Amici Podcast

In this special edition of “Amici: News and Insights from the New York Courts,” Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson turns the microphone toward someone who has spent decades shining a light on others: longtime “Amici” host and UCS veteran John Caher. As John embarked upon retirement last Spring, he reflected on his extraordinary career spanning 30 years in journalism and another decade in the Unified Cour...

In this episode of Amici: News and Insights from the New York Courts, we meet an inspiring pair of women who made NYS Court System history: Court Officers Rebecca and Jolyn Dingman, the first mother–daughter duo to graduate side by side from the New York State Court Officers Academy. A generation apart but united by service, pride, and deep family bonds, Rebecca and Jolyn completed their training...

In this special Black History Month edition of Amici: News and Insights from the New York Courts, we shine a light on one of the most extraordinary and often overlooked stories in American legal history. It begins in Ulster County, New York, where a newly freed Black woman discovers that her young son has been illegally sold to a plantation in Alabama. Determined to bring her son home and seek jus...

In the latest Diversity Dialogue podcast, Mindy Jeng, Executive Director of Pro Bono Services and Special Counsel to Justin Barry, Executive Director of the Court System, discusses her family’s roots in China and Taiwan and the importance of diversity in the Court System. “… It's when we get to know different people with different backgrounds and experiences that we will have a better understandin...

The latest Amici podcast tells the unlikely and inspiring story of a 16-year-old girl who was suddenly rendered quadriplegic yet, without the use of arms or legs, grew up to be a Family Court Judge in Erie County— the Hon. Shannon Filbert. Transcript: https://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2026-01/filbert%20Transcript.pdf Content Warning: Frank medical discussion

Justice Llinét Rosado of the Appellate Division, First Department, is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who became a U.S. citizen in her early 20s. Justice Lourdes Ventura was born to Dominican immigrants. In this Amici podcast, the justices discuss their journey from very humble roots to the upper echelon of the NYS Judiciary. They explain their culture and experiences as part of the Domin...

In this Diversity Dialogue segment of the Amici podcast program, we explore Indian boarding schools, institutions established in the U.S. and Canada with the expressed goal of eradicating indigenous culture. Our guest is Marnee Ryan Lehtonen, of Corning City Court. Marnee’s grandmother grew up in the notorious Thomas Indian School and, with some prodding by Marnee, shared her experience. Here, Mar...

Shortly after Peter F. Lane took office as a New York City Civil Court judge in January, he was surprised to get a call from the Estonian Embassy. He assumed it was a wrong number. Regardless, he picked it up and learned that he's apparently the first and only judge in the nation of Estonian descent. In this podcast, we'll explore Judge Lane's background and learn a little about a country in North...

The lack of accessible legal services in rural areas is a national crisis, and New York State — where four million people live in rural areas – is certainly no exception. Presiding Justice Elizabeth A. Garry of the Appellate Division, Third Department, is attempting to address the crisis through a novel “Rural Pathways” initiative that places law students in remote areas where they can experience...

In the latest Diversity Dialogue podcast, Esther Louis-Juste, the Justice Coordinator for the Ninth Judicial District and the child of Haitian immigrants, discusses her role in the courts, and how her background and family experiences influence the way she views her job. “I think about my grandpa, who's 102,” she said. “If my grandpa came into this court building today, would he be able to access...

Transcript: http://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2019-08/Goodman-Booth_0.pdf

Transcript: http://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2019-08/Goodman-Zhu%20Final.pdf

Transcript: http://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2019-06/TamaraKersh.pdf

Transcript: http://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2019-05/Goodman-RazzaqFinal_0.pdf

Transcript: https://ww2.nycourts.gov/doc/18126

Transcript: https://ww2.nycourts.gov/doc/18131

Transcript: https://ww2.nycourts.gov/doc/14006

In today's Diversity Dialogue, we'll meet a man well-known to many of us in the court system -- Martin Huynh. But who knew he was a Vietnamese refugee brought out of the country at the age of four by a single parent mom, or that their journey halfway around the world began on a boat and included a period of waiting in the Philippine Islands where they slept on hammocks? Transcript: https://ww2.nyc...

Less than a decade ago, no Black person had ever been elected to state Supreme Court in any of the 28 counties of the Third Department, an area from Kingston to Canada that accounts for about 45 percent of the counties in New York. The woman who broke that barrier and paved the way for several others, the Hon. Christina L. Ryba, was recently appointed Administrative Judge for the Third Judicial Di...

Transcript: http://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2019-07/GRIPCourt_0_0.pdf

Transcript: http://ww2.nycourts.gov/doc/20771

Transcript: /doc/13886

Transcript: /doc/13751

Transcript: /doc/10996

Transcript: Transcripts/AmiciSkinner.pdf