Courts and Law

Pro Bono Barrister: Justice Steinhardt to be installed as Women’s Bar Assn. President

June 9, 2014 By Charles F. Otey, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Justice Steinhardt to be installed as Women’s Bar Assn. President
Justice Steinhardt to be installed as Women’s Bar Assn. President
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Justice Marsha Steinhardt, one of the city’s most respected jurists, will be installed as president of the Women’s Bar Association on June 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the Central Jury Room, 360 Adams St.

Organizers of the significant event have asked those who want to attend to RSVP to [email protected].

A graduate of Brooklyn Law School, Justice Steinhardt has not only loaned her considerable skills to a number of organizations, such as the Brooklyn Bar Association, she helped create one of the most effective bar groups in the city — the Kings County American Inn of Court, which carries on a tradition of collegiality and an ongoing study of the law that began 800 years ago with the London Ancient Inns of Court.

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Upon graduation, Steinhardt became a trial attorney for the New York City Transit Authority, gaining the kind of experience needed by any future member of the bench. She became a court attorney in Civil Court. She was elected to that court in 1991 and, in 1994, was elected as a Justice of the Second Department, Kings County, and was later re-elected.

In 2000 — working with then-Justices Abraham Gerges, Gerard Rosenberg and Edward Rappaport — Justice Steinhardt helped fashion this organization, which, since its inception, has been qualified to hold CLE-accredited presentations.
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Kings Inn of Court often uses ‘drama’ to make legal points 

The Inn of Court’s CLE presentations have been anything but dry and academic. Instead, each session usually features actual re-enactments of famous trials, crime scenes, or candid conversations among lawyers, plotting strategy in complex cases.

Costumes are often brought into the play. Justice Gerges presided over a Grimm fairytale skit as “Chicken Little,” a fowl-like headpiece topping off his outfit. Barrister Joe Rosato is still remembered for his realistic portrayal of the “Big, Bad Wolf” in that episode.

Inn directors converted a courtroom into the stage for a feature starring Justice Rosenberg as the legendary Larry King — complete with red suspenders, horn-rimmed spectacles, television microphone and glaring Klieg lights! A bravura performance.

“We try to make these programs interesting and useful to all, especially newer lawyers,” said the Hon. Rosenberg. “We realize that the biggest challenge younger attorneys face is actually stepping forth in a courtroom to conduct direct and cross examinations.”

The Kings Inn will hold its June Gala at the Red Gravy Restaurant, 151 Atlantic Ave., on June 16. A brief program will include messages saluting the outgoing president, Justice Ellen Spodek, and welcoming in a new slate of officers, including President David Chidekel.

Reservations are required, according to Inn Administrator Lucinda DiSalvo, who can be reached at [email protected].

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Bergdahl Tried, Convicted Based on Hearsay, Innuendo

 

President Barack Obama has taken a bold and legally correct action in trading five jihadists — who have been rotting away at Guantanamo for years — in exchange for one American soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been the Taliban’s prisoner for five years.

What’s wrong with this? Aside from thumbing his nose at the worst congress in memory, what the President has done has recent precedent — stretching and likely flaunting the law, a transgression that President George Bush, under the aegis of Vice President Dick Cheney, committed a dozen or more times. But their deeds were much more deadly, bringing on the unlawful, politically stupid and life-wasting invasion of Iraq?

Can adding five maniacal, brain-addled extremists to the ranks of probably 100,000 maniacal extremists in Afghanistan make any difference? Is it really likely that, once — and if — they have “recovered,” any one of this vile quintet will be physically and mentally able to organize and lead a jihad in the U.S.? Or anyplace else? Will they have magical powers not possessed by their hate-mongering, raving comrades?

If an accused mass murderer, or a rapist-murderer, is entitled to the presumption of innocence, shouldn’t the same presumption of innocence apply in the case of Sgt. Bergdahl?

Do negotiations — secret or otherwise — not take place frequently between Israel and “extremists” who have wounded and killed innocents, including children, non-combatants and simple tourists who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Yes.


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