New York City Bar Association Podcasts -NYC Bar

The self-proclaimed "Islamic State," ISIS or ISIL, has framed its legitimacy on its interpretation of 1400 year old principles of Islam that originally supported the unprecedented swift conquest of lands reaching from what is now southern France to Pakistan within 100 years of the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Our panel of distinguished experts will discuss both the validity of these theological arguments and the modern legal issues applicable to a militarily successful theocratic entity that disregards virtually universally accepted international norms of humanitarian behavior and yet claims to be entitled to the rights and recognition of sovereignty.

Moderator: Robert E. Michael, Chair, Committee on Middle Eastern and North African Affairs

Speakers: Jeremiah S. Pam, Visiting Scholar at the Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University – Is ISIS a State?; Prof. Mohammad Fadel, Associate Professor & Canada Research Chair for the Law and Economics of Islamic Law at the University of Toronto – The Caliphate in Islamic History and Theology; Abed Awad, Awad & Khoury LLP; Adjunct Professor, Rutgers & Pace Law Schools – Jihad and Apostasy in Islamic Law; Prof. Bernard K. Freamon, Professor of Law and Director, Program for the Study of Law in the Middle East, Seton Hall Law School – Slavery and the Treatment of Captives and Prisoners in Islamic Law; Miles P. Fischer, Senior Attorney, Wohabe Law Offices LLP – The US and International Law that Applies to Asymmetric Warfare

Sponsored by: Committee on Middle Eastern and North African Affairs, Robert E. Michael, Chair; Council on International Affairs, Bettina B. Plevan, Chair; International Law Committee, Caline Mouawad, Chair; Military Affairs & Justice Committee, Michael P. Richter, Chair

Does gender impact choices of outside counsel? What mistakes do women (and men) make when they try to get business from in-house lawyers? How can women rise to higher levels in law firms and companies? These are just a few of the questions our esteemed panelists will answer at this not-to-be-missed event.

Moderator: Bettina B. Plevan, Proskauer Rose LLP

Speakers: Jane E. Booth, General Counsel, Columbia University; Lynn Gonzalez, VP of Business and Legal Affairs, Universal Music Group's Shared Label Services; Elizabeth I. Hooke, Director & Associate General Counsel, Citigroup Inc.; Marina O. Lowy, Senior Associate General Counsel, The Mount Sinai Health System; Sheila Murphy, Associate General Counsel, MetLife

Sponsored by: Committee on Women in the Courts Task Force, Rebecca Berkebile, Chair; Committee on Women in the Legal Profession, Lori Pines, Chair

On the eve of the UN Secretary-General's Climate Summit, the President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, joined by the Committee on International Environmental Law of the New York City Bar Association, and Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, co-hosted a public conversation on climate change with Pacific Island leaders.

Featured Speakers: President Christopher J. Loeak, Republic of the Marshall Islands; President Manny Mori, Federated States of Micronesia; President Tommy Remengesau, Republic of Palau; President Baron Waqa, Republic of Nauru; Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Independent State of Samoa; Foreign Minister Taukelina Finikaso, Tuvalu; Prime Minister Siale'ataongo Tu'ivakanō, Kingdom of Tongo; Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Marshallese poet; Michael B. Gerrard, Professor at Columbia Law School, Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This program is sponsored by the Bioethical Issues Committee and will focus on the expanding and dynamically changing role of ethics committees in institutions, as well as in community-based care, featuring an interdisciplinary panel of experts from law, medicine, nursing, social work, and bioethics. The historical and legal underpinnings of ethics committees will be reviewed including new mandates under the Family Health Care Decisions Act. Discussion will center on diverse approaches to negotiating conflict within the context of ethics committees (e.g., mediation, reflective practice models), and interaction between ethics committees and palliative care teams.

The program is interdisciplinary and targets all professionals including attorneys, physicians, nurses/nurse practitioners, social workers, ethicists, as well as health care managers.

Moderators: Christopher P. Comfort, MD, Medical Director, Calvary Hospital; Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey, Ph.D., Chair, Subcommittee, Palliative Care

Speakers: Christopher P. Comfort, MD, Medical Director, Calvary Hospital; Nancy Neveloff Dubler, LL.B., Consultant for Ethics, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Professor Emerita, The Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Bruce Jennings, MA, Director of Bioethics, Center for Humans and Nature, and Senior Advisor, The Hastings Center; Joseph Lowy, MD, Director, Palliative Care Service, NYU Medical Center; Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey, Ph.D., Chair, Palliative Care Subcommittee, City Bar Committee on Bioethical Issues; Kenneth Prager, MD, Director of Clinical Ethics, Columbia University Medical Center; Mathew C. Varughese, Associate General Counsel for Health and Research Affairs, Yale University

Sponsored by: Committee on Bioethical Issues, Wendy Luftig, Chair

Co-Sponsored by: Public Health Association of New York City, New York Academy of Medicine

The term "Sustainable Development" first appeared in the 1987 report "Our Common Future," prepared by the Brundtland Commission. Sustainable Development was endorsed as the basis of a new model of development at the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Twenty years later, the Rio + 20 Conference produced an Outcome Document called the "Future We Want," which articulates essential commitments necessary for Sustainable Development.

