A Convocation
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JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK STATE JUDICIAL INSTITUTE ON PROFESSIONALISM IN THE LAW A CONVOCATION FROM LAW SCHOOL TO PRACTICE: INSTILLING SKILLS, COMPETENCIES AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES A DIALOGUE WITH THE ACADEMY, BENCH AND BAR WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK APRIL 1, 2019 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Volume 6 Spring 2019 Number 7 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK STATE JUDICIAL INSTITUTE ON PROFESSIONALISM IN THE LAW VOLUME 6, NUMBER 7 SPRING 2019 ©2019 New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law 25 Beaver Street, New York, New York 10004 Internet Address: <http://www.courts.state.ny.us/jipl/> Cite the Journal of the New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law as: J.N.Y.S. JUD. INST. PROF. LAW JUDGES OF THE NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS HON. JANET DIFIORE, CHIEF JUDGE HON. JENNY RIVERA HON. ROWAN D. WILSON HON. EUGENE M. FAHEY HON. LESLIE STEIN HON. MICHAEL GARCIA HON. PAUL G. FEINMAN New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law PAUL C. SAUNDERS, CHAIR CRAVATH, SWAINE & MOORE LLP (RET.) DISTINGUISHED VISITOR FROM PRACTICE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER CATHERINE O’HAGAN WOLFE, VICE CHAIR CLERK OF COURT, US COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT LOUIS A. CRACO, CHAIR EMERITUS CRACO & ELLSWORTH (OF COUNSEL) WILLKIE FARR & GALLAGHER, LLP (RET.) PAST PRESIDENT, NEW YORK CITY BAR CRAIG M. BOISE DEAN, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW MICHAEL A. CARDOZO PROSKAUER ROSE LLP FORMER CORPORATION COUNSEL, CITY OF NEW YORK CHRISTOPHER E. CHANG LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER E. CHANG FORMER MEMBER, GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE, FIRST DEPARTMENT HON. CARMEN BEAUCHAMP CIPARICK, MEMBER EMERITUS GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP ASSOCIATE JUDGE, NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS (RET.) MATTHEW DILLER DEAN, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW FLOR M. COLON OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL, XEROX CORP. HON. RANDALL T. ENG MEYER, SUOZZI, ENGLISH & KLEIN LLP PRESIDING JUSTICE, APPELLATE DIVISION, SECOND DEPARTMENT (RET.) SOPHIA J. GIANACOPLOS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK COUNTY LAWYERS’ ASSOCIATION HENRY M. GREENBERG GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP PRESIDENT, NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION JOHN H. GROSS INGERMAN SMITH, LLP PAST PRESIDENT, NEW YORK STATE BAR FOUNDATION HON. PRISCILLA HALL ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, APPELLATE DIVISION, SECOND DEPARTMENT (RET.) ARTHUR J. KREMER RUSKIN MOSCOU FALTICHEK P.C. FORMER MEMBER, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY CHAIR, COUNCIL OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITIES GOVERNING BOARD HON. RACHEL KRETSER ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, ALBANY LAW SCHOOL ALBANY CITY COURT (RET.) M. CATHERINE RICHARDSON BOND, SCHOENECK & KING, PLLC (RET.) PAST PRESIDENT, NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION HON. JENNY RIVERA ASSOCIATE JUDGE, NEW YORK STATE COURT OF APPEALS SETH ROSNER FORMER CHAIR, ABA STANDING COMMITTEE ON LAWYER COMPETENCE FORMER CHAIR, ABA STANDING COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONALISM ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, NYU SCHOOL OF LAW (1961-1989) HON, TERRY JANE RUDERMAN JUSTICE, NY SUPREME COURT, NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT MARC WALDAUER COURT ATTORNEY, SYRACUSE CITY COURT STEPHEN A. WEINER SENIOR COUNSEL, PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW JAMES M. WICKS FARRELL FRITZ P. C. ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, ST. JOHN’S LAW SCHOOL G. ROBERT WITMER, JR. SENIOR COUNSEL, NIXON PEABODY LLP PAS PRESIDENT, NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION * * * LAUREN KANFER, COUNSEL OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION STATE OF NEW YORK JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK STATE JUDICIAL INSTITUTE ON PROFESSIONALISM IN THE LAW Volume 6, No. 7 Spring 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS Opening Remarks ......................................................................................................... 1 Plenary I Session ......................................................................................................... 31 Luncheon Discussion ................................................................................................. 59 Introduction to Plenary II Session: A Dean’s Perspective .................................. 71 Plenary II Session: Where Do We Go From Here? ............................................. 75 Closing Remarks ......................................................................................................... 