Brave New World: The Rule of Law in 2025

This virtual fireside chat will explore questions that have arisen in recent days about the rule of law in this state and country and what role courts and attorneys may play. President Napoletano will moderate a discussion between a former federal prosecutor and state supreme court judge, which will touch on ideals which are so essential to our democracy that we often take for granted.

Moderator

Domenick Napoletano, Esq.

President, New York State Bar Association, Albany, NY

Law Offices of Domenick Napoletano, Brooklyn, NY

Speakers

Hon. Barry Kamins

Retired Supreme Court Judge

Partner, Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins PC, New York, NY

Carrie H. Cohen, Esq.

Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP, New York, NY

1.0 MCLE Credit in Areas of Professional Practice

Faculty biographies

Domenick Napoletano

Domenick Napoletano is a practitioner focusing on complex commercial litigation and appellate work while maintaining a busy general practice. Several of his cases have appeared in published decisions, many involving real property and tenancy and occupancy issues. He has spearheaded state and federal class action lawsuits, including notably against the New York City Department of Finance for its imposition of “vault taxes.” He is admitted in the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the Southern and Eastern District of New York and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He has been a member of the New York State Bar since 1981.

Napoletano’s involvement in New York State Bar Association activities are numerous and include being the past chair of the General Practice Section and co-chair of the Committee on Civil Practice Law and Rules. He previously co-chaired the Emergency Task Force for Solo and Small Firm Practitioner. He has served on many association committees, including Finance, Leadership & Development, Bar Leaders of New York State, Animals in the Law, co-chair of the President’s Committee on Access to Justice, the Task Force on the Evaluation of Candidates for Election to Judicial Office, the Task Force on Mass Shootings and Assault Weapons, the Gun Violence Committee, the Executive Committee, chair of the Working Group on Facial Recognition Technology, and as liaison to the Leadership & Development Committee along with the working group on Puerto Rico, the Non-Resident Subcommittee and the Corporate Counsel Section.

Napoletano has served on the association’s Executive Committee, as vice president, from the 2nd Judicial District and the House of Delegates representing the Brooklyn Bar Association. Napoletano was recently appointed by presiding Justice Hector D. LaSalle to the Second Departments Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.

Hon. Barry Kamins

The Honorable Barry Kamins is a partner at Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins and a retired Supreme Court Judge. Before leaving the bench, he was Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court of New York City, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters for the Second Judicial District, and Chief of Policy and Planning for the New York Court System. He was appointed a Criminal Court Judge by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on September 11, 2008, and was elected a State Supreme Court judge on January 1, 2013.

Judge Kamins is an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School where he teaches New York criminal practice. He is the author of New York Search and Seizure and writes the Criminal Law and Practice column for the New York Law Journal.

Carrie H. Cohen

Carrie H. Cohen serves as is global co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Investigations + White Collar Defense and State + Local Government Enforcement groups. Before joining the firm, she served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, in addition to having served in the New York Attorney General’s Office as Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau. Carrie represents corporations, boards, and c-suite executives in government-facing investigative and regulatory matters. At SDNY, Carrie obtained the first convictions of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. At NYAG, she received the Louis J. Lefkowitz Memorial Award for outstanding service. Carrie is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she teaches Public Corruption and the Law.