January 28, 2011
SEYMOUR W. JAMES, JR. NAMED PRESIDENT-ELECT OF NEW
YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
NEW YORK— The New York State Bar Association announced today
that Seymour W. James, Jr., of New York (The Legal Aid Society), has
been named president-elect of the 77,000-member organization. James was
elected at the 134th Annual Meeting by the House of Delegates, the
Association’s decision and policy-making body. He will begin his
one-year term as president on June 1, 2012.
Current President-Elect Vincent E. Doyle, III of Buffalo (Connors
& Vilardo LLP) will assume the office of president on June 1,
2011.
James, a resident of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, received his
undergraduate degree from Brown University, and earned his law degree
from the Boston University School of Law.
James is the attorney-in-charge of the Criminal Practice of The Legal
Aid Society in New York City. In that capacity, he is responsible for
the Society’s trial, parole revocation and appellate criminal
practice.
Active in the State Bar since 1978, James has served as
treasurer since June 2008. He is a member of the State Bar’s House
of Delegates, the Finance Committee, the Membership Committee, the
President’s Committee on Access to Justice and the Special
Committee on Strategic Planning. Within the Criminal Justice Section,
James serves as a member-at-large of its Executive Committee. He is a
fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.
He previously served as the vice president for the Eleventh Judicial
District from 2004-2008 and on numerous committees, including the
Committee on Attorneys in Public Service, the Committee on Diversity and
Leadership Development, the Committee on Legal Aid, the Nominating
Committee, the Special Committee on Association Governance, and the Task
Force on Increasing Diversity in the Judiciary.
James is a past president of the Queens County Bar Association and
has served on a number of that association’s entities, including
its Judiciary Committee. He currently serves as a member of the board of
directors for the New York State Defenders Association. He also is a
member of the Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association and a former member
of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association.
In addition to his bar association activities, James is a member of
Chief Judge Lippman’s Justice Task Force, the New York State
Permanent Sentencing Commission, the Departmental Disciplinary Committee
for the First Judicial Department, the Committee on Character and
Fitness for the Second Judicial Department and the Independent Judicial
Election Qualification Commission for the Second Judicial Department. He
also serves as the secretary of the Correctional Association.
James has served as an adjunct professor of Law at CUNY Law School
and on the faculty of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Intensive
Trial Advocacy Program.
The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official
statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary
state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, the State
Bar’s programs and activities have continuously served the public
and improved the justice system for 135 years.
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