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

Dean Jelani Jefferson Exum has announced that the Public Interest Center at St. John’s Law will be named the DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center in honor of alumna Rose DiMartino ’81 and her spouse, Karen Sue Smith, whose multimillion-dollar gift will endow the Center’s programs and initiatives. It’s the largest naming gift in the Law School’s 100-year history.

For more than a decade, the DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center has offered St. John’s Law students opportunities to build practical knowledge and skills while promoting social justice and serving the public good. Among the Center’s initiatives is the popular Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program, which provides generous stipends that enable students to accept full-time, unpaid summer positions with nonprofit organizations, courts, and government agencies. A longtime supporter of the Program, DiMartino funds multiple summer fellowships.

Students also gain valuable experience by participating in Center-coordinated pro bono programs, including the Spring Break Service Program, Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office (CLARO) Project, and Pro Bono Working Lunch. These programs receive funding through the Center’s annual Public Interest Auction, which DiMartino and other alumni generously support with their donations and winning bids.

Now newly endowed, under the leadership of Director Jeanne Ortiz Ortiz, the Center will augment these offerings by launching the Public Interest Intensive and other programming; increasing stipends for summer fellows and for the student fellows who drive the Center’s year-round work; broadening pro bono initiatives that give students hands-on legal experience serving their community; and convening symposia to address urgent issues affecting underserved New Yorkers.

Read more about the Center's renaming

January 29, 2026 | Center for Bankruptcy Studies 100th Anniversary Celebration
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Winston & Strawn, Manhattan
Honoree: Hon. Jil Mazer-Marino '90
This event is open to St. John’s Law alumni working in bankruptcy law or related industries. Please RSVP to Attend today!

February 5, 2026 | DRS Student-Alumni Reception
7 to 9 p.m.
Connolly’s Times Square, Manhattan
Honoree: Daniel E. Merker '11
This event is open to current DRS students and DRS alumni. Please RSVP to attend by February 1, 2026.

February 10, 2026 | 100th Anniversary Celebration: Assistant District Attorney Reunion
7 to 9:30 p.m.
New York Athletic Club, Manhattan
Honorees:

This event is open to St. John’s Law alumni who are current or former Assistant District Attorneys. To attend, please RSVP to largeyr@stjohns.edu or (718) 990-6062 by February 6, 2026.

The Law School’s Public Interest Auction on March 19, 2026 will celebrate our 100th anniversary, the Auction’s 30th anniversary, and the DiMartino/Smith Public Interest Center’s 15th anniversary. Please support this important fundraiser for our public interest programs and initiatives by:

Thank you!

Steven Reisman '90, Global Chair of Katten’s Insolvency and Restructuring Practice, is in this month’s Bankruptcy Alumni Spotlight, brought to you by our Center for Bankruptcy Studies. The spotlight also shines on the Law School’s Real Estate alumni via our Mattone Family Institute for Real Estate Law.

Nicolás Maduro’s arrest in Venezuela and his subsequent appearance in federal district court in Manhattan have raised significant legal questions. In a post for First Things, Professor Mark Movsesian addresses one of them: How can the United States arrest a foreign head of state for violating U.S. narcotics laws when the alleged conduct occurred outside the country and the foreign state did not consent to the arrest? Professor Movsesian spoke about incorporation of the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses at 80 Years of Religious Liberty, a two-part conference at the University of Seoul and Doshisha University (Kyoto). His article, “Status, Conduct, Belief, and Message: The Wedding Vendor Cases,” appears in a symposium issue of the Chicago-Kent Law Review.

Professor Michael Perino is quoted in a New York Law Journal story on how securities class actions have transformed in the 30 years since Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. He also completed “The Wolves of Wall Street,” a chapter in the forthcoming book Regulation and Imagination: Legal, Historical, and Literary Perspectives on Highway Robbery (The Green Bag Press). In it, Professor Perino examines depictions of Wall Street in popular literature at the turn of the 20th century.

Earlier this month, St. John’s Law faculty members participated on panels and received awards and nominations at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA. Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship Eva Subotnik shares highlights from a busy and impactful event in this Faculty Focus blog post.

In the latest installment of our Law Matters story series, Dean Jelani Jefferson Exum speaks with Professor Robin Boyle-Laisure about her scholarship and advocacy addressing cults and human trafficking. Drawing on nearly three decades of research and writing, Professor Boyle-Laisure is the author of Taken No More: Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults (Bloomsbury 2025), a practical guide for parents and caregivers that includes a chapter on online predatory behavior. Their conversation explores what drew Professor Boyle-Laisure to this work and how her own research and writing inform her approach to teaching legal writing and drafting at St. John’s Law. Read the interview.

St. John's Law students honored the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by participating in a Day of Service at the Queens Civil Court. Designed to promote civic engagement and volunteerism in the community, the courthouse service project was organized by our Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights, under the leadership of Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Vernadette Horne, together with the New York State Unified Court System - Civic Engagement, the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission, and the New York State Supreme Court, Queens County, Civil Term.

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Please email Lori Herz, See infra's Managing Editor and Lead Writer, at herzl@stjohns.edu.

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