Legal Aid Attorney Receives Service of Justice Award

ALBANY, NY (07/24/2012)(readMedia)-- Thomas Klein, a lawyer at The Legal Aid Society for 30 years, received accolades on Monday night for both his trial skills and abilities as a teacher of other lawyers. The New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) presented Klein with its 2012 Service of Justice Award during its 45th Annual Conference.

Hundreds of lawyers and their clients have benefitted from Klein's training talents. Dennis Murphy, Director of Training for the Criminal Practice at Legal Aid, observed that Klein "is incredibly generous with his time – despite having a demanding caseload with some of our most difficult cases." Another Legal Aid colleague, Elon Harpaz – himself a former Service of Justice Award recipient – reported that Klein's vision and hard work brought about Legal Aid's resource attorney program, in which lawyers from the Criminal Appeals Bureau serve as legal advisors to their trial colleagues, which has improved the quality of representation in both divisions. Comments about Klein's continuing legal education (CLE) presentations over the years include: "Tom Klein reminds me why I'm a defense lawyer. He's the best." "Bring Tom Klein as often as possible! He's a great speaker and is inspiring." "[E]xcellent presentation. Makes me want to go out and be creative and do good work – in the face of impossibility."

Klein has trained lawyers for The Legal Aid Society, NYSDA, and other defender organizations. Klein is not only a master of in-person CLE presentations, but a creator of valuable written materials to help others emulate his craft. He co-authored the two-volume practice manual, Expanding the Scope of Cross-Examination. These tandem skills led one participant to write about a Klein CLE seminar: "[G]ood/excellent integration in presentation – materials above and beyond presentation – a useful resource."

The foundation of Klein's excellence as a teacher is his proficiency as a lawyer. At Legal Aid, where he has been a Supervising Attorney, Chief of the Manhattan office, Director of Litigation, and Senior Homicide Attorney, he has won wide admiration. A fellow attorney with a unique perspective said, "As a former court reporter ... I saw hundreds of voir dires in 25 years – but I never saw a criminal lawyer as dedicated as Tom Klein."

Klein was introduced by former Legal Aid attorney and current CUNY Law Professor Steve Zeidman.

NYSDA's Service of Justice Award is presented to individuals and organizations that have uniquely supported the Defenders Association or the defender community, or made a particularly momentous contribution in a given year.

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