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April 26, 2010
STATE BAR’S COMMERCIAL AND FEDERAL LITIGATION
SECTION HOSTS FOURTH ANNUAL FORUM ON CAREER STRATEGIES FOR ATTORNEYS OF
COLOR
ALBANY— The New York State Bar Association today announced it
will present, “Smooth Moves IV: Career Strategies for Attorneys of
Color” on Tuesday, April 27th, at the Kaplan Penthouse in the Rose
Building at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The event, which
includes a continuing legal education (CLE) program at 4:00 p.m. and a
festive awards ceremony and networking reception at 5:30 p.m., is
sponsored by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and
co-sponsored by ten other sections of the State Bar.
The CLE program, entitled “The Obama Administration's Call to
Service - One Year Later: Perspectives on Growth Opportunities for
Attorneys of Color in the Public and Private Sectors,” will review
the Obama Administration’s key policy positions, judicial
appointments and priorities to date, and highlight the
Administration’s legislative initiatives in the areas of labor and
employment, political law and corporate governance that may provide
significant opportunities for private practitioners to develop subject
matter expertise and expand their individual practice areas.
Preeta Bansal, general counsel and senior policy advisor to the Office
of Management and Budget in the White House and former solicitor general
of the State of New York, will moderate the panel discussion. Panelists
include George W. Madison, general counsel, United States Department of
the Treasury, and former executive vice president and general counsel at
both TIAA-CREF and Comerica Incorporated; Chief Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez
of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New
York; Ki P. Hong, partner in the Political Law Practice Group at
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington, D.C; and
Barbara L. Johnson, partner in the Employment Law Department at
Paul Hastings in D.C., a nationally known employment jury trial and
class action lawyer whose firm has been selected by The American Lawyer
as the Labor & Employment Litigation Firm of the Year.
Since its inception, the Smooth Moves program has served as the
Commercial & Federal Litigation Section’s premiere event to
attract attorneys of color to active membership in the Section; to serve
professional development goals; to help create student awareness of
commercial litigation and foster greater diversity among commercial and
federal litigators throughout New York; and to celebrate the career of
retired New York Court of Appeals Judge George Bundy Smith.
At the awards ceremony following the CLE program, Norman Lau Kee and
his son Glenn Lau-Kee of New York (Kee & Lau-Kee, PLLC), both
renowned lawyers with outstanding records of public service, will
receive the Hon. George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award. The award is given
for legal excellence, community commitment and mentoring.
The Section’s Minority Fellowship also will be presented at the
awards ceremony to Ms. Alet Brown, a first-year law student at St.
John’s University School of Law. Ms. Brown will spend the summer
interning in the chambers of Justice Bernard Fried of the New York State
Supreme Court, Commercial Division.
A resident of Brooklyn, Ms. Brown is a graduate of the John Jay
College of Criminal Justice (New York) where she earned a BA in Criminal
Justice (cum laude) in 2009. While at John Jay, Ms. Brown was awarded
the Howard Mann Humanitarian Award and was a member of the Alpha Phi
Sigma National Criminal Justice Honor Society. Additionally, she served
as an associate justice on the College’s Judicial Board, as a
member of the Commencement Awards Committee, and a tutor at John
Jay’s Writing Center. She also participated in the Ronald H. Brown
Summer Law School Prep Program at the College. Her community service
activities include serving as a GED Tutor at the Hope Center of the
Church of God of East Flatbush, a Mentor/Tutor for the AVID (Advancement
Via Individual Determination) Program for Gifted Students at IS 252
Arthur S. Sommers School, and a volunteer at the Urban Justice
Center.
Past recipients of the Hon. George Bundy Smith award include Elaine
R. Jones, Esq., the president and director-counsel emeritus of the NAACP
- Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Cesar A. Perales, Esq., president
and general counsel, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; and,
in its inaugural year, Judge Smith himself.
Founded in 1988, the 2,600 member Commercial and Federal
Litigation Section of the State Bar strives to improve the quality of
representation of commercial clients in litigation matters, provides a
forum for the improvement of law and procedure in the areas of
commercial and federal litigation, and enhances the administration of
justice. The section is committed to serving the professional
development goals of attorneys of color and to fostering diversity in
the profession.
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Founded in 1876, 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. The State
Bar’s programs and activities have continuously served the public
and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.
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