The need for a sustainable future has remained a constant for the past quarter century and has propelled a deeper understanding of the principles and practices that will enable such a future. Indeed, understanding and implementing sustainable practices is even more crucial today in the face of global climate change.

This diverse panel will discuss the changes that are emerging, guided by the Rio + 20 Outcome Document, "The Future We Want." The panelists will describe recent institutional changes at the UN, including the establishment of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the designation of the UN Environment Assembly as the governing body of UNEP, the General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, and the Expert Committee on Sustainable Development financing. The panelists will also discuss the role of stakeholders, problems with the Means of Implementation and financing strategies for sustainable development, and climate adaptation. The panelists will explore the challenges of building a positive, enabling environment for rule-based business and investment, as well as for the expression of the civil society perspective.

Panelists: Americo Beviglia Zampetti, Head, Economic, Trade and Sustainable Development Section, European Union Delegation to the UN; Felix Dodds, Independent Consultant on stakeholder engagement in the sustainable development process and Writer; former Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future; Louise Kantrow, Permanent Representative to the United Nations for the International Chamber of Commerce and Coordinator, Global Business Alliance for Post 2015; David O'Connor, Head, Policy and Analysis Branch, United Nations Division for Sustainable Development

Moderator: Nicholas A. Robinson, University Professor for the Environment and and Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, Pace Law School

Sponsored by: Committee on International Environmental Law, Mary L. Lyndon, Chair; Asian Affairs Committee, Mark R. Shulman, Chair

Co-Sponsored by: Environmental Law Committee, Jeffrey Gracer, Chair; European Affairs Committee, Catherine Tinker, Chair; Task Force on Climate Adaptation, Stephen L. Kass, Chair; United Nations Committee, Ulysses Smith, Chair

Was there a secret about the Lincoln assassination whose disclosure "would risk the survival of the Republic?" David Stewart's book shows what a quest for this secret reveals about America in the 1860s and at the dawn of Teddy Roosevelt's presidency in 1900. Mr. Stewart takes us into the cauldron of the assassination, the Booth Conspiracy, and America's corrosive dealings on race.

Moderator: Albert Feuer, Law Offices of Albert FeuerSpeaker: David O. Stewart, Ropes & Gray, LLP, Washington, DC; Author, "The Lincoln Deception" Sponsored by: Committee on Legal History, John Q. Barrett, Chair; Committee on Books at the Bar, Thomas Ross, Chair

On Monday, February 3, 2014 Justice Elena Kagan, Supreme Court of the United States, delivered the Annual Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law. The lecture was followed by a question and answer session.

Welcome by: Carey R. Dunne, President, New York City Bar

Introduction by: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court of the United States

Lecture by: Justice Elena Kagan, Supreme Court of the United States

The Guantanamo Bay military commissions have become one of the biggest legal controversies of the past decade. Attorneys representing military commission defendants have faced reading of their legal mail, monitoring devices in attorney-client meeting rooms, and interruption of arguments by an outside intelligence agency. Jess Bravin, author of The Terror Courts, will discuss the recent history of the military commissions; two of the defense attorneys, Commander Walter Ruiz and James Connell, will describe the ongoing challenge of trying to practice law at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This is a follow-up to a program at the Association with Brigadier General Mark Martins, the Chief Prosecutor of the Military Commissions.

Moderator: Jess Bravin, Supreme Court correspondent, Wall Street Journal; Author, The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay. Speakers:James Connell, Learned Counsel for Ammar al Baluchi; Commander Walter B. Ruiz, Jr., Learned Counsel for Mustafa Al Hawsawi

This program will explore the newly enacted and proposed SEC rules under the JOBS Act which allow for raising financing through crowdfunding on the internet and social media. The panelists will discuss the realities and examples of crowdfunding through the popular portals to date, and how the new laws will work and how they differ from the current rules, all with a particular emphasis on entertainment.

Speakers: NOREEN WEISS ADLER, Media, Corporate, Securities and Finance Partner at Barton, LLP; KIRAN LINGAM, General Counsel at SeedInvest, a leading equity funding platform; JOHN SLOSS,Partner and Founder of SlossEckhouseLawCo LLP, Founder of Cinetic Media, Film Buff, and Producers Distribution Agency

Moderator: MARILYN G. HAFT, Law Offices of Marilyn G. Haft, P.C.—Entertainment film and television law and finance.

Sponsored by: Committee on Corporation Law, Maurice Lefkort, Chair; Committee on Entertainment Law, Judith Bass, Chair

Climate change is placing increasing strain on the infrastructure and resources of cities around the world. Rising sea levels, increases in heat waves, and more frequent and intense weather events demand broad adaptation initiatives and new attention to long-term resilience. As home to more than half of the world's population, cities are becoming the first responders to climate change and are taking a leadership role in addressing its impacts. This panel will discuss adaptation initiatives being implemented in cities around the world, and New York's role within this global movement.