NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD New York City News NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD – NYC CHAPTER SPRING 2014

NLG-NYC EC Approves Programmatic Goals for 2014 At its February meeting, the Chapter EC approved the following • The program committee will analyze the poll and report to EC proposal for programmatic work for 2014, with the caveat that some and membership. of the goals are contingent on funding and require further investiga- tion. 2. Online Membership Database Acquire an online membership database that can provide members MEMBERSHIP SERVICES the ability to update their membership data, practice areas, pay 1. Develop a questionnaire, meeting or poll to membership to gauge dues, join committees, sign up for referral directory, register for services and opportunities, needed/wanted. events, donate etc., and sign up for automatic dues or donation • Create survey monkey poll to send to membership, and hard payments. mailing poll for those members off line or who prefer snail mail. Give 30 days to respond. 3. Outreach and Recruiting • Program committee will draft poll and send to membership. • Table at NYU Public Interest Career Fair. • Table at NYC Bar Career Fair. • Table at law school career fairs in the NYC region. Late-breaking news: change of venue! Due to the recent • NextGen Happy Hour in connection with NYU Public Interest closure of our regular venue for structural repair, Career Fair. the Spring Fling has been relocated to the beautiful • Resume monthly NextGen events and encourage chapter mem- Riverside Church, Assembly Hall! Details below. bership among attendees. • Outreach to NYC law school student associations associ- NLG-NYC SPRING FLING 2014 ated with traditionally marginalized communities to invite to NextGen events and other chapter events. CHANGE OF VENUE • Devise and implement yearly membership drive. HONORING THE 4. Become an accredited CLE provider FLOYD STOP & Provide low cost CLEs of interest to radical attorneys FRISK TEAM SOLIDARITY/COMMITTEES 1. Devise a manual on “Starting and Running” a NLG-NYC Committee with suggested recommendations for activities, fundraising, events, FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014 membership criteria, etc. continued on page 2 HONORING THE FLOYD STOP & FRISK TEAM Jonathan Moore Center for Constitutional Rights Team: INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Baher Azmy • Darius Charney • Ian Head Sunita Patel • Chauniqua Young Law Student Honoree: Alex Gorman Law School Round Up...... 3 Riverside Church, Assembly Hall • 490 Riverside Drive, New York, NY • Accessible entrance: 91 Claremont Ave. @ 120th Street • 6:00 – 10:00 pm Guild in Action...... 4

