Head of National Bar Exam Group Defends UBE
Head of National Bar Exam Group Defends UBE
Addressing a concern among some New York lawyers that adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam might negatively affect minorities, the president of the National Conf…
Congratulations to Past AABANY President Vincent Chang, quoted in New York Law Journal’s article “Head of National Bar Exam Group Defends UBE” published on March 6, 2015. Click on the link in the title to read the article (subscription required).
An excerpt from the article:
NYCLA released a report on Tuesday recommending a one-year delay for implementing the test (NYLJ, Mar. 4), but Vincent Chang, a member of the NYCLA board, testified Wednesday that the organization feels that a 2016 implementation may be on the “early side” and that delaying it until 2017 would give law schools more time to adjust curricula and law school students to “adjust their expectations.”
“We do believe there should be some period for transition,” Chang said.
NY Swap Contract Ruling Means Defenses Hinge On ‘S-Word’ – Law360
NY Swap Contract Ruling Means Defenses Hinge On ‘S-Word’ – Law360
Investment pacts must explicitly bar actions tied to the products they govern to be invoked as a defense against common-law or statutory claims, New York’s top court ruled Tuesday, a decision experts say will send lawyers scrambling to make sure their financial industry clients’ no-suit clauses feature the crucial word ‘securities.’
Past President Vince Chang, partner at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP, is prominently quoted in Law360’s “NY Swap Contract Ruling Means Defenses Hinge on ’S-Word,’” by Pete Brush. Among other insights, Vince shared his opinon: "The absence of one word — literally one word — makes a big difference in how these things are litigated,“ said Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP complex litigation partner Vincent Chang. "If you already are in litigation, you’d better check to see if [securities] is in there.” Click on the link to read more.
Congratulations to Vincent Chang!
AABANY member and Past President (2007) Vincent Chang, Partner at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsche LLC, has been selected as a recipient of the 2014 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award. The presentation of the award will take place at the Gala Award Dinner on Thursday, June 19, 2014 from 6:00pm to 9:30pm at Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall Street, New York City.
We commend the Asian American Business Development Center on their selection. Please join AABANY in congratulating Vincent on this well-deserved honor.
Advisory Council Proposes New Accelerated Adjudication Procedure | New York Commercial Litigation Insider
Vincent Chang, AABANY member, past president and Co-Chair of the Judiciary Committee, was quoted in a New York Commercial Litigation Insider article entitled “Advisory Council Proposes New Accelerated Adjudication Procedure.” Congratulations, Vince!
Vincent Chang, a partner at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsche and chair of the Federal Courts Committee at New York County Lawyers’ Association, agrees that cost is a huge issue for parties.
“There’s a concern in both state and federal courts that litigation is too costly and that a lot of cases that don’t have a huge amount at stake can’t be litigated fully and completely because of the cost and burden of litigation and e-discovery,” he said.
Moreover, Chang, who is not a member of the advisory council but has read the proposed rule, said the amendment offers “a creative solution” to parties who are drafting contracts and don’t want to upset the cooperative spirit.
“Because they avoid the topic [of dispute litigation procedures], often the clauses that appear in contracts are not well-drafted. Sometimes they’re ambiguous, sometimes they don’t cover as many situations as they should,” Chang said. “This regime would impose a very specific dispute resolution procedure and would avoid a lot of controversy about what the clause means.”
Vince Chang Quoted in NYLJ on NYCLA Report about Judicial Budget Cuts
Vince Chang Quoted in NYLJ on NYCLA Report about Judicial Budget Cuts
AABANY Judiciary Committee Co-Chair and Past President Vince Chang was quoted in a front page article in the New York Law Journal, September 11, entitled: “NYCLA Sounds Alarm on Dire State of U.S. Judiciary Budget.” Vince was quoted as the lead author of the report warning about the harsh consequences of the judicial budget cuts to the Federal courts.
“For me the biggest difference between now and two or three years ago, is that there seems to have been a corrosive effect on the morale of the judges and the courthouse staff,” Vincent Chang, a partner at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch, lead author of the report, said in an interview. “At first we thought this might blow over, but now that optimism no longer exists. There really is the sense that we are on the brink of a constitutional crisis if this is not reversed—and it might not be reversed.”
To read the full text of the report follow the link in the title.
SDNY NOTICE: SDNY Accepting Applications for Magistrate Judge
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has announced a vacancy for a full-time U.S. Magistrate Judge position in the White Plains courthouse. The SDNY’s public notice, which contains additional information about the position and the application, is available on the court’s website at www.nysd.uscourts.gov. AABANY encourages all qualified attorneys with an interest in serving in the federal judiciary to submit an application, which is due no later than September 30, 2013. If you have any questions about the position or would like assistance in connection with your application, please contact any of the Co-chairs of AABANY’s Judiciary Committee:
- Vince Chang([email protected]),
- Theo Cheng ([email protected]),
- James Chou ([email protected]), or
- Robert Leung ([email protected]).
