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

For 100 years, St. John’s Law has opened doors to students whose lived experiences reflect the rich fabric of New York City and the surrounding cities, states, and nations. That proud history was resonant on Sunday, May 17, 2026, as 267 J.D. candidates and 61 LL.M. candidates processed through St. John’s Carnesecca Arena to the applause and cheers of faculty, alumni, family, and friends celebrating their achievements at the Law School’s Commencement Exercises. You can read more about Commencement and the inspiring message shared by this year’s speaker, esteemed alumnus John P. “Jack” Clarke ’55CBA, ’57L, ’24HON. You can also view the Commencement photo gallery and learn how to get involved in the St. John’s Law Alumni Association.

When they walked across the Commencement stage and became St. John’s Law graduates, Shereeza Ahmad ’26, Isabella Bernato ’26, Yuxi (Sam) Chen ’26, Bella Garabedian ’26, Lincoln Gee ’26, Chizahra (Zahra) Uzohue ’26, and Janet Char Lin Wong ’26 shared a special bond: As St. John’s Law Pro Bono Scholars, they all had already taken and passed the New York Bar Exam. Read more about the Pro Bono Scholars Program that gave them a head start on their legal careers.

St. John’s Law was proud to become the first law school in the Eastern District of New York to host a naturalization ceremony, recently welcoming 50 citizenship candidates from 29 countries who took the Oath of Allegiance and received their Certificates of Naturalization. Organized by the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann Justice for All: Courts and the Community Initiative, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the ceremony featured St. John’s Law alumni serving in the federal judiciary. Hon. James M. Wicks ’89 served as master of ceremonies, administered the Oath of Allegiance, and delivered closing remarks, while Hon. P. Kevin Castel ’72SVC, ’75L, ’04HON and Hon. Joanna Seybert ’71 led the Pledge of Allegiance. Judges participating in the presentation of Certificates included Hon. Sheryl P. Giugliano ’08L, ’10LLM, Hon. Jil Mazer-Marino ’90, and Hon. Mary Kay Vyskocil ’83. Read more about the ceremony.

The 2026 St. John’s Law magazine showcases the excellence, prominence, and impact that define the Law School at 100 and carry us into our next century of transformative education and unrivaled opportunity. It includes Law Matters, a special features section sharing interviews with faculty about their teaching, research, writing, and work in the field. Alumni should have received the print edition of the magazine in the mail, and everyone can now read the digital edition online.

On June 18, 2026, the Law School community will gather at Casa Cipriani in Lower Manhattan for The Centennial Gala, the culminating event of our year-long 100th Anniversary celebration. To purchase tickets and learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please visit the Gala website. If you have any questions, email us at stjohnslaw100@stjohns.edu.

Please save the dates for two October golf outings supporting student scholarships:

Hon. Theodore T. Jones, Jr. ’72L, ’07HON Memorial Golf Outing*
Monday, October 5, 2026
Rockaway Hunting Club, Lawrence, NY
*Note: The new date and location accommodates the Law School’s Centennial Gala in June.

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

We’ll share more details soon. Whether you join us for one outing or both, we look forward to seeing you on the green!

Spirits and energy were high at the annual Public Interest Auction coordinated by our DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center. Behind the scenes, a dedicated group of volunteers on the Alumni Auction Committee helped make the event—and a companion silent auction held at Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP, through the generosity of firm partners Eric J. Belfi ’95 and Jonathan Gardner ’90—a success. Many thanks to the members of this year’s Alumni Auction Committee:

Read the story about the Alumni Auction Committee that helped raise $119,120 from the two auctions to benefit St. John’s Law students.

Every day, St. John’s Law alumni are making their mark in law and business. Here's just a sampling of recent alumni career moves and professional achievements:

We share alumni news twice a year in Class Notes. To feature your news in the next edition, please complete our Alumni News Submission Form.

The latest installment of the Center for Bankruptcy Studies Bankruptcy Alumni Spotlight series features Clifford Chance partner Douglas E. Deutsch ‘96L, ‘01LL.M. Read the Q&A.

