Electronically In Touch

We are pleased to submit the August 2020 issue of Electronically in Touch. This issue consists of articles on a day in the life of two attorney parents returning to work during COVID-19, an article that explores the provisions of CEDAW and women's reproductive rights in relation to the US, trading privacy for property and how New York State's new disclosure requirements expose LLC members with a sidebar article on the legislative update on New York's small estates, and legal writing tips from a Federal Judge.

This issue also includes our regular column, Why I Belong, which features NYSBA member, Jacob W. Petterchak, Esq. along with several upcoming events.

On another note, the results from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division election are in! We'd like to congratulate NYSBA's active members of the YLS, Josephine (Jo) Bahn and Brandon Lee Wolff, for becoming the incoming ABA YLD Secretary and ABA YLD Treasurer, respectively, for the 2020-2021 bar year!

Electronically In Touch is a member driven publication. We welcome submissions from members on any relevant topic, including practice tips, substantive legal articles, case updates, work/life balance, and information regarding upcoming meetings and events. Please submit inquiries and articles to Julie T. Houth at jhouth@gmail.com. Our publications will be changing in the near future. For more on these changes, take a look at A Message from the Chair of the Young Lawyers Section, Michael DiFalco!

We hope you all stay healthy and safe during these unprecedented times.

By Michael DiFalco, Esq.

I have been actively involved in the Young Lawyers Section for almost a decade. During that time, so much about our world has changed. Of course, 2020 has been a period of tremendous turmoil and our nation is struggling to contain the worst pandemic in a century, while trying to regain economic stability for millions. The NYSBA has always been a community built upon in person meetings. Several times a year, sections like YLS gather from all across the state. I've gotten to know many great young lawyers through these meetings. Now, we cannot meet in person and have no real idea when we will be able to do so again.

As I took over as Chair in June, New York State was just starting to open back up. Courts were beginning to accept new filings. Offices were starting to reopen. We're still in that long reopening phase. While we continue to work together to reopen safely and begin moving cases through the court system, with many of us still working from home either part time or full time, I believe it is critical that the YLS is able to effectively communicate with our membership all across New York State, as well as our national and international members.

My first project as Chair was to revamp our publications. Our blog, Electronically in Touch, was published monthly by many dedicated editors over the years. The content was great, but the delivery mechanism had become dated. Our other monthly publication, Perspective, was typically mailed out to members quarterly as well as published online. Both publications featured many similar features, including profiles of young lawyers, ongoing updates from other sections or district events, as well as substantive pieces about various areas of law.

We've decided to combine Electronically in Touch and Perspective into a newly formatted publication. We'll be releasing deeper content on a quarterly basis, which will take the form of a traditional newsletter, but also feature individual pieces uploaded through the NYSBA platform for wider distribution in a modern news format.

Our editors, Julie Houth, Norina Melita & Patrick Smith, are collaborating on the launch of this new publication expected for Fall 2020. As always, we invite you to contribute articles for the editors to consider for publication, or to reach out to them directly to discuss any ideas or concepts for articles you'd like to see published.

We hope that by revamping our regular publications that we'll be able to better communicate with our members in 2020 and beyond. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay engaged with YLS until we're able to meet again in person. I hope to see many of our members soon.

Michael DiFalco is a partner in Aiello & DiFalco LLP, a matrimonial & family law boutique located in Garden City. Michael handles the full spectrum of cases from simple prenuptial agreements to complex equitable distribution trials involving significant marital estates as well as complicated custody matters, resulting in successful determinations including published decisions.

Michael serves as a Liaison from YLS to the Family Law Section, and has served the YLS as a District Representative for several years. He is currently the Chair of Membership for the Nassau County Bar Association, where he previously served as Chair of the New Lawyers Committee.

By Norina A. Melita, Esq.

"She ate sausage today, lots of sausage. And then I gave her apple pie. I think that was a good mix." I'm on the other end; half laughing, half thinking we are terrible parents. I cannot believe he thinks that this is nutritious food. Yet I understand his logic, apples are fruits, after all. I keep my observation to myself. How can I criticize him? He's never spent so much time with the kids before the quarantine. He was working from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. We barely saw him. There would be days when my four-year-old would go to bed without having seen him at all for the day. Then COVID hit.