Past President Vincent Chang Quoted in Law360 Article on Prof. Rivera
Rivera Flap Shows NY High Court Picks Can Expect Scrutiny
By Pete Brush
Law360, New York (February 11, 2013, 8:02 PM ET) – The New York State Senate confirmed law professor Jenny Rivera to the state’s highest court Monday on a voice vote, but a bitter debate over her resume signals to Gov. Andrew Cuomo that upcoming judicial nominees can expect heightened scrutiny, especially if they don’t have bench experience.
Rivera, a law professor at the City University of New York, becomes the first judge ever in the Empire State to leap straight to the New York Court of Appeals from academia.
An expert in Hispanic and women’s civil rights issues, Rivera replaces the court’s first and only Hispanic judge, Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, who was forced to retire at the end of 2012 after reaching the age of 70.
“Professor Rivera has dedicated her career to public service,” Cuomo said after the vote. “Her extensive experience in civil rights law and her passion for making our state a fairer and more just place will greatly benefit New York.”
That Rivera’s Senate confirmation came on a voice vote suggested Republican opposition wasn’t uniform, experts said. But that didn’t stop several influential Republicans, including Middletown, N.Y., Republican John J. Bonacic from taking to the Senate floor in opposition.
“To put someone who has such narrow legal experience on the highest court of this state for 14 years … and pass over other highly qualified nominees is not something that I can support,” said Bonacic, whose judiciary panel advanced Rivera’s nomination without recommendation after a testy Feb. 4 hearing that was carried over until the next day.
Bonacic was referring to a list of seven candidates, sent to Cuomo by the State of New York’s Commission on Judicial Nomination on Dec. 1, that included three state appellate division judges and two practicing attorneys.
“The nominee has a very limited law practice experience,” said Bonacic, adding that he had “concerns that she will be prone to judicial activism.”
Even though they didn’t have the votes to mount a serious challenge, Republicans are making it clear they will do what they can to make sure Cuomo doesn’t steamroll them at every turn, according to Pace University law professor Randolph M. McLaughlin, who also works as of counsel on civil rights matters at Newman Ferrara LLP.
“The Republicans were trying to send Cuomo a message, that they’re not a rubber stamp,” he said. “My gut instinct tells me, given the range of folks he has in the wings, that Cuomo will pick a sitting judge next.”
Cuomo won’t have to wait long before his next pick. After Rivera is sworn in, she will become the only the sixth sitting member on a court that is supposed to have seven judges.
The court had been operating with a relative skeleton crew of five judges after Ciparick’s retirement and the Nov. 6 death of Judge Theodore T. Jones. A slate of nominees to replace Jones is due to hit Cuomo’s desk in early March.
“If Cuomo doesn’t want to go through this brouhaha again, he’ll pick someone who is a judge,” McLaughlin said.
Cuomo also may find himself under heavy pressure to replace the deceased Jones, the court’s lone black judge, with another African-American, according to Albany Law School professor Vincent M. Bonventre.
“I will be shocked if the next list doesn’t have two or three African-Americans on it,” Bonventre said.
While Republicans attacked Rivera for a lack of experience, McLaughlin noted they also took issue with her academic writings, in which she espouses progressive views on civil rights, racial justice and women’s issues.
“They were trying to knock her down, embarrass her, or get her to say something stupid,” McLaughlin said. “It was pretty embarrassing to see her raked over the coals.”
The charge that Rivera lacks experience is not necessarily fair, according to experts, including Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP<http://www.law360.com/firm/wollmuth-maher> partner Vince Chang, who heads the New York County Lawyers Association’s federal courts committee chair.
“A lot of people say the criticism of her experience was just a pretext,” Chang said, noting that state bar associations went over her record carefully and universally recommended her qualifications. “Many very fine judges were professors.”
Opposition to Rivera’s nomination didn’t come exclusively from Republicans on Monday. One of the state Senate’s mavericks, Bronx Democrat Ruben Diaz, said Cuomo, in nominating Rivera, seemed keen on pitting Hispanics against the state’s Republicans.
Diaz, an outspoken and often bombastic critic of Cuomo, added that past Hispanic nominees for other high offices in the U.S. didn’t receive the same support from New York’s Latino population when they were nominated by Republicans, including former President George W. Bush.
“Where were you when George Bush nominated Alberto Gonzales and Miguel Estrada?” Diaz asked his Latino counterparts from the Senate floor.
Overall the proceedings were a departure from the state Senate’s typical Court of Appeals approval process, which over the decades has been staid, with one or two minor exceptions, Bonventre said.
A fierce critic of state Senate inaction on high court nominees, Bonventre applauded the Legislature for subjecting Rivera to tough questions.
“They’ve made it clear to the governor that he can’t just nominate anybody and expect them to roll over,” Bonventre said. “They’re obviously going to start taking their constitutional responsibility more seriously than they have in the past. In the past, they have been complete rubber stamps.”
–Editing by John Quinn and Richard McVay.
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