Author Archives: Kerin E. Coughlin

SAMPLE post: “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy!

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Hello,

The cultural source I will use for my “Law in Culture Review” assignment is a book called “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy.  (Actually it’s two books: it’s REALLY long. with more than 1200 pages, so it’s broken into two volumes!)  It was published in 1869.  According to Wikipedia, it “chronicles the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families.”  It is law-themed because it tells the story of a war, and wars usually occur because one nation believes another nation has broken the law, and there are many laws relating to wars, like how they can be declared and how they are conducted.  I don’t think I can read all 1200 pages this semester, but I’ll definitely read at least 150 pages as required by this assignment, hopefully more.  Wish me luck!

Prof. C.

Urgent message from CUNY about vaccination

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Dear Students:

PLEASE read the following urgent message about vaccination from CUNY Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Daniel Lemons.

You have received multiple communications via a variety of media about CUNY’s Fall Term Vaccination Policy. The vaccination mandate was announced on May 10 by the governor and the chancellor and on July 6 the CUNY Board of Trustees approved the policy governing the mandate. The mandate applies to all students taking in-person and hybrid courses.

A number of students have reported being told, for a variety of reasons, that even though they are in a hybrid course, they do not need to be vaccinated. Among those reasons is that the faculty member has made the previously in-person or hybrid course, online. This is incorrect.

Individual faculty members may not decide on their own to change the modality of the course they are teaching. No CUNY courses have been allowed to change what was published in CUNYfirst when students registered. There have been temporary suspensions of in-person meetings due to insufficient space for social distancing of unvaccinated students, but no permanent changes. Students registered for in-person or hybrid courses as so listed in CUNYfirst must be vaccinated and upload proof of vaccination by Monday, September 27. All students registered for these courses must follow the vaccination policy, as has been communicated since May 10 when the vaccine mandate was announced.

 
Feel free to contact me (Coughlin) with any questions.

New app to get on campus!

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Hello Students!

THANK YOU for a terrific trip today!  I hope you enjoyed it, and that you learned from it.

As we discussed and you may have seen in emails, etc. starting Monday, Sept. 27, CUNY will no longer use the Everbridge VaxPass to get on campus.  You’ll now be required to show a CLEARED4  “blue pass”!  You can find some information here: https://www.citytech.cuny.edu/comingtocampus/  If I get additional information, I’ll definitely pass it along.

If you didn’t yet, PLEASE complete LAW 1101 quiz #1 on Blackboard before 11:59pm today!

THANK YOU again, have a great weekend, I look forward to seeing you in class Tuesday!

Cheers,

Prof. C.

LAW 1101 Quiz #1 is AVAILABLE! Due 11:59pm Thursday Sept. 23!

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Good evening Students!

Don’t forget, LAW 1101 quiz #1 is available on Blackboard, and it’s due by 11:59pm tomorrow!  (Thursday, Sept. 23)  Please complete it during any one-hour period before then.

I’m still hopeful the weather will cooperate and we can take our walking tour of the Brooklyn courts on Thursday!  Either way, let’s meet at the entrance to the New Academic Building (where our class meets) at 10am and decide whether to take the tour, or hold regular class and postpone the tour.

Have a great evening, see you tomorrow!

Prof. C.

Get your copy of the CPLR!!

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Dear Students!

You will need to have a paper copy of the 2021 version of New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules (the “CPLR”) in class starting Tuesday, October 5.  That’s not far away!  Please order it now.  This is the one I showed you, named in the syllabus:

  • Civil Practice Law and Rules of the State of New York Plus Comprehensive Appendix of Related Statute (Looseleaf Law Publications, Inc., ISBN# 9780930137120): $59.95 at the City Tech Bookstore or the publisher’s website.

I have not seen a paper copy of this one but it looks like it will do the trick:

  • Consolidated Laws of New York Civil Practice Law & Rules 2021 Edition by Jason Lee (ed.) (New York Government independent publisher, ISBN #979-8712577750), about $30 at alibris.com, about $35 at amazon.com.

