NYCLA’s 95th Annual Dinner To Honor the Leaders of the State and Federal Courts in New York on December 15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia 212-267-6646, ext. 225, aaboulafia@nycla.org

 

NYCLA’s 95th Annual Dinner To Honor the Leaders of the State and Federal Courts in New York on December 15

 

Hon. Robert M. Morgenthau, DA, NY County, to be Presented Boris Kostelanetz President’s Medal by Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

Roy L. Reardon, Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, to be Presented William Nelson Cromwell Award by Hon. Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York

 

November 18, 2009 – New York, NY – The New York County Lawyers’ Association’s (NYCLA) 95th Annual Dinner honoring the leaders of the State and Federal Courts in New York will be held on December 15 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Avenue. Hon. Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York County, will be presented with NYCLA’s Boris Kostelanetz President’s Medal by Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, who served as an Assistant District Attorney in the DA’s office from 1979-1984. Roy L. Reardon, a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, will be presented with the William Nelson Cromwell Award by Hon. Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York. Former NYCLA President Robert L. Haig is the Dinner Chair.

 

The theme for NYCLA’s 95th Dinner is “Hail to the Chiefs.” At the Dinner, NYCLA will celebrate the invaluable work that the leaders of the Federal and State courts in New York have done on behalf of their courts and our legal system. The honored guests will be the Chief Judges, Presiding Justices and Administrative Judges of both the Federal and State trial and appellate courts throughout New York State.

 

THE AWARDS

The Boris Kostelanetz President’s Medal honors its namesake, Boris Kostelanetz, a past president of NYCLA (1969-1971) and, according to the Resolution certifying the Medal’s adoption, “is conferred upon a member of the Association whose record of dedication and service to the Association and legal profession comport with the high standards established by Boris Kostelanetz.” The William Nelson Cromwell Award, named after NYCLA’s 12th president (1927-1930), recognizes members of the legal profession for their “unselfish service to the profession and the community.”

 

THE HONOREES

Hon. Robert M. Morgenthau: Boris Kostelanetz President’s Medal Awardee

Hon. Robert M. Morgenthau is the longest-serving District Attorney in New York City, having first been elected to the position 35 years ago. A decorated World War II veteran and son of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mr. Morgenthau has maintained and enhanced a tradition of excellence and high ideals in public prosecution.

 

Over the years, he has created many specialized units to deal with crime problems requiring special expertise. Most recently, the Family Violence and Child Abuse Bureau was formed to focus on the related problems of domestic violence and child abuse. Other specialized units concentrate on career criminals, violent gangs, identity theft and firearms trafficking.

 

Combined with improved prosecution strategies, these organizational changes have boosted New York County’s conviction rate and led to a dramatic decline in violent crime. The felony conviction rate, at 73 percent in 1974, has remained close to 90 percent since 1980. Moreover, in addition to prosecuting those responsible for crime, the DA’s Office under Mr. Morgenthau has developed many programs to provide assistance to neighborhoods and individuals victimized by criminal behavior. And, as he did earlier in his career as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Morgenthau, as District Attorney, has pursued organized crime, white-collar crime and public corruption cases.

 

A Yale Law School graduate, Mr. Morgenthau practiced corporate law for 12 years at Patterson, Belknap & Webb before entering the public sector. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the: Citation of Merit from Yale Law School, Emory Buckner Award from the Federal Bar Council, Fordham-Stein Prize, Thomas Jefferson Award in Law from the University of Virginia, Brandeis Medal from the University of Louisville Law School and NYCLA’s Distinguished Public Service Award. His principal civic activities are the Police Athletic League, which he has served since 1962, first as president and then chairman, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, of which he is chairman.

 

Roy L. Reardon: William Nelson Cromwell Awardee

Roy L. Reardon, a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. His trial and litigation experience covers a wide range of areas, among them, jury trials in State and Federal trial courts around the country and arguing numerous appeals, including argument in the U.S. Supreme Court. His areas of specialty comprise commercial law, antitrust, product liability, professional responsibility, securities law, arbitration and mediation.

 

Mr. Reardon serves as an arbitrator and mediator in domestic and international arbitrations and has lectured widely on a variety of litigation topics. He is chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Appellate Division, First Department, and a special master in the Appellate Division, First Department. Mr. Reardon is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and member of the ABA and New York State Bar and Nassau County Bar Associations.

 

Mr. Reardon, a graduate of St. Johns University School of Law, joined Simpson Thacher in 1954 after receiving his J.D. from St. John’s University Law School. He has been a member of the firm’s Executive Committee for many years, as well as chairman of its Litigation Department.

 

The New York County Lawyers’ Association (www.nycla.org) 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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