Daniel Monahan

65-21 Main Street

Flushing, NY 11367
---------------
(339) 222-1500

October 26, 2007

Greg Koster
Records Access Officer
Associate Dean for Administration and Finance
CUNY Law School
65-21 Main Street, Room 210E
Flushing, NY 11367

FOIL REQUEST

Dear Associate Dean Koster:

This is a request under the New York State Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”).

Pursuant to Article 6 of the Public Officers Law (N.Y. Pub. Off. Law, Art. 6, Sec. 84)
and CUNY Law School’s notice and procedures set forth by the City University of New
York relating to requests for copies of information under FOIL, I request copies of the
following records1 and information.

1. All reports produced by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in

2007 regarding CUNY Law School.

In an effort to facilitate the basic purpose of the Freedom of Information Law, that is that
a free society is better maintained by an informed citizenry and an accountable
government, I ask that you err on the side of disclosure where at all possible. In the
instance where you anticipate denying access to information based on an exemption,
please keep in mind FOIL’s goal of broad disclosure and that exemptions are to be
construed narrowly. As the Court of Appeals stated in Gould v. New York City Police
Department, 89 NY2d 267, 275 (1996):

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The term “record” is defined expansively by §86(4) of FOIL as:
"any information kept, held, filed, produced, reproduced by, with or for an agency
or the state legislature, in any physical form whatsoever including, but not limited
to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books,
manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters,
microfilms, computer tapes or discs, rules, regulations or codes."

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 "All government records are thus presumptively open for public inspection and
copying unless they fall within one of the enumerated exemptions of Public
Officers Law § 87(2). To ensure maximum access to government records, the
'exemptions are to be narrowly construed, with the burden resting on the agency
to demonstrate that the requested material indeed qualifies for exemption.' As this
Court has stated, '[o]nly where the material requested falls squarely within the
ambit of one of these statutory exemptions may disclosure be withheld.’” (internal
citations omitted).

In addition, I request that you waive any such exemptions and disclose all records
requested.

Alternatively, if you are compelled to deny access to any record, please do not deny
access to entire documents but, rather redact documents to prevent disclosure of the
allegedly exempted information and disclose the remaining unexempted portion.

Again, in Gould v. New York City Police Department, 89 NY2d 267 (1996) the Court
has said that a categorical denial of access to records that can otherwise be disclosed by
redacting exempted portions is inconsistent with FOIL. In Gould the Police Department
tried to deny “complaint follow up reports” from disclosure as intra-agency materials but
the Court held that since the reports contained factual data, full nondisclosure was not
justified and that “blanket exemptions for particular types of documents are inimical to
FOIL’s policy of open government” (Id., 275).

With respect to specific FOIL exemptions, §87(2)(g) requires disclosure of inter-agency

or intra-agency materials that are:
“i. statistical or factual tabulations or data;
ii. instructions to staff that affect the public;
iii. final agency policy or determinations; or
iv. external audits, including but not limited to audits performed by the
comptroller and the federal government…"

All of the records requested that may even remotely be considered inter-agency or intra-
agency memoranda fall either squarely or mostly under one of the above mandatory
disclosure categories. Thus, please either waive or do not invoke this exemption. If you
do invoke it, please redact the information that allegedly doesn’t fall under one of the
above §87(2)(g) categories and disclose the rest of the record.

Please certify that any copies of records made pursuant to this request are true copies of
such records. Upon failure to locate records, please certify that CUNY Law School is not
the custodian for such records or, that after diligent search, the records cannot be found.

I agree to pay all necessary costs. Please contact me at 339-222-1500 with any estimated
costs before you proceed. Thank you for your time and cooperation.

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Respectfully submitted,

Daniel Monahan

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