NYCBA Members Newsletter

Welcome to the April 2008 issue of our Newsletter.

President's Message:

This space is usually reserved for a message from our president, Tony Ricco. However, as you all know, in addition to his usual busy schedule, Tony, for the last eight weeks, has been on trial in Queens in the matter concerning the death of Sean Bell, and time has not permitted him to write his message. This then gives us the opportunity to congratulate Tony, who, in a professional manner and under the most trying and emotional circumstances, has successfully defended his client. As colleagues and friends, we are very proud of him.

NYCBA Annual Dinner - June 16, 2008:

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2008 - TAVERN ON THE GREEN

Our annual gala event will be held this year at the Tavern on the Green on Monday evening, June 16th. This year our Honoree is esteemed attorney: Herald Price Fahringer. The Guest Speaker is the Honorable Gustave Reichbach. A Special Recognition Award will be given to Kevin McNally for his work on Death Penalty cases, and a Meritorious Service Award will be given to Past President of the NYCBA, Henry J. Steinglass, for his dedication for so many years of organizing our past CLE programs.

The event begins at 5:00 P.M. with a two hour outdoor cocktail party. The sit-down dinner begins at 7:00 P.M. Normally the evening concludes at approximately 10:00 P.M.

Ticket Prices are as follows:

$ 1,500.00 for a table of 10, if pre-paid in full by May 23rd.
$ 160.00 for members of the NYCBA
$ 185.00 for non-members of the NYCBA

Invitations should arrive in the mail shortly, and your RSVP card can be sent by mail to Michael K. Bachrach, NYCBA Treasurer, 276 Fifth Ave., Suite 501, New York, N.Y. 10001, or by faxing him credit card information to (866) 328-1630. Please provide the Name on Credit Card, Card Number, Expiration Date, and the Names of those attending, specifying if a member or non-member.

For further information, contact: Genay Ann Leitman, Vice President and Dinner Committee Chairperson, (212) 687-4499, or Edward Sapone, Committee Co-Chair, (212) 974-0600.

THIS EVENT ALWAYS IS SOLD OUT, SO RSVP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE AVAILABILITIES AT THE DOOR.

Upcoming Events - NACDL's Spring CLE and
50th Anniversary Gala Celebration in New York:

We are pleased to announce that the NACDL will be holding its 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner and Celebration in New York from Thursday, May 1 through Sunday, May 4, 2008. There are a number of events scheduled during that time; and you can get more information on those events by clicking here. However, we particularly want to highlight three of those events:

• On Thursday evening, May 1, 2008, the NYCBA, in conjunction with several other regional affiliates of the NACDL, will be hosting a Welcoming Cocktail Reception from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. This Reception will be held at the New York County Lawyers Association. 14 Vesey Street, New York, NY. For further details about this Reception, please click here.
  
  Please note that there is no charge to attend this Reception if you are registered for the NACDL Spring Meeting and Seminar. If you are not registered for those events, there will be a charge of $50 per person to attend the Reception.
  
  
  
• On Friday evening, May 2, 2008, the NACDL will hold its 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner at the Cipriani Wall Street Restaurant. For further information about that historic dinner event, see the attached invitation from Carmen Hernandez, the President of the NACDL.
  
  We hope that you will make every effort to attend. We also note that, if you plan to attend, you must make reservations in advance. As of the date of this Newsletter, there were very few tickets remaining for the dinner and no tickets will be will be available at the door on the night of the event.
  
  
  
• On Thursday, May 1 through Sunday, May 4, 2008, the NACDL will be sponsoring its annual Spring Seminar entitled "Warriors for the Defense: Trial Techniques from the Masters." This multi-track CLE Seminar will be held at the Marriott Financial Center Hotel, and it will provide you with an opportunity to pick-up as many as 14 CLE credits while allowing you to choose classes from three separate tracks. For further information about this Seminar, please go to the NACDL's website.
  
