On a daily basis, family and criminal courts depend on mandated domestic violence services for resolving cases of intimate partner violence. Thousands of defendants and respondents in our city are required to complete these services in order to have visits with their children or get back in their homes. Yet there is little evidence of the effectiveness of existing services and there continues to be a reliance on outdated services such as Batterers Accountability programs. New York City policymakers have been examining this issue and have developed a Blueprint for Abusive Partner Intervention. A report published in 2018, “Seeding Generations: New Strategies Towards Services for People who Abuse,” took a comprehensive look at this issue and the need for a new model of services. The report acknowledges that services to families also need to consider the trauma that those who harm have been through. This panel on January 17, 2019 served as an opportunity for policymakers to have a dialogue with family court and criminal court practitioners about the current and future state of domestic violence services.Welcome:Cecile Noel, Commissioner, Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence  Moderator:Purvi Shah, Consultant, Seeding GenerationsSpeakers:Albery Abreu, Abusive Partner Intervention Specialist, Children’s Aid SocietyTanya Apparicio, Deputy Chief, Domestic Violence Unit, NY County District Attorney’s OfficeAna Bermudez, Commissioner, New York City Department of ProbationJuliana Chereji, Family Defense Practice, Brooklyn Defenders Services

Bea Hanson, Executive Director, Domestic Violence Task Force, NYC Office of the Mayor

Quentin Walcott, Co-Executive Director of Connect Sponsoring Association Committee:Council on Children, Lauren Shapiro, ChairCo-Sponsoring Association Committee:Children & the Law, Sara L. Hiltzik, ChairDomestic Violence Committee, Amanda M. Beltz, ChairEducation & the Law Committee, Laura D. Barbieri, ChairFamily Court & Family Law Committee, Glenn Metsch-Ampel, Chair

On December 6, 2018, Juan Williams, the political analyst for Fox News, bestselling author, and civil rights expert addressed the Trump administration’s sweeping rollback of the civil rights movement at the City Bar's Public Affairs Luncheon. Donald Trump’s campaign pitch to African Americans was: “What the hell do you have to lose?” According to Juan, the answer is: Quite a lot, as it turns out. He believes that the Trump administration’s policies and intentions pose a threat to civil rights without precedent in modern America. Based on his observations of the current state of politics and race relations with insights from the long, and sometimes forgotten, history of the civil rights movement, as Juan asserts in his new book, knowing our past is essential if we are to understand our present, and shape our future.

On December 3, 2018, experts discussed the legal issues relating to the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Topics included the scope and limits of First Amendment protection for certain types of speech, whether by news and media outlets, on school campuses, via social media, or as part of public protests. The program covered the current state of the law and recent developments. With an eye toward contributing to the public understanding of this complex area of law, it focused on the legal issues and on identifying and addressing the areas where legal line-drawing either is fairly easy or remains difficult and uncertain.

Opening Remarks: Roger Juan Maldonado, President, New York City Bar Association Panel:  Alex Abdo, Senior Staff Attorney, Knight First Amendment Institute  Floyd Abrams, Senior Counsel, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP  Daniel J. Kornstein, Partner, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP  Carmelyn P. Malalis, Chair & Commissioner, NYC Commission on Human Rights  Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, New York Law School  Moderator:  Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School Sponsoring: New York City Bar Association City Bar Justice Center City Bar Office for Diversity & Inclusion  Co-Sponsoring Association Committees: Civil Rights Committee, Philip Desgranges, Chair Federal Courts Committee, Laura Grossfield Birger, Chair Communications & Media Law Committee, Katherine M. Bolger, Chair Legal History Committee, Daniel J. Kornstein, Chair

Related Resource: If you're interested in this program, you may also be interested in watching or listening to last year's program, "The First Amendment: From Skokie to Charlottesville & Beyond."

The presidential election first scheduled for 2016 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and then for 2017 never took place. The election is now scheduled to take place on December 23, 2018. The Prime Minister has said that President Kabila will not run again, and he will abide by the constitutional limits. The delayed elections spurred anti-Kabila marches and protests, led by laity of the Catholic Church and youth activists. The government has cracked down on this opposition, harassing, arbitrarily arresting, detaining, injuring, and killing protestors. Many still remain in detention despite increasing health problems. Panelists examined the way forward for the DRC and the role opposition leaders, youth activists, the Catholic Church, and duly-elected officials can play in strengthening civil society.                Speakers:H.E. Ambassador François Nkuna Balumuene, The Democratic Republic of the Congo Ambassador to the United States--InvitedTatiana Carayannis, Director of the Social Science Research Council’s Understanding Violent Conflict Research Initiative and convener of the DRC Affinity GroupSasha Lezhnev, Deputy Director of Policy at the Enough ProjectKambale Musavuli, Human Rights Activist and Spokesperson for Friends of the CongoModerator: Elizabeth Barad, Esq., International Law and Gender Consultant

