NYCLA ELECTS NEW OFFICERS AND BOARD AT ANNUAL MEETING: FOR THE FIRST TIME, THREE OF FIVE OFFICERS ARE WOMEN

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia

(212) 267-6646, ext. 225 (phone) (212) 406-9252 (fax) aaboulafia@nvcla.org

 

NYCLA ELECTS NEW OFFICERS AND BOARD AT ANNUAL MEETING:
FOR THE FIRST TIME, THREE OF FIVE OFFICERS ARE WOMEN

 

NEW YORK – MAY 27, 2004 – The New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA) announced the election of new officers at its Annual Meeting and Reception today. Norman L. Reimer, a partner at Gould Fishbein Reimer & Gottfried, LLP, was elected President of the Association. Other officers elected are Edwin David Robertson, a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, as President-Elect; Catherine Ann Christian, Director of Legal Staff Training, the New York County District Attorneys’ Office, Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, as Vice President; Marjorie E. Gross, Senior VP and Regulatory Counsel of The Bond Market Association, as Treasurer; and Ann B. Lesk, a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, as Secretary.

 

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Reimer proposed the establishment of a Business Law Center at NYCLA that will bring together legal experts from academia, the bench and the bar to design a series of programs to study the jurisprudence of business law, promote high standards of ethical practice, and comment on cutting-edge issues of special interest to the corporate community. Mr. Reimer also announced the formation of a Task Force on Penal Reform. Calling America’s penal policy “a bipartisan national disgrace,” Mr. Reimer noted that the U.S. prison population now tops 2.1 million, more than the population of 17 states. The Task Force will conduct a comprehsive review of the causes, conditions and consequences of federal and state sentencing policies as they are applied in New York.

 

The NYCLA President also decried the continued under-funding of defense services for the indigent. Mr. Reimer noted that “despite the recent raise in assigned counsel compensation rates, increased reliance upon institutional providers without commensurate funding increases degrades the quality of the representation provided to poor people.” He will also oversee the launch of NYCLA’s celebration of its 100th anniversary in 2008.

 

The Hon. Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the State of New York, was the evening’s keynote speaker. In addition to the aforementioned officers, the following incoming directors were elected: Kathy Hirata Chin of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Sylvia Fung of Chin White & Case LLP, Hon. Stephen G. Crane, Associate Justice, Appellate Division, Second Department, Clyde J. Eisman, solo practitioner, Margaret J. Finerty of Getnick & Getnick, Bruce A. Green, Louis Stein Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law, Joel B. Harris of Thacher Proffitt & Wood, Robert A. Jacobs (retired) of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, McCloy LLP, M. Barry Levy of Sharretts, Paley, Carter & Blauvelt, Morton Moskin (retired), of White & Case LLP, and Susan J. Walsh of Gould Fishbein Reimer & Gottfried, LLP.

 

The Association also honored seven attorneys for their contributions to public service — Adele Bartlett, Supervising Attorney, MFY Legal Services; Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Kiyo Matsumoto, Senior Trial Counsel, U.S. Attorney’s Office (Eastern District of New York); Robert R. Molic, Assistant Attorney General (retired), Charities Bureau, Office of the Attorney General; Robert W. Sadowski, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Health Care Fraud Coordinator, U.S. Attorney’s Office (Southern District of New York); Valerie Singleton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge, Nassau Regional Office, Office of the Attorney General; and Jonathan A. Weiss, Director, Legal Services for the Elderly Poor, Legal Services of New York.

 

New York County Lawyers’ Association was founded in 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion or gender. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

 

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