  

Renovation of the Attorney Lounge at 100 Centre Street:

Great News – We have been given the green light to refurbish and re-decorate our Attorney Lounge, Room 1618 at 100 Centre Street. Many of you may be aware that for the past year it was uncertain if we were going to be able to keep our room at the Criminal Courthouse. Fortunately, when Justice Michael J. Obus was appointed to Administrative Judge, he gave us the approval to keep our room and to refurbish and redecorate. We are extremely grateful to Justice Obus for his consideration.

Due to security reasons we cannot bring clients to our room, and we ask all of you to respect that rule. We cannot risk losing this room after we put such a great deal of effort into achieving this magnificent result. So that we have a place to meet with clients, the Court has set up an attorney/client conference room on the 13th floor at the north end of the building. The room has a conference table with new furniture and is very comfortable. We urge you to make use of this conference room. For access to this room, which is available on a first-come/ first-served basis, just ask a court officer in the hallway area for access, or contact the Security office.

Renovations of Room 1618 are currently taking place and we ask you all to be patient with any inconvenience while this occurs. Thanks to Dave Costanzo, Courthouse Facilities' Liason, for his help in assisting us with coordinating all aspects of this project. During the time period that the room is being renovated, access to the room might not be available.

If you have any personal items in the lounge, please remove all items by Thursday, May 1st. Any items left in the room will be discarded. We will be painting, carpeting, getting new furniture, window treatments, and lighting fixtures. We also plan to add a computer with wireless access so that members can check their emails, and do legal research on their own Lexis or WestLaw accounts. We also have wireless access in the room so that you can access the Internet on your laptop.

For security purposes, and to insure that the room is kept in good condition, we will be changing the lock system on the entry door. We are installing a card key access system. After May 1st, your present key will not access the room. Access cards will be available for members to purchase at the cost of $40. Each member is entitled to purchase one card. We must charge for the cards as they are expensive but it is a nominal charge considering the huge expense that the Association is incurring for this project and the improved quality that our members will have as a result.

You can either pick up your card directly at our Treasurer's office or have it mailed to you. Just send a check made payable to the NYCBA to Michael K. Bachrach, NYCBA Treasurer, 276 Fifth Ave., Suite 501, New York, N.Y. 10001, or fax your credit card info to Michael at (866) 328-1630. Specify if you will pick up the card or wish it mailed to you. These cards will be numbered so if you lose your card, we can de-activate it. There will be a $ 40. charge for a replacement access card. The cards will be available once the renovation is completed which we anticipate will be within 4-6 weeks. We will try our best to get this accomplished as quickly as possible.

The costs of renovation and refurbishment is expensive, so the Association is seeking contributions. Any amount, even as low as $25, would be appreciated. Of course, we would be grateful for contributions up to or exceeding $500.00. Those who contribute to the Room Renovation Fund will be honored in the Annual Dinner Journal. Please see yourself clear to make a contribution, especially those members who frequently use the room.

We look forward to many years of enjoyment in our attorney lounge. It will be one that we can all be proud of, and we greatly thank the Room Committee (Edward Wilford, Committee Chairperson; Genay Ann Leitman; Michael K. Bachrach; Edward Sapone;
Stacey Richman; Steven Pugliese; and Fred Sosinsky) for all their hard work.

Annual Meeting Update:

The Annual Meeting of the New York Criminal Bar Association was held on April 8, 2008, in the Central Jury Room at 100 Centre St. 

At the meeting the following Directors were elected or re-elected to new terms:

As part of the annual meeting a CLE was also presented, entitled, “Practice Tips From Our Past-Presidents”.  A distinguished panel of our past-presidents offered advice step-by-step through various aspects of criminal defense. 

Lawrence S. Goldman began with a discussion of the pre-Indictment investigative process, focused primarily on the white-collar client.  Gerald B. Lefcourt followed by distributing a comprehensive jury questionnaire he relied upon in a recent high-profile acquittal, and discussed the importance of jury questionnaires in Federal court.  Lawrence Hochheiser and Henry J. Steinglass both offered excellent advice regarding cross-examination and the various steps that can be taken give yourself a leg-up on the prosecution.  Martin B. Adelman discussed closing arguments, Scott B. Tulman examined sentencing and suggested ways to win the prosecutor over to your view of the appropriate sentence that the court should impose.  Eric A. Seiff closed out the panel with tips regarding the appellate process, the need to know your record as well as you know your own life, and the importance of frontloading your strongest arguments to ensure the court’s attention.  The program was organized and moderated by Michael K. Bachrach, our current Treasurer. 

