NYCBA Members Newsletter

Welcome to the Fall 2008 issue of our Newsletter.

President's Message:

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 marked a truly historic event in our nation. We all awoke that morning into the dawn of a new era. Together, we have elected a person of truly African-American descent as President of the United States of America. It is a national endorsement of the confidence and commitment we have in people of color to lead and govern and the abandonment of the ugly legacy of racism. As we all look forward to the future under the leadership of Mr. Barack Obama as our President, let us be guided by the lessons of our past. Today a younger generation of voters have united with older voters to remind us how to dream and of the preciousness of hope.

Our daily work as defense attorneys is difficult, as we confront the worst of societies failures in everyday of our lives. From the front row seats in our courtrooms, each day we see how the burden of societies problems have turned many once excellent Jurists into frustrated apathetic individuals who openly display hostility and contempt for the people who stand before them in search of justice. For example, each day we see how some Judges routinely punish those who have made bail, by arbitrarily resetting bail at higher levels or ordering remand to coerce pleas, under the guise and pretext that such action is required simply because of the return of an indictment. Each day as advocates we stand before juries pleading with often unsympathetic and indifferent jurors, reminding them of the important role they play in securing the promise of justice for others who, as a result of the complexion of their skin or cultural background, are all too often deemed unworthy of the presumption of innocence and fundamental fairness.

Unlike many people in our nation, we are members of a profession in which we can bring about and implement great changes starting today. In our professional efforts, in and out of the courtroom, let us provide an example to those who follow us in our profession. In our commitment to serving justice, let us all recommit ourselves to participating in rendering justice in our courtrooms and embody, serve, and honor the high values and character of those who founded our association like the Hon. Robert L. Cohen, Marty Adleman, Jack Litman, Larry Goldman, Jack Hoffinger and others.

Many of you are aware, that last week the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York approved an outstanding mentoring program to increase diversity on the Criminal Justice Act Panel. The program, which is open to everyone, provides a tremendous opportunity for our experienced members to give back to our profession, by participating in the training of younger lawyers. To younger members of our association, the program provides an excellent opportunity to learn and grow along side some of the finest men and women in our nation who each day seek justice for others before our courts.

In this small way, we can begin and be part of the process that makes change more than a campaign cliche. Today, we can bring about change in our courtrooms, by participating in the training of those who will serve before our courts well into the 21st Century. Let's embrace the future and move forward towards greatness.

Yours for a better defense,

Tony Ricco,
President
email: tonyricco@aol.com

Annual Holiday Party

We remind you that our annual Holiday Party Welcoming New Judges will be held on Tuesday evening, December 16, 2008 from 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM at SPQR Restaurant in Manhattan.

Our Guest of Honor this year will be the Hon. ShawnDya L. Simpson, Criminal Court Judge for New York County.

As usual, music will be provided by The Canal Street Dixieland Jazz Band, featuring Judge Herbert Adlerberg.

The cost of the party is $100 per person. Please send your check, payable to the NYCBA, or fax your credit card information to:

Michael K. Bachrach, Treasurer
276 Fifth Ave., Suite 501
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (212) 929-0592; Fax: (866) 328-1630

For further information about this event, please contact:

Genay Ann Leitman, Vice President, (212) 687-4499
Edward V. Sapone, Dinner Committee Chair, (212) 974-0600

Attorney Lounge at 100 Centre Street Reopened:

As many of you know, the renovations to the New York Criminal Bar Association's Attorney Lounge (100 Centre St., Room 1618) are now complete and the room has been re-opened. 

The Association undertook at great expense a complete renovation to the Attorney Lounge.  The walls and floors have been completely resanre-sandedainted and recarre-carpetedp; New furniture, window treatments, and lighting fixtures have been added, as well as two new computers with wireless access so that members can check their emails, and do legal research on their own Lexis or WestLaw accounts. (Note that the computer's require individual passwords for use, a project that is still in progress.  We hope, however, to have the passwords assigned and distributed shortly so that everyone may make use of the computers.)  We also have wireless access in the room so that you can access the Internet on your laptop without the need for a password.

In addition to the general renovations and redecoration of the Attorney Lounge, an electronic lock has also been installed on the main entry to the room to better control and monitor access to the room.  Access keycards are available for members to purchase at the reduced rate of $40 (the charge to non-members is $150). 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 has incurred for this project and the improved quality that our members now have as a result.

In addition to the Attorney Lounge, the Court has also set up an attorney/client conference room on the 13th floor at the north end of the building, which all defense attorneys may utilize. The room has a conference table with new furniture and is very comfortable. We urge you to make use of this conference room when needing to meet with clients, as the NYCBA Attorney Lounge on the 16th Floor is not intended for clients due to building security concerns. For access to 13th floor conference 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.

To make a donation or to purchase a keycard to gain entry to the Attorney Lounge, please send your payment to our Treasurer, Michael K. Bachrach.  Payments by check should be made payable to the "New York Criminal Bar Association" and sent to Michael K. Bachrach, NYCBA Treasurer, 276 Fifth Avenue, Suite 501, New York, N.Y. 10001, or fax your credit card info to Michael at (866) 328-1630.  These cards will be numbered so if you lose your card, we can deactivate it. There will be a $40 charge for replacements.

NYCBA Web Site Features:

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

• We have posted online a copy of an article entitled "How Rule 502 Affects Lawyers and E-Discovery: The new rules limit circumstances under which inadvertent disclosure waives attorney-client privilege," by Robert A. Schwinger and Eric Twiste, as published pm Law.com on October 08, 2008
  
  
• We have posted on our website a copy of an article entitled "Vetting jurors via MySpace: Social Web sites contain a trove of data for attorneys," by Julie Kay, as published in the National Law Journal, Aug. 11, 2008.
  
  
  

What's New On The Internet:

• We note an interesting posting on the New York Federal Criminal Practice Blog, entitled "Some Notable Applications of the Supreme Court’s Money Laundering Decisions in Santos and Cuellar," by JaneAnne Murray, as posted on Nov. 7, 2008.
  
  
• Free access to Loislaw: All attorneys who are residents of New York State and are admitted to the New York bar are eligible to receive a NYS Library Borrower card and that card then grants them free access to Loislaw's legal research resources on the Internet. To apply, applicants must complete a NYSL Attorney Borrower's application and present personal identification that includes their home address such as a current NYS Driver's license or a current photo-identification card issued by the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles AND one of the following: (a) a letterhead from the individual's firm with his/her name on it, business card or NYS bar card, or (b) a listing in a current legal directory.
  
  For further infomation on applying, go to www.nysl.nysed.gov/apply.htm
  
  For futher infprmation on the resources that are available on Loislaw, go to www.loislaw.com/
  
  
• We also note that the Public Library of Law, which advertises itself as "the world's largest free law library," now has a new, simplified case search form for cases from the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, and state court decisions - which is available at www.plol.org/Pages/Search.aspx
  
  
• Finally, we note an interesting article that was recently posted on the Internet by Robert J. Ambrogi, Esq., a frequent contributor to the Law Technology News section of Law.com. The article, entitled "Tour the Legal Web's New Sites", highlights some new legal websites that may be of interest to our readers.
  
  
  
  

Annual Dues:

With the New Year approaching quickly, we would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that your New York Criminal Bar Association dues for 2009 are due on Jan. 1st. For 2009, annual dues remain $100. Payments 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 faxing or emailing your credit card authorization to Mr. Bachrach at (866) 328-1630 or michael@mbachlaw.com.

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