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MBBA Election Viewing Party

Please do not forget to RSVP for the Metropolitan Black Bar Association’s 2012 Presidential Election Viewing Party at Katra Lounge. After you vote, please join us for drinks, food and GREAT conversation as we come together to watch the results of this historical Presidential Election! Details set forth below:

Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Time: 6:00pm to 12:00am
Location: Katra Lounge, 217 Bowery Street, New York, N
RSVP: http://2012presidentialelectionwatch.eventbrite.com/#

*2-4-1drink specials; complimentary appetizers; multiple flat screens Cost: $10.00 in advance and $20.00 at the door Registration link will close on TOMORROW, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012 AT 3:00pm (EST) We need to provide a final headcount to the event space ASAP.

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Dear MBBA Members and Supporters:

As we continue to deal with the results of Hurricane Sandy, we will continue efforts to gather information and determine ways to best assist our members. We currently note that power/electricity is being restored to many parts of lower Manhattan between today and tomorrow. Until fully restored, please note the following:

State Courts

The City Law Department is asking attorneys to call next week for information about specific depositions at the following numbers: Bronx— (718) 590-3971; Brooklyn —(718) 222-2069; Manhattan – (718) 222-2001; Queens – (718) 206-4703; Staten Island– (718) 447-5985. For general office inquires, call (718) 222-2226.
To determine the latest information concerning the status of New York State Courts and court closings go to: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/court-closings.shtml or you can call 1-800-COURTNY(1-800-268-7869).

Federal Courts

E.D.N.Y: Both Brooklyn and Central Islip offices for the U.S. Attorney for Eastern District were re-opened Wednesday, October 31, 2012. Some judges have not been able to get to work so attorneys are advised to call the judge’s chambers before scheduled court appearances. Prisoners are being produced from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, but not from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. The clerk’s office in both courthouses is accepting the hand delivery of new filings and new cases. The electronic filing system on is up for viewing but not for docketing. Court employees in the Brooklyn courthouse cannot receive e-mails as the courthouse has no Internet connectivity. The Central Islip courthouse currently does have internet access. Please go to https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/ for any updates or call the Emergency status line at1-866-752-7362 option 1.

S.D.N.Y. – 500 Pearl St.: The Manhattan courthouse is closed through Friday, November 2; however, the White Plains, Middletown, and Poughkeepsie courthouses are open. Please go to http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/ or call (212) 805-0136 for further updates. 233 Broadway: The entire building is offline. Access to the building is prohibited with the exception of authorized personnel.

SDNY has also issued orders extending certain deadlines in criminal cases as a result of Hurricane Sandy (Fed. R. Crim. P. 45) (Fed. R. Crim. P. 32) and has also issued an order extending time for filing in civil cases.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has also issued an executive order suspending speedy trial deadlines and other statutory time restrictions in criminal, family and civil cases. http://www.governor.ny.gov/executiveorder/52

Touro Law Center will open a center next week to provide referrals, assistance and legal advice for local residents and small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy. The Touro Law Center – Hurricane Emergency Assistance and Referral Team (TLC-HEART) will be staffed by volunteer lawyers and law students. Beginning on Monday, November 5, residents will be able to call the center at (631) 761-7198 and [email protected] to receive assistance from disaster relief trained students and attorneys who will match resident concerns with referrals to federal, state and local government agencies and private groups offering storm-related assistance. The telephone hotline will be answered live Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and on Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Voicemail messages can be left 24/7.

Other Bar Associations

Brooklyn Bar Association president Domenick Napoletano has encouraged members and non-members to use their facilities at 123 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights if their own offices are closed. (718) 624-0675.

New York County Lawyers Association, 14 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10007. Telephone: 212-267-6646 and the New York City Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036, (212) 382-6600 is also open to the public during the week. Please call to confirm availability of services.

The New York State Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service has created a dedicated number (1-800-699-5636) for people in need of help, and is currently recruiting attorneys to provide free telephone consultations to individuals affected by the storm. There is a particular need for attorneys with insurance, landlord/tenant, co-op and condo, or FEMA appeals experience, as well as those who can handle general practice matters. If you are able to help, please visit www.nysba.org/DisasterVolunteerSandy and complete a volunteer form.

