New York City Bar Association Podcasts -NYC Bar

With hundreds of bills impacting the treatment of animals being introduced in local, state and federal legislatures annually, lobbying is increasingly used by both animal protection organizations and animal industries. Hear this panel discussion of animal law lobbying issues and strategies for organizations, industries and individuals.

Speakers:

Nancy Blaney, Director of Government Affairs, Animal Welfare Institute

Jennifer Hauge, Legislative Affairs Manager, Animal Legal Defense Fund

Julie Lewin, President, National Institute for Animal Advocacy

Sponsoring Committee:

Animal Law Committee, Christopher Wlach, Chair

New York City has set ambitious goals to reduce our City’s greenhouse gas emissions 80% by the year 2050 (“80x50”) in order to help stave off the most devastating impacts of climate change. To accomplish this, deep emissions cuts will be needed across every sector of the City, including from buildings, which account for two-thirds of all greenhouse gas emissions generated in New York City. This program will celebrate and build upon the impressive work that has been accomplished to develop consensus around the New York City Council’s Intro. 1253-C, a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation passed as part of New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act that will require New York City buildings over 25,000 square feet to meet strict emissions limits beginning in 2024. The process to reach consensus around how, when and to what extent emissions should be reduced required collaboration among many different stakeholders with concerns on various issues including emissions reduction impact, cost, timeline, and housing affordability. Significant challenges and opportunities to implement and further expand emissions reductions remain.

The first half of the program explores those previous consensus-building efforts and issues that were left unresolved in the mandate legislation. It then looks forward at the significant work that remains to implement the energy retrofits that will be needed to achieve the emissions reductions required by Intro. 1253-C. In particular, panelists and conference participants look at market-based mechanisms for financing these retrofits (including PACE financing, also passed as part of the Climate Mobilization Act) and at potential ways to achieve broader emissions reductions without threatening housing affordability. Finally, conference participants have the opportunity to join breakout groups for a facilitated discussion to explore potential opportunities to implement the retrofits at a wide scale. The facilitated conversations take place under the guidance of Tim Mealey of the Meridian Institute.

Keynote Speakers:

John Lee, Deputy Director for Buildings and Energy Efficiency, New York City Mayor's Office of Sustainability

Costa Constantinides, New York City Council Member

John Mandyck, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Green Council

Panel 1: Building Consensus on Building Emissions: Bringing the Right Voices to the Table

Speakers:

Cecil Corbin-Mark, WE Act for Environmental Justice

Jared Rodriguez, LeFrak Organization

Pete Sikora, New York Communities for Change

Moderator:

Alexis Saba, Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C.

Panel 2: How the Market Can Support Needed Building Retrofits

Speakers:

Donnel Baird, BlocPower

Helen Chananie, Building Energy Exchange

Lisa DeVito, Con Edison

Fred Lee, New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC)

Sadie McKeown, Community Preservation Corporation

Moderator:

Katie Ullman, Drift Energy

Facilitator:

Tim Mealey, Senior Partner and Managing Director, Meridian Institute

Sponsoring Association Committee:

Environmental Law Committee, J. Kevin Healy & Amy E. Turner, Co-chairs

Co-sponsoring Association Committee:

Energy Law Committee, Rossalyn K. Quaye, Chair

International Environmental Law Committee, Michael H. Burger, Chair

Co-sponsoring Organizations:

NYC Climate Action Alliance

Ida and Robert Gordon Family Foundation

Bob Stern and Tim Peterson of the Information Technology and Cyberlaw Committee sit down with Adam Abresch of Acrisure, John Curran of Redpoint Cybersecurity, and Stephen Ramey of the Crypsis Group in a freewheeling discussion of hacking from technical, insurance, and legal perspectives, with specific content relating to how hacking affects lawyers both directly and in representation of their clients.

0:38 Guest Intro

2:00 Hacking Intro

5:06 How Do Hackers Infiltrate?

8:46 Social Engineering

12:10 How Insurance Handles Social Engineering

14:09 Creating a Cybersecurity Culture

18:31 Pen Testing and Phishing

20:25 Breach Response

21:36 Establishing a Risk Management Process

24:16 How Lawyers Respond to Client Breaches

27:31 The Importance of Logging

30:28 Reputation Risk

32:15 Small Law Firm Cybersecurity

35:20 Security Controls and Multifactor Authentication

38:24 Other Security Measures

42:04 Cybersecurity and Corporate Governance

45:51 Importance of Encryption

47:19 Segmentation of Data

50:28 Black Hat Hackers

52:47 Bug Bounty Programs

54:11 Insiders

55:47 Does Reputation of Company Matter in Targeting?

57:48 Ransomware Attacks

1:01:25 Limitations of Backups

1:03:30 Forensic Investigations

1:04:39 Dangers of Paying Ransom

1:06:43 Ransomware and HIPAA

1:09:37 The Legal Insurance Perspective

1:13:44 Are We Better Off Now Than We Were Five Years Ago? And Where Will We Be in Five Years?

1:17:18 Hackers as a Service

1:18:45 Trends in Insurance

1:20:58 Hacking Legal Summation

Author and legal commentator Emily Bazelon led a conversation with Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. Gonzalez recently introduced Justice 2020, an initiative aimed at sending fewer people to prison, ensuring more people are released early from prison, minimizing collateral consequences, and collaborating with community-based organizations in finding solutions to over-incarceration. This discussion explored the role that prosecutors have played in creating a mass incarceration crisis in this country, as well as what prosecutors can do to play a constructive role in alleviating the crisis.

