Domenick Napoletano Sworn In as New York State Bar Association President at Brooklyn Celebration
6.7.2024
With the Statue of Liberty gleaming in the harbor, Domenick Napoletano was sworn in as the 127th president of the New York State Bar Association at a celebration Tuesday night on the Brooklyn waterfront. Napoletano said he chose the venue because it’s in the shadow of Ellis Island where his Italian parents first set foot in this country and near the Brooklyn piers where his father labored as a longshoreman.
Hon. Michael L. Pesce, a Brooklyn neighbor who has known Napoletano since he was a boy, swore him in as hundreds of colleagues snapped photos and applauded uproariously.
In a videotaped message, former Gov. David Paterson, a law school classmate, credited Napoletano with helping him through law school by reading books to him. Former New York State Bar Association President T. Andrew Brown spoke about his long and close relationship with Napoletano while Monsignor David Cassato offered the invocation and Rabbi Joseph Potasnik gave the benediction.
In the midst of all the pomp and circumstances, the sweetest moment was an ordinary one: the entire crowd singing Happy Birthday to Domenick’s 6-year-old granddaughter, Sofia, as she blew out the candles on her birthday cake and held onto her grandfather. Domenick’s wife, Fran, and daughter, Alexis, looked on.
Check out our Flickr album from the event:
Listen to an extended interview on the Miranda Warnings podcast:
Watch our extended interview with President Napoletano in our video version of “Miranda Warnings”