Tickets: $150 • Low income $100* • Students $50* Chapter Hosts Mandela’s Lawyer...... 5 Cocktails, Entrees and Hors D’oeuvres • Live Entertainment and Dancing RSVP by May 1 Member News...... 6 For information call 212-679-6018. Visit www.nlgnyc.org to order journal ads and tickets online. From the Archives: Ralph Shapiro...... 9 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD New York City News Programmatic Goals continued from page 1 EDITORIAL BOARD Bruce K. Bentley 2. Conduct a yearly assessment of the NLG-NYC Michael Fahey END SURVEILLANCE OF MUSLIMS Susan C. Howard committees prior to the annual meeting. Much of the Muslim community is in a “wait Ben Meyers Paul Mills 3. Solicit a quarterly report from Chapter commit- and see” mode to see what might come of the ram- Ann M. Schneider tees for purposes of the newsletter. pant Muslim surveillance project under De Blasio’s Graphic Design: Judith Rew administration. We should reach out and let them CHAPTER OFFICERS 4. Check-in with committee chairs twice this year. know we are partners with this struggle. We should be on the standby to issue releases and lend legal President 5. Identify procedure for drafting policy & position observers. Elena L. Cohen statements, press releases, and sign-on letters on We might also consider reaching out to the Vice Presidents areas of interest amongst chapter members and Yetta G. Kurland attorneys in the two lawsuits challenging the sur- committees; recruit members who can speak Mark Taylor veillance to see if an amicus brief would be helpful. on behalf of the Guild and draft press releases Treasurer This amicus brief can bring the wealth of historical Carl Lipscombe around priority areas. knowledge that our membership has on the need EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE to restrain the NYPD’s surveillance of communities Beena Ahmad 6. Host a NLG-NYC Committee Fair providing an Bina Ahmad opportunity for committee members to network during the civil rights era. Susan Barrie and learn about one another’s work. Bruce K. Bentley CAMPAIGN AGAINST SOLITARY Robert J. Boyle Hillary Exter STRATEGIC CAMPAIGNS CONFINEMENT Cristina Gallo Our mass incarceration committee is already Lauren Gazzola Emily Hoffman 1. Campaign Committee well - connected. I think the idea here is to throw Susan C. Howard Form a committee consisting of EC, committee, more Guild support their way. Let’s connect their Joel R. Kupferman work more so that we take every advantage of Rose Regina Lawrence and general members tasked with researching Devin McDougall and identifying one local campaign for the Guild opportunities where the EC may speak collectively Sally Mendola to engage as a coalition partner with our voice in furtherance of their work. Ben Meyers There might be room for direct representation Daniel L. Meyers Ann M. Schneider STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS by our members in cases involving conditions of Geoff Schotter confinement. Heidi J. Siegfried Develop relationships with 5-10 organizations or Marc Alain Steier individuals (elected officials, media, etc.) engaged in Martin R. Stolar the policy debate around our areas of interest DRONE-FREE NEW YORK CITY Susan C. Howard We need a City Council resolution that makes Executive Director SPECIFIC CAMPAIGN IDEAS New York City a drone free zone. There are already efforts underway whereby the NYPD is planning to COMMITTEE CONTACTS Some of the campaigns proposed by members of test the use of drones. We should remain vigilant Anti-Racism Committee this committee are listed below. Further investiga- of the civil rights implications of these proposals. Garrett Wright tion and research is required to determine interest This idea is most in the germination phase. Ideally, Animal Rights Committee in, and viability of, these suggestions. animalrights at nlg.org non-violence community groups would spearhead Environmental Committee a bill like this. We might lend support through Joel Kupferman NYPD SUPPRESSION OF PROTEST ACTIVITY the research and writing skills of students with the Feminist Caucus With a new administration, we have the oppor- supervision of attorneys who have experience in the feministcaucus at nlgnyc.org tunity to test the NYPD’s position on some of the New York City political processes. Housing Committee most egregious examples of NYPD suppression of Steven Dobkin protest activity. It is also better to engage in these STOP AND FRISK/ MUSLIM SPYING Labor and Employment Committee kinds of efforts right now when protest activity The NLG is not a member of Communities Cristina Gallo is quiet for the time being and our stance has the United for Police Reform. If there were a way for Mass Defense Committee benefit of distance. There are certain tactics that we Bruce Bentley us to join and lend support, I think that would be Ben Meyers might address: awesome. In particular, the anti-Muslim spying Mass Incarceration Committee • The over-use of police motorcycles that idle campaign has not gotten as much traction as the Nora Carroll alongside pedestrians. campaign against stop and frisk. I don’t know if Military Law Committee • The use of horses in a threatening manner. MDP is doing any work on this, but I think it’s an Aaron Frishberg important issue to put NLG support behind. Muslim Defense Project • Excessive use of metal barriers and kettling, pre- Bina Ahmad and Beena Ahmad venting people from mingling and interacting STAFFING Newsletter Committee • Pepper spray, police brutality Susan Howard Add an additional staff person to support imple- mentation of the NLG-NYC program proposal. Next Generation Committee nextgen at nlgnyc.org Street Law Team Hannah Mercuris

2 • NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG SPRING 2014 NLG-NYC Holiday Party 12/18/13

The NYC Chapter returned to the historic Surrogate’s Court to close out 2013, graciously hosted by Surrogate Rita Mella. Photo: Jefferson Siegel

Above: Franklin Siegel and Emily Jane Goodman.

LAW SCHOOL ROUND UP

to synthesize the legal perspective of these The NYLS chapter showed the documen- communities: “Intentional Communities are tary film on solitary confinementHerman’s groups of people who have been drawn to House on March 19. Herman Wallace spent live together ranging from communal house more than 40 years in solitary confinement living to towns formed through sustainable in Louisiana’s Angola Prison. He was finally philosophies. If you or anyone you know has released in October 2013 and died three days been involved in Intentional Communities, has later from advanced liver cancer. a legal perspective or background of working with such communities, or has related juris- The CUNY chapter, together with the NLG- prudential ideas on communal living, property NYC Muslim Defense Project and CUNY’s rights, and governance. Please email Jacqueline CLEAR Project (Creating Law Enforcement at [email protected]. All and any information Accountability & Responsibility) conducted a and perspectives welcome, this is a self-cre- KYR Train-the-Trainer Workshop on February ated internship and aims to provide value to 20 “to address the unmet legal needs of Muslim, both lawyers and those involved in Intentional Arab, South Asian, and other communities in J. Justin Woods (above), a JD/MPA Communities.” the New York City area that are particularly Candidate at Pace Law School, will be affected by national security and counterter- interning at Newman Ferrara in Manhattan On April 8 CUNY NLG hosted a work- rorism policies and practices”. Beena Ahmad for most of the summer. Justin will also be shop on FOIA/FOIL: A Practical Guide to and Bina Ahmad were trainers. Students for studying at Oxford University in July, con- an Impractical System. “Learn experienced Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Middle Eastern ducting a comparative study of US and UK practitioners’ strategies for gaining access and North African Law Students Association local governments, and legal issues related to to information the government keeps on (MENALSA), and the Muslim Law Students transparency, participation, and engagement you, your communities, or your clients”. Association (MLSA) also participated. in the land use development process. NLG-NYC’s Animal Rights Activism Committee and Muslim Defense Project were On February 7 after the Public Interest NYU Law student Jacqueline Horani is seek- co-sponsors. Career Fair at NYU Law School, the NextGen ing information on Intentional Communities Committee welcomed NLG law students to for a summer internship project attempting the new school year with a Happy Hour at the Half Pint on W 3rd Street.

