NYCLA to Hold Public Forum on the Mandatory Reporting of Voluntary Pro Bono May 27th

NYCLA will hold a Public Forum on May 27, 2014 to address new rules that now require New York attorneys to report certain information about their pro bono service, as well as their charitable contributions to organizations that provide pro bono legal service, on their biennial registration statements.

Speakers, through a series of panel discussions, will address:

• The mechanics of and rationale for the new rules.
• Whether the Administrative Board of the Courts had the statutory authority to impose mandatory reporting.
• Whether the new rules advance legitimate public policy goals.
• Whether they impermissible infringe on the privacy rights of New York lawyers.
• Whether the definition of “pro bono” used in the new rules is appropriate.

   Presenters include:

• Barbara Moses, President, NYCLA, Counsel, Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC
• Hon. A. Gail Prudenti, Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York State
• John McConnell, Counsel to the New York Unified Court System 
• Sarah Jo Hamilton, Partner, Scalise & Hamilton LLP
• Lisa E. Cleary, Chair, NYCLA Pro Bono Committee, Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
• Samuel B. Cohen, Chair, NYCLA Civil Rights and Liberties Committee, Partner, Stecklow Cohen & Thompson
• Hon. Barry Kamins, Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, Chief of Policy and Planning for New York State's Unified Court System
• Glenn Lau-Kee, President- Elect, NYSBA, Partner, Kee & Lau-Kee, PLLC
• Richard M. Gutierrez, Attorney, Queens County, former President of Queens County Bar Association
• Robert L. Ostertag, Partner, Ostertag, O' Leary, Barrett & Faulkner, Former President of NYSBA
• Geoffrey Bickford, Co-Chair, NYCLA Criminal Justice Section, Court Attorney, New York City Criminal Court
• Hon. Fern Fisher, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge, New York City Court   
• Bruce Green, Louis Stein Chair of Law; Director, Stein Center, Fordham Law School
• Ronald C. Minkoff, Chair, NYCLA Task Force on Professionalism, Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, PC
• Ronald J. Tabak, Special Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, & Flom LLP & Associates            

     Click the link for registration information.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph M. Fairfield ’99 is our May Alumnus of the Month!

Touro Law Center's Office of Development, Alumni Relations and Communications is proud to announce that Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Joseph M. Fairfield ’99 has been selected as the alum of the month for May 2014. LTC Fairfield is a leader in his profession, serving as an active duty judge advocate in the U.S. Army since November of 1999. Since 9/11 he has served over 53 months deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq.  His accomplished career is highlighted in the bio below. On behalf of the entire law school community, we extend our congratulations to Joseph Fairfield.

LTC Joseph Fairfield is currently deployed to Afghanistan, serving a 12 month deployment which ends this June.  He is the Staff Judge Advocate for the Special Operations Joint Command-Afghanistan (SOJTF-A) and Senior Legal Advisor for the NATO Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan (NSOCC-A).  SOJTF-A/NSOCC-A is a division-level headquarters and is commanded by a two-star general and encompasses all in-country NATO special operations forces and assets, close to 13,000 special operators, staff, and support from over 25 different nations. The SOJTF-A/NSOCC-A mission spans the entire spectrum of special operations in a counterterrorist and a counterinsurgent environment. The missions range from direct action to capacity-building.  As the senior legal advisor, LTC Fairfield oversees over 20 attorneys from three different nations and 15 legal support personnel.  He is responsible for providing advice to the command and staff regarding the rules of engagement, international law, administrative law, fiscal law, contract law, and military justice.     


LTC Fairfield’s first assignment as a judge advocate was with the 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC, from 1999-2002, where he served as the Division’s family law attorney, Administrative law attorney, Operational law attorney, and prosecutor. From 2002-2004 he was assigned as the Deputy Detachment Legal Advisor for 1^st Special Operations Detachment-Delta (Airborne), Fort Bragg, NC.  During this time he made numerous deployments to both Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004 he was assigned to the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy, West Point, NC, as an associate professor, teaching Constitutional and Military Law.

Following his assignment at West Point, he attended The Judge Advocate General’s School and Legal Center, Charlottesville, VA, where he received his LLM in military law.  From 2007-2010 he returned to Fort Bragg, NC to serve as the Command Detachment Legal Advisor for 1^st Special Operations Detachment-Delta (Airborne), where he again made numerous deployments to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  In 2010 he was awarded the US Special Operations Command’s Major General William F. Garrison Award for his years of support to US Special Operations Forces.

In 2010 he attended the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS. From 2011-2013 he served as the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate (DSJA) for Fort Benning, GA, where he oversaw the day to day operations of over 125 attorneys and legal support personnel.
Following his current deployment, he will become the Director of the Center for Law and Military Operations (CLAMO), located in Charlottesville, VA.   CLAMO is a joint, interagency, and multinational legal center responsible for: (1) collecting and synthesizing data relating to legal issues arising in military operations, (2) managing a central repository of information relating to such issues, and (3) disseminating resources addressing these issues IOT facilitate the development of doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, personnel, and facilities as these areas affect the military legal community.

LTC Fairfield is married to Mrs. Sandi Fairfield.  They met in Savannah, GA, while she was attending SCAD and he was assigned to the 24^th ID, at Fort Stewart, GA.  They have two children.  Emily is age 10 and Gavin is age 8.