96 2019 1 A CONVOCATION FROM LAW SCHOOL TO PRACTICE: INSTILLING SKILLS, COMPETENCIES AND PROFESSIONAL VALUES A DIALOGUE WITH THE ACADEMY, BENCH AND BAR OPENING REMARKS PAUL C. SAUNDERS RETIRED PARTNER, CRAVATH, SWAINE & MOORE LLP; CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE JUDICIAL INSTITUTE ON PROFESSIONALISM IN THE LAW: Good morning. My name is Paul Saunders and I’m the Chair of the New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law and we are the sponsor of today’s convocation program. I would like to welcome all of you to this magnificent facility which I refer to as the other Judicial Institute, the one that has a building, which we don’t have and I want to thank you all for coming to today’s convocation on a topic that we think is very important and deserves some robust discussion and debate. Let me just say a word, a very brief word about our Judicial Institute and John Gross, who is going to speak to you in a few minutes, will give you a little bit more details about the work that our Judicial Institute has been engaged in over the past few years. This is our 20th anniversary as a Judicial Institute. We were created by Chief Judge Kaye for the purpose of examining the legal profession, keeping an eye on it while trying to understand how the legal profession was being perceived by the population in general and relevant to today’s meeting to promote a discussion and dialogue between the judiciary, the academy and the practicing bar. That’s something that we have tried to do throughout our entire existence as a Judicial Institute. We are especially pleased to have with us today for the first time we think in our history all of the judges of the New York State Court of Appeals and our great thanks go to Chief Judge DeFiore and her colleagues for attending today’s meeting. This convocation has been in the works for about a year and-a-half. Some of you have participated in some of our focus groups and working sessions as far back as a year ago last October, so this is a topic that we’ve been thinking about for a long time. 2 NYS JUDICIAL INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONALISM IN THE LAW [Vol. 6:7] The principal subject of today’s convocation is the implementation of the new York State Court of Appeals rules for admission to the bar. I’m not talking specifically about the new bar exam, although that topic may come up, but I’m talking rather about the requirement that applicants for admission to the bar be able to demonstrate that they have received the necessary instruction in skills that are essential for practicing lawyers and also professional values. We are delighted that Judge Rivera, as a member of our Judicial Institute, is here. You’re going to hear from her in a few minutes. She was one of the principal architects of the new rule and the task force that led to the new rule and was under her direction. Our perception, again, leading to this convocation is that there hasn’t really been a good forum in New York State for a discussion of exactly how these new rules were intended to work and how they were working. Our perception was that the law schools weren’t really talking to each other as much as we thought they could or should. And it’s also our perception that the rules were deliberately written in a way to permit the law schools to experiment so that the idea of how you inculcate professional skills and values could be something that would grow from the ground up, that the schools, themselves, would decide for themselves how they wished to do that and I think that that actually has happened and one of the things that we are going to talk about today is exactly how the law schools have gone about trying to inculcate professional skills and values. And my perception, and this is just my perception, certainly not Judge Rivera’s or the other members of the Court of Appeals, but my perception is that these rules are a work in progress and I think that, at least I hope, that the discussion and debate that we are going to have today will help those who are charged with writing the rules and interpreting the rules to bring them to the next step. This is, in part, what I refer to as “MacCrate redux”. In 1992, the MacCrate report was written for the American Bar Association and was one of the very first efforts to bridge the gap between the academy and the practicing bar. The MacCrate report listed certain skills that were perceived to be essential for practicing lawyers and articulated professional values that those of us who are members of the legal profession ought to embrace and adopt. Unfortunately, the discussion of the MacCrate report of professional values was not as robust as I thought it should be and so if you look at the back page of your program, you will see that we in the Judicial Institute have tried to articulate our own description of the professional values that we think ought to obtain in the legal profession. That statement is not meant to be final in any sense, rather it’s meant to promote and encourage discussion and dialogue about exactly what these professional values are that we are asking the academy to inculcate in their graduates. So please let us have your comments on that statement of professional values either today or in the days ahead. 2019 OPENING REMARKS 3 Let me say just a word about how we propose to proceed today. First of all, these proceedings are being transcribed and in due course we will follow our normal practice of distributing as far and as wide as we can the proceedings of today’s convocation. In fairness, we will give those who are speaking today an opportunity to edit their comments, unlike the kind of work the court reporters normally engage in, but we’ve learned that if we make those opportunities available it’s better for everybody.