SPRING 2014 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG • 3 GUILD IN ACTION

The chapter is seeking a summer intern to work with the Mass Incarceration Committee (MIC) to work primarily on its Parole Preparation Project, in assisting long-term- ers in New York State prisons who have been denied parole and who would benefit from counseling and assistance in preparing to go before the Parole Board. The internship is unpaid, but the position is work/study eligible. The MIC is part of a large coalition supporting parole reform in New York State.

The chapter held an Anti-Oppressive Communication Training on May 3 to assist the EC to improve communication skills “to enhance how the organization and its mem- bers are working and collaborating together”, and to avoid “breakdowns in communication, leading to tension and dissension, impacting efficiency, cohesion, and effectiveness.” NLG-NYC Mass Defense Committee and the Defending Dissent Foundation co-sponsored a panel discussion at Judson Memorial Church on April 10 on Panagacos v. The Animal Rights Activism Committee Towery, left to right, Brian Glick, Lynne Williams, Brendan Maslauskas Dunn, Sue Udry is seeking vegan recipes for its Social Justice and Bruce Bentley. Cookbook. So please send “delicious, cruelty free” recipes to [email protected]. Customs Enforcement (ICE). The workshop NLG International Committee, IADL and The NLG-NYC Mass Defense Committee gives participants an opportunity to talk about NCBL/NYC were co-sponsors. and the Defending Dissent Foundation stop-and-frisk, the role of law enforcement in co-sponsored a panel discussion at Judson their communities, and focuses on three types The chapter co-sponsored a showing of Memorial Church on April 10 on Panagacos of interactions: conversations, detentions, and the new filmAl Helm [The dream]: Martin v. Towery, the suit by Olympia/Tacoma area arrests. Facilitators provide practical advice Luther King in Palestine on March 13 at West anti-war activists and anarchists charging for getting through an encounter safely and Park Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. The the U.S. Army with violating their First and calmly. Facilitators are law students, organiz- film follows playwright and MLK scholar Fourth Amendment rights by infiltration, ers, legal workers, and attorneys from all over. Clayborne Carson and an African American harassment and disruption in 2006-2009. The The coordinator will receive a stipend of $500 gospel choir to Palestine where they perform Ninth Circuit has rejected the government’s for the summer and $1000 per semester. a play on Martin Luther King, Jr. with the motion to dismiss. Palestine National Theater in Ramallah and The chapter was among many co-signers other cities in the West Bank. The Labor & Employment Committee of a letter urging the mayor to forbid all met on April 7 at CWA Local 1180 on City departments, particularly the police and On March 4 the EC approved a title Harrison Street in connection with a cam- fire departments, from marching in theSt. change for Susan Howard from Chapter paign by a group of contract attorneys who Patrick’s Day Parade either in uniform or with Coordinator to Executive Director. At the are organizing to “bring some equity to the any banner that identifies them with the City: 2013 NLG national convention in Puerto world of temp work”. The many Guild mem- “The organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Rico, the NLG’s union caucus had approved bers who are temping or doing other contract have established a constitutional right to their a resolution in support of the title change to work can contact co-chair Garrett Kaske at exclusionary religious procession, but the par- bring the NLG-NYC staff member’s title in [email protected] or (631) 805-5638. ticipation of uniformed police and firefighters line with that of all NLG chapter staff with the is a clear violation of the City’s Human Rights same or similar job description. The chapter had a table at the MetroLALSA Law [and] sends a clear signal to LGBTQ New (Metro-Area Latino/a Law Student Yorkers that these personnel, who are charged The EC, assisted by two trained facilita- Association) Conference on April 5 at with serving and protecting all New Yorkers, tors, met on February 26 at the Center for CUNY School of Law do not respect the lives or safety of LGBT Constitutional Rights to discuss “how, if at people.” all, animal liberation fits within the NLG’s The chapter’s Street Law Team has hired broader commitment to justice”. Hannah Mercuris, a rising 2L at NYU Law Jeanne and Frank Mirer hosted a reception School, as the new coordinator, starting April for Lord Joel Joffe and his spouse Vanetta on Elena Cohen, Danny Meyers, and Susan 14, 2014. The Street Law Team sends work- March 16. Mr. Joffe led the team of attorneys Barrie represented the chapter at the Public shop facilitators into communities to teach which represented Nelson Mandela, Walter Interest Career Fair at NYU Law School on people about their rights during encounters Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, and eight co-defen- February 6 and 7. with law enforcement and Immigration and dants at the 1964 Rivonia Trial. NLG-NYC, continued on page 5

