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Brooklyn Bar Association’s LGBTQ Committee hosts its first CLE seminar

March 30, 2016 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The Brooklyn Bar Association's (BBA) LGBTQ Committee hosted its first-ever CLE seminar on Tuesday. Pictured from left: BBA Executive Director Avery Eli Okin, Amber Evans, Steven Mitchell Sack, Colleen Meenan, Ezra Cukor and Christina Golkin. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese
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The Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA) made history on Tuesday night as its newly formed LGBTQ Committee hosted its first Continuing Legal Education (CLE) lecture, which was titled “Nuts & Bolts of Litigating LGBT Employment Discrimination Cases.”

“I’m so excited to see a packed room,” said Christina Golkin, who founded and currently chairs the BBA’s LGBTQ Committee. The session was held in Brooklyn Heights. “This is really more than I ever could have hoped for. Thank you so much for turning out tonight.”

Golkin explained to the audience that she was inspired to form the LGBTQ Committee after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges granted same-sex couples with equal marriage rights under the law.

“At that time, I was inspired to get involved and meet with other LGBTQ and allied attorneys locally here in Brooklyn and was surprised to learn that there was no group dedicated to LGBTQ issues and the law,” Golkin said. “With assistance of senior members of the BBA, the committee was officially established in July of 2015 and we had our first meeting in September 2015.”

The committee plans to have regular networking events and annual CLE sessions at the BBA.

“My great hope for the committee is that it becomes a source of support for Brooklyn’s LGBTQ and allies,” Golkin said.

For its inaugural CLE seminar, the LGBTQ Committee invited attorneys Ezra Cukor, from the New York City Commission on Human Rights; Colleen Meenan and Steven Mitchell Sack to discuss employment discrimination cases and how they should be handled.

“I want everyone to know whether you are gay, straight, over 40, if you are pregnant, that every firing is negotiable,” said Sack, who has practiced labor and employment law for 36 years and has written 19 books on the subject. “It’s an area that lawyers frequently overlook. It’s not that difficult to do and the bottom line is that, with effort and skill you can get more money for your client.”

Cukor, who worked at the LGBT Project at the New York Legal Assistance Group prior to joining the NYC Commission on Human Rights, discussed how the department can assist those who have been wrongfully terminated.

“I’m here to give you information about the NYC Commission on Human Rights, how we work, and I hope that this will help you to bring good cases to us,” Cukor said. “The city Human Rights Law can be advantageous to all workers and especially in LGBTQ cases.”

Meenan discussed cases that she has tried in the past, explaining what worked and didn’t work, and suggested practical methods lawyers should use when taking on these cases. Before she began her lecture, Meenan spoke about how significant it is that the BBA has an LGBTQ Committee.

“I can truly say that it is really inspiring for me today to stand in front of an audience of many people who are not from my community, but are interested in this topic and are willing to help.

We really have come a long way in the 25 years I’ve been practicing law.”

After the lecture, many members, and prospective members, of the committee met at the Custom House on Montague Street for a networking event and to celebrate a successful first CLE session.

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