Sponsoring Association Committee:African Affairs Committee, Victoria Safran, Chair                Co-Sponsoring Association Committees:United Nations Committee, Simon O’Connor, ChairCouncil on International Affairs Committee, Michael D. Cooper, ChairInternational Human Rights Committee, Lauren Melkus, Chair

Co-Sponsoring Organization:Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Alexander Papachristou, Executive Director

Focused on New York City’s schools grades K-8, panelists on November 8, 2018 discussed the history of school segregation and integration efforts; diversity pilots and plans; school admission screens, G&T programs, and their potential for desegregation; accountability, legal constraints, and best practices. Whether you are an education advocate, parent, practitioner, public official, student, or concerned citizen, this exciting and thought-provoking conversation is packed with information you will want to know.

Speakers: Matthew Gonzales, Director, School Diversity Project, New York Appleseed  Richard D. Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation  Brad Lander, Member, New York City Council Emmy Liss, Chief of Staff, Div. of Early Childhood Educ. & Student Enrollment, NYCDOE Dennis D. Parker, Director, Racial Justice Program, ACLU

Moderator:  Clara Hemphill, Founder and Editor, InsideSchools

Re-legalization of cannabis for general adult use in New York City has never been closer, but how ready is the most populous metropolitan area in the United States - and the country’s largest urban cannabis market for commercial manufacture, delivery, home cultivation and over-the-counter sale of cannabis? On November 1, 2018, the City Bar’s Drugs & the Law Committee held a panel discussion examining the legal and policy changes that will be necessary in order to make a safe and orderly transition from a criminal market to a viable regulated market.

Speakers:

Axel Bernabe, Assistant Counsel, Governor Cuomo for Health

Steven Epstein, Founding Partner, Barket, Epstein, and Kearon LLP

Jerome Levy, Partner, Duane Morris

Joseph Levey, Founding Partner, Helbraun & Levey

Donovan Richards, New York City Council Member

Preston Niblack, New York City Deputy Comptroller for Budget

Moderator:

Kristin Jordan, Chair, Cannabis Practice Group, Newman Ferrara LLP

On October 22, 2018, the City Bar’s Labor & Employment Law Committee held a program on how the evolving treatment of marijuana under the law affects the workplace. Learn how legalization of medical and recreational marijuana affect rights and obligations under the ADA, FLMA, and more.

Speakers: George Schwab, Kraus & Zuchlewski LLPAnne Dana, Seyfarth Shaw  LLPJay Jaffe, 1199 SEIU

Moderator:Hanan Kolko, Meyer Suozzi English & Klein P.C.

Sponsoring Committee: Labor & Employment Committee, Katherine Greenberg, Chair

In 1994, the UN Commission on Human Rights noted the increasing frequency of attacks on the independence of judges, lawyers, and court officials as well as the link which exists between the weakening of safeguards for these officials and human rights violations. In response, the Commission appointed a Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to investigate and report on these attacks. The current Special Rapporteur, Professor Diego García-Sayán discussed his current role and work with attendees. This work includes his yearly report to the United Nations, examinations into judicial corruption, ideas on current international legal standards, efforts to update those standards so that they remain applicable in the face of new challenges to the legal and judicial professions, as well as both oversight and enforcement mechanisms.

Diego Garcia-Sayan, UN Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges Lawyers

William A. Wilson III, Chair of the Task Force on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges

Sponsoring Association Committee:Task Force on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges, Lawyers William A. Wilson III, Chair 

Co-Sponsoring Organization Committee:Council on International Affairs, Michael D. Cooper, ChairInternational Human Rights Committee, Lauren Melkus, Chair

Pet food is a multibillion-dollar industry and has a significant impact on our current food system. Many humans consider themselves to be “pet parents” or “pet guardians” instead of “pet owners” which may have contributed to the growth in this industry. This program reviewed federal, state and local authority to regulate pet food and the relevant statutes. The program also discussed what information is mandatory on pet food labels and whether this information is meaningful to consumers. The program also focused on recent marketing trends in the pet food industry, such as holistic, natural, and organic pet foods, and what these terms even mean in the pet food context. Recent pet food recalls, including the 2007 melamine scandal, and the impact of failures in pet food regulation on human health was also discussed.

Jeh Johnson served as Secretary of Homeland Security from December 2013 to January 2017. Secretary Johnson was responsible for the federal government’s response to many of our nation’s most pressing issues, including immigration; cybersecurity; Russian interference in the election; counterterrorism; natural disasters; nuclear, chemical and biological threats; and the protection of critical infrastructure and the nation’s leadership. At the City Bar's Public Affairs Luncheon on October 9, 2018, Secretary Johnson reflected on his leadership experiences and shed light on the latest headlines.