Professor Beverly McQueary Smith to Retire

Celebration to be Held at Touro Law on Sunday, April 28 at 11:00 am; Amistad Long Island Black Bar Hosting Retirement Party on Saturday Night, April 27

April 25, 2013

Touro Law Center has announced that Professor Beverly McQueary Smith will be retiring at the end of this semester after 25 years of service to the school and will hold the title Professor Emeritus of Advocacy. A brunch in her honor will be held on Sunday, April 28 at 11:00 am. This event is open to all members of the Touro Law community free of charge. The Long Island Black Bar Association is also hosting a celebratory event in her honor on Saturday, April 27 from 6:00 – 11:00 pm at the Chelsea Mansion in East Norwich, NY.
 
“Beverly has made an impact on so many of our alumni and left an indelible impression on our institution and the legal community. She will be greatly missed but never forgotten,” said Dean Patricia Salkin.

Professor McQueary Smith joined Touro Law’s faculty in 1988. She has taught contracts, torts, environmental law, consumer law, race and American law, land use planning and zoning, appellate advocacy, professional responsibility and legislation. She serves or has served on several boards including the Jersey City Medical Center, the Minority Environmental Lawyers Association, Southern Africa Environment Project, Consumers Union--the publishers of Consumers Reports, and from 1988-2005, she was a member of the Board of Governors of the National Bar Association (NBA). She chaired the Southern Africa Environmental Project and the National Campaign on Black Health. She also served as a board member of the New York County Lawyers Association and the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO). In August 2000, she was elected to the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. In 2000, she became the Secretary-Treasurer of CLEO. She also served on the Advisory Group of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for Environmental Justice, and the Enforcement Committee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Group of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (NEJAC). In 2003, she became a member of the New York State Bar Association’s House of Delegates. In January 2006, she became Secretary to the Women in Legal Education Section of the Association of American Law Schools. From January 2008 to January 2009, Professor McQueary Smith chaired the Section. In April 2006, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Touro Law School Chapter of the National Black Law Students’ Association. In September 2007, she earned a Trailblazer Award from the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholars Conference. In spring 2010, she became President of the North Jersey Chapter of the Links, Inc., and in July 2010, the International President of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., appointed her to the Internal Leadership Training for External Service Committee.

In 1988, she became co-chair of the Law Professors Division of the NBA. After serving a three -year term as co-chair, she then became director of Region II of the NBA. After a three year stint as Board Member-at-Large; she became a vice president in 1995 and gained the President-elect post of the NBA in 1997. She was installed as President of the National Bar Association on July 31, 1998 in Memphis, TN. As President of the NBA, she represented some 18,000 Black lawyers, judges, legal scholars and law students throughout the United States of America, and increasingly the world. In recent years the NBA has formed international affiliate chapters in Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, South Africa, England, Canada and Ghana.

A member of The Links, Inc., and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Professor McQueary Smith is also a member of the American Law Institute, and from November 1997 until 2002 served as a Commissioner of the New York State Ethics Commission for the Unified Courts System.

She authored a host of articles on a wide variety of topics and delivered papers at professional and continuing legal education programs in the United States and abroad. She also served as an official election observer during the 1994 South African Elections.

She has a Bachelor of Arts from Jersey City State College, a Master of Arts from Rutgers--The State University of New Jersey, a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.

Professor McQueary Smith is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia, and the States of West Virginia, Texas and New Jersey. After graduating from NYU Law School, she embarked on a seven year career with the federal government. During that time she worked for U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-NY); clerked for a federal district court judge; served as the Program Advisor for Mail Order Rule Enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission and as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of the Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior where she drafted a federal regulation dealing with surface coal mining on Indian lands.

If you are interested in attending the brunch, please contact Jaclyn Curtin at (631) 761-7064 or email events@tourolaw.edu. If you are interested in purchasing tickets for the Amistad celebration on Saturday evening, please visit www.amistadblackbar.org.

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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center’s 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.  Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law, which has a student body of approximately 750 and an alumni base of more than 5,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs, several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of the Touro College system.

About the Touro College and University System
Touro is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, Paris and Florida. New York Medical College, Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as  Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division are separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to: http://www.touro.edu/media/.


For more info contact:
Patti Desrochers
Director of Communications
pattid@tourolaw.edu
(631) 761-7062

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