Faculty and Student Partners on Real Estate Finance Blog

Brooklyn Law School Professors Brad Borden and David Reiss have launched REFinblog, a cooperative effort between the two faculty members and Brooklyn Law School students. The new blog focuses on tracking the latest law and practice developments in the field of real estate finance with insight, analysis and commentary on the latest news and cases in the real estate finance arena, with an emphasis on securitization. Currently focused on litigation arising from the 2008 financial crisis, it offers information about "upstream" litigation (lawsuits against underwriters, promoters, and other market actors), "downstream" litigation (bankruptcy and foreclosure cases brought by and against homeowners) as well as other timely information about related tax and regulatory actions.

Professors Borden and Reiss serve as editors and main contributors to the blog. Their most recent post is title Borden and Reiss on Dearth of Prosecutions for Mortgage Misrepresentations where they cite their recently published article Cleaning up the Financial Crisis of 2008: Prosecutorial Discretion or Prosecutorial Abdication? See 92 BNA Criminal Law Reporter 765. They also work with students at Brooklyn Law School and other blog authors to provide timely commentary on some of the most important real estate finance issue of the day. Student contributors include Abigail Pugliese, Gloria Liu, Jeffrey Lederman, Joseph Kelly, Justin Rothman, Karl Dowden, Max Feder, Michael Liptrot, Rachel Sherman, Rafe Serouya, and Robert Huberman.

Having students contribute to a profession industry publication is an example of how Brooklyn Law School is equipping students with real-world lawyering and business skills that they can use in practice after graduation. Professor Reiss, an expert on mortgage markets, ratings agencies, and housing issues, said "Our student authors have really risen to the occasion. They have taken their legal training and have applied it to this difficult area of law and public policy. As law schools seek to reinvent themselves for the 21st Century, it is exciting to be part of an effort that is clearly Law School 2.0."

Professor Borden, an authority on taxation of real property transactions, said "Our target audience is professionals who want more in-depth information than they can find in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Financial Times – those who want truly expert commentary, with links to the source documents." REFinblog provides a well-needed service, sorting daily for relevant new cases, regulations, articles, and reports about real estate finance.