The NYSBA is also providing a free non-accredited informational video on emergency preparedness strategies for attorneys. The program – Disaster Planning and Emergency Preparedness: Best Practices for Solos – was designed to help attorneys prepare for unforeseen crises that can jeopardize their practices and includes helpful information and steps to take following a disaster. The video will be available, free of charge, through the month of November. You can view it at: www.nysba.org/DisasterPlanningProgram.

Additional links for storm relief resources:

Disaster Assistance: http://www.disasterassistance.gov/
LawHelp NY: http://lawhelp.org/NY/
FEMA: 1-800-621-FEMA (3362)
NYS Department of Financial Services Storm Hotline: 1-800-339-1759
American Red Cross: 1-800-RED-CROSS (733-2767)

Please refer to the NYLJ articles for further details at http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202577072360, http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202577016615

Again, please contact the MBBA regarding your particular needs as we seek to determine ways to best assist our members and the members of the legal community. Those in need and volunteers should contact the MBBA at [email protected] or call(212) 965-1645.

With best regards,

Nadine
———

R. Nadine Fontaine

President

Metropolitan Black Bar Association

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Columbia China Prospects Conference Nov. 10-11

Columbia China Prospects Conference Nov. 10-11

AABANY member Thomas Hou passes along information about this conference on China taking place at Columbia University:

The Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CUCSSA) cordially invite you to the Third Annual Columbia China Prospects Conference “Leadership in Transition – China for Further Reform” opening at the Low Memorial Library at Columbia University on Saturday, November 10 and Sunday, November 11, 2012. We welcome you to engage in an educational discussion with high-caliber panelists across the industries and participants from a diverse background.

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NYLJ: Rajaratnam Team Urges Circuit to Suppress Wiretap Evidence

NYLJ: Rajaratnam Team Urges Circuit to Suppress Wiretap Evidence

Board member Vinoo Varghese, whose amici brief in the Rajaratnam case was quoted in the New York Times on October 23, was quoted in an article about the same case in the New York Law Journal on October 26.

Also submitting an amicus in Rajaratnam on behalf of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and the Bronx Defenders was Vinoo Varghese of Varghese & Associates.

Varghese wrote the government’s “lack of candor, which the lower court found to be reckless at best, cannot be tolerated” and, if allowed to stand would “gut the Fourth Amendment and Title III protections in wiretap cases going forward.”

Congrats again to Vinoo on the recognition of his excellent work!  To read the full brief go to http://bit.ly/rajaratnam_vpv.

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thenationmagazine:

Super storm Sandy hit lower Manhattan hard over the night of October 29-30. Floodwaters spilled over doorsteps in Alphabet City, cars floated through Battery Park, and power went out for almost all of the residents of the island below 39th street. Electricity remained off for those residents on Thursday, four days after the storm struck, and was expected to remain off for at least another day. 

Municipal and federal aid to neighborhoods populated by low-income residents and people of color—such as Chinatown and the Lower East Side—has been largely absent. On Thursday The Nation spoke with staff members of the Chinatown-based organization CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities about the resource center they have set up at their offices to fill that void. Since Wednesday, CAAAV has provided a generator, food and water, and translation services for residents in need of both sustenance and up-to-date information on the storm’s ongoing effects. CAAAV additionally continues to deploy volunteers to canvass the neighborhood and check in on elderly and disabled residents who have not been able to leave their apartments since the onset of the storm. 

To learn more or to volunteer visit CAAAV.org.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
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Volunteer Opportunities to Help Victims of Hurricane Sandy

Thanks to Yomi Ajaiyeoba, President of the Nigerian Lawyers Association, for passing along this information.

New York State Bar Association:

Please Volunteer for Pro Bono Efforts to Assist Hurricane Victims

The New York State Bar’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service is recruiting attorneys that can provide free telephone consultations to individuals affected by Hurricane Sandy. There is need for attorneys with insurance, landlord/tenant, co-op and condo, or FEMA appeals experience, as well as those who can handle general practice matters. 

