Kings County Criminal Bar installs Darran Winslow as president

The Kings County Criminal Bar Association has resumed in-person meetings just in time to install its new president, Darran Winslow, during a ceremony that took place at the Brooklyn Bar Association on Thursday night.

Winslow, who graduated from the Northern Kentucky University, Salmon P. Chase College of Law, will lead the bar association as a bit of an outsider since he is the first president not from New York City. Winslow is certainly familiar with the local legal community, though, since he moved to Brooklyn over a decade ago and maintains an office right on Court Street.

“How desperate must you be that you let the guy from Kentucky with a mohawk that he grew during the pandemic lead your organization?” Winslow joked. “Honestly, this is an incredibly humbling thing for me to be doing. There are a lot of people that I really look up to in my profession.”

Winslow was installed by Hon. Matthew D’Emic, the administrative judge of the Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term. He was joined by Paul Hirsch and Allana Alexander, who were chosen as the executive vice president and treasurer, respectively.

“I want to thank Chris Wright,” Winslow said of Christopher Wright, now the immediate past president. “His leadership is what got this organization through the pandemic. He’s a leader in our legal community and we thank him for all of that.”

The outgoing president Wright also had high praise for his replacement.

“Awesome guy, super personable, smart, great lawyer, awesome reputation and a beautiful head of hair,” Wright said. “It’s remarkable because I think he’s the first president of this organization who is not from NYC. He’s from Kentucky, which I believe is between New Hampshire and Vermont.”

Winslow, who is from Louisville, Kentucky, explained that he came to Brooklyn more than a decade ago after he met his wife Alexa, who works as an executive producer for NBC making crime documentaries. After he moved here, he began working at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in the “Blue Zone” and left to become an 18-B attorney before he finally started his own private practice as a criminal defense attorney.

Prior to moving to New York, Winslow clerked for Hon. William O. Bertelsman, a district court judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He also worked as an associate doing commercial litigation work for a firm in Cincinnati, Ohio.

After thanking many in the room who helped him to become president, but also for helping him as an attorney, Winslow talked about why it was important for him to run the KCCBA.

“What makes this organization matter, what gives it importance is that it brings us all together,” Winslow said. “It brings the different elements of this process together. It brings the judges together, the institutional defenders, the DA’s Office, the 18-B attorneys … All of those organizations are a part of this bar association and it’s that collegial environment that this organization provides that I think makes us stand out.

“I’ve been a member of a lot of bar associations, in Kentucky, in Ohio. I’ve practiced in state and federal courtrooms,” Winslow concluded. “In Brooklyn, there is a feeling of real quality to the people in the room.”

A Surrogate’s Court CLE

The Brooklyn Bar Association and sponsor Ronit Abraham at Compass Realty are hosting a continuing legal education seminar on Tuesday, March 15 at 1 p.m. titled, “Getting Rid of an Unwanted Fiduciary.”

The lecture will be given by Robert M. Harper, a returning lecturer for the BBA, who works at Farrell Fritz, P.C. Harper will examine the tension that can exist between estate and trust fiduciaries and the beneficiaries whose interests they serve.

Harper will explain how on one, hand fiduciaries owe duties to the beneficiaries, which can cause delays in cases, while they also wish to receive the assets held for their benefits as expeditiously as possible. This often leads beneficiaries to seek to remove the fiduciaries of estates and trusts.

Bankruptcy Court Events

The Brooklyn Bar has a series of upcoming events that attorneys who practice in the federal bankruptcy court aren’t going to want to miss.

On Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m., the BBA’s Foundation Law Committee, chaired by Fern Finkel, will host, “Consumer Debt and Bankruptcy: The Process, Defenses, and Options.” This event is free and open to the public, but is a great resource for attorneys looking to branch out and start taking bankruptcy and consumer debt cases. President-elect Richard Klass will be the presenter for that lecture.

Then on Tuesday, March 22 at 6 p.m., Rachel Blumenfeld and Gregory Messer will present, “Death and Inheritances in Bankruptcy Cases” which will be a one-and-a-half-hour CLE on how to plan for the unexpected in bankruptcy cases, like when a debtor dies before a bankruptcy filing.

Finally, the BBA will host a Virtual Sitdown with Bankruptcy Judge Hon. Elizabeth Stong on Wednesday, March 23 at 1 p.m. During that event, Judge Stong will explain the latest on what’s going on in her court, how it is coming out of the pandemic, and she will answer questions from members.

Robert Abruzzese is the former Legal Editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the current Director of Member Services at the Brooklyn Bar Association. Now as a legal columnist for the Eagle, Abruzzese writes about the BBA and the local legal community. For information about joining the Brooklyn Bar Association, you can reach him via email at [email protected].