4 • NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG SPRING 2014 GUILD IN ACTION continued from page 4 previously a college could have lost its entire in Detroit. The panel discussion covered BDS Victory in Albany! On February state funding for a year if they had used any the effect on civil, voting, pension, and 3 NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of their state funding on groups that sup- collective bargaining rights; constitutional was forced to withdraw a draconian bill port boycotts of Israel. In the new version, challenges to the Emergency Manager Act, that would have punished any state-funded the college would only lose the amount of and the battle in bankruptcy court. The college or university in NY that used money actually spent on such activities. event was a fundraiser for the NLG-affiliated any of its money on activities related to Sugar Law Center — the non-profit law groups that support boycotts of Israel. The On January 29, in a public comment pre- center in Detroit which is challenging the NLG-NYC is part of the Ad Hoc Group In pared by Nora Carroll and Mark Taylor, the Emergency Manager Act. Support of Academic Freedom and the First Mass Incarceration Committee urged the Amendment, which includes the Center NYS Board of Parole to amend its rules in On January 8 the chapter co-sponsored a for Constitutional Rights, the Professional order to end its practice of arbitrary, subjec- CLE program at the Southern District court Staff Congress (PSC - CUNY faculty union), tive parole denials, and to adopt a policy house: Stop, Frisk and Judicial Independence. Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews Say No, the based on forward-looking risk assessment and Panelists discussed the removal of Judge Shira American Studies Association, NYSUT (NY rehabilitation, rather than routinely empha- Scheindlin who had presided over the stop State United Teachers), AAUP, NY Civil sizing the applicant’s past criminal record. and frisk cases. Emily Jane Goodman was one Liberties Union, and many individuals. of the presenters. The event was co-sponsored The fight isn’t over though, because Silver On January 23 the Labor & Employment by the National Bar Association, the Federal quickly issued a revised version of his bill, Committee co-sponsored a CLE at CUNY Bar Association, and the Puerto Rican Bar with one difference from the earlier version: School of Law on the bankruptcy crisis Association.

Chapter Hosts Mandela’s Lawyer BY ANN SCHNEIDER Jeanne and Frank Mirer hosted a reception for the won- derful Joel Joffe and his spouse Vanetta on March 16th at their welcoming Brooklyn Heights home. Lord Joel Joffe and a team of attorneys represented Nelson Mandela and ten co-defendants at the 1964 Rivonia Trial. Joffe’s account in his book, “The State v. Nelson Mandela,” is the only com- plete historical account of the machinations of the apartheid regime during the trial, which included detention of witnesses until they testified “to the satisfaction of the state.” Born in South Africa, Joffe is a Labour peer in the UK House of Lords. He led Oxfam from 1995-2001 and received the Order of the British Empire in 1999 for his charitable works. Joffe’s moving tribute to Mandela at a 2013 memorial event is at http://globalsouthafricans.tumblr.com/ post/69902782642/joel-joffe-speech-delivered-at-the-nelson- mandela We learned that Joffe’s representation of the ANC defen- dants came at a great cost, effectively rendering his spouse and two small children stateless as South Africa revoked his pass- port and Australia, his intended relocation, refused him entry. Led by the soprano Vanetta Joffe, we sang the national anthem “God Bless Africa” (Nkosi Sikeleli, Afrika) in the Xhosa language. Fresh from campaigning for workers’ rights in Wisconsin, Merle Ratner and Jeanne taught us another song: “We thought voting used to be a right. They want to take it away but not without a fight!” The event was co-sponsored by the Guild chapter, the local chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, IADL and the Guild’s International Committee. The sale of books garnered a small profit for the organizations, as food and wine were donated by Madiba Restaurant in Brooklyn. (Mr. Joffe’s royalties go the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund). Ann Schneider and Lord Joel Joffe

SPRING 2014 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG • 5 MEMBER NEWS

Marina Sitrin, a former member of the NLG’s national office staff, will be a featured Attorney Bob Boyle speaker at the opening plenary of the 2014 (center) with political prisoner Eddie Conway Left Forum at John Jay College on May (right) who is free after 30. A CUNY Law grad, she was one of the 44 years. legal coordinators designated by the General Assembly of , and has been active in Occupy movements worldwide. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at the City University of New York.

