May 31, 2011
VINCENT E. DOYLE III TAKES OFFICE AS NEW YORK
STATE BAR ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT
ALBANY--With a deep-seated commitment to
“Justice for All,” Vincent E. Doyle III takes
office Wednesday as the 114th President of the New York State Bar
Association, pledging to find innovative ways to expand critical legal
services for veterans, immigrants and the poor at a time of fiscal
austerity.
“What lawyers do best is help people achieve
justice. As attorneys, we have no greater responsibility than to ensure
that the most vulnerable in our society--the disabled veteran, the
hardworking immigrant, the indigent single mother--have the same access
to justice as the most powerful," said Doyle, a partner at the Buffalo
law firm of Connors & Vilardo LLP.
"Despite thousands of hours of free legal services
provided by lawyers in New York, the needs of the disenfranchised and
the underserved continue to grow. ‘Justice for All’ is a
goal that this Association must work to achieve,” Doyle said.
“Our military heroes have enormous legal needs. So
do immigrants who come to this country looking for a better life, and so
do millions of struggling families who are fighting to keep their homes
or access to health care," he added. "The State Bar is uniquely suited
to help.”
Doyle is the eleventh State President from the Buffalo
area and the first since 2000.
During his one-year term as State Bar president, Doyle's
priorities include:
• Creating a Special Committee on Military
Veterans: It will focus on the legal needs of veterans, service
members and their families. These needs include both pre- and
post-deployment issues, such as matrimonial and family law matters,
medical needs, substance abuse, foreclosures, homelessness, consumer
credit problems and criminal issues. Doyle said, “The men and
women who have given so much for our country shouldn’t suffer as a
result of their service. We need to do everything we can to make sure
their needs are met.”
• Creating a Special Committee on Immigration
Representation: It will examine the challenges faced by
immigrants in deportation and other legal proceedings. "The stakes for
immigrants are extremely high," he noted. "They often are unrepresented
or vulnerable to unscrupulous individuals who exploit language barriers
and exact exorbitant fees for incompetent and insufficient assistance."
The Special Committee intends to generate a report with recommendations
for ways to improve access to competent representation.
• Making indigent criminal defense
services more efficient: The State Bar also will study ways to
improve legal defense services for low-income individuals accused of
crimes. The current “system” of criminal defense services
burdens the counties to operate and fund their own defense providers,
Doyle said. “These programs are underfunded and overworked so
badly that it is hard for them to operate effectively.” Doyle has
tasked an existing committee of the Bar Association to find ways these
providers can pool and share resources, to improve efficiency and the
quality of available legal representation.
• Court funding and
reorganization: The State Bar will monitor how a $170 million
budget cut will affect the ability of the courts to remain open and
accessible to all New Yorkers. Doyle will aggressively advocate that
state government adequately finance the court system. In addition, the
State Bar will examine ways to reduce long-term court costs and find
efficiencies, including the possible consolidation of the state’s
13 different trial courts.
• Internal State Bar
projects: While working on these important statewide
initiatives that impact all New Yorkers, Doyle plans to study how the
Bar Association can accommodate its members' personal lives. Noting the
important work of Past President Stephen Younger and the Task Force of
the Future of the Legal Profession that examined the need to balance
attorney work-life issues, he wants to make State Bar events more
family-friendly, offering activities for children, day care and programs
for spouses. In addition, Doyle will work to increase the diversity of
the State Bar’s leadership and membership so that it better
reflects society as a whole.
A History of Service to
the Community
An active member of the State Bar for two decades, Doyle
served as President-Elect and chaired the Association’s House of
Delegates during the past year. Doyle spent five years as a member of
Executive Committee and nine in the House of Delegates. He has chaired
the Criminal Justice Section, Committee to Ensure Quality of Mandated
Representation, and Task Force to Review Terrorism Legislation.
He currently serves on the Trial Lawyers Section,
Committee on Legislative Policy, Membership Committee, Committee to
Review Judicial Nominations, Committee on the Tort System, and the Task
Force on Wrongful Convictions. He is a Fellow of the New York Bar
Foundation.
In addition to his State Bar activities, Doyle sits on
the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure to the Chief
Administrative Judge of the State of the Courts of New York and is a
Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
He is a member of the New York State Judicial Screening
Panel for the Fourth Judicial Department, which encompasses western New
York. He was appointed by former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye to the
Commission on the Jury, which recommended ways to improve the jury
system.
Doyle is a member of the Erie County Bar Association and has served on
its Board of Directors. He is former President of the Aid to Indigent
Prisoner’s Society, which administers the Assigned Counsel Program
for the county.
A partner with Connors & Vilardo LLP, he is a trial
and appellate attorney. His practice includes commercial litigation,
white collar investigations and legal ethics matters.
An alumnus of Canisius College, Doyle graduated magna
cum laude from University of Buffalo Law School. He and his wife, Kerry,
live in Elma with their three young children, Aidan, Blaise and
Isabella.
The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is the
largest voluntary bar association in the nation. It was founded in
1876.
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