New York City Bar Association Podcast

Justice Rolando Acosta shares his story of growing up in the Dominican Republic and coming to New York at 14, finding opportunities by excelling academically and on the baseball field, and choosing the law and going to work at Legal Aid as a way of paying back the help that had been given to his family. Justice Acosta and his daughter Zila Acosta-Grimes compare notes on their upbringing and their...

In this episode: Enforcing Orders to Correct, the fourth episode in our series on Housing Part Proceedings and the Reality of Housing Court. Agata Rumprecht-Behrens, a court attorney currently assigned to the HP part in Queens housing court, moderates a panel discussion with Vijay Kitson, a partner at Hertz, Cherson Rosenthal specializing in landlord-tenant trial advocacy; Rachel Nager, a tenant a...

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Julie Bosi and Valery Federici of Level Up Legal. They talk about coaching in the legal industry and the way that the skills of the law can run counter to the skills of well-being, and how the work of building emotional well-being dovetails with the work of DEIB. Tune in to hear about: How coaching works in the context of the legal profession How coaching is...

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Ashley Bernal, Director of Research and Impact for ProInspire. Ashley was the Research Consultant for a City Bar report that made recommendations about diversifying and strengthening the pipeline to the legal profession. Ashley helped us understand the findings of the report. She also talked to us about some of the hierarchies in the educational system that w...

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Zila Acosta Grimes, Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton. Zila’s roots in New York’s Latinx community and legal community run deep. She shares her own immersive upbringing in those communities, and shares her playbook for building affinity groups that make inclusive and powerful spaces for communities not traditionally represented in the law. Make an impact by b...

Committee member Aimee Latorre speaks with Professor Jordana Confino of Fordham Law School. Jordana shares the wisdom of positive lawyering that she teaches to Fordham Law students, underlining the power and practices of self-compassion and a growth mindset. More resources from the Mindfulness and Well-Being in Law Committee: https://bit.ly/3yZEyn8 Ethereal Meditation by Maarten Schellekens is lic...

Tanya, Angie and Mary Ellen speak with Yusuf Zakir, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Davis Wright Tremaine. Yusuf shares his own journey into the DEIB space, the ways in which he invites colleagues into that space, and the way in which he has developed his firm’s approach to DEIB. Make an impact by being a part of our work: Join the City Bar (admission fee waived) using this member...

Staff from City Bar Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging sat down with a Commissioner and the Special Counsel for the New York City Racial Justice Commission to discuss the process through which the Commission chose the measures that will appear on New York City ballots, and what changes New Yorkers can expect if the measures pass. Learn more about the Racial Justice Commission ba...

Tanya Martinez-Gallinucci, Executive Director of the Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; Angie Avila, ODEIB Manager of Development and Communications; and Mary Ellen La Rosa, ODEIB Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator; speak with Lissette Duran, Senior ESG Associate at Paul Weiss. Lissette shares her experience of being lifted up in the journey of her career; how she has claimed a...

Tanya Martinez-Gallinucci, ODEIB Executive Director, Angie Avila, ODEIB Manager of Development and Communications, and Mary Ellen La Rosa, ODEIB Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator speak with Leah Goodridge about her article Professionalism as a Racial Construct and discuss how “professionalism” is used to subjugate marginalized groups. Read Leah's Article "Professionalism as a Racial Construct": ht...

The staff of the City Bar Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging discuss what Belonging means to them, the future of DEIB, the challenging work ahead, and weaving Belonging into our work every single day. Contact diversity@nycbar.org to learn how you can be involved in future episodes.

Christina Lewicky, a member of the City Bar’s Litigation Committee, speaks with Arun Bhoumik, Executive Director and Assistant General Counsel at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Edward Y. Kim, Co-Founding Partner of Krieger Kim & Lewin LLP. They discuss the similarities between representing a corporate executive in an individual capacity and an institutional client; the differences between re...

In this episode, Tenant Harassment, the third episode in our series on housing part proceedings and the reality of housing court. Agata Rumprecht-Behrens, a court attorney in Queens housing court, moderates a panel discussion with Vijay Kitson, a partner at Hertz, Cherson Rosenthal specializing in landlord-tenant trial advocacy; Rachel Nager, a tenant attorney and advocate representing tenants in...

