Brooklyn Boro

Chuck Otey’s Pro Bono Barrister for May 26

May 26, 2017 By Charles F. Otey, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Miriam Cylrunik. Eagle file photo by Mario Belluomo
Share this:

Kings Inn of Court, Brooklyn’s Youngest Legal Association at 17, Sets Season Gala for June 5

Brooklyn Bar Association, Borough’s Oldest at 145, Joins Other Law Groups Ending Active Years

One might need a scorecard, or the memory of the legendary and brilliant Hon. Barry Kamins, to keep up with Kings County’s legal events capping a busy 2016-2017 year.

The Nathan R. Sobel Kings County American Inn of Court, now in its 17th year, will hold its annual gala dinner on Monday, June 5, at the seaside Battery Gardens at the tip of Manhattan, according to President Justice Miriam Cyrulnik. Inn Administrator Lucinda DiSalvo advises that the Battery party will start promptly at 6 p.m. with cocktails and dinner.

Subscribe to our newsletters

Cyrulnik is assisted by a worthy slate composed of President-Elect Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix, Counselor Victoria Lombardi, Treasurer Justice Carl Landicino and Secretary Joseph Rosato, with Jeff Feldman serving as executive director.

The Kings Inn — founded by Justice Marsha Steinhardt and then-Justices Abe Gerges, Gerard Rosenberg and Edward Rappaport, with the active support of other leaders like then-Justice Kamins, is the youngest of the leading, CLE-accredited associations in our county.  

The Inn, keeping with 12th century English tradition, is also governed by an impressive board of masters. Among those are Appellate Division Justice Cheryl Chambers, Justice Carolyn Wade, Hon. Gerard Rosenberg (ret.), Justice Sylvia Ash and Hon. Joanne Quinones.

The Kings Inn plays a unique role here in that since its inception its leaders have staged actual courtroom or law office demonstrations aimed at schooling younger barristers who probably had not yet set foot in a court room.

The Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association (BWBA), led capably by President Sara Gozo, is celebrating its 99th anniversary with this year’s event set for Thursday, June 15, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Liberty Warehouse, 260 Conover St. “Festive attire” is requested, according to BWBA Director Jennifer Fiorentino.

* * *

Brooklyn Bar Was Here When Brooklyn Was ‘The City’

The Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA)’s Executive Director Avery Okin will tell you that the association was launched way back in 1872 when Brooklyn was its own city and Brooklyn places like Sheepshead Bay and Bay Ridge were isolated in the borough’s southern half, quite a distance from “Downtown” in those pre-automobile days.

Outgoing BBA President is Hon. Frank Seddio, who will be welcoming Aimee L. Richter as president. Moving up in the BBA ranks are President-Elect David M. Chidekel, First Vice President Hon. Frank V. Carone, Second Vice President Anthony J. Lamberti, Secretary Armena D. Gayle and Treasurer Richard Klass.

The Bay Ridge Lawyers Association — the largest, most successful neighborhood bar association in the city — is approaching age 70 thanks to stalwarts such as Ray Ferrier, Hon. Elizabeth Bonina, Steve Chiaino, Lisa Becker, Larry DiGiovanna and many others, including, of course, its current resident, the ebullient Steve Spinelli.

Of more recent vintage is the Kings County Columbian Lawyers Association, which got underway in the 1960s. It is led so well by President Rose Ann C. Branda, who is aided by Directors Ben Bartolotta, Ralph Marra, Grace Borrino and Salvatore Scibetta. Current officers include Historian George J. Siracuse, Recording Secretary Susanne Gennusa, Corr-esponding Secretary Hon. Frank Seddio, Treasurer Mark A. Longo, Third Vice President Joseph Rosato, Second Vice President Linda LoCascio and First Vice President Dean Delianites.

* * *

Memo to President Trump: A Good Lawyer Memorializes Important Meetings

Good lawyer that he is — and maybe a little too tilted toward the sanctity of the FBI than he could be — fired FBI Director James Comey kept lengthy and thorough notes memorializing his conversations with President Donald Trump. Those of us who feared  that Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Bannon and Vladimir Putin might use Trump’s perfidious, infantile nature to strike a telling — perhaps, mortal — blow to the rule of law can rest easier now that Comey is telling his side of the story.

Trump’s and other cronies’ smears of Comey, whose legal skills and professionalism could well bring down this president, look like sour grapes. Trump has no respect for lawyers or the law: he is a protege of Roy Cohn, whose mentoring might account for his distaste for painful truths.

By the way, Cohn also handled Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a man who gained fame and then infamy by frightening the American people and capitalizing on their fears of imminent Communist invasions.

 


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment