Tag Archives: Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School is Hiring a Transactional Clinician

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Cornell Law School is hiring! We are looking for a clinical professor of entrepreneurship law who will work with our Entrepreneurship Law Clinic and our newly formed Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. Our students work with clients with a diverse range of entrepreneurial efforts, and in the process gain valuable skills for their legal careers. If you are interested in helping to train the next generation of entrepreneurs and the lawyers who will serve them, please consider applying. Or if you know of other suitable candidates, please let them know of this great opportunity in Ithaca. The job positing is here.

Structured Finance Journal Launch

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I am excited to be part of the launch of the Structured Finance Journal (SFJ), a double-blind, peer-reviewed publication dedicated to advancing the practices within the structured fixed-income markets. The press release continues,

SFJ is more than just a platform for publishing research—it is a collaborative effort led by an esteemed editorial board and guided by a distinguished advisory council, ensuring the highest quality and relevance of the work we publish.

In tribute to the highly respected but now defunct Journal of Structured Finance, formerly edited by Mark Adelson, we believe in the power of original research to drive practical applications and foster innovation in the field. SFJ is designed for professionals who are dedicated to contributing valuable insights that will help shape the industry’s future.

We invite submissions from industry experts and academics alike. If you have research that offers fresh insights and practical implications, we want to hear from you. Manuscripts should be between 2,500 and 3,500 words, excluding abstracts and references, and must be original work that has not been previously published or is under consideration elsewhere.

In line with our commitment to integrity and transparency, any use of AI tools in your manuscript should be limited to mechanical tasks like editing or citation management, with full disclosure required. Our strict guidelines ensure that only high-quality, relevant, and ethically produced research is featured in the journal.

Submissions must adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) for formatting, with specific requirements for typography and content organization. We encourage authors to carefully structure their work, starting with a clear and concise title and abstract, followed by a compelling introduction, organized headings, and a well-rounded conclusion. Exhibits should be properly sourced, and permissions obtained for any previously published material. Details may be found on our online submissions platform.

Join us in advancing the structured finance industry by sharing your expertise and research. Submit your manuscript today and contribute to the growing body of knowledge that SFJ proudly supports. Please contact Elen Callahan at elen.callahan@structuredfinance.org with your questions and interest.

I am excited to join Elen Callahan and the other members of the Editorial Board in this venture:

Mark Adelson, Independent Consultant Content Director, Portfolio Management Research

William Black, Founder and Principal, Black Analytics

Nicole Byrns, Founder and Principal, Dumar Capital

Chun Lin, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Residential Mortgage Modeling, Bank of America

Debra Lofano, Partner, Alston & Bird LLP

Phillip Millman, Advisor, Federal Housing Finance Agency

Tim O’Neil, Managing Director and Head of Canadian Structured Finance, Morningstar DBRS

David Reiss, Clinical Professor of Law & Research Director of the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law, Cornell Law School & Cornell Tech

Jeff Schwartz, CFA, Securitized Products Investor

Cornell Law Set to Launch First NYC-Based Law Clinic

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The Cornell Daily Sun just ran an article about the expansion of Cornell Law School’s Entrepreneurship Law Clinic to the Cornell Tech campus in NYC, where I am now located:

Cornell Law School is set to launch its first law clinic in the Big Apple.

Beginning in January 2025, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic will expand from Ithaca to the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island.

Through the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, law students provide pro-bono legal services to emerging businesses, entrepreneurs and startups in the Ithaca area and under the guidance of law school faculty.

Students assist with business formation, hiring and employment, intellectual property management, commercial contracts and public service initiatives, such as aiding small businesses during COVID-19.

All of the law school’s other clinics are located in Ithaca, where the law school is based.

Established in 2018, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic stands as the law school’s only transactional clinic, which means students gain hands-on legal experience in business.

The law school received a donation from Franci Blassberg ’75 J.D. ’77 and Joseph Rice III in 2023, which helped establish the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. The center will use the funding to expand the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic to New York City.