We spent the first month of quarantine complaining about not working. We are both workaholics. It's what keeps us going. Then we realized that this was the best time of our lives, the most time we had spent as a family, just the four of us. We were afraid to verbalize this. After all, people were dying, millions of others were losing their jobs, the future looked so uncertain. But eventually, we did realize that this time together was precious. We learned how to be parents to both our girls and spent so much time with our then 8-month-old, time that we would have never gotten had it not been for COVID.

Then came working from home. It was like starting over. Trying to feed a household of four, two of which were under 5, three meals a day, while maintaining some semblance of a decent looking house and keeping a report of the work you did from home was so - much - pressure. There was fighting about whose work took priority and over how to keep the kids entertained while we worked, without feeling like we were failing them academically, emotionally. The now 10-month-old was relatively easy, although stopping to nurse or make baby food was a challenge in itself. We worried that our four-year-old was watching too much T.V. - and not the "educational" kind. Then we got in a sort of groove. I'd be working upstairs most of the day, take a break in the middle of the day for lunch and to bake cookies or muffins with the four-year-old. I'd stop working around 4:00 p.m. to take the girls for their daily car ride so they could fall asleep and we could catch up, even though we lived in the same house. My work ended up taking priority and I saw him step up considerably.

Then came Phase I of opening up. I had to go back to work. It was harder going back to work after two months at home than it was when I went back to work after maternity leave. No daycare. No school. I would have to leave the two girls with him the entire day. How would this work? It was anxiety inducing. I often panicked. I dialed down my expectations to survival instead of thriving. I also had to trust that my husband would know what's best for our kids.

This was the first day of the second week being back. Sausage and apple pie for lunch. That would have to do. I had no choice. It was good enough. Five o'clock hits. I hit the road. I call home. "How are the girls?" is always my first question. Alive is the only standard I care about. But he's doing much more than that. He got the ten-month-old to finally take her bottle since I've started back to work and he's getting the four-year-old to sleep in her own room at nap time, instead of the dreaded car ride. That alone blows my mind. He tells me about the in-person meeting he had at 9:00 a.m. that morning and the closing at 4:00 p.m.

"How did you do it with the girls?"

"I had to get Carol (a coworker) to come and stay in the parking lot while the girls stayed in the car with the A.C. on and the windows down." Carol heard all about the boogie man and the werewolf that we use to get our four-year-old to bed for the hour that he was inside at the meeting. "I should probably buy her lunch" he laughs. "Yeah, I should definitely buy her lunch" he says after realizing how insane that actually was.

"What about the closing?" I ask curiously.

"We did it outside on the back of my car" he says. I'm all ears, trying to picture this. "We all stayed outside and signed the papers on the back of my car" he says again. "I was wearing flip flops and my fluorescent orange shorts. It was a beautiful day for it" he laughs. "I told them 'My client knows me. He trusts me to take care of him whether I'm wearing a suit or not. If this is the new normal, I'm going to be me'" he continues.

This hits a chord. He's right, of course. This is the new normal - doing a closing on the back of the car, outside in the parking lot, while the kids sleep in the back seat of the car. We talk a little more about whether or not masks were worn, if he touched someone else's pen, if I think he should take a shower for being exposed. It all seems fine. He's in good spirits, considering he watched the girls all day, clothed them, fed them, got them to take naps, had an in person meeting and a closing, all while trying to stay sane. I feel guilty for having such an easy day at work, in a big office, with no kids.

