Luis DeGraffe, Law Professor, Mentor to Aspiring Attorneys of Color: 1949-2005
Franklin Siegel, CUNY School of Law
Luis Jorge DeGraffe, Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law (CUNY), died suddenly on the early evening of August 8th. He was 56 years old. Professor DeGraffe had spent the day teaching at Third World Orientation, an academic empowerment skills program he founded for students of color entering the first year of study at the school. He had organized the program for seventeen consecutive years.
Professor DeGraffe had taught at CUNY Law since 1984, the school's second year, and was an ideal fit for the only ABAaccredited law school with the organizational mission to train public interest and public service lawyers. Michael Olivas, Director of the Institute for Higher Education Law at the University of Houston, noted that Professor DeGraffe was one of the senior Latino law professors in the United States, and among the first of Puerto Rican and African-American descent. "Professor DeGraffe was an inspired and inspiring teacher," commented CUNY Law Interim Dean Mary Lu Bilek. "He was a mentor to hundreds of students over the years, treating them with unequivocal respect, unwavering faith in their ability to succeed, unquestioning support, and unflagging insistence on excellence. His professionalism and generosity, as well SALT Equalizer as his steadfast efforts to bring students from communities underrepresented in the profession into law school and to the bar, not only benefited the CUNY School of Law, but scores of clients who otherwise would not have had access to justice who are now being served by the students he taught and encouraged."
Professor DeGraffe attained academic honors on the CUNY Law faculty, including a William]. Fulbright Fellowship to teach U.S. Constitutional Law in El Salvador in 1994, and the Distinguished Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching from the CUNY School of Law graduating classes of 1999 and 2002. He published articles in the Seton Hall Law School Legislative journal, the New England Law School journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, and the Syracuse Law Review. Professor DeGraffe was also an institution builder within the law school, establishing the Academic Empowerment Program known to generations of students as Third World Orientation, and the Interamerican Comparative Law Program, the first academic exchange program for students between a U.S. law school and Cuba's law school at the University of Havana.
Professor DeGraffe's special passion was for mentoring and empowering students of color who aspire to careers in the law. At the time of his death, Professor Page 11 Luis DeGraffe DeGraffe was not only leading the CUNY Law students who were running the weeklong Third World Orientation, but he was simultaneously organizing the first "LawBound Summer Academy" for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) to take place the next week. LawBound's goal is to identify, motivate and prepare Latino college students for a career in the legal profession by becoming competitive law school applicants. LawBound Summer Academy was a "next step" in Professor DeGraffe's mentoring work at PRLDEF, where he had launched an annual Law Day, held each year since 1983, and where he regularly volunteered his time helping students of color develop their personal essay, a critical component of law school application packages.
Professor DeGraffe was a member of Antioch Law School’s founding class in 1975, an institutional forerunner to CUNY Law. Upon graduation he received a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship to work as a lawyer at Brooklyn Legal Services in East New York, a community-based legal services program in one of the nation’s poorest neighborhoods. His romance with teaching began during this period, when he conducted workshops on tenants’ rights for several community groups. He later taught at the College for Human Services and the Urban Legal Studies Program of the City College of New York where he was a Charles H. Revson Fellow. Prior to joining the CUNY Law faculty, Professor DeGraffe served as Director of Education at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Jocelyn Greene, CUNY Law Class of 2006, captured the essence of students’ impressions of Professor DeGraffe. “He was a caring and kind human being. He was the kind of lawyer that I want to be and the kind of friend that everyone should be. In any of his classes, you could, have mistaken him for a Lamaze coach with his ‘C’mon people, stay with me, just, a little more!’”
Professor DeGraffe’s early leading role in mentoring aspiring law students of color was honored at the Ninth Annual National Latina/o Law Student Association Conference held at American University in Washington, D.C. on October 22nd.
Professor DeGraffe lived in Brooklyn. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Dickinson, and two young sons, Jamaal and Khalil. Jamaal and Khalil joined their father when he taught at the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) “Attitude is Essential” Summer Law Institute in Atlanta this summer and, as often was the case, were both planning their future college and basketball careers with their Pop the day before he passed away. Also surviving Professor DeGraffe are four siblings and his mother.