This one is NOT ideal, because it is not current, but it is only two years old, so if necessary, it should be OK:

  • New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules 2019 Edition by Evgenia Naumchenko (ed.) (New York Legislature independent publisher, ISBN # 9781097208609), available for $15-30 at alibris.com and sandmanbooks.com.

PLEASE order your book SOON!!  October 5 is not far away, and shipping can be slow!  When you order it, please let me know which one you get, preferably by posting here on OL (so your classmates see), or email me.  If several of you order one of the “non-bookstore” options, I may order it too!

If you can get a current paper copy of the CPLR from another source, like a friend or library, let me know and we’ll see if it can work.  Finally, if purchasing a book creates significant financial hardship, talk to me and we’ll figure something out.

THANK YOU!!

Prof. C.

QUIZ today! NO CLASSES tomorrow & Thursday!

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Dear Students,

I hope you all enjoyed your “law-class-free” day!  Most of you have completed the quiz on Blackboard—hooray!!  And most of you did well.  🙂   If you haven’t yet taken the quiz, please do!!  You have until 5:30pm to start it, after that you won’t be able to access it on Blackboard.  You’ll find it in the course titled “2021 Fall LAW 1101 & 1103 FYLC: Intro to Paralegal Studies & Civil Law & Procedure” – NOT the course titled as just LAW 1103.  The quiz is in “Content,” at the top of the list of items.  By the time you read this, I will no longer be available by phone, so if you have questions, please email me and I’ll respond as soon as I can, probably not till tomorrow.

PLEASE NOTE, there are NO CLASSES in the whole college tomorrow (Wed.) and Thursday, Sept. 15-16, in observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.  Classes resume Friday, and we’ll meet again next Tuesday, Sept. 21 in our regular classroom.  Before that class, please read C&W ch. 2 on BB & “NYS Courts: Introductory Guide” right here.  Please also check out the “Court System Materials” posted on the “Class notes & materials” page, near the bottom.  I’ll give you paper copies Tuesday!

I have posted a bunch of new information here on OpenLab!!  Under “Events & info,” there’s info about a FREE online workshop to become a licensed Notary Public (a TERRIFIC advantage for getting a paralegal job) and FREE help with writing in all courses, offered by City Tech’s Writing Center.  Under “Articles,” there’s a bunch of new articles that might interest you, about which you might want to post for extra credit, and a link to sign up for free online access to The New York Times, so you can access those articles and lots of other interesting stuff!.

Enjoy the rest of the day, week, and weekend, I look forward to seeing you Tuesday!

Cheers,

Prof. C.

QUIZ is available! till 5pm

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Good morning Students!

Remember, we will not meet for class today!  However, you will take LAW 1103 Quiz #1 today, during any one-hour period until 5pm. It’s now available to you on Blackboard, in “Content.”  If you have any questions or problems regarding it (or anything), it’s best to call me at 718.260.4939. (You can also email me, but I may not respond as quickly.)

Good luck, have a great day! Prof. C.

NO meeting Tues. Sept. 14!! & QUIZ!!

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Hello Students!

Just a reminder, WE WILL NOT MEET TOMORROW, Tues. Sept. 14!  Instead, you’ll take 1103 Civil Procedure Quiz #1 on Blackboard during any one-hour period between 10am-5pm.  (You’ll find it in “Content.”)  Also, everyone should have individual meetings with me in place of our regular class session–if you haven’t yet scheduled one, please email me with times you’re available so we can set it up.

THANK YOU for your terrific “Who I Am” posts!  I’ve graded and responded to each of them–if you don’t see my reply to yours, please let me know.  Also, I’ve recorded the grades (out of 3) in the “GradeBook” which you can access by clicking “Check your grades here!” in the bottom right corner of the “home” page.  If you posted a “Who I Am” and you don’t see a grade, let me know!  DON’T FORGET to “reply” to one of your fellow students’ posts!  That’s also a homework assignment, for which you’ll get 3 out of 3 points just for doing it!