Occupy activist Cecily McMillan is facing seven years in jail for allegedly assaulting a police officer in Zuccotti Park on March 17, 2012. According to her attorney Martin Stolar, “She was leaving the park pursuant to the extremely serious privacy concerns. Paul lion amphitheater project. The suit claims police department’s orders when she was bru- Mills is representing the defendants pro bono, that the project violates municipal require- tally assaulted by a police officer.” McMillan, and they would greatly appreciate donations ments for sewer capacity, and the city should 25, insists that she did not know that her assail- to pay for filing fees and transcript costs to get therefore not have evicted the People’s ant was a police officer, and swung her arm at them to the federal court of appeals. You can Playground planters from their 17-year-old him only after he grabbed her breast from contribute at http://igg.me/p/lebowitz-and- garden. Joel, who is the director of the Urban behind. McMillan, whose trial began on April keegan-v-city-of-new-york/x/6701228. Justice Center’s Environmental Law and 7, was known in the OWS movement and in Justice Project and co-chair of the NLG’s other activist circles as a profound believer in Acting Supreme Court Justice Andrea Environmental Justice Committee, said “The non-violent political action. The police officer Masley has been appointed as an Article 81 city did not follow its own regulations. You’re involved has been subject to inquiries by the judge in NY County. “I encourage Guild going to have thousands of people coming to NYPD’s internal affairs bureau at least twice, members and others to contact me in writing a concert, and the sewers in Coney West can- and received a “command discipline” in 2010. with resumes if they are available for assign- not take that.” Watch Marty discuss the case here: http:// ment as guardians, evaluators, or attorneys www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M53ukskDoc& for alleged incapacitated persons (AIP). I Political prisoner Marshall “Eddie” feature=youtu.be encourage Guild members to take these very Conway was released from a Maryland prison important cases helping the most vulner- on March 4 after 44 years behind bars. Based On March 17 the NYC Fire Department able in our community.” Visit the OCA web on a showing that Conway’s conviction was finally agreed to settle a seven year-old lawsuit site for the steps necessary to qualify http:// based on unconstitutional jury instructions, charging the FDNY with racially discrimi- www.nycourts.gov/ip/gfs/. Justice Masley also Bob Boyle, Conway’s attorney for more than natory hiring practices, primarily by using chaired the City Bar committee that drafted twenty years, was able to reach an agreement biased written exams. The settlement includes the March 2014 report on judicial screening with the state’s attorney for a resentence to approximately $100 million for lost wages panels: Judicial Selection Methods in the State time served. Mr. Conway, a COINTELPRO and seniority. The original suit was brought of New York: A Guide to Understanding and target and ex-Black Panther, was convicted of by the Justice Department in 2007, when the Getting Involved in the Selection Process killing a Baltimore police officer in 1970, but FDNY was roughly 90% white. (It is currently http://www2.nycbar.org/pdf/report/ he has always maintained his innocence. His 86% white, 9% Hispanic and 5% black.) uploads/20072672-GuidetoJudicialSelection- conviction was based largely on the testimony Richard Levy and 2014 Spring Fling honoree MethodsinNewYork.pdf. of a jailhouse informant. Politically active in Darius Charney of CCR represented the prison, Conway founded “Friend of a Friend”, FDNY’s Vulcan Society and three individual Bina Ahmad and Radhika Sainath were a group that helps young men, often gang African-American firefighter applicants. speakers at a panel discussion: Challenging members, resolve conflicts, and published a Apartheid and Repression from the US to memoir Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a When the Zuccotti Park barricades came Palestine on March 5 at CUNY School of Law. Baltimore Black Panther. Eddie Conway and down in January 2012, the OWS community The event, sponsored by NYC-area Palestine Bob discussed the case on Democracy Now: joyously streamed in to celebrate and recon- solidarity groups and CUNY Law Students http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/5/ nect with each other. Shortly thereafter, Claire for Justice in Palestine, was part of the 10th exclusive_freed_ex_black_panther_marshall Lebowitz and Keegan Stephan were arrested annual Israeli Apartheid Week. for lying down on a bench and were charged Steven Banks, attorney-in-chief of the with trespass, resisting arrest and obstructing On March 5 on the steps of City Hall, Joel New York City Legal Aid Society, was named government administration. Lebowitz sub- Kupferman and the New York Community commissioner of the city’s Human Resources sequently spent 36 hours in jail for refusing Gardens Coalition announced a lawsuit Administration by Mayor Bill de Blasio on to submit to an iris scan. The collection of against the city on behalf of Coney Island’s February 28. Banks said one of his aims at biometric data on any person arrested for Boardwalk Garden, which was bulldozed HRA will be to make sure the agency treats any reason with no public oversight raises last December to make way for a $53-mil- continued on page 7

