Leonard M. Baynes is Professor of Law and the inaugural Director
of The
Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic
Development at St. John's University School of Law. On
January 25, 2007, at the Vincentian Convocation, St. John’s
University recognized Professor Baynes’s service and
accomplishments with the prestigious President’s Medal.
Professor Baynes received his B.S. from New York University and
J.D. - M.B.A. from Columbia University. At Columbia, Professor
Baynes was awarded the Earl Warren Scholarship, the COGME
Fellowship and was associate editor of the Columbia Human
Rights Law Review. He is also a member of Omicron Delta
Epsilon, the International Economic Honors Society. Immediately
after law school, Professor Baynes served as a Law Clerk to Federal
District Court Judge Clifford Scott Green in the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.
Professor Baynes teaches Business Organizations, Communications
Law, Regulated Industries, and Race and the Law. Professor Baynes
is a nationally recognized communications law scholar, specializing
in race and media issues. While on leave of absence and sabbatical,
from 1997 to 2001, Professor Baynes worked for then-FCC Chairman
William E. Kennard as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Federal
Communications Commission, where he served as a member of the
Opportunity Team and worked on minority access and ownership
issues. In 1999, Professor Baynes lectured in international
continuing legal education programs on telecommunications issues in
Bogotá, Columbia and Panama City, Panama.
In 2004, Professor Baynes served as an expert witness at the
Federal Communications Commission Federal Advisory Committee for
Diversity in broadcast ownership. In 2005, the Ford Foundation
awarded Professor Baynes a $50,000 grant to organize a conference
on race and media diversity entitled: “Rethinking the Discourse on
Race: A Symposium on How the Lack of Racial Diversity in the
Electronic Media Affects Social Justice.” In 2006, the Ford
Foundation also awarded a $10,000 grant for Professor Baynes to
lead a ten-person delegation of media diversity scholars to the
National Media Reform Conference in Memphis, TN.
Also in 2006, the Minority Media & Telecommunications
Council (“MMTC”) inducted Professor Baynes into its Hall of Fame.
In presenting the award, Former FCC Commissioner and MMTC Chair
Henry Rivera described Professor Baynes as “a champion for
diversity.” Past inductees include former FCC Chairman William
Kennard, Congressman John Conyers, Johnnie Cochran (posthumously),
former Congressman William Gray, and Inner City Broadcaster founder
and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton.
Also in 2006, Professor Baynes signed a contract with Aspen
Publishers to co-author (with Professors Allen Hammond IV and
Catherine Sandoval) a case book entitled: “Telecommunications Law:
Convergence and Competition.” Professor Baynes has written over
twenty-five law review articles on Race/Racism and the Law,
Corporate Law, Communications Law, or the intersection of the
three. His most recent articles include:
Professor Baynes has also won numerous other awards. In April
2004, the SBA presented Professor Baynes with an award for his
service to the law school community. In September 2004, Dean Mary
Daly presented Professor Baynes with an award for his teaching of
his Race and the Law course. In October 2004, Professor Baynes was
presented The
Extraordinary Service Award for his teaching, scholarship, and
service by the Second National People of Color Conference. In 2005
and 2006, Professor Baynes received an award from the John Jay
College of Criminal Law Puerto Rican/Latin American Studies
Department for his involvement in the creation of The
Ronald H. Brown Summer Prep Program for College Students. In
fact, in a memo to the law school community, Dean Daly cited
Professor Baynes as the “driving
force” for the creation of the Summer Prep Program.
Professor Baynes is also very active in academic circles and is
especially concerned about diversity issues. He is the past Chair
of the AALS Minority Law Section, and served as Chair of the
Planning Committee for the AALS Workshop on Racial Justice in A New
Millennium; From Brown to Grutter: Methods to Achieve
Non-Discrimination and Comparable Racial Equality. As Chair of the
AALS standing Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority
Faculty, Professor Baynes co-authored the committee commentary to a
report entitled “The Racial Gap in the Promotion to Tenure of Law
Professors.” See special
reports. The committee commentary and AALS report were the
first of their kind commissioned by the AALS and showed a clear
disparity in tenure rates between professors of color and white
professors.
On January 18, 2007, Professor Baynes testified at a forum
entitled “A Public Forum: A Lasting Blueprint for Judicial
Diversity. The forum was sponsored by New York State Senate
Minority Leader Malcolm Smith. In his testimony, Professor Baynes
examined the underrepresentation of people of color in the New York
State judiciary and in New York State law schools.
Professor Baynes is one of the founding members of Northeastern
People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference. This Conference
provides opportunities for junior faculty to present
works-in-progress in which they receive feedback in safe
environments. These annual conferences have been held at the
following law schools: Western New England College School of Law,
New England Law School, Touro College, Jacob Fuchsberg Law Center,
University of Puerto Rico Law School, CUNY Law School, and the
University of West Indies-Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, West
Indies, St. John's University in conjunction with St. John's Ronald
H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, the
University of Connecticut School of Law, and Eugene Dupuch Law
School in Nassau Bahamas. The 2007 conference will be held at
Southern New England College School of Law in North Dartmouth,
MA.
Lastly, Professor Baynes was also a 2001 Fulbright Scholarship
Finalist and is admitted to practice in both New York State and
Massachusetts.