New York City Bar Program - "Letting it all Hang Out"

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York is holding a program titled "Letting It All Hang Out: Learning to Better Manage Challenging Lawyer-Client Relationships" on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at the House of the Association, 42 West 44th Street. Registration will be 5:30-6:00 p.m., program from 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by clients’ multiple needs and your limited resources? Do you have clients whose emotional problems challenge your ability to adequately address their legal needs? Do client demands sometimes threaten your own wellbeing? Do you feel that your life is out of balance?

The successful and satisfying practice of law depends on having positive client relationships despite such challenges. Emotional competence, including understanding basic psychological principles and psychodynamic processes, facilitates good relationships. Yet, lawyers traditionally receive little training beyond their technical, analytical skills. For many other professions, supportive supervision of personal skills, sometimes in the form of peer support groups, is an essential element of education and practice. Dr. Jeffrey Sternlieb will introduce how such groups, named Balint groups after the Hungarian-trained psychoanalyst, Michael Balint, have helped medical doctors gain insight into their interactions with their patients, manage stress, and provide peer support and group learning, all to facilitate better medical practice. The program will include a demonstration of how Balint groups accomplish these goals. A panel of experts, including a law professor, a lawyer and a social worker, will explore how similar groups might equip lawyers to better handle the emotional aspects of legal practice.

Speakers:
Jeffrey L. Sternlieb, PhD, Balint Group Facilitator and Trainer
Marjorie A. Silver, Professor, Touro Law Center, editor and contributing author of The Affective Assistance of Counsel: Practicing Law as a Healing Profession (2007).
Eileen Travis, LCSW, Director, Lawyer Assistance Program, NYC Bar Association
Sofia Yakren, Esq., Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP, author of Lawyer as Emotional Laborer, 42 Univ. Mich. J. L. Reform 141 (2008).

Printed materials and light refreshments will be available. There is no charge for this program, but please click here to register.

Hot Topics in the Law Luncheon Program: "The Alleged Rape Incident at Hofstra"

The Touro Law Center Student Bar Association (SBA) is sponsoring, along with a number of other student organizations including the Criminal Law Society, the first Hot Topic in the Law program on Thursday, Oct. 1 in the FCR from 12:30-1:25 p.m. The topic is "The Alleged Rape Incident at Hofstra."

As you may be aware, the Nassau County District Attorney's Office has decided not to file a charge of Making a False Written Statement under Section 210.45 of the New York State Penal Law against the accuser of the five men. We have invited several attorneys from the Nassau District Attorney's Office, including District Attorney Kathleen Rice '91, who have been involved in the matter to join us in this open forum. We are also inviting the Detective who is the commander of the Nassau Police Department's special victims squad and who was involved in the initial arrests of those who were charged with the rape.

Greg Rinckey '98 Named Super Lawyer

Greg Rinckey, Esq., '98, managing partner of Tully Rinckey, PLLC, was recently named a Super Lawyer by New York Super Lawyers-Upstate Edition magazine. Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Rinckey was listed as a Super Lawyer under the criminal defense category in the magazine.

The process for nominating a Super Lawyer is a multiphase process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel.

Rinckey concentrates his practice on military law and federal criminal defense. He has prosecuted and defended military personnel in over 100 felony cases with charges ranging from drug possession to murder. Rinckey has also become a recognized leader in the military and federal employment law sectors. His legal expertise reaches government employees on a weekly basis through his role as a nationally syndicated columnist for the Gannett News Service.

“I am very honored to have received this recognition as a Super Lawyer under criminal defense,” said Rinckey. “Super Lawyers magazine is a prestigious publication and it is a great accomplishment to have been recognized by my peers.”

Rinckey is available for comment on his criminal defense practice. For more information or to speak with Rinckey, please contact Courtney Reed at 518-218-7100 or via email at creed@tullylegal.com. For his full bio, click here.

News from the Governor's Office

Dear New Yorker,

On Thursday, September 24th, from 6:00pm-6:30pm, Governor David A. Paterson along with the Chief Judge of the State of New York, Jonathan Lippman, will honor the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor. This historic event will include inspiring remarks from Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, United States 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor.

Governor Paterson would like to invite New Yorkers across the state to gather on the evening of the 24th to watch, discuss and celebrate the achievements of Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor by viewing the ceremony live at 6pm via: http://pointers.audiovideoweb.com/asxfiles-live/ca25winlive2138.asx.

The ceremony will also be available for viewing and download after the event at http://www.ny.gov/governor/.

Please join us online for this historic event!

-The Office of the Governor

P.S. Touro will be streaming the event live from the Auditorium at 6:00 p.m. Join us!