I come home and my house is a war zone. I can see that my four-year-old played in the sprinkler, not only from the fact that she's wearing a bathing suit, but from the soaking wet clothes on the floor and the wet towel on the couch. I can see what was had for breakfast and lunch from the dried-up bowls on the counter - that's going to be tough to wash I thought. There are dishes piled up in the sink to the point they are overflowing on the counter. Crumbs and toys stick to my feet as I'm walking through the living room and kitchen. I don't hug my kids or my husband. I go straight to the laundry room, strip off my clothes, and jump in the shower. I get out in 3 minutes and immediately nurse my 10-month-old. I have to keep up my milk supply. I nursed my four-year-old until she was thirteen months old. "At least three more months to go," I think. I want to be able to treat them the same. I know they won't remember that and that won't matter when they're older, but it's to appease my mom guilt.

It's six thirty. He's on a conference call while playing tag with my four-year-old in the back yard. I know he's not focused on either task but they both have to be done and she's having fun. I snap a picture of this new normal.

I cook dinner: chicken in a can, broccoli and pasta. That broccoli is my saving grace. We go for a walk after dinner. It's been a crazy day for both of us, yet there's a sense of calm in both of us. The house is mayhem, yet here we are, smiling, talking about our crazy day and enjoying the beautiful weather that finally is making its presence known after it snowed on Mother's Day.

"It felt good" he says, "being out and working, surrounded by other attorneys, even if it was outside, in my shorts." He does not need to elaborate. I know what he means: a semblance of our old normal, where we were both working adults, using our brain power to figure out legal issues, rather than watching YouTube videos about making your own Barbie clothes. I know what he means.

"I miss the days when you were working from home" he says.

"I do, too."

Norina recently left private practice, where she had been a litigation attorney for the past eight years, to work in the public sector. Her new role allows her to devote a lot of her time to what she loves best about the legal field--research and writing. She now counts on her two young daughters to continue sharpening her negotiation skills.

By Kudrat Dutta Chaudhary

USA & THE INTERNATIONAL BILL OF RIGHTS FOR WOMEN

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) also known as the 'International Bill of Rights for women' is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly, which has been ratified by 189 member states as of now. The only state apart from Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan and Tonga that hasn't ratified or acceded to the Convention is the United States of America. Experts are wrong when they say that the US and Iran don't see eye to eye on any issue because in regards to the issue of women's rights, they both seem to be draconian and oppressive to uphold the patriarchal structure that serves their needs; a glimpse of which is evident from the recent SCOTUS decision on birth control. By not ratifying the International Women's Bill of Rights which represents the most comprehensive global consensus on promoting and protecting women's rights and the associated obligations of both governments and private actors, the US has conveniently excused itself from drafting and enacting Federal laws or restructuring them to promote gender equality. The US policymakers have contended that they support CEDAW's aim of eliminating gender inequality, but both the Republicans and the Democrats are at logger's heads about the costs versus benefits of the treaty, which is largely split along partisan lines.

The provisions of CEDAW dealing with reproductive rights are in Article 16, which guarantees women equal rights in deciding "freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights." Then Article 10 of CEDAW specifies that women's right to education includes "access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning." To further explain the extent of these provisions, the CEDAW Committee's General Recommendation 24 recommends that States prioritize the "prevention of unwanted pregnancy through family planning and sex education." It is not that the United States has blatantly refused to sign CEDAW, but it is worth mentioning that the US didn't even sign it with reservations. In a patriarchal world where women suffer from systemic discrimination, not signing the CEDAW means that the US government doesn't have to revamp its policies, laws and functioning to make them gender inclusive. This also means that without CEDAW, there is room for the elected government to set priorities and stances according to the politics they endorse. A clear example of this is seen in the recent ruling of the US Supreme Court in the case of Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, curtailing right to access birth control for women if their employers choose to exempt themselves under the Affordable Care Act on religious and moral grounds.

The anti-choice rhetoric has existed in America since decades but with the advent of a conservative government, stigmatizing abortion has become commonplace so much so that it has been previously voiced by the President to ban and then punish women who seek to get abortion. The federal government has estimated that up to 126,000 women could lose contraception coverage through their employer-provided health insurance under this regulation. This ruling gives the employers the power to dictate what a woman decides for her body, based on the employer's personal religious or moral beliefs. It holds a woman's body hostage to the anti choice beliefs and leaves them in the lurch to fend for their own selves to avoid unwanted pregnancies. With COVID-19 and the economic crash, many women have already lost their insurance along with their jobs, and now have to fend for birth control pills, which begs the question regarding the urgency that the Supreme Court felt in casting aside countervailing rights and interests in its zeal to secure religious rights.