A copy of the 50-page set of materials that were distributed as part of the program can be accessed by clicking here. 

Upcoming CLE Seminars:

• April 30, 2008 - New York City's Marijuana Arrest Policy Thirty Years After Decriminalization. The Committee on Drugs and the Law of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York is sponsoring this seminar on Wednesday evening, April 30, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the offices of the Association at 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY. Additional details regarding this seminar can be accessed by clicking here.
  
  
  
• May 15, 2008 - The Financial Consequences of Criminal Convictions: New Fees and Fines in New York’s Criminal Justice System. The New York County Lawyer's Association (NYCLA) is presenting a free, public forum on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at NYCLA's home at 14 Vesey Street in Manhattan, starting at 6:00 p.m. Forum panelists will debate the new legal financial obligations, which are the vast array of fines, fees, costs, penalties, surcharges and assessments imposed by local and state governments, as well as the federal government against people convicted of criminal offenses. There will be a discussion of the consequences of these financial obligations for individuals, their significance to the courts and society, and the practical opportunities for their possible reform. For further information about this Forum and to register, please contact NYCLA by email at: dlamb@nycla.org
  
  

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 items:

• We have posted on the Decisions section of our Website a copy of Judge Weinstein's ground-breaking decision in U.S. v. Polizzi, No. 05-CR-22 (JBW) (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 1, 2008). In this controversial 288-page long ruling, Judge Weinstein granted a defendant in a child pornography case new trial after concluding that he has committed a “constitutional error” in failing to allow the defendant to advise the jury that he faced a five-year mandatory minimum sentence. For a detailed analysis of this ruling, see the March 3, 2008 issue of Punch and Jurists," which all Members of the NYCBA are entitled to receive by virtue of their membership.
  
  
• We have posted on the What's New section of our Website a copy of an article entitled "Sentencing Guidelines," by Alan Vinegrad and Douglas Bloom, that was published in the New York Law Journal on Apr. 17, 2008. The article contains an extended (and mostly critical) analysis of the Second Circuit's recent lengthy decision in U.S. v. Cutler, No. 05-2516 (2d Cir. Mar. 17, 2008). In addition, we have posted on the Briefs section of our Website copies of three briefs filed with the Second Circuit requesting a rehearing en banc of the panel's ruling. Those briefs are: (a) the Brief filed by Messrs. Cooley Gowward Kronish LLP on behalf of defendant James Cutler; (b) the Brief filed by Messrs. Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson on behalf of defendant Sandord Freedman; and (c) the Amicus Brief filed by the New York Council of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
  
  

Annual Dues:

We have begun the process of suspending access to the NYCBA Website for those members who have not paid their 2008 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 K. Bachrach, NYCBA Treasurer, by telephone at (212) 929-0592 or by email at michael@mbachlaw.com, so that we may update our records accordingly. 

Annual dues are $100 and cover the period of January 1^st – December 31^st of each year.  Payment may be made by sending your check, made payable to the “New York Criminal Bar Association,” to Michael K. Bachrach, NYCBA Treasurer, 276 Fifth Avenue, Suite 501, New York, New York, 10001. Payments may also be made by emailing your credit card authorization to Michael or by faxing it to him at (866) 328-1630. 

Comments and Newsletter Contributions Welcome

Comments on this and future issues of this Newsletter are most welcome, as are your own stories about cases, issues, arguments, events. etc. - whether just a sentence or a paragraph to alert us to a recent development, or a longer piece. Please send your material to Scott Tulman, Chair of the Internet and Newsletter Committee at Tel.: (212) 867-3600 or email: stulman@aol.com - or 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 Schmidt