Prof. Celia Bigoness, law, is the founding director of the Blassberg-Rice Center and the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic. Bigoness emphasized the benefits of the new location.

“Law clinics serve two principal purposes, and our expansion to NYC serves both purposes … — providing pro-bono legal services and hands-on clinical training experience for students,” Bigoness stated to The Sun.

“The clinic has been hugely successful — so successful that its capacity isn’t nearly enough to satisfy student demand,” Cornell Law Dean Jens David Ohlin wrote to The Sun. “This expansion will allow us to scale the program while keeping the intensive, hands-on approach that makes it so effective.”

Law students may join the clinic in their second or third years and often stay for the remainder of their degrees.

Kathleen Joo J.D. ’23, participated in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic in her second and third years of law school and is now an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. She believes that the expansion will advance the clinic.

“While I was a student there, … [the clinic] was the closest experience we could get to full-time work,” Joo said. “I imagine the expansion also means that students will get access to a greater variety of clients and projects.”

With this development, students will also be able to spend a semester at Cornell Tech with the J.D. Program in Information and Technology Law.

The law school also hired its second full-time clinical instructor to facilitate the expansion.

Prof. David Reiss joined the law school in July and is the research director of the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. He will teach at the clinic’s New York City location and Bigoness will continue teaching at its Ithaca location.

Reiss previously taught at Brooklyn Law School where he founded its Community Development Clinic. He explained that he is enthusiastic to apply his experiences to the clinic.

“I have represented entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs over the course of my legal career, first in practice and then as a director of a law clinic, and can’t wait to get started at the [Cornell] Tech campus,” Reiss said.

Shaping the NYC Skyline

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David Shamshovich, Camila Almeida, and Brenda Slochowsky just posted an episode of their podcast, Shaping The NYC Skyline. In this episode (mysteriously titled “Uncovering the Whole Elephant: The Evolution of Real Estate” — mysterious, that is, until you listen to it).

They interviewed me back in May when I was at Brooklyn Law School. The Apple podcast write-up states

Buckle up, Skyliners, for an illuminating episode featuring Professor David Reiss, formerly of Brooklyn Law School and now at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech. Renowned for his expertise in real estate finance and community development, Professor Reiss has shaped countless legal minds, including our very own David Shamshovich, with his practical approach to complex concepts. This episode offers a rare glimpse into his journey from NYU Law School and prestigious law firms to his influential role in academia, where he has spent over two decades demystifying real property law.

Starting as an associate at major law firms, David soon discovered his passion for teaching. This led him to Brooklyn Law School, where he served as a professor and the founding director of the Community Development Clinic. His dedication to education is matched by his commitment to real-world impact, evidenced by his work with not-for-profits and his previous role as Chair of the NYC Rent Guidelines Board.

In this episode, David delves into the critical role the Community Development Clinic has played in providing hands-on experience to students, preparing them for real-world transactional and corporate real estate challenges. He emphasizes the importance of consumer protection in the housing market, drawing lessons from the subprime mortgage crisis. David also shares insights on the evolution of real estate finance, discussing the transition from mutual savings to sophisticated global capital markets, and the lasting impacts of historical events like the Great Depression and the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of how these complex systems work and the importance of regulatory frameworks in protecting consumers and maintaining market stability. David’s ability to simplify intricate concepts has made him a beloved figure among students and colleagues alike, earning him a reputation as one of the best in his field.

Join us as we explore Professor David Reiss’s extraordinary career, his innovative approach to legal education, and his deep belief in the power of practical experience. Without further ado, we present Professor David Reiss, a beacon of knowledge and a guiding light in Shaping the NYC Skyline!

More on Shaping the NYC Skyline:

Website – https://www.seidenschein.com/podcast/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/shaping-the-nyc-skyline/

Instagram – Shaping the NYC Skyline (@shapingthenycskyline)

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@ShapingtheNYCSkyline

Tech Entrepreneurship Clinic in NYC

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Cornell has just formally announced the creation of its first NYC law clinic, a branch of the law school’s Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, to be located on the Cornell Tech campus. You can read more here.

