THE
ECORD R
Volume 83, No. 47
of
LAW & COMMERCE
50¢
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Brooklyn Bar honors Justice Chambers, others at annual dinner The Brooklyn Bar Association gave Justice Cheryl Chambers the Vivan Agress Trailblazer Award and honored four others during its annual dinner on Monday. Pictured are President-elect Anthony Lamberti, Aimee Richter, Hon. Cheryl Chambers, Executive Director Avery Okin and President Frank Carone. Eagle photos by Caroline Ourso By Rob Abruzzese
Halfway through BBA presidency Frank Carone talks objectives at annual dinner
The Record
The Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation held its annual dinner on Monday and honored Justice Cheryl Chambers and four others during a ceremony at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. The foundation is the charitable arm of the Brooklyn Bar Association. The annual dinner is one of the biggest ways that it raises money for charitable purposes. Each year, the foundation gives out scholarships to law school students, holds know-your-rights events for the public, donates to charities, maintains its public law library and runs a pipeline program, among other philanthropic activities. “Tonight’s dinner with more than 900 people celebrates the Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation, an organization that is dedicated not only to the legal community, but to the people of Brooklyn as well,” said President-elect Anthony Lamberti. “It’s your support of our foundation that allows us to continue our work to support our members and Brooklynites.” The ceremony was run by Lamberti, who was the chairperson of the committee, with the help of President Frank Carone. The usual cast participated — Sgt. Jessica Hernandez sang the national anthem, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik did the invocation and Hon. Barry Kamins did the judicial introductions. Justice Chambers, who sits in the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, was given the Vivian H. Agress Trailblazer Award by past President Aimee Richter. Chambers currently sits in the Appellate Division, to which she was appointed by Gov. Elliot Spitzer in 2008. Prior to that, she sat on the Supreme Court after elections in 1998 and 2012. She initially joined the bench in 1994 after she was elected to the Civil Court. “I’m only here because of you, and I stand on the shoulders of the giants that came before me,” Chambers said when she accepted her award.
By Rob Abruzzese The Record
Justice Vaughan was first elected to the bench in Brooklyn in 1991. He initially had a private practice before he served as chief counsel to the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. A former chair of Community Board 10, he has also taught at Brooklyn College and Wagner College. He was presented with his award by Justice Pesce. Justice Green now sits in Staten Island, but he served in Brooklyn from the time he was elected to the Civil Court in 2004 until his appointment as administrative judge in 2017. Prior to his ascension to the bench, he worked as a solo practitioner and then for the Brooklyn DA’s Office under Elizabeth Holtzman.
During the Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation’s annual dinner on Monday where it honored five people including Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries, President Frank Carone reflected on his presidency so far. “It is hard to believe that we are passing the halfway point of my term as president,” Carone said. “When I first began, I thought to myself —what an honor, a privilege, to be fortunate enough to lead an organization in what would be the fourth largest city in the United States.” Part of Carone’s job as president of the BBA is to work with the bench and the bar in the borough, negotiating issues that arise whether they be small and hyper local, or when it comes to weighing in on Chief Judge Janet DiFiore’s plan to merge the courts. Certainly not an easy task in a borough with approximately 875 jury trials and 950 nonjury trials each year. Carone explained that he has had two main objectives during his year as president — to make the bar more service oriented, both to its membership as well as the Brooklyn community, and to increase diversity within the bar association itself. Carone has attempted to do this by creating various programs through the bar association and creating new committees like the immigration committee. Its membership and diversity committees, led by Anthony Vaughn Jr. and Joy Thompson, respectively, have also been more active than ever.
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Nicole Santo, RoseAnn Branda and Arthur Aidala. The other honorees included Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Hon. Desmond Green, Hon. David Vaughan and Lisa Schriebersdorf. In addition to the honorees, four retiring judges — Justice Vaughan, Hon. Michael Pesce, Hon. John Ingram and Hon. William Miller — were honored as they leave the bench. Carone joked that Rep. Jeffries, who wasn’t in attendance, was too busy impeaching President Trump to accept his award. Jeffries has served Brooklyn as a congressmember since 2013 and is currently chairperson of the House Democratic Caucus. Prior to his election to Congress, Jeffries served as an assemblymember for six years.