New York City Bar Association Podcasts -NYC Bar

Increasing numbers of pro se litigants with limited proficiency in spoken English seek justice in New York City's courts each year. While the court system employs nearly 300 full-time court interpreters and spends more than $6.5 million for per diem interpreters annually, these services cannot fully address the need for language access assistance within the courts. Not only have the courts lost interpreters due to recent funding shortfalls, the responsibility of judges in deploying limited interpreter resources and ensuring meaningful access to justice for LEP litigants is far from clear.

Our esteemed panel will discuss, among other things, recent cases involving judicial responsibility to ensure language access, proposed amendments to New York's rules on judicial conduct, the role of multilingual attorneys in courtroom interpretation, and unique challenges facing pro se litigants who communicate in sign language and less commonly spoken languages.

Speakers: Liberty Aldrich, Director, Domestic Violence & Family Court Programs, Center for Court Innovation; Hon. Juanita Bing-Newton, Dean of the New York State Judicial Institute; Professor Oscar G. Chase, Russell D. Niles Professor of Law at New York University School of Law; New York Councilman Rory Lancman, Chair of the Courts and Legal Services Committee at the New York City Council; Rena Micklewright, Deputy Coordinator, Court Interpreting Services, New York State Unified Court System; Trinh N. Tran, Staff Attorney, Sauti Yetu Center for African Women and Families

Sponsored by: Women in the Courts Task Force, Rebecca Berkebile, Chair; Committee on Civil Courts, Gina Calabrese, Chair; Committee on Domestic Violence, Anna Ognibene, Chair; Committee on Family Court and Family Law, Marshall Cook, Chair; Committee on Litigation, Cary Samowitz, Chair; Committee on Minorities in the Courts, Natacha Carbajal, Chair; Committee on Pro Bono and Legal Services, Brenna DeVaney, Chair; Committee on Social Welfare Law, Peter Kempner, Chair

A discussion of various legal issues related to preparing for and producing fashion shows and presentations, including intellectual property, employment, contractual and financing concerns.

Moderator: Marc Lieberstein, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton

Speakers: Christopher Chase, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; Anne Marie Bowler, Gabay-Rafiy & Bowler; Tanya D. Hicks, Associate General Counsel, Global Brands Group; Amy F. Melican, Proskauer Rose; Lois F. Herzeca, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; Kenton Selvey, Chief Brand Strategist, Selvey Brand Consulting; Doreen Small, Marquart & Small, LLP

Sponsored by: Committee on Fashion Law, Marc Lieberstein, Chair

This program will examine the impact of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on Torture on the ongoing prosecutions and habeas proceedings in the military commission system at Guantanamo and address the ongoing debate on its closure.

This is a follow-up to programs at the Association with Brigadier General Mark Martins, the Chief Prosecutor of the Military Commissions, and with James Connell and Commander Walter B. Ruiz, Jr., Learned Counsel for 9/11 defendants in the military commission proceedings at Guantanamo.

Moderator: Karen Greenberg, Director, Center on National Security, Fordham Law School

Speakers: Cliff Sloan, former Special Envoy for Guantanamo closure at the U.S. Department of State; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Baher Azmy, Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights; James Connell III, criminal defense attorney who represents Ammar al Baluchi, one of the 9/11 defendants in the military commission proceedings at Guantanamo; Walter B. Ruiz, Jr., criminal defense attorney who represents Mustafa Al Hawsawi, one of the 9/11 defendants in the military commission proceedings at Guantanamo

Sponsored by: Committee on Military Affairs & Justice, Michael Richter, Chair

The purpose of this seminar is for members of the legal community to help address concerns that have been raised over NYPD policies and practices. The goal is to offer policymakers recommendations from members of the legal community who are interested in preventing future conflicts and increasing public confidence in the police force.

