CityLaw Profile: Elizabeth Fine, General Counsel, Empire State Development Corporation

Elizabeth Fine became General Counsel and Executive Vice-President of the Empire State Development Corporation in 2014 after a long career of government service. Fine grew up in New Haven, Washington D.C., and Lima, Peru. Her family eventually settled in the Boston area, where Fine graduated Brookline High School. Jonathan Fine, Elizabeth’s father, had worked in Lima for the Agency for International Development while her mother, Edith W. Fine, was an administrator for the Peace Corp. … <Read More>


CityLaw Profile: Caroline Harris – A Woman’s Journey to Land Use

Caroline Harris’s career as a land use attorney stems from an early interest in urban affairs and planning.  Harris was born in New York City and grew up in Peter Cooper Village. As a student at the then all-female Hunter College High School, she started the first student volunteer program for Head Start, earning Mayor Lindsay’s award for “Distinguished Volunteer Supervision.”  Harris spent five months in Israel before entering Trinity College, where she majored in … <Read More>


Renter Defeats Pet Eviction

Landlord attempted to evict tenant who owned a pitbull as an emotional support animal. On December 8, 2017, a tenant moved into a rent-controlled apartment located at 280 East Burnside Avenue in the Bronx.  The tenant signed a two-year lease which contained a conspicuous provision prohibiting pets on the premises without landlord consent.  In December 2017, in an exchange of emails the tenant notified the building’s landlord that she owned a female pitbull named “Bella,” … <Read More>


Remembering Nicholas Scoppetta

Nicholas Scoppetta, who passed away in March at age 83, represented the best in the City’s civic life. He often attended New York Law School events and was the featured speaker at a CityLaw Breakfast on September 12, 1997. At that time he headed the Administration for Children’s Services, and was deep in litigation with advocates for children who wanted the federal court to take over his agency. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had appointed Scoppetta … <Read More>


CityLaw: Racial Disparity Persists in NYC’s Examination High Schools

(Editor’s Note:  The Department of Education recently released statistics on the first round of 2015 admissions for New York City’s examination high schools.  According to their report, offers to join the 2015-2016 incoming class at Stuyvesant High School counts just ten African-American and twenty Latino students.  The following by Professor Aaron Saiger of Fordham University’s School of Law was published in the January/February issue of CityLaw.)

New York City is experiencing one of its … <Read More>