Samuel W. Seymour Becomes President of the New York City Bar Association
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Eric Friedman
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Kathryn Inman
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Samuel W. Seymour Becomes President of the New York City Bar Association
New York, May 19, 2010 – Samuel W. Seymour was officially installed as president of the New York City Bar at the Association’s annual meeting on May 18 th. He succeeds Patricia M. Hynes.
Seymour is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where he concentrates on white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement matters and internal investigations. He has been an active member of the City Bar for over 25 years, having served as both a member and Chair of the Executive Committee, Vice President of the Association and Chair of the City Bar Fund, which includes the City Bar Justice Center.
In his address at the Association yesterday, Seymour said the legal profession “has a special obligation to speak out and to take action on the very same issues that led to the formation of this Association 140 years ago: improving our system of justice, making that system equally accessible to all, and ensuring an independent and adequately funded judiciary. It falls uniquely on our shoulders as lawyers to make certain that the firmest pillar of good government – that is, the true administration of justice – stands strong. For an individual lawyer, that is asking too much, but we are 23,000 members strong. Our collective voice is heard in the places where law and policy are made, and this Association has frequently taken a stand and made a difference. I will do my utmost to uphold those great traditions of the Association during my tenure as president.”
Seymour also spoke of the need for the Association to keep pace with the rapid changes in the legal profession in areas like technology and globalization, and with the next generation of lawyers. “This generation inherits a world with entirely new paradigms about job security, social networking, the speed and nature of communications. They are the future of the profession for certain; I want to make sure they are also the future of this Association,” Seymour said. “I have every confidence that we will be a home for the profession in the 21st Century.”
Seymour served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1988 through 1991, and has held leadership positions in many organizations serving the legal and educational communities, including Trustee of the Practising Law Institute, Director of the Fund for Modern Courts, and Director of the First Department Assigned Counsel Corporation. He is also a member of the Board of Visitors of Columbia Law School and has been a Lecturer-in-Law teaching trial practice at Columbia.
In addition to Seymour’s installation, the rest of the Association’s leadership positions were filled as follows:
Zachary W. Carter, of Dorsey & Whitney LLP; Mei Lin Kwan-Gett, of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP; and Robert C. Sheehan, of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP were elected City Bar Vice Presidents.
Donald S. Bernstein of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP returns as Treasurer and Sheila S. Boston of Kaye Scholer LLP returns as Secretary.
The Executive Committee class of 2014 is: Carrie H. Cohen, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office (SDNY); Prof. Bruce A. Green, of Fordham University School of Law; Hon. Debra A. James, of the New York State Supreme Court and Peter J.W. Sherwin, of Proskauer Rose LLP.
Returning Audit Committee members are: Robert J. Anello, of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer P.C.; Daniel F. Kolb, of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Christopher L. Mann, of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Newly nominated candidates for the Audit Committee are Richard Cashman, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong, of the United States Bankruptcy Court (EDNY).
The candidates were nominated by the City Bar’s Nominating Committee, which is comprised of Bettina B. Plevan (Chair), Hon. Rolando T. Acosta, David M. Brodsky, Hon. George B. Daniels, John S. Kiernan, Susan J. Kohlmann and Victor A. Kovner.
About the Association
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org) was founded in 1870, and since then has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.