Ashley Wong, an associate at Sidley Austin LLP, speaks with William Ng, the current president of AABANY, and shareholder at Littler Mendelson, P.C., and Terry Shen, past president of AABANY and a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.

A podcast of the City Bar Mindfulness and Well-Being in Law Committee. Committee members Aimee Latorre, Lisa Podemski and Tsui Yee discuss setting healthy boundaries at work. For more mindfulness and well-being resources, visit the Mindfulness and Well-Being in Law Committee's webpage: https://bit.ly/3yZEyn8 Ethereal Meditation by Maarten Schellekens is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial...

Elizabeth Kocienda, New York City Bar Director of Advocacy, speaks with three City Bar members about issues that they advocated to include in the New York State Budget. Lisa Pearlstein, Betsy Kramer, and Ed Murray discuss the work that they did through their City Bar Committees to bridge the digital divide for New Yorkers living in shelters; increase funding for representation of parents and child...

Dorothy Heyl, Chair of the City Bar Real Property Law Committee, speaks with Justin La Mort and Alex Lycoyannis. Justin is the Supervising Attorney for the housing rights project of Mobilization for Justice, and former Real Property Law Committee Chair. Alex is a partner at Rosenberg & Estis, and a member of the Real Property Law Committee. They talk about a bill in the New York State Legislature:...

A podcast of the City Bar Mindfulness and Well-Being in Law Committee. Committee members Aimee Latorre, Stacy Schaffer, Alejandra Vargas, and Lisa Podemski share stories of their mindfulness journeys. Ethereal Meditation (https://bit.ly/3JVjyQj) by Maarten Schellekens (https://bit.ly/3kfVooY) is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. No changes were made to this tra...

In this episode: HP Proceeding Nuts and Bolts, the second episode in our series on Housing Part Proceedings and the Reality of Housing Court. Agata Rumprecht-Behrens, a court attorney currently assigned to the HP part in Queens housing court, moderates a panel discussion with Vijay Kitson, a partner at Hertz, Cherson Rosenthal specializing in landlord-tenant trial advocacy; Rachel Nager, a tenant...

In this episode: Civil Court Act and the Housing Part, the first episode in our series on Housing Part Proceedings and the Reality of Housing Court. Agata Rumprecht-Behrens, a court attorney currently assigned to the HP part in Queens housing court, moderates a panel discussion with Vijay Kitson, a partner at Hertz, Cherson Rosenthal specializing in landlord-tenant trial advocacy; Rachel Nager, a...

Concerns over violent threats to federal judges has led to a bill called the Daniel Anderl Act, named for a judge's son who was shot to death by a man enraged at the judge's decision in his case. We discuss the contents of the Act, and the challenges it might face, and answer the question: how will this legislation protect judges, and how might it inhibit the work of journalists? Jennifer Rodgers,...

Christina Lewicky, a member of the City Bar Litigation Committee and the host of this podcast, speaks with Bill Dodero, Global Head of Litigation at Bayer and Jonathan Cohn, Partner at Sidley Austin. They discuss the value of outside counsel who are relentlessly selfless, resolute and solutions oriented strategists, and who produce efficient wins.

Christina Lewicky, a member of the City Bar Litigation Committee and the host of this podcast series, speaks with Farzin Firooznia, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, PepsiCo, Latin America; and Andrew (Drew) Tulumello, Co-Chair, Complex Commercial Litigation Practice, Weil, Gotshal & Manges. They discuss elements of a successful partnership, including philosophical alignment of values, cr...

Joan Levenson, a member of the City Bar’s Animal Law Committee speaks with Meena Alagappan, Executive Director of HEART: Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers.

Arianna Mouré, an Associate at CSG Law, speaks with Julia Lopez, a Partner at Reed Smith, on her professional journey and her advice for aspiring Hispanic attorneys on finding their way in the legal profession. James A. Lewis, V. , Executive Director of the City Bar’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, introduces the conversation.