New York City Bar

The City Bar Task Force on Digital Technologies explores the implications of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)'s proposed rule on digital wallets and payment apps. After a review of the CFPB's authoritative reach, its enforcement authority, and its coordination with other regulatory agencies, we dig into the proposed rule – what its key provisions are, how its comment period was decided upon, and how it determines which entities will be affected. The group, which includes former senior CFPB officials, also discuss how attorneys could advise their clients about the CFPB entry into this space. Tune in to hear more about: • The role and power of the CFPB • The CFPB’s rulemaking, supervision and enforcement authorities • Implications of the CFPB's proposed rule on digital wallets and payment apps • Lessons from previous CFPB supervision of larger participants Access a transcript of this episode here: https://bityl.co/N6zc

Lawyer. Leader. Public Servant. Trailblazer. Friend. Marybeth Peters, the second-longest serving Register of Copyrights (1994 - 2010), died on September 29, 2022, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 83. With her passing, Register Peters left behind a lasting and far-reaching legacy in her storied 40-plus year career as a distinguished attorney, respected copyright law expert, and the director of the U.S. Copyright Office, where she helped shape and implement critical new laws, including the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act among others. In addition, Register Peters was remembered as a mentor, teacher, and friend who touched the lives of everyone around her with grace and her unforgettable laugh. Presented by the New York City Bar Copyright and Literary Property Committee, committee members Theodora Fleurant, a trademark attorney based in New York City, and Jose Landivar, an Associate at Coates IP, lead an unforgettable

The City Bar’s Working Group on Judicial Administration and Artificial Intelligence is back to get into a recent headline-making case of AI allegedly misused in the courtroom. Harut Minasian, Stuart Levi, Richard Hong and David Zaslowsky break down the recent news about the US v. Michel: bad use of AI, or just plain bad lawyering? They discuss how AI can be used as a valuable tool in the legal toolkit for some tasks, but highlight the need for understanding the functionality, reliability, and limitations of AI technology. But whether or not AI can be reliably used today in some limited ways, the real question is: is AI ready for primetime? Tune in to hear more about: • Is the ineffective assistance of counsel claim in US v. Michel likely to succeed? • How should lawyers disclose to clients the AI tools that they do use? • Is using AI really so different from using other ‘new’ technologies like Lexis and Westlaw? Is it different from asking a Partner with specialized knowledge for input? • Will it ev

In this episode of the New York City Bar Association podcast, members of the United Nations Committee – Shubha Chandra, Yveline Dalmacy, Karl Fisher and Sophia Murashkovsky Romma – discuss the Association's recent membership in the UN Global Compact. The conversation touches upon the Global Compact's mission, its fundamental principles, and the broader implications of the partnership for the Bar Association and its members. Ensuring respect for justice, human rights, corporate sustainability, and adhering to the rule of law are important aspects underlined in the discussion. The episode also elaborates on the potential benefits for members such as access to diverse training on corporate sustainability. Access a transcript of this episode here: https://bityl.co/MSo7

Five members of the City Bar Digitial Technology Task Force explain the New York Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) amendments and their potential impact on digital assets, trade finance and electronic commerce. Sandra Rocks, Ed Smith, Eric Marcus, Neil Cohen and Lorraine McGowen explain how adopting the amendments will benefit New York and will ensure that New York remains the preferred jurisdiction for parties transacting business. Access a transcript of this recording here: https://bityl.co/MLKD

Why do you have to take the LSAT to get into law school? Is the modern Bar Exam the best way to protect the public and sort bar admission applicants? Why is the law school curriculum designed the way that it is? What does it mean to have the character and fitness to be a lawyer? Many lawyers take for granted that the answers to these questions are settled. The assumption is that these institutions help us select only the best and the brightest to enter the legal profession. In this episode of the City Bar Podcast, two academic experts help us probe those assumptions. They unpack the history, structure and outcomes of these institutions of selection. And they tease out the many interconnected ways in which the status quo functionally excludes people from underrepresented communities from entering the legal profession. Tune in to learn about: • How standardized tests that claim to predict law school success sort significantly based on economic class and race. • How the Bar Exam still in use today has hist

