Kings County Criminal Bar Association honors retiring justice Jo Ann Ferdinand at CLE meeting
The Kings County Criminal Bar Association (KCCBA) hosted its monthly Continuing Legal Education (CLE) meeting where it honored retiring Justice Jo Ann Ferdinand at the Brooklyn Bar Association on Remsen Street on Thursday night.
“If you don’t know Judge Ferdinand, then there is indeed something wrong with you, and you are not the better person for it,” KCCBA President Michael Farkas joked.
Justice Ferdinand is credited with helping to establish the Brooklyn Treatment Court — the first drug court of its kind in New York City — in 1996. In 2010, she helped to open the Veteran Treatment Court and started a mental health and trauma treatment track at that court in 2014. She’s also the founding member and president of the New York Association of the Drug Treatment Court Professionals.
“The wonderful thing about treatment court [is that while] as a judge you try to make the process fair, at treatment court you get to try to make the outcome fair,” Ferdinand said. “After being a judge for 30 years, I’ve decided to take many people’s advice and start living. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you.”