NYCBA Members Newsletter

Welcome to the May 2007 issue of our Newsletter.

President's Message:

I am delighted to announce that, at its Annual Dinner on June 5, 2007, the New York Criminal Bar Association will present its inaugural Special Life Time Achievement Award to the Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.

Starting this year, this award shall be presented each year to an individual who has contributed to the area Constitutional Law and it's impact on criminal law and procedure over the course of a life time. This is a Special Recognition award from the Criminal Defense Bar for demonstrated excellence over the span of recipient's career. Judge Weinstein, who has served on the bench since 1967, has graciously accepted to be our first recipient.

We hope you will join us at the Annual Dinner to help us honor Judge Weinstein’s brilliant career.

Yours for a better defense,

Tony Ricco,
President
email: tonyricco@aol.com

Annual Dinner - June 5, 2007:

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR TUESDAY, JUNE 5TH - TAVERN ON THE GREEN

This year our Honoree is Norman Reimer, and our Guest Speaker is Barry Kamins. Both attorneys have demonstrated their excellence in the practice of criminal law and in support of the criminal practitioner.

Every year we start the evening with an outdoor cocktail party, and this year we are pleased to announce that the cocktail hour has been expanded to TWO hours, so that we have more time to enjoy the beautiful park location and ambiance while we catch up with our friends and colleagues. Cocktails begin at 5 PM and Dinner in the Crystal Room begins at 7 PM.

Invitations should arrive shortly, so mark your calendars and be part of this great celebration.

Tickets are $150 for members and $175 for non-members. Table of 10, prepaid for either members or non-members is $1,500.

For further info contact:
Genay Ann Leitman, Vice Pres., and Dinner Committee Chair (212-687-4499)
Leonard J. Levenson, Secretary (212-732-0522)

Dinner Journal Advertisements Now Being Accepted:

We invite you to place as advertisement and/or an announcement congratulating our Honoree, Guest Speaker, and Special Award Recepient in our Dinner Journal. Prices are:

Inside Cover Page $ 500
Back Cover Page $ 500
Adjacent to Back Cover Page $ 350
Full Page $ 250
Half Page $ 150
Quarter Page $ 75

Please send your ad, specifying the size, and payment either by check (payable to NYCBA) or credit card (state either AMEX, VISA, MasterCard, give card number and expiration date, and your name as it appears on the credit card) to:

Nancy Lee Ennis, Dinner Journal Chair,
381 Park Avenue South, Suite 701
New York, N.Y. 10016
Tel.: (212) 686-0666
Fax: (212) 686-8690
E-mail: nancyennis@qandelaw.com

All ads and payment must be received no later than May 25th.

Richard Ware Levitt's Annual Second Circuit Review CLE
Seminar To Be Held On Monday May 21, 2007

On Monday evening, May 21, 2007, the NYCBA will present its annual CLE program entitled, "Recent Developments in the Second Circuit." As always, the speaker will by Richard Ware Levitt, the noted criminal defense attorney and former NYCBA Board Member. The program will be held from 5:30-7:15 p.m. at the new Federal courthouse, 500 Pearl St., in the 9th floor ceremonial courtroom.

This event will be co-sponsored by The Legal Aid Society, which is an accredited MCLE provider. Two hours of New York State MCLE credit will be awarded in the area of Professional Practice. However, you must arrive by 5:30 p.m. to receive credit for this program, as MCLE rules prohibit awarding credit to late comers.

NYCBA Web Site Features

Each month, we try to point out some of the latest resources that we have posted on our Website at www.nycrimbar.org/. In keeping with that tradition, we note the following item:

• We have posted on the "New York State Miscellaneous Legal Research Links"
  page of our website a copy of the 208-page book entitled: "Defendant's
  Guide to Appeals, Review and Parole in New York." This book was written by
  Bruce R. Bryan, an appellate lawyer from Syracuse, NY and an Adjunct
  Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. The helpful resource is useful for
  both criminal defense attorneys and their clients; and it explains in simple
  words the ways to obtain court review of convictions in New York and how to
  present oneself more favorably for parole.
  
