transpired in the Grand Jury process. Was it a racially motivated decision? If it was, then shouldn’t the District Attorney’s office have avoided this possibility of injustice by changing the venue? If the venue wasn’t changed, do we look into the appropriateness of the dynamic between the prosecution and the officers who testify routinely on behalf of the State? Should not a special prosecutor have been assigned for the Grand Jury?

All these questions are being asked in our community, and we, as leaders, are unable to provide meaningful answers due to the institutional information barrier called the Grand Jury.

And what message does the Grand Jury send law enforcement? We must bring attention to the current culture of law enforcement in our City and State and ask our representatives and community leaders to investigate and support change in police training policies and arrest practices in an effort to prevent such needles tragedy from occurring again.

As such, the Puerto Rican Bar Association calls for the Bar, as a whole, to reevaluate our system of jurisprudence and the policies regarding police procedures and the use of force against its citizens. The Puerto Rican Bar Association and its members are prepared to assist in reforming the New York State penal statutes as well as the rules, regulations, policies and procedures governing our criminal justice system.

The Puerto Rican Bar Association, as always, will continue to endeavor to ensure that Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and other diverse ethnic and racial groups are adequately represented in our legal profession so that the Latino community will continue to have a voice regarding New York State law and policy.

Respectfully,
The Puerto Rican Bar Association 

This year's honorees will be honored for their significant achievements and advancements in the legal profession and within their communities.

The DBA will be honoring:

Maritza A. Ming
Chief of the Immigration Fraud Unit
Kings County District Attorney's Office

Lisette Camilo
City Chief Procurement Officer and Director of Contract Services
New York City Office of the Mayor

Dr. Marilu D. Galvan
Director
Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano, Inc.

The DBA will also be granting law student scholarships awards to the following scholarship winners:

Sharly Larios
St. John's University Law School

Rosemary Almonte
CUNY Law School

Please support the DBA by joining us at this year's scholarship dinner.

For tickets please RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dominican-bar-associations-2014-annual-scholarship-dinner-tickets-13288677793