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When do you need the Attorney General in a Surrogate’s Court Case?

November 19, 2021 Rob Abruzzese
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A lot of attention has been paid to the Surrogate’s Court since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and this is especially true in Brooklyn, a borough with a population of more than 2.5 million that was hit hard by the pandemic, and a housing market that is still strong.

With traffic in the courts picking back up, Surrogate’s Court practitioners are busier than ever. The Brooklyn Bar Association’s Trusts & Estates Section and Surrogate’s Court Committees have been hosting regular monthly meetings that have regularly attracted up to 100 members to attend to hear the latest.

For the most part, things are going smoothly, even as the court has been backed up. However, with the high demand for surrogate-court practitioners, the Brooklyn Bar Association wants to be sure that attorneys are ready to handle the case load so it has prepared a one-hour continuing legal education (CLE) lecture for its members.

On Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 1 p.m., the BBA is hosting Lisa Barbieri, an assistant attorney general from AG Letitia James‘ Office, who will lecture on the varying interests represented by the AG’s Office in Surrogate’s Court proceedings. Among these will include probate, accounting, kinship, withdrawal, cy pres, construction, and guardianship.

The lecture is titled, “The Role of the NYS Attorney General in Surrogate’s Court Proceedings: When and why do I need the AG?” and attorneys can register to attend on our website BrooklynBar.org

Barbieri, a Boston University School of Law graduate, joined the AG’s Office as an assistant in the Charities Bureau in April 2006. Prior to this appointment, she was a principal court attorney for the New York County Surrogate’s Court. Before working for the State of New York,  

Barbieri first worked in private practice, concentrating in the areas of tax law and estate planning, for five years. Then she joined Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP, where she worked for seven years, also concentrating on tax law and estate planning.

Kings County Criminal Bar Association President Christopher Wright, left, and Harvard Law Professor Ronald Sullivan. Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese

Meeting on Zoom, for now

This meeting will take place entirely on Zoom. However, the BBA is transitioning away from Zoom-only meetings and recently held its first successful hybrid continuing legal education course co-sponsored by the Kings County Criminal Bar Association and its President Christopher Wright.

About 15 members of the BBA and KCCBA attended the lecture, “Speedy Trial and Discovery After COVID,” in person with another approximately 70 members joining them via Zoom.

The first hybrid CLE didn’t start without sound issues, but they were cleared away quickly and approximately 85 of our members heard from Julie Schaul and Brian Chelcun, two staff attorneys from the Legal Aid Society, explain their experiences handling cases and working out discovery requests with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

The hybrid structure was popular with attendees, and the ability to attend face-to-face was a big success with members. During the meeting, a member of the Kings County District Attorney’s Office had a question for the speakers which started a discussion that continued after the event. The ability to continue that clearly led both the Legal Aid attorney and ADA to have a better understanding of the role of both and an example of the good face-to-face meetings can do.

Batson, implicit bias, and peremptory challenges

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, the BBA will again be entirely virtual for its CLE — Batson, Implicit Bias and Peremptory Challenges with Xavier Donaldson, of Donaldson & Chilliest LLP. While the association would like to offer as many hybrid CLEs as possible, doing them virtually offers flexibility to have more events and let more people attend.

A peremptory challenge is a tool used during jury selection that allows a lawyer to object to a proposed juror that is made without giving a reason. These challenges are not supposed to be used to discriminate based on color, race, or sex, however, in practice attorneys can often find ways around get the jurors they want on a case. A Batson challenge is a challenge made by one party against the other party’s use of the peremptory challenge to eliminate the potential juror.

Donaldson will discuss these jury selection tools and discuss how implicit bias plays a role in this practice. The idea behind the CLE is to prepare attorneys on how to handle jury selection and best practices to make sure that the jury box ends up looking like a good representation of the people of Brooklyn.

Fern Finkel, chair of the Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation Law Committee. Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese

A Virtual Sitdown with the Statewide Coordinating Judge for Matrimonial Cases

The BBA is also planning a virtual sitdown with Hon. Jeffrey Sunshine, who is the Statewide Coordinating Judge for Matrimonial Cases for NYS.

This event does not qualify for CLE credit, but a similar one the BBA held last year was extremely well received by members. With divorces up due to COVID, the matrimonial field has been as hectic as ever. On top of this, COVID caused a bit of a backlog that is still being felt and the association leaders felt it was appropriate to host another to ensure that attorneys understand the current demands of the court.

 

Hon. Jeffrey Sunshine, who is Statewide Coordinating Judge for Matrimonial Cases for NYS. Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese

NYC Human Rights Law: A look at protections at work, home and in public

One of the final events the BBA has on its schedule for 2021 is one for the public — New York City Human Rights Law Title 8: How Am I Protected at Work, at Home, and in Public?

This discussion will take place virtually on Tuesday, December 14 at 6 PM and will be hosted by Fern Finkel, chair of the Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation Law Committee, and will feature Anthony Vaughn, Jr., the BBA’s Second Vice President.

The Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation regularly hosts events similar to this for the public where attorneys are brought in to inform the community on its rights. 

This virtual presentation will go over Title 8 of the Administrative Code of the NYC Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

Holiday Party Open House

Please remember that the Brooklyn Bar Association is hosting a Holiday Party Open House in person at the BBA building in Brooklyn Heights on Thursday, Dec. 16 from 4 until 8:30 p.m.

The BBA is trying to keep the building from being too crowded at one time so this party will feature events happening at 4 p.m. as well as 7 p.m. and it will last until 8:30 p.m. It is rumored that Hon. Lawrence Knipel, administrative judge of the Kings County Supreme Court, Civil Term, will be playing guitar during the party.

It is the BBA’s first holiday party in more than 50 years. Typically, the association hosts an annual dinner every December instead, however, due to COVID this year’s dinner has been delayed until March. The annual dinner is a tradition going back to 1972 and this is just the second time since then that the BBA isn’t having one. Still its members wanted to get together and celebrate the holidays together.

If you would like to attend the BBA’s Holiday Party, or any of its events, you can register on the website BrooklynBar.org. The Holiday Party is free to attend, but guests are asked to bring a toy donation for Toys for Tots, a used suit to donate to the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, or to donate a small amount to the BBA Foundation.

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].

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