 

FHFA’s $500MM Win

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Bloomberg quoted me in Nomura, RBS Defective-Bond Suit Loss Seen Spurring Deals. It reads, in part,

Nomura Holdings Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc may face $500 million in damages for what a judge called an “enormous” deception in the sale of defective mortgage-backed securities, a ruling that may spur other banks to settle similar claims tied to the 2008 financial crisis.

Nomura and RBS were excoriated in a 361-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, whose ruling followed the first trial of claims that banks sold flawed securities to government-owned mortgage companies. After a three-week trial, Cote said they misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and set a damages formula that may result in the government winning about half its original claim of $1 billion.

“The offering documents did not correctly describe the mortgage loans,” Cote, who heard the case without a jury, wrote Monday. “The magnitude of falsity, conservatively measured, is enormous.”

Before the trial, FHFA had reached $17.9 billion in settlements with other banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The ruling against Nomura and RBS may encourage other banks to settle mortgage-related suits brought by regulators and private investors rather than face the bad publicity and cost of an adverse judgment, said Robert C. Hockett, a professor at Cornell Law School.

“They look pretty bad,” Hockett said in an interview. “They look like the strategy has blown up in their faces.”

Cote ordered the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which filed the case, to propose how much the banks should pay as a result of her ruling.

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Cote rejected the banks’ claim that the housing crash, and not defects in the loans, was responsible for the collapse of the mortgage-backed securities.

David Reiss, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, called Cote’s ruling “incredibly thorough.” The judge included detailed factual rulings that may make it difficult for Nomura and RBS to win on appeal, he said.

Reiss on Citigroup Settlement

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Law360 quoted me in Feds Deploy Potent Bank Fraud Law In $7B Citi Pact (behind a paywall). It reads in part:

The U.S. Department of Justice’s $7 billion mortgage bond settlement with Citigroup Inc. on Monday may not have been possible without the help of a once-obscure fraud law that has become a legal magic wand for prosecutors.

Citigroup’s settlement included a $4 billion civil fine under the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act, the largest such penalty in history. FIRREA was passed in the wake of the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis but has been dusted off in recent years as prosecutors have targeted major Wall Street banks that packaged and sold toxic residential mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 economic collapse.

The law’s government-friendly provisions are well-documented. FIRREA contains a 10-year statute of limitations, rather than the typical five-year window for fraud suits. That has permitted the government to comfortably sue banks over conduct that occurred in 2006 and 2007, when many of the shoddy loans implicated in the crisis were securitized. Prosecutors can use tolling agreements to keep potential claims alive even longer.

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The sheer size of the government’s FIRREA fines thus far, combined with the lack of case law underpinning the statute, has placed banks and their defense counsel in a difficult negotiating position, according to David Reiss, a professor at Brooklyn Law School.

“The message for people in negotiations is: Expect to pay a lot, or else, the government is going to call your bluff,” Reiss said. “It’s the Wild West for civil penalties.”

Monday’s settlement relates to Citigroup’s due diligence on loans that were packaged into securities and sold to investors for tens of billions of dollars. According to an agreed-upon statement of facts, the bank “received information indicating that, for certain loan pools, significant percentages of the loans reviewed did not conform to the representations provided to investors about the pools of loans to be securitized.”

In one case, a Citigroup trader wrote an internal email questioning the quality of loans in mortgage-backed securities issued in 2007. The trader said that he “went through the diligence reports and think that we should start praying … I would not be surprised if half of these loans went down.”

The bank did not admit to breaking any particular law, and neither it nor any individual employees were criminally charged. At the same time, DOJ officials were quick to point out that the settlement did not release Citigroup or any individuals from potential criminal liability.

Reiss said the threat of criminal prosecution could become a hallmark of FIRREA cases, giving banks another cause for concern.

“That again demonstrates a lot of leverage on the side of the government,” Reiss said. “It’s a powerful tool to keep in your back pocket.”