NYCLA President Adrienne B. Koch Remarks at the 2025 Gala

NYCLA President Adrienne B. Koch Remarks
at the NYCLA 2025 Gala

NYCLA Home of Law
March 4, 2025

 

Good evening, everyone, and welcome.

It’s wonderful to be here tonight with all of you as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our commercial division.

Before I say anything more, I want to ask for a round of applause for our executive director Sophia Gianacoplos, and for NYCLA’s staff, for all of their hard work in putting this event together.

As usual, they make it look easy.  But I know it’s far from that.  Will you join me in thanking them?

Those of you who’ve been at NYCLA events before have undoubtedly heard NYCLA’s president speak about the importance of the judiciary.

Well, spoiler alert: I’m not here to buck that trend.

And because tonight we celebrate and honor our commercial division, I want to focus for just a moment on that court in particular.

It happens to be the court where I myself practice most, and for that reason it has a special place in my own heart.  But it is – and should be – of critical importance to all of us.

Our economy could not function if people didn’t have confidence that their business disputes would be resolved in a fair and predictable way, with results the parties abide by.

That principle sounds so fundamental.  But in recent times that fundamental principle of judicial authority and independence – as essential to the functioning of our economy as it is to the preservation of our rights and liberties – has come under seemingly relentless attack.

NYCLA has repeatedly spoken out against these attacks.  We will never give way.

I want to share with you some of the other work NYCLA has done since we gathered here last year.

  • NYCLA has been working to eliminate the “death gamble” – an anomaly in the state pension law under which, if a judge who is eligible to retire remains on the bench and then dies while in office, that judge’s beneficiaries receive a substantially smaller benefit than they would have received if the judge had retired before passing away.

    • The law was amended in 2000 to remove this anomaly for police officers, firefighters, and teachers, but for judges it remains.

    • NYCLA has long been an advocate for reform of this law, and we will keep up those efforts – so that judges who choose to continue to serve don’t have to worry about compromising the financial security of their families.

  • NYCLA also collaborated with three other bar associations to achieve an historic settlement with the state of New York, designed to preserve the interest on lawyer account fund for its intended use: funding legal services for the neediest New Yorkers facing potentially life-altering civil legal problems.

    • We’re grateful to NYCLA board member Hank Greenberg and to his stellar team at Greenberg Traurig for their excellent pro bono work on this important and impactful project, which furthers access to justice – one of NYCLA’s core values since its founding nearly twelve decades ago.

  • Also furthering access to justice, NYCLA has continued its strong, decades-long commitment to the 18-b program.

    • Twice now, lawsuits brought by NYCLA have resulted in increases in the compensation for the lawyers who provide legal services to children and indigent adults under that program.

    • Last year, the OCA and the City formed a committee to study that program and propose ways to make it more effective.

    • NYCLA has been an active force on that committee, and has fought to ensure that it is truly representative.

I’ll mention one more thing, which actually brings me back to where I started: the importance of the judiciary.

  • NYCLA led a group of bar associations in urging the adoption of the Judicial Security Act, which became the law of our State last July.

    • We rely on our judges to protect the rule of law that is so critical to our way of life.

    • Threats to their safety and the safety of their families are simply intolerable in a civilized society.

    • It’s frankly shocking that we even have to talk about that, much less legislate over it – but we do, and I’m proud to say that New York did.

I mentioned police and firefighters a few moments ago.  Here in New York City, we call our police “New York’s finest” and our firefighters “New York’s bravest.”  And very rightly so.

But I’d like to suggest that if the police are our finest and the firefighters are our bravest, then all of the judges of our great State are “New York’s steadfast.”

Now more than ever, we need their faithful devotion to principle – the courage and firmness of purpose that judges exhibit every day.

NYCLA will continue its work to support our judiciary, access to justice, and the rule of law in the face of the steady stream of new challenges that continue to present themselves.

As I’ve said many times before, NYCLA won’t stop.

But tonight isn’t about work; tonight is about fellowship.

And in that spirit I want to thank NYCLA’s truly outstanding officers and board of directors for their leadership and dedication, and to thank all of you for being here tonight.  Please enjoy the rest of the program!