Brooklyn’s Housing Court Bar Association gets down to business at lunch

June 3, 2016 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

President Michael Rosenthal and the Kings County Housing Court Bar Association hosted Judge Kimberly Slade for a lecture this past Thursday. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese

Share this:

The Kings County Housing Court Bar Association (KCHCBA) hosted Judge Kimberly Slade for a lecture during its monthly meeting at Rocco’s Tacos in Downtown Brooklyn on Thursday. The group also held its annual elections during its final meeting before taking a break for the summer.

“We usually have a different Housing Court judge come to speak with us at our meetings each month, and this time we are lucky to have Judge Slade,” said KCHCBA President Michael Rosenthal. “She’ll be speaking about monetary relief when possession is no longer an issue.”

These meetings are slightly more casual than other bar associations’ monthly meetings within the Brooklyn legal community and members don’t get Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits for attending the meetings. However, Rosenthal explained that the meetings are still valuable to members.

At each month’s meeting, the KCHCBA has a different judge speak. Rosenthal said that over a two-year period, the group’s members have the opportunity to meet nearly every Housing Court judge in Brooklyn. While they do not provide CLE credits, the judges’ speeches still offer valuable insights into changes in the law.

“We also update them on news in the courthouse that they need to know; on days when there won’t be judges around, we try to let them know,” Rosenthal explained. “We have a room in the courthouse where we store our things and hang out, and sometimes there are issues about that.

We try to be informative and useful to the members.”

The KCHCBA does do annual CLE meetings, but they are held in conjunction with the Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA) at the BBA’s Remsen Street location in Brooklyn Heights. The KCHCBA held a pair of CLEs at the BBA in September covering the “ABCs of Landlord Tenant Law” and another on more advanced topics in the law.

Rosenthal explained that the group is forced to rely on more informal lunchtime meetings as it has members not just from Brooklyn, but from all over the metro area, including Long Island and Westchester.

Since this was the final meeting before taking a break during the summer, the KCHCBA held its annual elections, at which President Rosenthal was re-elected for a 16th year. Charles Wasserman was elected vice president, Jeffrey Saltiel was elected the treasurer and Hal Rose and Bryant Tovar were picked to be co-secretaries.

KCHCBA meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at 1 p.m. at Rocco’s Tacos.