The Bay Ridge Lawyers return to Atlantic City for continuing legal education

March 29, 2023 Robert Abruzzese

The Bay Ridge Lawyers Association held its annual Spring Seminar at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City last Thursday and Friday. Pictured here from left to right are Christopher Caputo, President Dominic Famulari, Joseph Rosato, Dr. Charles DeMarco, Hon. Catherine DiDomenico, and Stephen Chiaino. Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese.

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BROOKLYN — The Bay Ridge Lawyers Association returned to Atlantic City on Thursday and Friday, March 24 and 25, for its previously annual Spring Seminar, which hadn’t been held in person since 2019 due to COVID.

The two-day event featured distinguished legal community members presenting continuing legal education (CLE) lectures, including Joseph Rosato, president-elect of the Brooklyn Bar Association, Hon. Catherine DiDomenico, Dr. Charles DeMarco, Bruno Codispoti, Eric DiNapoli, and Antonio Vozza.

From left: Stephen Chiaino, Bruno Codispoti, and President Dominic Famulari. Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese.

“The speakers at this year‘s event were fantastic – we had Antonio Vozza speak on Cybersecurity which is a new mandatory requirement, Eric DiNapoli on pension plan administration which as a firm owner or as an employee is quite topical, Joseph Rosato, Judge Catherine DiDomenico, and Dr. Charles DeMarco on evaluation of high end cases and the medical aspects of negligence cases,” said BRLA President Dominic Famulari.

“Their interplay and dynamic was outstanding as Joe Rosato kept things moving so well that the two hours flew by,” Famulari continued. “And our cleanup batter was the always dynamic and energetic Bruno Codispoti who spoke about technological competence which is critical for attorneys to be mindful of. All of the lectures were interesting, informative, and most importantly, lively. A lot of different areas of law were covered and I think everybody came away happy.”

From left: Stephen Chiaino, Eric DiNapoli and Sean Quigley from Morgan Stanley, and President Dominic Famulari. Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese.

The Spring Seminar allowed attorneys to earn five CLE credits at one event, helping them maintain their active lawyer status in New York. CLE programs helped lawyers stay current with changing laws and regulations, expand their knowledge and improve their professional competency.

“The Atlantic City seminar helps you get a good jump on the 24 credit hours that you need every two years to keep up with the CLE requirements,” Famulari said. “When we have the Atlantic City seminar, we always try to have some combination of ethics, diversity, and/or the new requirement of cyber security, which we had at this event. These ‘specialty credits’ are not always easy to come by.

Antonio Vozza, vice president, North Atlantic Regional Counsel at First American Title, gave a presentation titled, “Cyber Security: Survival of the Securest.” Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese.

The event also provided networking opportunities for lawyers through dinner events, enabling them to connect with other professionals, potential clients, mentors and employers, and stay updated on their area of law. Most importantly, these annual events help the attorneys connect as friends so that they have someone they can turn to for advice when they run into unfamiliar legal issues.

From left: Gregory LaSpina, Hon. Frank Seddio, and Joe Rosato, president-elect of the Brooklyn Bar Association. Eagle file photo by Mario Belluomo.

“Another great element of the seminar is it permits you to have lengthy opportunities to talk with and get to know your colleagues which is always helpful when you have professional dealings with them later on,” Famulari said. “Many of our members have developed great friendships from attendance at these events.”

Famulari went out of his way to give a lot of the credit for the event to a pair of past presidents who helped to organize it — Mary Ann Stathopolous and Stephan Chiaino.

“It’s very important that we acknowledge the hard work and diligent efforts of Stephen Chiaino and Mary Ann Stathopolous,” Famulari said. “Being more involved with this event over the last couple of years has given me deep insight into how much work Stephen and Mary Ann put into this event to make it run so flawlessly. This year we had the added element of having our dinner at a different venue, Carmine’s Restaurant, and it was a grand slam home run.”