News from New York State Bar Association

For more information contact: Jon Sullivan, 518-463-3200

State Bar Section Hosts Forum on Advancement of Minority Litigators

Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Honors Pioneer Cesar A. Perales at Annual Reception

ALBANY, NY (04/02/2008; 1415)(readMedia)-- On Monday, April 7, 2008, at the Kaplan Penthouse, Samuel B. and David Rose Building, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section is sponsoring “Smooth Moves II: Career Alternatives for Litigators of Color.” program. Held from 4 to 8 P.M., the program, sponsored annually by the Section with complimentary attendance, features a CLE program, awards ceremony and networking reception. The program is co-chaired by the Honorable Barry A. Cozier, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., former Justice of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, and Carla M. Miller, Esq., Universal Music Group.

This year’s panel discussion entitled, “Pathways to the Bench,” will feature as panelists the Honorable George Daniels, United States District Judge, Southern District of New York; the Honorable Marilyn Doran Go, (S.D.N.Y.), United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of New York; the Honorable Marguerite A. Grays, New York Supreme Court, Queens County, Commercial Division; and the Honorable Victor Marrero, United States District Judge, Southern District of New York. The panel will be moderated by the Honorable Zachary W. Carter, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, former United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of New York and United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Following the panel discussion beginning at 5:30 p.m., the Section will present its second annual Honorable George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award to Cesar A. Perales (biographical information below), President and General Counsel, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. The Honorable George Bundy Smith (Chadbourne and Parke LLP), former Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, will present the award. New York State Bar Association President Kathryn Grant Madigan also will be in attendance.

Carrie H. Cohen of New York City (Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York), chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section said, “The Section’s Award honors a New York attorney whose career accomplishments exemplify the high standards set by the Honorable George Bundy Smith, retired judge of the New York Court of Appeals, and we are thrilled to bestow this award on Cesar A. Perales in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the public interest and the legal profession.”

In addition to the Honorable George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award, Fordham Law School student Ji Zhang will receive the 2008 Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Minority Fellowship administered by The New York Bar Foundation. The $5,000 award is available to first-year law students attending a law school in the State of New York who demonstrate an interest in commercial and federal litigation. Mr. Zhang will work this summer in the Chambers of the Honorable Herman Cahn, New York Supreme Court, New York County, Commercial Division.

Section Chair Carrie H. Cohen said, “The Commercial and Federal Litigation Section established this Fellowship with The New York Bar Foundation to help create a network and forge relationships that will foster greater diversity among commercial and federal litigators throughout the State of New York. It is our pleasure to confer this year’s Fellowship on Mr. Zhang, and we are confident he will have a wonderful experience working for the Honorable Herman Cahn.”

The awards ceremony will be followed by a cocktail and networking reception at which musical entertainment will be provided by the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies. There is no charge to attend either the CLE program or the reception.

Founded in 1988, the more than 2,600 member Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of NYSBA strives to improve the quality of representation of commercial clients in litigation matters, provides a forum for the improvement of law and procedure in the areas of commercial and federal litigation, and enhances the administration of justice. The Section is committed to serving the professional development goals of attorneys of color and to fostering diversity in the profession. For more information about the Section, contact Sue Fitzpatrick, at www.suefitzpatrick.com or at the New York State Bar Association, One Elk Street, Albany NY 12207, or go to www.nysba.org/comfed.

The 74,000 member New York State Bar Association is the official statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, NYSBA programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.

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About Cesar A. Perales Cesar Perales was one of three young lawyers that saw the need for a civil rights organization to protect and promote the rights of Latinos in the Northeast. By 1972, they had organized a board of directors and raised sufficient funds to open the door of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund with Cesar as its Executive Director.

Under his leadership, PRLDEF initiated a flurry of lawsuits over the next two years that would establish the right to bilingual education, strike down civil service requirements that kept Latinos from public employment and eliminated barriers to government benefits for non-English speaking applicants. PRLDEF sued the government of Puerto Rico to force it to enforce the guarantee of decent working conditions of migrant workers sent to farms of New Jersey and other parts of the United States. The organization’s national impact was felt in 1975 when the Congress amended the Voting Rights Act to include the right to bilingual ballots-a right established by PRLDEF in the New York courts in 1973.

Mr. Perales went on to government service but in 1981 responded to the Board’s request that he return to PRLDEF. Within six months PRLDEF was at the forefront of litigation to get the Justice Department to block the election of the New York City Council until the lines were redrawn in or nondiscriminatory manner. The subsequent court ordered halt to the elections was perhaps the most dramatic application of the Voting Rights Act in the North.

Cesar Perales’ record of government service has also been extraordinary. He was nominated by President Jimmy Carter and confirmed by the US Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services. As Commissioner of the Department of Social Services under Governor Mario M. Cuomo he managed New York State’s largest budget. He went on to serve as Deputy Mayor of New York City during the administration of David N. Dinkins. After leaving public service, he went to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center as Senior Vice President. The Community Health Care system he developed for that hospital during his tenure has received national recognition.

The son of a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican mother, Cesar is a graduate of the City College of New York and the Fordham University School of Law. He is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Lehman College.