  
  
• We have posted on the "What's New" page of our website a copy of the article entitled "Fees Still Possible in Absence of Retainer Letter, N.Y. Appellate Panel Says," by Tom Perrotta, New York Law Journal, April 9, 2007.
  
  
  

What's New On The Internet:

• Governor Eliot Spitzer has issued a potentially far-reaching Executive Order, entitled "Establishing The New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform," in which he called for a full review of the State's sentencing structure and practices; and he quickly followed that up by announcing a number of appointments to the new Commission.
  
  
  
• As a companion to the "Ten Must-Have Web Sites for Solo Practitioners" article, which we noted in the March Newsletter, we have now also posted on the Computer Tips section of our website two follow-up article by the same author, Rick Georges, Esq., entitiled "Ten Must-Have Apps for Solo Practitioners" and "Ten Great Apps for the Treo Mobile Lawyer," which were posted on the Legal Technology Section of the Law.com website on April 3, 2007 and May 1, 2007, respectively.
  
  
  
• The Second Circuit has announced that it has appointed Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe as the new Clerk of the Court. Since 1994, Ms. Wolfe has served as the Clerk of the Court for the Appellate Division, First Department.
  
  

Women In Criminal Law Committee:

The newly revised Women In Criminal Law Committee held its first organizational meeting on Thursday, April 19th. This committee is concerned with issues affecting female clients, some of which are unique to women defendants. The aspect of issues pertaining to women attorneys are also pertinent, however, the committee is not a “Women’s Auxiliary Group”, and we are pleased that both male and female members of our association have joined the committee.

In past years, the Women In Criminal Law Committee has organized lectures regarding the defense of women, such as dress codes to make the client more sympathetic in the eyes of the jury, battered women defense, incarceration problems, aftercare programs, and family related issues, which now are even more important with the institution of the new domestic violence courtroom.

The Committee is currently planning a CLE program to be further announced. Members interested in joining this committee should contact Genay Ann Leitman, Vice President of the NYCBA and Chairperson of the Women In Criminal Law Committee at 212-687-4499 or email her at GALESQ@aol.com

Annual Dues:

We have begun the process of suspending access to the NYCBA Website for those members who have not paid their 2007 dues. If you no longer have access to the NYCBA Website, and you wish to be reinstated, or if you believe the suspension was made in error, please immediately contact Michael Bachrach, the New York Criminal Bar Association Treasurer, by telephone at (646) 797-2776 or by email at michael@mbachlaw.com.

Member News:

We remind you that we have created a new section on our website where Members can post information about their latest victories, office moves, and similar matters of significance to your fellow members. This new section can be accessed by clicking on the "Members Info" button at the top of the main Members page of the NYCBA Website, and then clicking on the item called "Members News."

If you wish to post your own story about a specific case or a motion that you have won, or about an issue or an argument that you feel would be of interest to your fellow members, please follow the guidelines set forth below and send your suggested write-up to nycrimbar@nyc.rr.com:

(1) the full text of the proposed announcement must be provided by the member requesting the news to be posted in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format;

(2) because such announcements usually generate requests for additional information, you must provide the full name of the case and its citation or docket number, the court, the judge, the date of the event and a brief summary of event, including any statement as to its relative significance;

(3) to allow us to easily verify the accuracy of the post, you must provide us with a citation to the case (e.g., a Westlaw or Lexis citation, or a copy of a newspaper article that reported the event). If the information is only verifiable from a court document – as opposed to Westlaw, Lexis, or a newspaper article – then you must provide us with a copy of the court document.

(4) We reserve the right to edit any member submissions at our discretion. In addition, on occasion we may also reprint certain of these news items in the NYCBA Newsletter to the extent that time and space permits.

We hope you will enjoy this new section of our website; and we welcome any suggestions you may have about this new section or our publication guidelines.

Comments and Newsletter Contributions Welcome:

Comments and suggestions about, and contributions to, this Newsletter are most welcome; and we encourage you to let us know what features you would like to see included in the Newsletter. Please send your comments by email directly to our committee at: nycrimbar@nyc.rr.com.

Internet and Newsletter Committee:
Scott Tulman, Chair
Harvey Fishbein
Michael K. Bachrach
Peter G. Schmidt