Louis Raveson is an expert in evidence, criminal and civil trial
advocacy, and contracts.
Professor Raveson is a 1976 graduate of Rutgers School of Law-Newark, where he was a member of the Law Review.
After graduation, he clerked for Judge Phillip Forman on the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and then practiced with the ACLU
Prisoners' Rights Project and Essex-Newark Legal Services. He also was a
staff attorney in the Urban Legal Clinic prior to his appointment to
the faculty in 1981, and served as director of that clinic from 1993 to
2001. In 1985, Professor Raveson established the Environmental Law
Clinic, then only the second such law school clinic in the nation.
Professor Raveson has litigated countless trials in state and federal
court, and numerous appeals before the New Jersey Supreme Court and the
Second and Third Circuits, including Right to Choose v. Byrne,
successfully challenging the constitutionality of restrictions on
Medicaid funding for abortions and expanding the use of state
constitutions as independent sources of protection of individual rights;
an action successfully challenging the constitutionality of a law
restricting street vending; a case defining the parameters of the
judicial contempt power, a topic on which he has published a series of
law review articles; an action arguing for the recognition of a
constitutional right to shelter for the homeless; several HIV
discrimination actions; the defense of an attorney facing disbarment;
and a case seeking to enforce a judgment against a Swiss bank for $124
billion, then the largest judgment in U.S. history. Professor Raveson
also served as co-counsel in Karcher v. May in the U.S. Supreme
Court, a successful challenge to New Jersey's "moment of silence" law.
He also served as co-counsel representing Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in a
successful federal civil rights action, and in his federal habeas
action, which resulted in the reversal of his conviction after 17 years
in prison. Professor Raveson has also specialized in litigating police
brutality cases, including a class action against the City of Newark,
and actions seeking redress for wrongful death resulting from
unjustified police shootings.
In 2001, Professor Raveson took a leave for several years to
establish and run an international solar energy company. During a prior
leave, from 1985-1987, he served as the assistant commissioner of the
New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate. Professor Raveson has also
served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committees on Complementary
Dispute Resolution and Civil Practice. He is a frequent commentator on
legal issues in the news.