"Justice, though due to the accused, is due to the accuser also. The concept of fairness cannot be strained till it is narrowed to a filament. We are to keep our balance true." - Benjamin N. Cardozo
Getting to Know: Burns Center for Ethics
Co-Directors Jessica Roth and Anthony Sebok provide a detailed overview of the Center.
About the Center
The Jacob Burns Center for Ethics in the Practice of Law was established in 1991 at Cardozo School of Law to support education programming promoting a commitment to ethical objectives among both students and the legal profession.
To be an extraordinary lawyer, you will have to deal with legal ethics issues arising on a daily basis. Whether you are facing the choice to reveal confidential client information to a court, a conflict of interest between your personal values and representation of a client, institutional pressures contrary to what you believe, or a myriad of other issues, the resolution of these issues is not intuitive. Our Center's events address the question of whether you will do the right thing when no one is looking.
The Jacob Burns Center for Ethics carries out its mission in three ways:
1. By sponsoring courses, programs, and events that provoke dialogue and critical thought on ethical and moral issues of the profession.
2. By working on legal issues involving significant professional ethics aspects.
3. By preparing students to face the difficult and important questions that arise in all areas of legal practice with integrity.
Meet our Co-Directors
Professor Jessica Roth
Before joining Cardozo, Professor Roth was a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for seven years.
As a prosecutor, she focused on violent crime and securities fraud and conducted jury trials.
Her teaching and research interests are in criminal law and evidence. Her scholarship has appeared in the UCLA Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, and the American Criminal Law Review, among other publications.
Professor Anthony Sebok
Professor Sebok is an expert on legal ethics, litigation finance, tort law, and insurance law. Before coming to Cardozo in 2007, he was the Centennial Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Research at Brooklyn Law School, where he taught for 15 years. He was a Fellow in the Program in Law and Public Affairs at Princeton University from 2005-06, and in 1999, he was a Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. Following law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Edward N. Cahn of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Sebok’s casebook, "Tort Law: Responsibilities and Redress," which he coauthored with John Goldberg and Benjamin Zipursky, is used at several leading law schools. He is the author of "Legal Positivism in American Jurisprudence," articles and essays on jurisprudence, and is the coeditor of "The Philosophy of Law: A Collection of Essays."
You’re Invited to: Presentation of the Jacob Burns Center Award for Professional Courage to Elizabeth (Liz) Oyer
TUE, SEP. 9, 2025 | 6PM | MOOT COURT ROOM | RSVP REQUIRED
Liz Oyer served in the Department of Justice as United States Pardon Attorney from April 2022 to March 2025, overseeing the Office of the Pardon Attorney. In that role, she was responsible for reviewing applications from individuals across the country seeking pardons and commutations of sentence and preparing recommendations for the President concerning the exercise of his constitutional clemency power. The Pardon Attorney is a career-reserved position in the Senior Executive Service; it is not a political appointment.
Ms. Oyer’s tenure as Pardon Attorney was focused on making second chances through clemency available to all deserving Americans without consideration of status, resources, or politics. During her three years as Pardon Attorney, Ms. Oyer and her team made recommendations to the President in over 15,000 clemency cases, prioritizing those involving overly harsh sentences imposed under outdated laws and policies.
In February, 2025, the Justice Department created a working group tasked with restoring the right to possess firearms to some persons convicted of federal crimes. Ms. Oyer was assigned to this working group.
Ms. Oyer was abruptly terminated from her position as Pardon Attorney in March 2025, shortly after she refused to recommend that the actor Mel Gibson, a prominent supporter of President Trump’s, should have his gun rights restored.
Ms. Oyer has published op-eds about her legal work in Rolling Stone magazine, the Washington Post, and BuzzFeed News. The bizarre circumstances surrounding her March 2025 termination from the Department of Justice were covered by the New York Times. She has appealed her firing through an administrative body known as the Merit Systems Protection Board and a FOIA lawsuit in federal court.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Ms. Oyer served for nearly 10 years as a Federal Public Defender. Ms. Oyer started her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Stanley Marcus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. From there, she worked for the law firm Mayer Brown LLP, where she became a partner and practiced civil and criminal litigation before pivoting to public service. She graduated from Harvard Law School (2004) and Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service (2001).
Ms. Oyer will be joined in conversation with Professor Jessica Roth, Co-Director of the Jacob Burns Center for Ethics in the Practice of Law.
About the Jacob Burns Award for Professional Courage:
The Award was created in 2021 to honor legal professionals who displayed courage while fulfilling their obligation to practice law ethically. In 2021 the Award was given to Aaron Van Langevelde, for his courage and ethical conduct while serving as the Vice Chair of the Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers.
Events
We often offer CLE credit in Ethics for our events. Please watch this space for event announcements, to register and for more information.