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January 20, 2011

MORE THAN 5,000 ATTORNEYS TO ATTEND NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING JANUARY 24 THROUGH 29 IN NEW YORK CITY 

Week-long meeting offers programs on issues including government ethics, shaping the future of the legal profession, and dozens of other hot topics

Should New York State impose tougher ethics laws for state and local government officials to restore public confidence in government? How should attorneys change the way they do business to reflect an evolving global landscape? Those are among the many questions that will be debated at the Annual Meeting of the New York State Bar Association in New York City between Monday, January 24 through Saturday, January 29.
 
Lectures, panel discussions and other events will focus on topics as diverse as Nazi-era art, mergers and acquisitions, anti-trust laws, long-term health care, federal regulation of food and drugs, green buildings, international counterfeiting, and free speech rights of children in the age of Facebook.
 
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will address the Presidential Summit Wednesday afternoon. Other prominent speakers are William J. Wilkins, chief counsel of the IRS; Assembly Committee Chair Richard Gottfried; Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman; former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Hon. Paul R. Michel; U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg; and Maine Attorney Tom Cox, who uncovered the use of "robo-signing" in home foreclosures, triggering temporary halts to foreclosure actions across the nation.
 
More than 5,000 attorneys are expected to attend the State Bar Association's 134th Annual Meeting at the Hilton New York (1335 Avenue of the Americas) in Manhattan beginning Monday, January 24.
 
Highlights of the week include:

Monday – Jan. 24, 2011

Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section (1:00 – 5:30 p.m.)
• Nazi Era Art Restitution: Recent Case Developments
• Whose Life Is It Anyway?:  Life Stories in Various Media

Tuesday - Jan. 25, 2011

American Bar Association’s Commission on Ethics (9:00 – 11:00 a.m)
• Ethics 20/20

Intellectual Property Law Section (8:45 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.)
• Intellectual Property Litigation Year in Review – Part I: Patent Law
• Intellectual Property Litigation Year in Review – Part II: Trademark and Unfair Competition Law
• Current Developments in IP Legislation
• International Counterfeiting: A Plague on the House of IP
• IP Alternative Dispute Resolution: Is it Ready for Prime Time?
• Red State, Blue State: Lawyers, Politics & Moral Counseling
• Technology Forecast: Ethical Storm Brewing Over Attorneys Computing in the Cloud and on the Ground
• Profiting From and Protecting Your Intellectual Property Investments in China
• Luncheon Speaker: Hon. Paul R. Michel, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (12:35  – 1:50 p.m.)

Tax Section (9:15 a.m. – noon and 2:15 – 4:00 p.m.)
• Hot Topics (Including Financial Market Developments)
• Current Topics in Corporate Tax
• State and Local Mergers & Acquisitions Planning
• Current Topics in International Tax
• Luncheon Speaker: William J. Wilkins, chief counsel, Internal Revenue Service (noon  – 2:15 p.m.)

Committee on Attorneys in Public Service (9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. and 2:00 – 5:15 p.m.)
• Supreme Court Update: The Roberts Court at Age Five
• Government in a Time of Economic Crisis: Doing More With Less

Committee on Media Law (2:00 – 4:00 p.m.)
• It’s 11:00 P.M. — OMG! Do You Know What Your Children Are Saying Online? Student Free Speech Rights in the Age of Facebook, Twitter and Other Social Media

Wednesday - Jan. 26, 2011

The Presidential Summit (2:00 – 5:15 p.m.) 
Keynote Address by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (2:00 – 2:30 p.m.)
2:30 – 3:45 p.m. – Shaping the Future of Our Profession: Strategies that Will Guide Lawyers and Clients Through an Era of Change

Panelists Include:
• T. Andrew Brown, Moderator, Brown & Hutchinson
• Linda Leuchter Addison, Moderator, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
• Simon Chester, Heenan Blaikie LLP
• Deborah Epstein Henry, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC
• Dean Richard Matasar, New York Law School
• Barbara E. Daniele, GE Capital Americas