Robert Schwinger and Hector Ivan Velez are Co-Chairs of the Distributed Ledger Technology and Blockchain Subcommittee of the City Bar Task Force on Digital Technologies. They unpacked four key use cases for asset tokenization – real estate, art, commodities and carbon credits – in order to cover the basics of tokenization, the potential for democratizing access to investment opportunity, and the barriers to adoption. Tune in to hear about:  • How tokenization could open global markets in some assets • How courts have treated tokenized assets • The risks presented by the tokenization of assets • The legal and regulatory challenges to adoption of asset tokenization

Adrienne Woods, a member of the City Bar’s Social Networking and Events Committee, sat down with Bruce Libman, a master business-development strategist, to unpack the fundamentals of effective networking that will generate business for lawyers. Tune in to hear about: • How effective networking is the process of opening yourself up to authentically engage others • Practical examples of effective networking questions, planning and followup strategies • Tips for developing and honing networking techniques Register here for the Social Networking and Events Committee program at the City Bar on September 30, at which Bruce Libman will be the featured speaker: https://bityl.co/L8Nv

Beth Haddock and Lewis Cohen are Co-Chairs of the Web3 Subcommittee of the City Bar Task Force on Digital Technologies, and they’re experts in the world of Web3, decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. They helped us understand how the world of decentralized technologies is taking shape, what problems are being discussed and discovered by innovators, and where we stand to benefit from future breakthroughs. Tune in to hear about: • Takeaways for lawyers from two recent, major reports of the international Financial Stability Board. What lawyers could use in their practice and what they should think about when they think of developments in Web3. • What is DeFi (decentralized finance) and what are DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations)? How do we know when a project truly fits into these spaces? • What are the incentives and differences between traditional finance and decentralized finance? • What are the potential benefits of decentralized finance? • What are reliable a

A story of artificial intelligence, fabricated precedent, and a litigation gone awry that made cringeworthy headlines even outside the legal world. In Mata v. Avianca a lawyer submitted a brief in federal court citing precedent that ChatGPT had spun out of thin air. Three members of the City Bar Working Group on Judicial Administration and Artificial Intelligence break down how it happened and what we can learn about the use of artificial intelligence in courts. Tune in to hear Harut Minasian, Richard Hong and Stuart Levi discuss: • How did the judge in the case deal with the fact pattern that emerged and how were the lawyers in question held accountable for their actions? • Is there now a greater duty of oversight for lawyers in the new AI context? • When is AI-generated material an aid for human work and when is it a source? • How should lawyers responsibly disclose their use of AI tools to the court? • What rules are judges around the country making about the disclosure of AI tools used in their courtro

Aliza Shatzman is President and Founder of the Legal Accountability Project, a nonprofit aimed at extending support and resources to law clerks to ensure that they have a positive clerkship experience. Aliza talks about the mistreatment that she experienced as a law clerk. Her experience led her to discover the shocking lack of labor protections for clerks and the enormous power disparity between clerks and judges. Aliza was ultimately inspired to take on the deeply entrenched status quo in the clerking system. Tune in to hear about: • The power dynamic that exists today which gives judges the power to mistreat clerks and potentially derail their clerks’ careers • How law schools and their clerkship offices have been complicit in protecting bad actors and withholding information about bad judges from clerkship applicants • How Aliza has improved accountability for judges and raised awareness in the community of law clerks • What law clerks experiencing mistreatment can do to get help • What changes need to b

A brand new professional development podcast from the City Bar where we talk with lawyers about seizing opportunities, learning lessons the hard way, and about what makes them tick. Search for the This Lawyer's Life feed wherever you listen and subscribe! Gregory Binstock, City Bar Director of Professional Development, sits down with Ellen Holloman, a Partner in Cadwalader’s Global Litigation Group. Tune in to learn more about: • How learning flows both ways in Ellen’s mentor/mentee relationship • How leaders should approach lessons in DEI that come from a new generation of attorneys who are at the bottom of the firm hierarchy • How Ellen has navigated unsupportive encounters while seeking supportive spaces • How DEI contributes to winning litigation • How Ellen makes pro bono and service core elements of her career

Heather Hatcher is Chair of the City Bar’s Health Law Committee and a public health policy advocate. Roland Trope is a Partner at Trope and Schramm LLP and an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Law and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Heather and Roland interviewed Anthony E. Davis, Of Counsel at Clyde and Co. US and an international expert on professional responsibility. They discuss the transformations that AI tools will make to legal services, and they consider the challenges to evaluating and deploying those tools on behalf of the client. • How will AI tools change the landscape of legal services? • How can lawyers and law firms evaluate AI tools that purport to be applicable to individual use cases? • What are the risks of using AI tools for legal services? • How much technological expertise do lawyers need to have? • Who is liable for mistakes made by AI tools? • What are the ethical risks for lawyers using AI tools? This interview was rec