RULING TO BOLSTER CONTROL OVER WOMEN'S BODIES

In the present case, Little Sisters of the Poor contended that the provision of employers providing birth control to its female employees violates their religious liberty under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 1993. Little Sisters, a religious non profit, were already exempt from paying for a single contraceptive pill if they filled out a form showing that the lawsuit really was about the conservatives making it harder for women to make their decisions about their body. Another interesting point is how efforts are persistently being made to protect fetuses juxtaposed to rampant killing of black people, where they had to take to the streets to be heard in the eye of a global pandemic. The Trump administration has built a reputation of acting without research, and it is important to mention that limiting contraception to women through employers also limits for some of them the only affordable treatment for other hormonal issues like PCOS, etc.

BENEFITS OF HAVING ACCESS TO LEGAL CONTRACEPTION

Research shows that women who have access to legal contraception beginning at ages 18-21 earn an estimated 5% more per hour and 11% more per year by the time they reach 40, as compared to those who don't have access to birth control. A 2019 report by the Women's Policy Research Fund found that access to contraception increased women's college enrollment by up to 20% and even outlined that a substantial increase between women's labor force participation between 1970 and 1990, was largely due to the pill. This also means that women attaining education and financial independence can be credited to access to contraceptive pills as well. With emotions running high regarding 'Black Lives Matter', one cannot ignore the disadvantaged position that Black women and women of color would be put under because of this ruling. Black women are less likely to have health insurance, they now might be denied contraception under their insurance in an environment when they already struggle to afford birth control which meets their needs. The emphasis on birth control pills over IUDs or implants is because a woman should have the right to decide how she wants to treat her body. In addition, forcing black and women of color to route to IUDs and implants shows the cultural insensitivity of this expectation because these women might be reluctant to use them given they are dependent on a provider for removal.

WHY SHOULD CEDAW BE RATIFIED?

Supporters and advocates for the United States' ratification of CEDAW seems like a utopian dream; it would obligate the Federal government to systematically create laws that boost gender equality which also means discouraging the governmental agencies to pass laws or draft regulations that effectively violate it. Right now, the environment is so hap hazard for women because where cities like San Francisco became the first municipality in the world to adopt the CEDAW ordinance in places like Texas, access to abortion is still heavily restricted. Ratifying the treaty will at least help in ironing the discrepancies that exist throughout the United States in treatment of women who should be given the freedom to make decisions about their bodies. Given how women are still seen as second class citizens in this country, the ratification will definitely equate to opening a can of worms which the conservatives would hate to deal with because giving women the rights they deserve would mean losing a large vote bank of white supremacists who believe in the subordination of men and those women who have internalized patriarchy as the highest truth alive.

However, no matter what happens, we can't lose hope and need to keep fighting, even if that means one birth control pill at a time.

Kudrat Dutta Chaudhary works as a Gender Specialist at the Law Office of Robert B. Jobe dealing with Gender Based Violence Asylum claims. She is an alumnus of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy & is the author of 'Laiza-Sometimes the End is Only a Beginning'. She also served as a Fundraising and Community Engagement Lead for the San Francisco's Women's March 2020.

By Thomas G. Babcock Esq.

New York State has now passed new legislation which requires additional disclosures for Limited Liability Companies ("LLC's") in real estate transactions. This law, which is effective immediately, requires that the purchase or sale of residential real property be linked to an actual person as opposed to an LLC. This required disclosure of information seems to conflict with one of the more common reasons many create LLC's, namely to remain anonymous with regards to real estate or other transactions.

