Lester Brickman is a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University, located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo's success as a young school has been remarkable, leading some to characterize Cardozo as a...

 of the Yeshiva University and a widely-regarded legal scholar.

Brickman is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

. He holds a juris doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 degree from the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

 and an LLM degree from Yale Law School

Yale Law School

Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

.

He teaches contracts, legal ethics

Legal ethics

Legal ethics encompasses an ethical code governing the conduct of persons engaged in the practice of law and persons more generally in the legal sector.-In the United States:...

 and Land Use and Zoning at the Cardozo School of Law and has written extensively on asbestos litigation

Asbestos and the law

This article concerns asbestos-related legal and regulatory issues. Litigation related to asbestos injuries and property damages has been claimed to be the longest-running mass tort in U.S. history...

 and tort reform

Tort reform

Tort reform refers to proposed changes in common law civil justice systems that would reduce tort litigation or damages. Tort actions are civil common law claims first created in the English commonwealth system as a non-legislative means for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to...

. Brickman has espoused the Early Offer model of allocating contingent fee

Contingent fee

A contingent fee or conditional fee is any fee for services provided where the fee is only payable if there is a favourable result...

s as a way of reforming the American tort law system.

One noted area in which his reform efforts have already been successful is that of nonrefundable retainers. After he wrote several law review

Law review

A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...

 articles and an amicus curiae

Amicus curiae

An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...

brief deriding them as illegal, the New York Court of Appeals

New York Court of Appeals

The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...

 struck down their use by lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

s in New York State. This holding has been adopted in other states.

Brickman employs a very rigorous socratic method

Socratic method

The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas...

 during class meetings, combining a fast-paced banter with students leavened along the way by his idiosyncratic phrases and original anecdotes, frequently using his catchphrases "make a legal noise" or "difference in degree or difference in kind". The overall effect is intended to scare students into closer reading of case texts (a la the character Professor Kingsfield in The Paper Chase).

He has referred to the school's namesake jurist Benjamin N. Cardozo

Benjamin N. Cardozo

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was a well-known American lawyer and associate Supreme Court Justice. Cardozo is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American common law in the 20th century, in addition to his modesty, philosophy, and vivid prose style...

 as so capable that he "could find consideration

Consideration

Consideration is the central concept in the common law of contracts and is required, in most cases, for a contract to be enforceable. Consideration is the price one pays for another's promise. It can take a number of forms: money, property, a promise, the doing of an act, or even refraining from...

sixteen times before breakfast without breaking a sweat."

External links

• Lester Brickman Congressional Testimony
• Yu.edu: Cardozo Faculty: Lester Brickman