Nov 1, 2003 -- Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law won $2.25 million as part of a settlement from JP Morgan in a case brought in late 1997 by Holocaust victims and their heirs against several French banks, as well as Chase, JP Morgan, and Barclays Bank. In Benisti v Banque Paribas, one of many holocaust restitution claims cases that have been filed since 1996, United States District Court Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. allocated the unclaimed funds to Cardozo. The grant will help create a program and center for Holocaust studies and human rights. “I view this gift to Cardozo as one of public trust and we will factor that into our plans for the center, which will be founded in the spirit of the litigation and with the memories of the plaintiffs in mind,” said David Rudenstine, JD, Cardozo Dean. “I am proud that Judge Johnson chose us for this distinction—a sign of the law school’s coming of age as an institution that educates exceptionally fine lawyers.” In the class action suit, attorney Kenneth McCallion and a team of six, which included Cardozo’s Walter Floersheimer Professor of Constitutional Law Richard Weisberg, proved that the banks had victimized their Jewish clients. “Cardozo was chosen as the beneficiary because people know about our Holocaust Claims Restitution Clinic, the courses we offer on the Holocaust, the conferences we’ve held, and the books and articles we’ve produced about this tragic period,” explained Professor Weisberg, whose book, Vichy Law and the French Holocaust, brought him to the attention of McCallion, an adjunct professor at Cardozo. Prof. Malvina Halberstam, who successfully argued a case in the Second Circuit against SNCF, the French railroad, was involved in the case as well. According to Professor Weisberg, in addition to providing reparations for victims of the Holocaust, “The litigation has joined with scholarly research to pry open archives that have been unavailable to date. The courts are now forcing institutions to show records that they have kept hidden for decades.” Cardozo is identifying and appointing an advisory board that will work with the faculty and administration to formulate the center’s mission statement and inaugural programs. For 2003-04, Eric Freedman, a distinguished scholar and teacher, has been named the center’s inaugural research scholar. Mr. Freedman has been working in France to ensure that victims receive the compensation due them from Holocaust claims cases.