New Year Message from Dean Raful

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi met Elijah the Prophet and asked him, "When will the Messiah come?" The Prophet answered, "Go and ask him. He sits at the entrance to the city, among the poor and the lepers." The Rabbi asked, "How will I recognize him?" Elijah replied, "The lepers untie all bandages at once, and rebandage each separately, while he unties and rebandages each separately, thinking ‘Should it be the appointed time for my appearance, I must not be delayed.’” So Rabbi Joshua went to the place and greeted him, "Peace upon thee, Master and Teacher." The Messiah replied, "Peace upon you, son of Levi." "When will you come?" asked Rabbi Joshua. He replied, "Today." Rabbi Joshua returned to meet Elijah, and the Prophet asked, "What did he say to you?" The rabbi said, "Surely he was joking with me, for he said he would come today, and yet he has not." Elijah answered him, "This is what he said to you: I will come today, if you hear my voice. The Messiah is waiting to be called." (Mishnah Sanhedrin 98a.)

Much of the liturgy of the coming High Holiday prayers discusses the coming of Messiah. Perhaps it will be in this new year, 5770 in the Jewish calendar that the Messiah will come and peace will reign across the earth. But the story reflects that famous saying: the Messiah will come the day after he arrives. In other words, the Messiah will come only when we-each of us prepares the world for the coming of peace. The Messiah will come and peace will reign only if we listen to that voice telling us that we must work for peace in our lifetime, that we cannot put it off even for a day.

I wish for each of you a holiday season of happiness and inspiration, of a coming year of health and fulfillment, and a year that we can work together and achieve together the days of peace.

Shana tova!

Dean Lawrence Raful

Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella Named Touro's 2009 Distinguished Jurist in Residence

Touro Law Center has named Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Canadian Supreme Court as our 2009 Distinguished Jurist in Residence. On Tuesday, September 22, Justice Abella will meet with student leaders, guest lecture in classes and interact with students and faculty. In addition, there will be a lecture and reception to honor Justice Abella at the Law Center at 5:00 p.m., which is free and open to the public with advanced RSVP.

Rosalie Silberman Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004 after 12 years as a justice on the Ontario Court of Appeal. She is the first Jewish woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. After graduating from the University of Toronto Law School in 1970, she practiced civil and criminal litigation until, at the age of 29, she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court in 1976, making her Canada's youngest (and first pregnant) person to be appointed to the Bench.

She was sole Commissioner and author of the 1984 federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, in which she created the term and concept of “employment equity,” a new strategy for reducing barriers in employment faced by women, aboriginal people, non-whites, and persons with disabilities.

She has written over 90 articles and written or co-edited four books on a variety of legal topics. She has given several hundred lectures and speeches extensively in Canada and internationally. As the Boulton Visiting Professor at the McGill Law School for four years, she taught advanced courses in constitutional law, administrative law, human rights and civil liberties, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and jurisprudence, and was a Distinguished Visiting Faculty lecturer at the University of Toronto Law School for three years, teaching courses on the judicial role in a democracy, human rights and civil liberties, and comparative jurisprudence. Justice Abella is a specially elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Senior Fellow at Massey College.

For more information about this program, or to RSVP to the community lecture and reception, please contact Aimee Pearlman at (631) 761-7064 or apearlman@tourolaw.edu.

Howard Stein, Chairman of Touro Law's Board of Governors, Named One of LI's Top 50 Around 50

Howard M. Stein, Chairman of Touro Law Center's Board of Governors and Partner-in-Charge of the Real Estate Practice Group at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP, will be honored as one of 50 Long Islander leaders around the age of 50 who have made tremendous contributions to their communities. Long Island Business News will recognize the 50 honorees at a dinner on September 24 at the Garden City Hotel.

On behalf of the entire Touro Law community, we extend our congratulations to Howie. To read the full press release, please click here.

Michelle Cohen '07 Named September Alum of the Month

Touro Law Center's Office of Development, Alumni Relations and Communications is proud to announce that Michelle Cohen '07 has been selected as the Alum of the Month for the month of September.

Michelle Cohen practices as an associate in the Real Estate Group at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman LLP, located in East Meadow, NY. Before joining the firm, Ms. Cohen interned for the Honorable E. Thomas Boyle, Magistrate Judge, United States District Court, EDNY, and she worked as a legal assistant at Certilman Balin in Spring 2007.

Ms. Cohen earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Sociology from The George Washington University in 2004. She spent a semester abroad in London at the American Intercontinental University. She graduated cum laude from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, earning three CALI Awards for Academic Excellence, the National Association Women Lawyers Award and the ABA/BNA Award for Excellence in Labor and Employment Law. Additionally, she was recognized for her exemplary contributions to student life, having served as President of the Women’s Bar Association, Vice President of the Public Interest Law Organization of Touro, Election Chair of the Student Bar Association and Competition Editor of Touro’s Moot Court Board.

She is a member of Touro Law Center’s Alumni Council and participates in Touro Law’s Alumni Mentor Program. She also was a guest speaker for the Real Estate Law Society in March 2009 and participates as a judge for Touro Law Center’s Annual Bainbridge Moot Court Competition.

To read her full bio, please click here. On behalf of the entire law school community, we extend our congratulations to Michelle Cohen.