We’re pleased to announce that Professor Noa Ben-Asher will serve as Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship at St. John’s Law beginning June 1, 2026. They succeed Professor Eva Subotnik, who has guided faculty scholarship and impact in this important leadership role since 2020, producing our Faculty Focus blog, annual Faculty Workshop Series, and 100th anniversary Faculty Scholarship Symposium, among other achievements.

The Law School faculty gathered recently to celebrate Professor Rosemary Salomone, who has retired and will become the Kenneth Wang Professor of Law Emerita. Among Professor Salomone’s scholarly accomplishments are numerous books, articles, book chapters, and commentaries as well as countless presentations and interviews on a wide range of topics, including education law and policy, children’s rights, and language rights. Read more.

Professor Ashley B. Armstrong and Professor Anna Arons presented at the NYU Scholarship Clinic, a day-long program designed to help aspiring legal academics prepare for the job market. Professor Arons spoke on a panel about Developing Your Scholarship and Scholarly Agenda. Professor Armstrong moderated a presentation on The Dilemmas of Political Disqualification in the Inter-American Court and led a lunchtime Q&A session.

In other news, Professor Arons’s article, “Private Prosecution and the State,” has been published in the NYU Law Review. The article received the AALS Family and Juvenile Law Section’s Emerging Scholar Award earlier this year.

At a Robert H. Jackson Center online symposium on The Ethics and Philosophy of Prosecution: Justice vs. Revenge, Professor John Q. Barrett spoke about the 1945-1946 international trial at Nuremberg of Nazi war criminals, including Justice Jackson’s work as U.S. chief prosecutor.

Professor Elaine Chiu helped organize the Fifth Annual Asian American Pacific Islander-Middle Eastern North African Women Law Professors Workshop at Roger Williams University School of Law, where she presented her latest work-in-progress, “Signals from Space,” and moderated a panel about recent attacks on academic freedom. Professor Chiu also attended the Asian American Pacific Islander Summit hosted by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in Washington, D.C. 

Professor Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal presented his draft paper, “The Legal Realism of W.E.B. Du Bois,” at the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) inaugural Progressive Scholars Workshop at Boston University School of Law.

The U.S. Department of State has selected Professor Mark Movsesian for a three-year term as a Fulbright Specialist. The Fulbright Specialist Program supports short-term academic projects at universities abroad, including teaching and curriculum development.

Professor Rosemary Salomone moderated a panel discussion on Language Rights in the Age of AI: From Emerging Issues to Governance Gaps for an online international symposium on Languages and Technology in an Uncertain World: Threats and Possibilities. The symposium was organized by the Study Group on Language and the United Nations, of which she is a member, in collaboration with the NGO Committee on Language and Languages, the Esperantic Studies Foundation, and the Consortium for Language Policy and Planning.

Professor Jeremy Sheff, Director of St. John’s Intellectual Property Law Center (IPLC), hosted the 2026 Intellectual Property Law and Philosophy Workshop (IPLaP). Founded in 2022 as a local academic workshop, IPLaP has expanded into a national conference, with scholars from across the country convening to discuss their research about important theoretical questions raised by intellectual property law, law and technology, and the regulation of creativity, expression, and knowledge.

On a week-long service trip to El Paso, TX, St. John’s Law Professor Adrián E. Alvarez and students Paola Alvarado ’28 and Priscila D. Ruiz ’26 explored the human realities of border migration and reflected on how the law shapes—and is shaped by—those human experiences. Organized by St. John’s Institute for Vincentian Impact in partnership with the nonprofit Abara, the five-day Border Encounter service immersion, or Plunge, program was designed to deepen empathy and understanding at the U.S.–Mexico border. Learn more about the Texas service trip.

Last year, Gianna Grillo ’26 wrote “Legislative Update: New York’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act Amendments and Heirs Property Protection and Deed Theft Prevention Act of 2024” for the N.Y. Real Property Law Journal, the official publication of the New York State Bar Association’s Real Property Law Section, and the Commentaries on N.Y. Real Property Law, a companion blog produced by the Journal's student editors.Recently, Gianna’s article was cited in a reply affirmation filed in Kings County Supreme Court—an exciting example of how journal work helps prepare St. John’s Law students for practice through rigorous legal research, analysis, and writing on timely issues affecting the profession.

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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