Welcome to another edition of See infra, delivering a sampling of news from St. John's Law. 

You could feel the joy and energy in the room as 600 alumni, benefactors, faculty, and students gathered at Casa Cipriani in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the Law School’s 100 years of excellence, prominence, and impact at The Centennial Gala.

The capstone event in our year-long 100th Anniversary Celebration raised $1 million for student scholarships and fellowships. The program featured alumni, faculty, and student speakers, who shared reflections on St. John’s Law and the lawyers it educates to lead and serve locally, nationally, and globally.

Thanking everyone who helped make the milestone evening possible, Dean Jelani Jefferson Exum offered a toast:

“To our students—past, present, and future. May they pursue excellence in all they do, achieve prominence through their talents and character, and make an impact that strengthens their communities, their profession, and our world. May they carry forward the proud legacy of St. John's Law and help write the next great chapter of our story.”

Read more about the Gala and view the event photo gallery.

If you couldn’t attend the Gala, you can still make a gift to celebrate 100 years of St. John’s Law and welcome its second century of excellence, prominence, and impact. Thank you!

As Chairman of Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP, Eric Belfi ’95 continues to evolve and grow the leading plaintiffs’ firm. In a story that originally appeared in St. John’s Law magazine, the accomplished litigator and former prosecutor shares his view of leadership as stewardship. Read on!

The July edition of our Center for Bankruptcy Studies Alumni Spotlight series features David Cooper ‘13, Chief of Bankruptcy Litigation in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. In the interview, he reflects on his public service with the New York City Law Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office, what surprised him most about practicing bankruptcy law, and the advice he offers today's law students and young lawyers. The full Q&A is online.

Join us this fall as we host two golf outings to support student scholarships at St. John’s Law:

Hon. Theodore T. Jones, Jr. ’72L, ’07HON Memorial Golf Outing*
Monday, October 5, 2026
Rockaway Hunting Club, Lawrence, NY
*Note: We moved the event date and location to accommodate The Centennial Gala in June.

Fall Alumni Golf Outing
Monday, October 26, 2026
Nassau Country Club, Glen Cove, NY

We’ll share more details soon and look forward to hitting the links with you!

We are saddened by the passing of Paul J. Napoli ’92. Over three decades as a trial lawyer, he helped shape some of the nation’s most significant environmental, mass tort, and complex litigation, making his mark in cases involving the World Trade Center attacks, the Flint water crisis, the opioid epidemic, PFAS "forever chemicals," and other significant public health and environmental challenges. Paul met his wife, Marie Napoli ’89C, ’93L, while they were students at St. John’s Law. Together, they built a family, a nationally respected law practice, and a lifelong partnership rooted in a shared commitment to the legal profession. We extend our deepest sympathies to Marie, their family, friends, colleagues, and all who knew and loved Paul. May he rest in peace.

The latest editions of Class Notes, Births, and In Memoriam are now online. Catch up on all the news and then share yours! Complete our Alumni News Submission Form to be included in the next publication.

“Systemic Racism as Negligence,” an article by Professor Taifha Natalee Alexander, will be published in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. It examines how tort law can respond to systemic racial harms.

Professor Renee Nicole Allen’s recent article, “The Whiteness of Wealth and Black Student Loan Debt,” was posted on Race, Racism, and the Law, a site dedicated to making law review scholarship more accessible to community activists, students, and non-law faculty. 

A book chapter proposed by Professors Ashley B. Armstrong and Robin Boyle-Laisure has been accepted for publication in the next edition of the Clinical Legal Education Association’s Best Practices series (Carolina Academic Press). Their chapter bridges theory and practice by applying cognitive learning science to experiential legal education.

Professor Boyle-Laisure's book, Taken No More: Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults (Bloomsbury 2025), continues to earn recognition. It was named a finalist in the 2026 International Book Awards and earned a Silver Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association. It also received a favorable review in Psychology Today.

The BYU Law Review has published Professor Evelyn Malavé’s article, “Treatment Sentences,” which uses a critical disability framework to analyze treatment-based sentences in the criminal legal system.

Professor John Q. Barrett lectured at a Bar Association of Erie County program titled Our System of Justice on the Precipice. He spoke about A Constitutional Rot in Us: Applauding Living Justices for Their Constitutional Law Decisions at a New York Law School conference on Constitutionalism, The Rule of Law, and Democracy. For Echoes & Reflections, Professor Barrett gave a webinar (registration required to view) on The Nuremberg Trials and Hollywood’s New Nuremberg Movie, and he delivered an in-person lecture on The International Military Tribunal (IMT), Nuremberg, 1945-1946, at the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous’s Summer Institute for Teachers.

Professors Robin Boyle-Laisure and Tyler Rose Clemons participated in a Feminist Legal Studies Roundtable at Pace University, presenting their respective papers, “Coercive Control” and “Phallophobia.”

Professor Boyle-Laisure presented her research and writing on undue influence, online predators, and coercive control at an International Congress of Law and Mental Health conference in Montréal and at the Annual Conference of the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) in San Diego.

Professor Miriam A. Cherry presented her forthcoming William & Mary Law Review article, "AI's Hidden Workers," at the inaugural conference of The Nordic Research Centre of Labour Law (NORLAB), a new labor law center at BI University in Oslo, Norway.

Professor Colleen Parker presented Strategies to Create Connections and Support Well-Being and Belonging during the AALS Section on Well-Being in Legal Education's Speed Share Series, which focused on the theme Free to Be . . . You and Me: Belonging, Authenticity, and Collective Care in Legal Education.

At the Eleventh Copyright Scholarship Roundtable hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Professor Eva Subotnik served as commentator on “Copyright Litigation after Generative AI,” a work-in-progress by Cardozo Law Professor Jacob Noti-Victo.

On a recent episode of PBS's One-on-One with Steve Adubato, St. John's Law Professor Michael Perino discussed the causes and consequences of the 1929 stock market crash, the subject of his acclaimed book, The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora's Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance.

140 students supported.
$789,400 in summer fellowship stipends.
One milestone summer for public interest!

The DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center is proud to celebrate the largest investment in its Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program to date, supporting a record 140 students working with public interest organizations, courts, and government agencies in New York and beyond.

These summer stipends enable students to put their legal education into practice, build experience, and contribute to work that serves communities and advances access to justice.

Many thanks to all the donors and supporters whose investment in student success makes these experiences possible, including everyone who supported this year’s Public Interest Auction and other fundraising efforts!

Comments, Suggestions, or Content Ideas?
Please email Lori Herz, See infra's Managing Editor and Lead Writer, at herzl@stjohns.edu.

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