Ankura Consulting Group is a management consulting firm with over two thousand employees advising corporations in various industries and sectors e.g. cybersecurity, construction, litigation and human resources. Shawn Miles' and Patricia Rodriguez’s social-impact team helps companies ask themselves difficult questions about their own environments and values so that they can make sure that their people feel accepted, welcome and able to show up as themselves. Patricia and Shawn speak about being intentional with Belonging, about building strategies and spaces for people to be honest and sometimes uncomfortable. They helped us understand the ways in which building psychological safety to get things wrong can be tantamount to building psychological safety to really try and get things right. The Building Belonging crew carries this idea into a discussion about how to persevere in the face of an “anti-woke” movement that seeks to co-opt and undermine DEIB ideals. Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen talk with Shawn and P

Jerome Walker, Lorraine McGowen and Edward So are Co-Chairs of a new City Bar Task Force on Digital Technologies. They introduce the Task Force, its objectives, its work so far, and its vision for the future.

Justice Rolando Acosta shares his story of growing up in the Dominican Republic and coming to New York at 14, finding opportunities by excelling academically and on the baseball field, and choosing the law and going to work at Legal Aid as a way of paying back the help that had been given to his family. Justice Acosta and his daughter Zila Acosta-Grimes compare notes on their upbringing and their privileges, and how they have learned to use privilege as power. Justice Acosta remembers for us his time building the Dominican community in Washington Heights and Inwood by building up social service infrastructure like Alianza Dominicana and Community Association of Progressive Dominicans alongside other community leaders like Adriano Espaillat and Dr. Raphael Lantigua. Justice Acosta also shares insights about the challenges of making change happen at the institutional level, delving into his own efforts to modernize the Appellate Division First Department while he was Presiding Justice. Justice Acosta tal

In this episode: Enforcing Orders to Correct, the fourth episode in our series on Housing Part Proceedings and the Reality of Housing Court. Agata Rumprecht-Behrens, a court attorney currently assigned to the HP part in Queens housing court, moderates a panel discussion with Vijay Kitson, a partner at Hertz, Cherson Rosenthal specializing in landlord-tenant trial advocacy; Rachel Nager, a tenant attorney and advocate representing tenants in housing court; Paul Gdanski, a supervising attorney in the tenant anti-harassment unit at HPD; and Judge Shorab Ibraham, a housing judge appointed in 2018.

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Julie Bosi and Valery Federici of Level Up Legal. They talk about coaching in the legal industry and the way that the skills of the law can run counter to the skills of well-being, and how the work of building emotional well-being dovetails with the work of DEIB. Tune in to hear about: How coaching works in the context of the legal profession How coaching is tailored to each individual lawyer Combating negativity bias Building psychological safety to break down systems of oppression

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Ashley Bernal, Director of Research and Impact for ProInspire. Ashley was the Research Consultant for a City Bar report that made recommendations about diversifying and strengthening the pipeline to the legal profession. Ashley helped us understand the findings of the report. She also talked to us about some of the hierarchies in the educational system that work against DEIB. And we talked about the way that students fall out of the legal pipeline because legal education is often designed to be unsupportive. Read Ashley's report, The Diversity Gap: Black and Latinx Disparities in the Legal Pipeline (https://bit.ly/3YwbRI8), and the City Bar's report on legal pipeline program, Sealing the Leaks: Recommendations to Diversify and Strengthen the Pipeline to the Legal Profession (https://bit.ly/3I1eNFS).

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Zila Acosta Grimes, Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton. Zila’s roots in New York’s Latinx community and legal community run deep. She shares her own immersive upbringing in those communities, and shares her playbook for building affinity groups that make inclusive and powerful spaces for communities not traditionally represented in the law. Make an impact by being a part of our work: Join the City Bar (admission fee waived) using this membership form: bit.ly/3qEJqbV Join a City Bar committee: bit.ly/3xqT8SI Sign up for our newsletter to keep up on all ODEIB programs, events, and news: bit.ly/3qE5raK