On September 13, 2019, the State of New York enacted Chapter 297 of the Laws of 2019, which amends New York Tax Law § 1409(a) and adds a new subdivision (h) to § 11-205 of the New York City Administrative Code. This law results in further information regarding an LLC's members being available to the public and requires real estate professionals to obtain additional information in order to buy or sell residential real property in New York State. While the legislation seems to only apply to 1-4 family residential properties, it is also intended to apply to single condominium units and single co-op apartments based upon answers provided by the bill sponsors' staff immediately prior to the Governor's signing. The State has seemingly anticipated the above mentioned anonymity concerns by stating that the required disclosure shall not be deemed "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Another important aspect of this new legislation is that it is effective immediately and therefore has given those involved in real estate transactions little time to adjust and understand its impact. It seems that the County Clerks have already begun to enforce this act. Further, no form has been created by New York State that contains the information requested, despite the legislation passing, which has causes further confusion. The absence of this form results in attorneys and other real estate professionals having to create their own documents for submission to the County Clerk's office.

The relevant part of the new law states that when an LLC is buying or selling residential property, it must be:

"...accompanied by a document which identifies the names and business addresses of all members, managers, and any other authorized persons, if any, of such limited liability company and the names and business addresses or, if none, the business addresses of all shareholders, directors, officers, members, managers and partners of any limited liability company or other business entity that are to be the members, managers or authorized persons, if any, of such limited liability company. The identification of such names and addresses shall not be deemed an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy pursuant to article six of the public officers' law. If any such member, manager or authorized person of the limited liability company is itself a limited liability company or other business entity, the names and addresses of the shareholders, directors, officers, members, managers and partners of the limited liability company or other business entity shall also be disclosed until full disclosure of ultimate ownership by natural persons is achieved. For purposes of this subdivision, the terms "members", "managers", "authorized person", "limited liability company" and "other business entity" shall have the same meaning as those terms are defined in section one hundred two of the limited liability company law."

Sidebar Article - Legislative Update: New York's "Small Estate" Threshold Grows

On November 25, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new bill into law increasing the maximum value allowable in a Small Estate proceeding from $30,000 to $50,000. Under the previous law, if a person's estate contained personal property of $30,000 or less, the executor or administrator of that estate had the ability to begin a Small Estate proceeding. The advantage of these types of proceedings includes a smaller filing fee and a faster turnaround time to complete the proceeding from a tradition probate filing.

This new legislation updates the threshold to $50,000, making this proceeding more accessible and available to more estates than before. As with the previous law, this figure does not include assets with a predetermined beneficiary (non-probate asset), nor does it include items listed under Section 5-3.1(a) of the Estates Powers and Trust Law (EPTL).

Tom Babcock is an attorney at the firm of Melvin & Melvin PLLC in Syracuse New York where he practices in the fields of Estate and Trust Planning and Administration along with Residential Real Estate. He may be reached via phone at (315) 422-1311 or email at tbabcock@melvinlaw.com.

By Brandon Vogel

You can learn a lot about legal writing simply by looking at your phone number.

You are more likely to remember the number when it's broken down by area code, the first three digits, and then the last four digits than if all 10 digits are listed together.

The same principles apply to legal writing. Breaking down your argument into manageable chunks can help your writing stand out and increase momentum for your case.

This was one of several key takeaways from Hon. Robert E. Bacharach - United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on the recent CLE Webinar, "Legal Writing From A Federal Judge's Perspective."

Bacharach recently wrote the book, "Legal Writing: A Judge's Perspective on the Science and Rhetoric of the Written Word."

"In my view, the most important aspect of legal writing is clarity," said Bacharach. "You can only persuade the judge if they understand what you are saying." He explained that "lost momentum is poisonous to persuasion."

He said that there are four primary ways to achieve clarity in your own legal writing: create context before detail, relax your diction and use simple language, link information in your sentences, and convey information into digestible bits.

The psychological study, Contextual Prerequisites for Understanding: Some Investigations of Comprehension and Recall, concluded that it is better to do few things at once than too many (Bransford and Johnson, 1972).

Your goal is to get the reader the context for the facts before reading the facts, said Bacharach. "Provide the reader the context in advance for all of the factual and legal information that follows."

He said the ways to provide context for arguments is to give your information an introduction that serves one overarching purpose: lay out the entirety of your argument.