I’ll be available all day tomorrow (Tues.) by phone and email for any questions.  Have a pleasant evening!

Prof. C.

SAMPLE legal news response! for extra credit!!

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Dear Students:

Here’s the assignment for Legal News Responses that you may post for extra credit. The following excellent legal news response was posted by a student in my Fall 2020 LAW 1101/1103 FYLC.  She earned two extra points on her midterm exam, and we all had an interesting discussion!  As you can see, legal news responses are pretty easy, and can be fun to write.  I hope you’ll write them! 

Prof. C.

The article I chose was called “Columbus Day Or Indigenous Peoples’ Day?” I’m not sure if the author is Leila Fadel but National Desk intern Megan Manata contributed to this report. This was written on October 14, 2019  for the NPR Daily Newsletter and was heard on the Morning Edition.https://www.npr.org/2019/10/14/769083847/columbus-day-or-indigenous-peoples-day

The article was about the reasons explaining why the second Monday in October shouldn’t be called Columbus Day.  Instead, it should be called Indigenous Day or another name that celebrates the Indigenous communities. The reason is it’s been giving memory and honor to a person who did a lot of damage to the indigenous community of North America by raping, causing genocide to their people, and pillaging. We supposedly celebrate that day and that person because he found ‘America’, but technically speaking he didn’t even reach America. Their is a lot of controversy of what should happen to this day because Italians see it as a day where they can finally be safe and accepted.  Others say we need another way to contribute to representation of all different kinds of people on this day. But the objection is clear, that we should change the name everywhere, eradicating Columbus Day so it can be Indigenous Day, honoring people who were first in America, who where kicked out wrongly, abused and killed as a result of Christopher Columbus.

I 100% support this movement because instead of setting our history right we are telling lies and hurting the Indigenous communities. I didn’t know many of them went to our schools and that they even had to hear of this man been spoken of with such praises and proudness over, what he supposedly did. I remember being in school and learning of him thinking he was this great man but little did I know the truth. The Native Americans even have to hear that a whole day is dedicated to this man everyone stopping what there doing to honor this man, that’s like a punishment to the Indigenous community when they should be the ones being celebrated for not Columbus. The law should be changed to rename the day Indigenous Day as a step toward extinguishing the suffering of the Native Americans once and for all. A cruelty is being done towards them when they went through so much over a land they actually respect not like us, who destroy the land with global warming, forests being cut down, destroying animals homes etc. I see Italians’ point of view but they shouldn’t identify to this man as a symbol to their country because of all the inhuman stuff he did to this people.  We need to change the law to amend the wrong of our past, not just in one state but in all.

Who I am!

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I am Kerin Coughlin, the instructor of these courses!  I teach in our Law and Paralegal Studies program because I love law, and I love teaching!  Many moons ago, I was a junior high school Social Studies teacher, then I became a lawyer, and I practiced law full-time for about twelve years.  During most of that time, I was a commercial litigator, which means I represented parties to civil lawsuits involving businesses.  While I was practicing full-time, I started teaching law part-time, then I decided to switch it up.  This is my eighth year teaching full-time here at City Tech.  I love it!  My favorite part of teaching is working with students.  You’re all awesome! 🙂

Something I want you to know about me is that I love my cat, Darryl.  I adopted him nine years ago, when he was about one year old, after Hurricane Sandy which flooded the house in Breezy Point where he lived with a family.  The family moved to a shelter that didn’t take cats, so they put him up for adoption.  I’m so glad they did!  He came to live with me a few weeks later.  He’s a wonderful roommate, though he’s really lazy about doing chores.  Below is one of my favorite photos of him, snuggling with the Bluebook, which you’ll learn to love as much as he does as you progress through our program!

WELCOME to Law and Paralegal Studies!  🙂

Prof. C.