NYCLA JUSTICE CENTER HOSTS SCREENING OF CLIPS FROM PRI DOCUMENTARY SERIES ON MAY 7

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

 

NYCLA JUSTICE CENTER HOSTS SCREENING OF CLIPS FROM PRI DOCUMENTARY SERIES ON MAY 7

 

MAY 6, 2009 – NEW YORK, NY – The New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA) Justice Center is sponsoring a screening of clips from a multimedia Public Radio International (PRI) documentary series Against the Odds on Thursday, May 7 at the NYCLA Home of Law, 14 Vesey Street beginning at 6:00 PM. Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, will introduce the speaker, Ellis Cose, author, columnist, contributing editor for Newsweek magazine, as well as executive producer host and writer for the PRI series. (Judge Sotomayor has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Justice David H. Souter, who plans to retire from the Supreme Court in June.) Hon. George Bundy Smith, chair, NYCLA Justice Center, partner, Chadbourne & Parke, and retired judge, New York State Court of Appeals, will moderate a discussion following the documentary screening. The documentary looks at young people from some of the toughest streets on both coasts who have managed – despite harsh backgrounds – to become exemplary achievers by transforming their lives with the help of special mentors.

 

Ellis Cose

Mr. Cose has been a contributor and press critic for Time magazine, president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Journalism Education, chief writer on management and workplace issues for USA Today (where he has also served as an occasional columnist and member of the board of contributors) and former editor page editor and editorial board chairman of the New York Daily News. He has also been a fellow at Columbia University’s Gannett Center for Media Studies and the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, a senior fellow and director of energy policy studies at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political Studies and a consultant to the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.

 

The Metropolitan Black Bar Association, Hispanic National Bar Association, Latino Justice PRLDEF and National Institute for Latino Policy are co-sponsors of the event.

 

NYCLA Justice Center

Established in 2002, the NYCLA Justice Center aims to combine the resources, position and membership of NYCLA with those of academia, the bench and the bar, and to partner with non-lawyer community leaders and groups to identify and understand legal and social justice issues, promote access to justice, and act as a catalyst for meaningful improvement in the justice system of New York State.

 

New York County Lawyers’ Association

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, gender or sexual identity. 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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