"Informative headings inform the reader by providing essential context," said Bacharach, "It will lead to improved recall. Readers tend to focus on the topic that is identified."

Along with effective introductions and meaningful informative headings, use topic sentences, advised Bacharach. Studies show they provide a valuable opportunity to focus the reader on the factual detail in the paragraphs.

Bacaharach recommended that lawyers avoid Legalese, Latin and big words whenever possible.

"The goal is to make it easier for the judge to understand. The easier it is for the judge to understand, the easier it is for you to build momentum for your argument," said Bacharach.

How lawyers link the information in your sentences is key to credibility. Avoid common or empty transitions such as furthermore, moreover, and in addition.

"The function of the transition is to show substantively the info you are about to give the readers," said Bacharach. "Without substantive transitions, readers may stumble and miss the point of why you have linked together particular information."

Enabling the reader to instantly see the relationship between old and new information is essential.

"That linkage that the reader can see is what creates and provides the momentum of your argument," said Bacharach.

Lastly, lawyers need to be mindful of the reader's limited short-term memory.

"Make the chunks easy to spot. Clarity comes only when we break the meaning into discernible bits that can be processed and digested easily by the reader," said Bacharach.

We are launching our new column, Why I Belong, which is a column that features NYSBA YLS members and provides a little background on each member in a Q&A format. If you'd like to be featured in our upcoming issues, please email our editor in chief, Julie T. Houth at jhouth@gmail.com.

Name: Jacob W. Petterchak

Firm: Deloitte

Education (undergrad and Law School): BA Rutgers University, LLB University of London

Areas of practice: Antitrust

Proudest career moment: Being a NYSBA delegate to the ABA YLD Assembly

Family: Mother, Father, Brother, Sister

Birthplace: Long Branch, NJ

Current area of residence: Manhattan, NY

"If I weren't an attorney, I'd be..." A farmer. You can't beat the fresh air. (I may yet follow through on this if the rural lawyer shortage upstate persists.)

"The best thing about being an attorney is..." The people you get to meet and deal with outside of the office. Most jobs don't have much life in them outside of those four walls.

Last vacation: London in 2019

Favorite Web site: Huffington Post

Hobbies: Writing incredibly boring book chapters and articles, taking walks and hikes, bicycling.

Favorite book: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Best concert you've ever been to: Ozzfest 2001

Favorite food: Prime Rib

Most fun/memorable NYSBA moment or meeting: The Vegas 2018 Afterparty.

Do you have a unique skill or special talent nobody knows about? Nah, I am transparently untalented.

What one skill has helped you be successful as an attorney, and how could others develop that skill to better their practices? I'm a very good listener and am excellent at not speaking before I think. I have often been tasked with dealing with difficult people, because my habit of just letting them talk and calmly nodding to their every word makes tense situations infinitely better, according to the reviews.

Do you have a mentor? Yes, Jonathan Cheng of Shearman & Sterling.

What would you most like to be known for? Not sure yet, but I think I've got more time to figure that out.

What makes the New York State Bar Association so special/unique? We are the voice of the profession and we make an impact where it counts.

COVID-19 Questions:

Any new hobby or skill that you developed during the lockdown? Nah, I'm just watching more TV than usual.

What is one thing that you will take out of this lockdown and implement in your life? The best thing to do if you're hungry is to tell yourself that you're bored until you stop being hungry.

Career advice for young lawyers? If you don't like the advice anyone's offering, just keep going. You'll figure it out yourself sooner or later.