6 • NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG SPRING 2014 MEMBER NEWS continued from page 6 A Valentine’s Day evening of clients with dignity. “We’ve got to look at Homecoming, Love, Liberation, Song & each policy and procedure to see whether or Celebration was held at St. Peter’s Church not people are treated fairly,” Banks said. “The as an urgent fundraiser for the medical needs word ‘human’ is in the title of the agency, the of recently released people’s lawyer Lynne Human Resources Administration. We have Stewart. “Because of a determined people’s to make sure that people are treated as human movement, Lynne is finally home with her beings.” Mayor de Blasio said he has long family. But she has urgent medical needs and watched Banks, who has been with LAS for 31 costs. Lynne’s cancer has spread. Now 74, she years, “fighting for what he believes is right”. has lost weight and has trouble breathing. Lynne will soon begin treatment requiring her The NYS Unified Court System held its to pay deductibles and co-payments. To boost 24th Annual Black History Month program the odds, she’ll use a special diet, vitamins, and reception on February 27 in the rotunda and other healing methods - some costly and of the Supreme Court on Centre Street. Court none covered by insurance. Lynne’s spirit is of Appeals Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was indomitable - help her fight to survive! Lynne the honoree. has always come to the aid of those who needed her. Now it’s our turn to stand by Taylor Pendergrass, former NLG SW Lynne.” Support Lynne at LynneStewart.org. Region RVP, was NYCLU lead counsel in a major case against the NYS Department of New York is one of only two states that Corrections and Community Supervision. A treat incarcerated 16-year-olds as adults. settlement was announced on February 19 More than 500 such teens are housed in a to reform the way that solitary confinement facility on Rikers Island. A quarter of these is used in New York State’s prisons, with 16- to 18-year-olds have been placed in soli- Ellen Yaroshefsky the state taking immediate steps to remove tary confinement for “acting out”. Statistics youth, pregnant inmates and developmen- show that this isolation causes emotional, Interreligious Foundation for Community tally disabled and intellectually challenged mental and physical harm that increases their Organization (IFCO), arising from its prisoners from extreme isolation. chances of committing more crimes once delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestine, released, according to a report released by Cuba, New Orleans, Latin America, and the Ellen Yaroshefsky, director of Cardozo Law Caribbean. http://archive.wbai.org/show1. School’s Youth Justice Clinic on February 13. php?showid=thurs8pm9pm (at 9:20) JUDAH ROBERT WRIGHT MOISAN “We are not only setting them on a course for failure instead of addressing the under- Jerry Koch is a 24-year-old anarchist and lying problems, but also are spending a lot environmental activist one semester short of of money in the process of doing harm,” graduation from the New School. He worked The report recommends that the City should tirelessly to provide jail support for OWS move teens from jail cells into small dormito- arrestees. On January 28, after 241 days in ries that offer therapy and rehabilitation. Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correction Center without being charged with a crime, he was On February 3 CCR attorney Rachel released on the grounds that the government Meeropol appeared before the First Circuit would not be able to coerce him into cooper- Court of Appeals in , asking it to strike ating with a federal grand jury investigating a down the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act bombing, even after the prosecution gave him (AETA) as a violation of the First Amendment. immunity. Prosecutors had alleged that Koch AETA, passed in 2006 by the fur, pharma- was present at a bar when two other patrons ceutical, and meat industries, criminalizes a may have discussed a bomb plot. Koch: “I broad range of free speech activities and has again assert that I have no knowledge of who cast a chill over the animal rights community. is responsible for the Times Square Military Later that evening at Suffolk University Law Recruitment Center bombing, and I will once School, Rachel and Lauren Gazzola partici- again refuse to testify to the federal grand pated in a panel discussion From Terrorism to jury in ethical resistance to participation in Activism: Moving from the Green Scare to a fruitless exercise of fear-mongering and Congratulations to Jane Moisan and Animal Rights, sponsored by CCR and the government intimidation. When I was first Garrett Wright on the birth of NLG Animal Rights Committee. subpoenaed to the grand jury in 2009 I had Judah Robert Wright Moisan no recollection of any such incident — a fact born February 8, 2014 • 1:06 pm Former chapter president Martin Stolar that I expressed publicly. I still do not recall Weight 7 pounds 6 oz appeared on WBAI/Pacifica’sCuba in Focus the alleged situation. My politics, principles height 21 inches on January 30 to discuss the IRS attack on and ethics stand in direct opposition with Pastors for Peace, a special ministry of the continued on page 8

SPRING 2014 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG • 7 MEMBER NEWS continued from page 7 at a special breakfast meeting of the NoSpray sible? What can we do to protect ourselves?” this legal tool that is used to further enable Coalition (www.NoSpray.org), which seeks the government in its assault on anarchists, to stop the city’s mass use of toxic pes- The World Trade Center Neighborhood and I will not lend it any legitimacy, nor will ticides. The NYC Department of Health Alliance (WTCNA), a coalition of Lower I comply in any way.” Moira Meltzer-Cohen, and Mental Hygiene continues to apply for Manhattan residents who live next to the Susan Tipograph, Grainne O’Neill and and grant itself waivers from Local Law 37, re-developed site of the 9-11 terrorist attack, David Rankin were Mr. Koch’s lawyers. enabling it to conduct pesticide-spraying appeared in NY Supreme Court on January each year, including glyphosate (Monsanto’s 9 to argue that the NYPD’s security plan- On January 19 Ann Schneider hosted a “Roundup”) on public properties, including ning has been “arbitrary and capricious”. guided tour for Guild members of the Squats sidewalks near public schools. The waivers, The City intends to close streets, including and Gardens on the Lower East Side, spon- which are approved by the same officials Greenwich Street, install bollards, walls, sored by the Museum of Reclaimed Urban who file the applications for them, violate and guard houses to surround the site, Space (MORUS, aka the Squat museum). the stipulation of settlement of a 2007 law- which will turn the complex into “an armed MORUS, at 155 Avenue C, aka C Squat, runs suit between the city and the coalition. camp”, according to Danny Alterman who neighborhood tours highlighting the efforts of represents the WTCNA. “The City’s has local residents and organizations to clean up On January 9 Heidi Boghosian, execu- characterized the Alliance as ‘misguided vacant lots and fix up abandoned buildings tive director of the National Lawyers Guild, armchair quarterbacks’, but these are people for community use, and promotes scholar- appeared at the Mid-Manhattan Library to who know first-hand about the destruc- ship of grassroots urban space activism. promote her book Spying on Democracy. tion that terrorism can cause, so they take “How did we get to this truly Orwellian security very seriously. But they also value On January 18 at the Sixth Street moment? What role do corporations play in quality of life, and fear that this is what will Community Center, Joel Kupferman spoke making this eavesdropping and spying pos- be destroyed by this plan.”