We encourage attorneys outside the NYC area to volunteer. The program is set-up to assist victims via phone consultation.

Please respond as soon as possible if you can help hurricane victims in need.

Go to: www.nysba.org/DisasterVolunteerSandy to fill out your volunteer form.

City of New York:

There will be various ways to volunteer to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy – Want to Volunteer? Please email [email protected] with your name, email address and borough. There will be ways to volunteer today and over the next week as opportunities arise. 

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SDNY ORDERS: Extensions of deadlines in civil, criminal cases

Update from SDNY Public Information Officer:

Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska of the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York issued three orders today regarding the
extension of deadlines in civil and criminal cases as a result of Hurricane
Sandy. I previously sent the order related to Federal Rule of Criminal
Procedure 45, which is attached here again. The two other orders related to
civil cases and Fed. R. Crim. P. 32 were issued later. All three orders are
also available on the home page of our website at http://nysd.uscourts.gov.

Stephanie Cirkovich, Esq.
Public Information Officer
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
(212) 805-0529 direct
(917) 273-8110 cell
(212) 805-0383 fax
http://nysd.uscourts.gov/

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The NYIC is Postponing Events Scheduled for This Week

Dear friends,

We hope this e-mail finds you well; our thoughts are with everyone who experienced Hurricane Sandy and are dealing with its impact.

Given current conditions throughout the area, including lack of email and phone service at the NYIC, we are postponing NYIC events scheduled for the next few days, including:

TRAINING on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status—scheduled for Wednesday, October 31, 2012 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm: postponed till further notice

TRAINING on Battered Spouse Waivers & VAWA Self-Petitions —scheduled for Thursday, November 1, 2012 from 10:00am – 1:00pm: postponed till further notice

TRAINING on Immigration Consequences of Criminal Dispositions —scheduled for Friday, November 2, 2012 from 2:00pm – 5:00pm: postponed till further notice

DACA Clinic: Scheduled for November 1st, 6PM: postponed till further notice

MEXICAN Consulate ID Event: Scheduled for October 31 to November 4th, 9am to 2pm at PS 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn: The start date is postponed; we will know in the next day or two whether or not it will happen at all at this time or whether it will be postponed entirely to a later date.

While our lack of phone and email service makes communication difficult, we do have an email address that you can write to us to for urgent matters: [email protected]. We will check this address two to three times a day until our regular email service is up and running.

If you sent an email to NYIC staff anytime after 7 p.m. Monday, October 29th, we likely did not receive it. If it is urgent, you can forward it to the gmail address above. Otherwise, we will send out a notification once we’re back online and have full communications capacity again.

Thank you; and again, our best wishes to everyone as we recover from this storm.

Chung-Wha Hong
Executive Director
The New York Immigration Coalition

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WSJ: Rise of the Tiger Nation

WSJ: Rise of the Tiger Nation

WSJ: Rise of the Tiger Nation

On Saturday, Oct. 27, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled, “Rise of the Tiger Nation.” (Click on the link in the title to read the full article.) It adopted wholesale the conclusions and statistics from this summer’s Pew Research Center survey of Asian Americans.  In fact, the author wrote at the start of the article:

No one would dispute the opening paragraph of the Pew Research Center’s massive study of Asian-Americans, released over the summer: “Asian-Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success.”

Actually, this past summer, many APA groups came forward with strong criticisms of the Pew Research Center’s study, pointing out its oversimplification of the lives and experiences of the diverse community represented by APAs.  Like the Pew Research Center report, this article perpetuates the model minority myth, painting a far rosier picture than actual circumstances would support.  In the legal profession, APAs continue to be under-represented at the upper ranks of law firms, corporations, government, academia and the judiciary.

A search on this blog under “Pew Research Center” will call up the reactions we were able to collect this summer to that report.  Take a look for yourself.  Contrary to the WSJ article, many would dispute the opening paragraph of the Pew Research Center study.  About the only statement that would not be disputed is the fact that APAs are the fastest growing racial group in the United States.  But the growth of the APA population alone does not signify that all APAs are doing well and succeeding across the board.

What do you think of the WSJ article?  Is there a “Tiger Nation” and is it on the rise?

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