Preparing Your Case File: Evaluating Discovery, Discovery Motions & Subpoenas - NYSBA Trial Academy Virtual Conference (Webinar)

Start Date: September 3, 2020

Start Time: 2:00 PM

End Time: 4:00 PM

Skills Credit(s): 1.0

Total Credit(s): 1.0

Region: Virtual Participation

Member Pricing: $100.00

Non-Member Pricing: $200.00

Registration and more information here: https://nysba.org/events/preparing-your-case-file-evaluating-discovery-discovery-motions-subpoenas-nysba-trial-academy-virtual-conference-webinar/

Prenuptial Agreements For Young Professionals (Webinar)

Start Date: October 1, 2020

Start Time: 12:00 PM

End Time: 1:00 PM

Areas Of Professional Practice Credit(s): 1.0

Total Credit(s): 1.0

Region: Virtual Participation

Member Pricing: $50.00

Non-Member Pricing: $150.00

Registration and more information here: https://nysba.org/events/prenuptial-agreements-for-young-professionals-webinar/

ABA Young Lawyers Division will present the 2020 Virtual Fall Conference: Looking Towards the Young Lawyer's Role in Cultivating and Maintaining Civility and Civic Education from October 7-9, 2020 - SAVE THE DATE!

More information here including a tentative schedule: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/events_cle/fall/schedule/

ABA GPSolo Division 2020 Solo & Small Firm Summit October 14 - 17, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, FL, with virtual access - SAVE THE DATE!

More information here: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/gpsolo/events/

2021 NYSBA Trial Academy - SAVE THE DATE!

Attend the revitalized 2021 NYSBA Trial Academy, a five-day trial techniques program, for a career changing experience:

-Work with your small group Team Leader to learn critical trial skills
-Attend daily lectures given by distinguished trial attorneys and judges
-Benefit from one-on-one critiques of your performance
-Gain mentors for your professional life, and become part of the invaluable Trial Academy community

In addition to this live program, you will receive access to all 13 webinars detailing virtual trial techniques that you won't find anywhere else. Attend them live or watch the recorded version before the live program in March, 2021.The virtual series includes topics from Expert Testimony to Handling a Virtual Hearing and everything in between.

This is a must-attend event for attorneys navigating the new virtual court system.

Start Date: March 13, 2021

End Date: March 17, 2021

Start Time: 9:00 AM

End Time: 5:00 PM

Areas Of Professional Practice Credit(s): 35.5

Ethics and Professionalism Credit(s): 2.00

Total Credit(s): 37.5

Region: Syracuse

Member Pricing: $1,195.00

Non-Member Pricing: $1,595.00

Registration and more information here: https://nysba.org/events/2021-nysba-trial-academy/

Monday, May 3, 2021 - 2021 SUPREME COURT ADMISSIONS PROGRAM - SAVE THE DATE!

The Young Lawyers Section is proud to sponsor the 2021 admissions program to the United States Supreme Court. You do not need to be a member of the Young Lawyers Section to participate.

The ceremony for admission to the United States Supreme Court is scheduled for Monday, May 3, 2021. Our last Supreme Court admissions program was well-received and filled up very quickly. Save the date for this exciting event. More information will be available in spring 2020.

For more information please contact Tiffany Bardwell at tbardwell@nysba.org.

Become the voice of newly-admitted and young attorneys in NYSBA. Designed to help make the transition from law school to practice an easier one for newly-admitted attorneys, the Young Lawyers Section connects you with experienced attorneys lending general advice, legal guidance, or expert opinions. Take advantage of educational programs, networking events, and the exclusive Young Lawyers Section Mentor Directory, which is just one of the Section's mentoring initiatives. The Section publishes Electronically In Touch and Perspective. Law students may also join the Section and get a jump start on their careers.

ALREADY A MEMBER OF THIS SECTION? JOIN A COMMITTEE!

Are you interested in volunteering for a Section Committee? Please email Amy Jasiewicz at ajasiewicz@nysba.org and indicate the committees you wish to join. The Young Lawyers Section has the following committees:

• Executive Committee
• Communications Committee
• Community Service and Pro Bono Committee
• Diversity Committee
• Law Student Development Committee
• Long-Range Planning Committee
• Membership Committee
• Mentoring Committee
• Nominating Committee
• Perspective Editorial Board

The Officers of YLS and the Editors of Electronically In Touch wish to make clear that the thoughts and opinions expressed in the articles that follow are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the thoughts and opinions of the authors' employers or clients, the New York State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section, or its Officers or Executive Committee.