Spring has sprung!

Grow the chapter. Pay your dues! As a membership organization, we rely on the support of our members to carry on our work.

You can now pay your dues or make a contribution online by going to www.nlgnyc.org

8 • NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG SPRING 2014 From the Archives... RIGHT: CIRCA 1981, ON THE OCCASION OF RALPH SHAPIRO’S HONOR AT OUR ANNUAL DINNER.

On January 9, 2014 we lost long standing Guild member and former chapter president Ralph Shapiro. Ralph was 97. Ralph stayed active in the chapter until shortly before his passing. For those who were not fortunate enough to know him, we have reprinted an article from the chapter’s newspaper that details some of the highlights of his courageous life. He will be greatly missed. Ralph Shapiro November 10, 1916 – January 9, 2014

BY BONNIE BROWER “Like the Catholic Church, the strength Protocols of the Elders of Zion may have been of the Lawyers Guild is its ability to change foolhardy, but it was pivotal to my political with the times.” In a characteristically droll development.” Not surprisingly, upon his and low-key fashion, so opined twice former return to New York, uncertain whether the NYC Chapter President and former National practice of law was relevant or meaningful, Treasurer, Ralph Shapiro recently. One might Ralph spent 1941-1942 involved in full time add that, in the same principled fashion (as political activities. the Guild, at least), this ability to change with the times accounts for much of Ralph’s Married to his first wife and longtime strength and longevity, too. political partner, Blanche, in 1942 on the anni- versary of the Russian Revolution, Ralph was Both in our Chapter and in the Guild drafted into the Army in November of that nationally, Ralph represents what can be year, and was initially stationed in Northern Former president Ralph Shapiro speaking at the described as a missing link in a large and Michigan to guard the locks of the lake from Annual Dinner circa 1981. long generation gap that was occasioned by attack by the Japanese. After a brief spell in the Cold War and McCarthyism. Ralph’s Officers’ Candidate School, he found his “inor- Returning to New York, Ralph was active path to becoming almost the sole surviving dinate rise blunted by counter-Intelligence” in the American Labor Party and other orga- representative of that generation in NYC still when he was suddenly and unceremoniously nizations. He joined the Guild in 1948 or active in the Guild began in the Boro Park assigned to the infantry and shipped to the 1949. After a short spell doing “uninteresting section of Brooklyn where he was raised. He European Theatre of World War II in 1945. law,” he joined the labor firm of Witt and graduated from CCNY Uptown in 1937 and Because security investigations in the armed Cammer, which represented almost every attended and graduated from the University services had begun on a wide scale, Ralph at progressive CIO union in New York at the of Michigan Law School in 1941. the time “suspected that someone wanted time and whose partners were active in the to get me”, but it was not until recently, Guild. The firm, which in time was renamed It was during his law school year in when he obtained files under the Freedom Cammer and Shapiro, had an active labor Michigan that Ralph’s political conscious- of Information Act, that he learned the truth practice. At an early date, it also became ness and commitments were awakened and of the adage that “even paranoids have real involved in the first Smith Act trials and forged by the historical confluence of the fears.” A young fellow officer had informed on represented many persons called before con- and the organizing bat- him, resulting in his being shipped overseas, gressional witch-hunting committees. Ralph tles of the CIO. As Ralph put it, “Walking where he saw action in France, Luxembourg himself was called and refused to testify before around Michigan wearing a Spanish Loyalist and Germany. He was wounded and is “still several committees, with Joe Forer represent- Button in the middle of Father Coughlan’s the recipient of a pension from a grateful gov- ing him. Black Legion and supporters of Henry Ford’s ernment” that discharged him in March, 1946. continued on page 10

SPRING 2014 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG • 9 From the Archives: Ralph Shapiro continued from page 9

