HSoftheNYCourts Podcast

Chris Kwok talks with Hon. Randall T. Eng about his remarkable life and career, marked by a series of firsts for the Asian American community. They reminisce about Judge Eng’s early days in Queens and China, how he became interested in the law, his rise in the legal profession to become the first Asian American Judge in all of New York State, and his years after retiring from the bench. The conversation juxtaposes his incredible achievements against the backdrop of increased anti-Asian hate and violence around the country. Mr. Kwok is a Mediator and Arbitrator at JAMS and a Board Member of the Asian American Bar Association of New York. Judge Eng is currently Of Counsel at Meyer Suozzi English & Klein P.C. and the former Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department. He is also Trustee Emeritus of the Society’s Board of Trustees.

Hon. Randall T. Eng and Hon. Lillian Wan share their personal experiences as Asian American judges overcoming challenges, and provide advice to Asian American attorneys on how they too can bridge the gap. Judge Wan is a Kings County Supreme Court Civil Term Judge and member of the Society’s Board of Trustees. Judge Eng is former Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, and currently Of Counsel at Meyer Suozzi English & Klein P.C. He is also Trustee Emeritus of the Society’s Board of Trustees.

In the United States Supreme Court, it's nine. In the United States Courts of Appeals, it's three. And in New York's Appellate Division, Second Department it's . . . four? Presiding Justice Alan D. Scheinkman talks about his article, adapted for Judicial Notice, which explores how the four-Justice appellate panel became the norm in the Second Department — and, briefly, in the First as well — and shares his thoughts on managing what is often called the busiest appellate court in the country. Justice Helen Freedman, Judicial Notice Editor in Chief, joins the discussion with insight on the First Department's practices.

Director of Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking Dr. Erica Kaufman and Dean of Bard Early Colleges John Weinstein discuss the teacher and student initiatives we partner together to produce, including teacher workshops, the Harlem Law Program, and the Judith S. Kaye Teaching Fellowship, and the rich resources the Society provides. Erica and John also discuss lessons learned during the movement to remote teaching, and what they think is in store for the future.

Host Daniel F. Loud, a student at Columbia Law School, chats with Hon. Robert S. Smith, retired judge of the New York Court of Appeals, head of the appellate practice at Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, and former professor at both Columbia Law School and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, about his article in the Society’s journal Judicial Notice about Chancellor James Kent, one of New York’s first notable judges and the author of the Commentaries on American Law. They delve into Chancellor Kent’s views on judging, the body of “American law” that developed after the American independence, and what a judge’s role should be in changing the law. Along the way, Judge Smith also offers his views on the same issues and how judging has changed since Chancellor Kent’s time nearly two centuries ago.

William H. Hinrichs, Dean of Academic Life at Bard Early Colleges, speaks with Aaron Welt on his experience as the Judith S. Kaye Teaching Fellow at Bard High School Early College in Queens and Manhattan over the past three semesters. They chat about the importance of the Society’s grant to facilitate these civics courses that focus on the legal history of New York State, the positive effect it has on students who take the courses, and the benefits and challenges of virtual learning.

In this episode, Aisha Williams, National Director of School Culture, Great Oaks Charter Schools and a former NYC school leader of a Society partner school, chats with Jehan Senai Worthy about her experience as the Judith S. Kaye Teaching Fellow for the Society’s inaugural Harlem Law Program. The discussion delves into the successes and challenges of the program, the students feedback, and the future of education in the era of virtual learning.

Host Jacob Y. Chen, Partner at Dai & Associates, P.C., talks with Hon. Doris Ling-Cohan, a justice of the New York State Supreme Court currently assigned to the Appellate Term, First Department, about her experience as a pioneering Asian American judge in New York, and the challenges — and flat out racism — she faced on the road to and during her judgeship. Justice Ling-Cohan recounts remarkable and inspiring anecdotes from her career and offers insight on what's next for the Asian American community in the legal profession.

Historical Society of the New York Courts Trustees Dennis E. Glazer and Hon. Albert M. Rosenblatt trace New York’s relationship with slavery from the early days of the colony to the climate of the nation leading up to the Civil War. The episode culminates with an investigation into the Lemmon Slave Case itself. Affirmed by the Court of Appeals in 1860, the Lemmon Slave Case illustrates how NYS law was ahead of federal in finding that slaves brought into the State were not property. This went against the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, decided three years earlier.

Host David L. Goodwin chats with Robert Pigott, general counsel of Phipps Houses, about his Judicial Notice profiles of Elihu Root and William M. Evarts, both national figures and prominent New York lawyers—one mostly remembered (Root) and one largely forgotten (Evarts). A native New Yorker himself, Bob discusses the spark that ignited his interest in history, and examines how we can learn a lot about larger-than-life figures through New York City real estate.