Speakers:

Emily Bazelon, Author, Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration

Eric Gonzalez, Brooklyn District Attorney

Sponsoring Association Committee:

Mass Incarceration Task Force, Sean Hecker, Chair

Co-sponsoring Association Committee:

Criminal Justice Operations Committee, Sarah Berger, Chair

Civil Rights Committee, Philip Desgranges, Chair

Related Resources:

If you are interested in this program, you might also be interested in this City Bar resource

Mass Incarceration: Where Do We Go From Here?

On May 9, 2019 the Committee on Drugs and the Law hosted a conversation between policy experts and government representatives to discuss the proposed adult use cannabis legislation. The occasion marks the 75th anniversary of the LaGuardia Report, the first in-depth study into the effects of consuming cannabis in the United States, a study that controverted many of the myths promoted by drug prohibitionists. Presently, New York City and State face a shift to regulating the largest unregulated cannabis market in the United States after 92 years of prohibition. The panel discussed the challenges and issues that arise in implementing the proposed cannabis legislation currently in Albany.

Moderator:

Shea Gunther, Producer, of Marijuana Today: Business & Politics Podcast

Speakers:

Axel Bernabe, Assistant Counsel, Governor Cuomo for Health

Cristina Buccola, Founder of Cristina Buccola Counsel PLLC

Doug Greene, Legislative Director of Empire State NORML

Senator Liz Krueger, New York Senator, Chair of the Finance Committee

Melissa Moore, Deputy State Director of New York, Drug Policy Alliance

Anne Oredeko, Supervising Attorney, The Legal Aid Society Racial Justice Unit

Sponsoring Association Committees:

Drugs & the Law Committee , Luke Schram, Chair

Co-sponsoring Organizations:

Drug Policy Alliance

Start Smart NY

Welcome:

Roger Juan Maldonado, President, New York City Bar Association

Introduction:

Barry H. Garfinkel, Of Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Speaker:

Hon. Jon O. Newman, United States Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

The Leslie H. Arps Memorial Lectures are made possible by the generosity of the firm of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates.

Sponsoring Association Committee:

Committee on The Leslie H. Arps Lectures, Barry H. Garfinkel and Scott Musoff, Co-Chairs

Former Arps Lecture Speakers Include:

Hon. Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (1989), Hon. Lawrence E. Walsh (1991), Hon. James L. Oakes (1992), Herbert Brownell (1993), Dean John D. Feerick (1996), Hon. Robert W. Sweet (1997), Hon. Patricia M. Wald (1999), Leon Silverman (2003), Hon. Elena Kagan (2005), Hon. Sandra Day O'Connor (2010), Hon. Pierre N. Leval (2012), George J. Mitchell (2013), Hon. Jose A. Cabranes (2015), Hon. Robert A. Katzmann (2016) and Jeffrey Toobin (2018)

Gina Mitchell, a member of the City Bar’s Criminal Advocacy Committee, interviews Professor Steve Zeidman, a criminal defense attorney and the Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at CUNY School of Law; Attorney Michelle Lewin, the Executive Director of the Parole Preparation Project in New York; and Jose Saldana, director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, about parole law and reform in New York State.

Host Tim Peterson and Jeremy Merkel, both members of the City Bar’s Information Technology & Cyber Law Committee, discuss the legal implications of the recent upsurge in ransomware attacks, particularly against healthcare providers.

1:38 - Intro to Ransomware

3:06 – Scenario: Paying the Ransom

6:43 - Alternate Scenario: Contacting the FBI

8:45 - Iranian SamSam Attacks

11:02 - Significance of DOJ indictments

11:53 – Factors in Target Selection

12:33 – Vulnerability of Healthcare Providers

13:50 – Role of Bitcoin in Ransomware Attacks

19:30 - Cryptopayments to Terrorists, Acts of War, and Cyberinsurance

23:56 - Cyberforensics and International Legislative Solutions

25:27 – The Allscripts Attack and Other Attacks on Healthcare Providers

29:06 - Effects Under GDPR, HIPPA, and Other Data Privacy Regulations

30:33 - Best Practices for Healthcare Providers

33:49 - Representing Municipal Ransomware Victims

35:29 – Wrap-up

The panel covered key regulatory and legislative changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) under the Trump administration including: new standards and rules, removal of species from protection, reduction of funding for certain initiatives, trophy hunting and import, and ivory trade and import of ivory and rhino horn. They also discussed recent key federal litigation interpreting Endangered Species Act, and touched upon currently proposed legislative, regulatory and statutory changes to the ESA.

Speakers:

Dr. Susan Lieberman, Vice-President, International Policy, Wildlife Conservation Society

Joseph Nelson, Partner, Van Ness Feldman

Asher Smith, Litigation Counsel, PETA Foundation

Danny Waltz, Staff Attorney, Animal Legal Defense Fund

Moderators:

Professor Randall Abate, Rechnitz Family Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, Monmouth University and Mikki Golar

Sponsoring Committee:

Animal Law Committee, Christopher Wlach, Chair

Cosponsoring Committee:

Environmental Law Committee, Kevin Healy and Amy Turner, Co-Chairs

New York City Bar President Roger Juan Maldonado and New York State Bar President Michael Miller speak with James Ostaszewski, a member of the City Bar's Puerto Rico Task Force who worked on its report in support of exempting Puerto Rico from the Jones Act, a law that restricts shipping and that independent studies say costs the recovering island hundreds of millions of dollars per year.