THE MCCARTHY PERIOD Guild membership began growing for the more extravagant members of the generation first time in almost two decades, as more and gap (of whom I was, as I recall, too frequently These years were brutal for all leftists and more political activists turned to law as an one); at the same time, he continued to grow progressives, regardless of their profession instrument for social change. and express his thoughts on the issues regard- or field of work. Fear infected old friends less of which side he might momentarily and clients and the need to present a “clean” THE GUILD’S RENEWAL offend. Yet however hot the debate or unruly (read “apolitical”) image informed the deci- the participants, Ralph’s unfaltering respect sions of many individuals and organizations With the influx of these new, younger law- for individuals made him heard, if not always as to where they should turn for necessary yers beginning around 1968 the Guild as an heeded, by all sides. services. As a result of the atmosphere of organization underwent a period of intense terror and hysteria, Ralph recalls that his law and sustained internal strain and turmoil Whatever his substantive position, Ralph’s firm lost most of its union clients “almost in around a series of issues that encompassed role went far beyond that of issue advocate. one day.” “We were”, he added, “murdered style and substance, philosophy and practice, He pressed the newer, younger members to by the Cold War.” Survival meant entering rhetoric and action. A new “generation gap” analyze forms or organization and leadership other fields of law, and, as new legal work or chasm, to be more accurate, grew, this in terms of substance, style and direction; at was found by the firm, old and new political one truly reflecting, on the whole, the differ- the same time, he challenged older members battles were fought. In 1953, as the ALP’s ing generations involved. With what must to examine and question their own behav- fortunes were declining, the Guild began have seemed like frightening regularity and ior, attitudes and substantive positions in its lengthy but ultimately successful battle frequency, the younger members bombarded the light of current realities. His positions against being named as a subversive organi- the Guild with a series of organizational and and role were always informed, above all, zation on Attorney General’s infamous list. political issues and insisted upon their resolu- by his assessment of what was healthiest While recognizing that the battle was almost tion: the admission in the Guild and role of and best for the Guild, how it could grow, “totally defensive”, Ralph threw much of his law students, legal workers and jailhouse law- function and remain relevant and involved. energy into the Guild’s struggle to survive. yers in the Guild; the nature of the Guild–bar That assessment often changed, as did the The cost of the struggle was immense: a association versus “legal arm (and therefore issues. It was this trait that enabled Ralph to whole generation was literally terrified of part) of the movement”; the proper role of remain valued and respected by almost all the coming near the organization. From the “movement” and “people’s” lawyers and legal members of the organization. Memory often late ‘40’s until the early ‘60’s, few lawyers workers and their relationship to “the move- plays interesting tricks–because of Ralph’s of Ralph’s age or younger joined the Guild. ment” and “the people”; the role of Third unquestionably constructive role through- During the infamous ‘50’s, the Guild “just World people and women and the issues of out many of these struggles, I mistakenly existed. People found strength in each other racism, sexism, elitism inside and outside recalled that he had supported certain issues to continue their fights”, and represented of the Gui1d–how to address and defeat long ago, which, in fact, as he reminded me each other, as well as other clients, dur- these “isms” and how to develop collective recently, he had opposed at the time. His style ing the continuing committee hearings and attitudes and life and work styles; how to deal and approach–reasoned, open, respectful and trials that sought–and succeeded–in silenc- with sectarianism and factionalism within the unbelligerent–made it impossible to identify ing dissent and blunting the movements organization—and on. Each issue created Ralph as an “enemy” regardless of his posi- for peace and disarmament, workers’ and new schisms and freshened old wounds; most tion or to emerge from a heated political or minorities’ rights, and social and economic also moved the organization forward and kept organizational debate with him angry at or justice. it alive and growing. hostile to him.

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Ralph, who was President of the City Ralph, like the Guild, is a survivor. He Chapter just before the 1968 Columbia strike, and his family surmounted the terrible loss With the advent of the ‘60’s, however, the birth of the Mass Defense office and the of Blanche, his personal and political partner; and the slow incapacitation of the congres- Ocean Hill-Brownsville struggle for commu- he has a loving relationship with his wife, sional subversive committees and the AG’s nity control of schools in 1968, and just after Barbara, and with it has acquired a new, list, and the birth of the Southern civil rights the City Chapter’s dubious experiment with extended family. Ralph continues to practice movement, the mood of the country and the the collective leadership of the “Core Group” law and continues being active politically, Guild began to change. With strong leader- (fondly called the “corpse group” by some of both inside and outside of the Guild. ship and pressure from the Detroit chapter, the core) was one of the few “older” members the Guild went South and opened the first of the City Chapter who, from the begin- Over these decades of political and legal civil rights law office there. With several other ning of the influx of new, younger members, struggles, Ralph has continued to grow and NY Chapter lawyers, Ralph went South in believed and practiced his belief that this change. It is, to me at least, impossible to 1964 and “had the distinction of being barred infusion of youth and energy was essential to imagine Ralph ever growing old, ever stop- from the practice of law in Mississippi.” With the Guild’s continued growth and relevance. ping growing and changing. The Guild–and increased national activities for civil rights His style and demeanor frequently made him we as individuals–can learn much and well and against the Vietnam war and the draft, a natural buffer and mediator between the from Ralph’s example.

10 • NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-NYC NEWS • WWW.NLGNYC.ORG SPRING 2014 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD – NYC CHAPTER 113 University Place, 8th floor New York, NY 10003 phone 212-679-6018 fax 212-679-6178 email: [email protected]