Contact: Rosanne M. Van Heertum
Director of Development, The New York Bar Foundation
rvanh@tnybf.org
518-487-5650

February 12, 2009

NEW YORK BAR FOUNDATION ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2009 JUDGE BERNARD S. MEYER SCHOLARSHIP

$5,000 Scholarship Open to Second-year Students Enrolled in New York State Law Schools

ALBANY – The New York Bar Foundation is accepting applications for the 2009 Judge Bernard S. Meyer Scholarship. The $5,000 scholarship is open to all second-year (2L) students enrolled in a law school in the state of New York as of the spring 2009 semester. An essay that relates to the law and displays excellence in legal writing and advocacy skills must be submitted for consideration of this scholarship. The deadline for submission of applications is Wednesday, April 1, 2009. The scholarship will be applied to the student’s tuition for the 2009-10 academic year.  
 
Judge Bernard S. Meyer was an associate judge of the New York State Court of Appeals from 1979-1986 and practiced with Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C from 1987 until his death in 2005. Among his notable accomplishments, he served as special Deputy Attorney General of New York in charge of the Special Attica Investigation and was a member of the Governor’s Commission on Integrity in Government. 

A graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, LL.D. (1938), and Johns Hopkins University, B.A. (1936), Judge Meyer practiced law in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and New York until his election as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court in November 1958. During his 14-year tenure as a justice of that Court, he served as Chairman of the National Conference of State Trial Judges, president of the Association of Justices of the New York State Supreme Court, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts, chairman of the New York State Bar Association's Judicial Section, and was a founder of the Council of Judicial Associations and of the New York Fair Trial Free Press Conference. Between 1968 and 1974 he also served as a member of the Board of the National College of the State Judiciary located in Reno, Nevada.

The scholarship is administered by The New York Bar Foundation and was established in 2004 by the law firm, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C., Garden City, to honor Judge Meyer for his outstanding work and dedication to the law. Founded in 1960, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C. is recognized as one of New York’s premier full-service law firms and has a demonstrated commitment to its clients, and to community and public affairs. Corporate, institutional, governmental and individual clients rely on the firm for dependable and responsible legal counsel and vigorous representation. In five practice locations (Garden City, Melville, New York City, Albany and Washington DC), the firm's professional roster of more than 65 attorneys includes former judges and government officials, leaders of civic and legal communities, and attorneys widely recognized as outstanding practitioners of their profession.

For complete details about the scholarship, please go to www.tnybf.org or contact The New York Bar Foundation at 518/487-5651 or foundation@tnybf.org. Established in 1950, The New York Bar Foundation is dedicated to aiding charitable and educational projects to meet the law-related needs of the public and the legal profession.

###