3:45 – 5:15 p.m. – Government Ethics: Reforming the System, Rebuilding Public Trust in Our Institutions
Keynote Address by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman 
Panelists Include:
• Susan Arbetter, Moderator, Capitol Reporter WCNY, Central NY Public Broadcasting
• Evan Davis, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
• John R. Dunne, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna
• Mark Davies, New York City Conflicts of Interest Board
• Boyd Milo Johnson, III, United States Attorneys Office, Southern District of New York

Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (8:30 a.m. – noon)
• Bridging the E-Discovery Gap Between Bench and Bar
• How Inside and Outside Litigation Counsel Can Add Value and Reduce Costs for Corporate Clients

Health Law Section (12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.)
• Luncheon Speaker: Richard N. Gottfried, chair of the NYS Assembly Committee on Health (12:30– 2:00 p.m.)
• Long-Term Care and Health Care
• The New York State Health Policy Arena: New Directions for 2011

Committee on Animals and the Law (1:30 – 5:00 p.m.)
• Ethical Considerations and Legal Determinations in the Practice of Animal Law

Committee on Law, Youth & Citizenship (9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)
• Public Education and the Law: Separating Church & State in Our Public Schools Will the Debate Ever End?

Thursday – Jan. 27, 2011

Antitrust Section (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) 
• Caveat Venditor: Buy-side Collusion
• Annual Review of Antitrust Developments: Antitrust in the Supreme Court
• Fifty Miles from Home with a Briefcase: Expert Hot Topics
• From Mediterranean Avenue to Boardwalk: Unilateral Conduct Revisited
• International Cartel Enforcement in the Digital Age: Collection and Use of Evidence Beyond Borders
• The Antitrust Temperature in the Supreme Court: Permanent Climate Change or Seasonal Variation?

Family Law Section 
Keynote Speaker: Hon. Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York (12:30– 2:00 p.m.)

Food, Drug & Cosmetic Law Section (9:00 a.m. – noon)
• Biologics and the Biosimilars Approval Pathway
• Health Reform and the Pharmaceutical Industry
• Food: Issues Relating to Safety and Claims
• Luncheon Speaker: Margaret Hamburg, M.D., commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration (1:00– 2:00 p.m.)

Justice for All Luncheon (12:30 – 2:00 p.m)
Keynote Speaker: Tom Cox, Maine Attorney who discovered the “robo-signing” in foreclosures

Municipal Law Section (1:45 – 3:25 p.m.)
• Understanding and Surviving the Financial Crisis

Real Property Law Section (8:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.)
• Hot Topics in Real Estate

Special Committee on LGBT People and the Law (9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.)
• A Practical Guide to Representing Transgender Clients in Civil Matters: “Almost everything you wanted to know about transgender rights, but were too embarrassed to ask.”

Friday – January 28, 2011

House of Delegates Meeting (8:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

Environmental Law Section (8:45 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.)
• Addressing Climate Change on the International Stage - The Whole World is Watching, but is Anything Happening?
• What Lawyers Need to Know About Federal, State and Local Governmental Responses to Climate Change
• SEC and Insurance Response to Climate Change
• The Nuts and Bolts of Building Green (and it is not always easy being Green)
• Luncheon Speaker: S. Richard Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council (12:30– 2:00 p.m.)

NOTE: All events are open to the media.  Reporters must register in the News Center located in the Rhinelander North, 2nd Floor to gain admission into any program or event. News releases and other materials will be available. Media Services & Public Affairs staff from the State Bar Association will be present to assist members of the news media. To contact the News center call 212-886-0890, ext. 0892.

The News Center will be open on Monday, January 24th from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; and on Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

WHAT:  2011 New York State Bar Association Annual Meeting

WHERE: Hilton New York (1335 Avenue of the Americas between 53rd and 54th streets) Manhattan

WHEN:  Monday, January 24 – Saturday, January 29, 2011

CONTACTS:  
Nick Parrella – Cell # 518-275-7954
Lise Bang-Jensen – Cell # 518-312-8239
Brandon Vogel – Office # 518-487-5535
Mike Petralia or Colleen Roche - 212-575-4545; Day of 646-229-8471
News Center - 212-886-0890, ext. 0892 (January 24 – 28)

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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, State Bar programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved the justice system for 135 years.