Michael Alexander
Luis DeGraffe, Law Professor, Mentor to Aspiring Attorneys of Color: 1949-2005
Franklin Siegel, CUNY School of Law
Luis Jorge DeGraffe, Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law (CUNY), died suddenly on the early evening of August 8th. He was 56 years old. Professor DeGraffe had spent the day teaching at Third World Orientation, an academic empowerment skills program he founded for students of color entering the first year of study at the school. He had organized the program for seventeen consecutive years.
Professor DeGraffe had taught at CUNY Law since 1984, the school's second year, and was an ideal fit for the only ABAaccredited law school with the organizational mission to train public interest and public service lawyers. Michael Olivas, Director of the Institute for Higher Education Law at the University of Houston, noted that Professor DeGraffe was one of the senior Latino law professors in the United States, and among the first of Puerto Rican and African-American descent. "Professor DeGraffe was an inspired and inspiring teacher," commented CUNY Law Interim Dean Mary Lu Bilek. "He was a mentor to hundreds of students over the years, treating them with unequivocal respect, unwavering faith in their ability to succeed, unquestioning support, and unflagging insistence on excellence. His professionalism and generosity, as well SALT Equalizer as his steadfast efforts to bring students from communities underrepresented in the profession into law school and to the bar, not only benefited the CUNY School of Law, but scores of clients who otherwise would not have had access to justice who are now being served by the students he taught and encouraged."
Professor DeGraffe attained academic honors on the CUNY Law faculty, including a William]. Fulbright Fellowship to teach U.S. Constitutional Law in El Salvador in 1994, and the Distinguished Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching from the CUNY School of Law graduating classes of 1999 and 2002. He published articles in the Seton Hall Law School Legislative journal, the New England Law School journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, and the Syracuse Law Review. Professor DeGraffe was also an institution builder within the law school, establishing the Academic Empowerment Program known to generations of students as Third World Orientation, and the Interamerican Comparative Law Program, the first academic exchange program for students between a U.S. law school and Cuba's law school at the University of Havana.
Professor DeGraffe's special passion was for mentoring and empowering students of color who aspire to careers in the law. At the time of his death, Professor Page 11 Luis DeGraffe DeGraffe was not only leading the CUNY Law students who were running the weeklong Third World Orientation, but he was simultaneously organizing the first "LawBound Summer Academy" for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) to take place the next week. LawBound's goal is to identify, motivate and prepare Latino college students for a career in the legal profession by becoming competitive law school applicants. LawBound Summer Academy was a "next step" in Professor DeGraffe's mentoring work at PRLDEF, where he had launched an annual Law Day, held each year since 1983, and where he regularly volunteered his time helping students of color develop their personal essay, a critical component of law school application packages.
Professor DeGraffe was a member of Antioch Law School’s founding class in 1975, an institutional forerunner to CUNY Law. Upon graduation he received a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship to work as a lawyer at Brooklyn Legal Services in East New York, a community-based legal services program in one of the nation’s poorest neighborhoods. His romance with teaching began during this period, when he conducted workshops on tenants’ rights for several community groups. He later taught at the College for Human Services and the Urban Legal Studies Program of the City College of New York where he was a Charles H. Revson Fellow. Prior to joining the CUNY Law faculty, Professor DeGraffe served as Director of Education at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Jocelyn Greene, CUNY Law Class of 2006, captured the essence of students’ impressions of Professor DeGraffe. “He was a caring and kind human being. He was the kind of lawyer that I want to be and the kind of friend that everyone should be. In any of his classes, you could, have mistaken him for a Lamaze coach with his ‘C’mon people, stay with me, just, a little more!’”
Professor DeGraffe’s early leading role in mentoring aspiring law students of color was honored at the Ninth Annual National Latina/o Law Student Association Conference held at American University in Washington, D.C. on October 22nd.
Professor DeGraffe lived in Brooklyn. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Dickinson, and two young sons, Jamaal and Khalil. Jamaal and Khalil joined their father when he taught at the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) “Attitude is Essential” Summer Law Institute in Atlanta this summer and, as often was the case, were both planning their future college and basketball careers with their Pop the day before he passed away. Also surviving Professor DeGraffe are four siblings and his mother.
Michael Alexander