Author: Alexandre Petraglia [ADMIN]

Federal Appeals Court Stymies Latest Version of Federal Student Loan Forgiveness, Putting Nearly Eight Million Borrowers in Financial Purgatory

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Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education put all borrowers, including law students, law graduates, and working lawyers here in New York, who enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education repayment and loan forgiveness plan, into temporary forbearance. This paused payments and interest immediately following a federal appeals court decision halting a signature … Continued

NYSBA Leader Elected President-Elect

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The associate executive director of the New York State Bar Association, Kathy Suchocki, began a new role as the president-elect of the Association of Continuing Legal Education this week. The legal education association’s mission is to serve professionals in the field through leadership, community, education and development. It boasts members in the United States, Canada, … Continued

How Municipalities Can Navigate a Growing Cannabis Market — The Town of Babylon’s Example

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With the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act in 2021, municipalities across New York State faced a new reality: recreational marijuana would be legal throughout the state. This sea change naturally caused hesitation among many local governments as they grappled with having to protect the best interests of their communities while adhering to … Continued

Balancing Juror Security With the Right to a Fair Trial

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In this age of instant access to all forms of information and the resulting personal security concerns, courts are called upon to balance the privacy rights of citizens constitutionally called to duty as jurors in a criminal case against the right of fellow citizens to invade their privacy under the Constitution and common law.1 In 2018, I represented the … Continued

Ethics Opinion 1269: Part-Time Judge; Part-Time Public Defender; Conflict of Interest

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Topic: Part-Time Judge; Part-Time Public Defender; Conflict of Interest Digest: A part-time assistant public defender whose law partner is both his cousin and a part-time town court judge may not represent clients of the public defender’s office in the town court where his cousin/law partner and his cousin’s co-judge serve because that representation would violate … Continued