Moderator: Brett Nomberg, Brand Brand Nomberg & Rosenbaum, LLP; Chair of Tort Litigation Committee, New York City Bar

Speakers: Robert Gangi, Director, Police Reform Organizing Project; Lawrence Byrne, NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Legal Matters; Eugene O'Donnell, Professor, John Jay School of Criminal Justice; Former NYPD Officer; Richard H. Abend, Abend & Silber, PLLC; Shelley Rossoff Olsen, JAMs mediator; Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President; Former NYPD officer; Susan Shah, Vera Institute of Justice; Hon. Darcel D. Clark, Associate Justice, Appellate Division, 1st Department, NYS Supreme Court; Adjunct Professor- Monroe College School of Criminal Justice; Xavier Donaldson, Metropolitan Black Bar Association; Hon. George A. Grasso, Supervising Judge – Arraignments, Criminal Court of the City of New York

Sponsored by: Committee on Tort Litigation, Brett J. Nomberg, Chair; Committee on Civil Rights, Sebastian Riccardi, Chair; Committee on Criminal Justice Operations, Risa B. Gerson, Chair; Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession, Sheila S. Boston & N. Nate Saint-Victor, Co-Chairs; Committee on New York City Affairs, Cathleen A. Clements, Chair

Co-sponsored by: National Bar Association

The Institute of International Commercial LawPace Law School, the Pace Law Library, and the Arbitration Committee of the City Bar presented CIETAC Arbitration and the CISG podcast, a round-table discussion moderated by Kathleen Scanlon, Chair of the City Bar's Arbitration Committee, with Professors Albert H. Kritzer and Mark R. Shulman of the Pace University School of Law. The podcast provides information on the UN Convention for the International Sale of Goods ("CISG"), China's relationship with the CISG, the results of the Institute's study of over 300 CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission) arbitral awards on the CISG, and Prof. Shulman's paper, The Diligent will be Shown the Path to Heaven: China's Implementation of the UN Sales Convention, co-written with Lachmi Singh, to be published this winter in 48:2 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. The podcast has been provided by the Pace Law Library Podcast Site.

Public attitudes and laws governing the use of cannabis have been changing fast and creating challenges and opportunities for policymakers at the state and local level.

The changes in New York State during 2014 were especially great. A new statute legalized certain limited uses of cannabis for medical purposes and the Department of Health has released draft regulations for public comment. After attempting in 2012 to convince the State legislature to expand the scope of New York's cannabis decriminalization statute, New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance endorsed the de Blasio administration's announcement that the New York City Police Department will issues summonses for possession of personal-use amounts of cannabis open to public view instead of making arrests. Earlier, Kings County District Attorney Kenneth Thompson announced that his office will not prosecute first-time offenders for possession of personal-use amounts.

Meanwhile, if proposed legislation that would regulate cannabis like alcohol succeeds, it will require adjustments to state and local law far broader than those necessary to create the newly legalized medical-use-only cannabis market.

Join the Committee on Drugs and the Law and the New York City Affairs Committee for an open discussion of the past, present and possible futures of cannabis law in New York City.

Panel: Stephen Levin, New York City Council, District 33; Jumaane D. Williams, New York City Council, District 45; Nitin Savur, Deputy Chief of Trial Division in Charge of Criminal Courts, Office of the New York County District Attorney

Moderator: Patricia Salkin, Dean and Professor of Law, Touro Law Center

Sponsors: Committee on Drugs and the Law; New York City Affairs Committee

North Korea is engaged in ongoing, widespread and systematic violations of the human rights of its own citizens. Hundreds of thousands have attempted to flee across the border into China; many are turned back. This panel will examine the status of North Korean refugees in China, relevant international and domestic laws, and China's domestic considerations in formulating and implementing its refugee policies.

Moderator: Thomas T. Papain, Ahmuty, Demers & McManus.

Speakers: David Hawk, Adjunct Professor, Hunter College, City University of New York; Author, North Korean human rights report "The Hidden Gulag"; Elisabeth Wickeri, Executive Director, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice; Adjunct Professor of Law, Fordham Law School; Executive Director, Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers; Angus Fei Ni, Debevoise & Plimpton. Has worked with U.S. missionaries in South Korea and China, planning routes and transporting North Korean border crossers from Northern China to Laos.

Sponsored by: Committee on Asian Affairs Committee; Committee on International Human Rights

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