Annual Meeting: Stanley H. Fuld Award Ceremony
Stanley H. Fuld served on New York Court of Appeals for 27 years and sat as chief judge for six of them. During that time, he heard more than 13,000 cases and wrote more than 1,300 opinions. With a mind akin to a steel trap, Judge Fuld’s mastery of the law was so superb that even his dissents became law. Though he is a well-respected authority in many areas of law, he is particularly known for his work in conflicts of law. He wrote for the majority in Babcock v. Jackson, which has since been cited in more than 900 cases and in more than 800 scholarly works. His opinions are regarded as meticulous and classically reasoned works of art. He went to painstaking lengths to bridge logical gaps between legal precedent and novel applications of law. Judge Fuld is indeed regarded as an extraordinary leader in law.
The Commercial and Federal Litigation Section created the Stanley H. Fuld award in 1995 to honor leaders in law for their outstanding contributions to the development of commercial law and jurisprudence in New York state. The Section presents this award during the State Bar’s Annual Meeting luncheon at the beginning of each year. This year’s presentation of the award was particularly special as no presentation was held in 2022. On Jan. 18, 2023, the Section hosted a dual award ceremony at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel. The Section proudly presented the Hon. Leonard B. Austin and the Hon. P. Kevin Castel with the 2022 Stanley H. Fuld Award and the 2023 Stanley H. Fuld Award, respectively. Each honoree graciously accepted his award, humbly expressed his gratitude, and delivered remarks with important messages for commercial litigators.
2022 Stanley H. Fuld Recipient— Hon. Leonard B. Austin
Justice Austin earned his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1974 and his J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law in 1977. He spent much of his early career as an attorney in private practice who also supported the greater community. In 1980 and 1981, he served as counsel to the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, where he was assigned as counsel to the Agriculture and Commerce and Industry Committees. In 1998, Justice Austin was elected to the Nassau County Supreme Court in the 10th Judicial District. He held assignments in the Dedicated Matrimonial Part of Suffolk County and the Commercial Division of Nassau County. In 2009, he was appointed associate justice to the Appellate Division, Second Department.
Justice Austin authored numerous opinions during his 23 years on the bench, creating a significant impact on the development of New York jurisprudence. His work spanned a wide variety of areas of law, including conflicts of law, long-arm jurisdiction, the establishment of a standard for dissolution of limited liability companies, the rights of biological mothers in surrogacy birth, and declaring inheritance rights of second adopted children, among others.
Outside of the courtroom, Justice Austin also greatly contributed to the legal education of students and attorneys. He frequently lectures on the fields of e-discovery, commercial and matrimonial law, appellate practice, and civil practice for members of the bar. He is also a proponent of the educational value of working in chambers. Justice Austin hosted and led judicial interns since nearly his first day on the bench. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Hofstra University School of Law. He is the author of several articles dealing in topics such consumer class actions, equitable distribution, New York City’s Forfeiture Law, and banking litigation.
Justice Austin retired from the bench in early 2022. In the year leading up to his retirement, he thought about how he might spend this new stage of his career. He believed that, as a member of the judiciary, relevance was inherent to the job of running a courtroom and serving as the decider of law. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, his jokes in a room full of attorneys were always funny. In Justice Austin’s next chapter, he sought to continue to invest his time in pursuits that are meaningful and relevant. Now, as an arbitrator/mediator with National Arbitration and Mediation (NAM) and as vice-chair of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, Justice Austin developed a nuanced perspective on what it means to be relevant. Upon accepting his 2022 Stanley H. Fuld Award, he shared his thoughts on relevance and what it means for members of the Section.
Relevance, Justice Austin explained, has less to do with the prestige of a position and has more to do with work ethic. It relates to what the person chooses to do and how the person does it. Relevance is about a commitment to doing one’s best. It is also about working beyond oneself and asking: What can I do to not only accomplish the goal, but how can I do it in a way that helps others? Justice Austin hopes that his relevance will be remembered as a son, husband, father and grandfather as well as a lawyer, judge, and person involved in his community. He takes pride in the work he has done and continues to do.
Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year for 2022, he informed the audience, is “goblin mode.” The official definition of goblin mode is “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms of expectations.” He acknowledged that the popularity of this phrase is likely due to a feeling of being overwhelmed by the post-pandemic world—and he understands. However, he cannot understand how we, as a nation and system of justice, can thrive in such a negative atmosphere.
Ultimately, whether a person is relevant is a question of whether that person chooses to go down the proverbial “goblin hole” or chooses to try to do their very best. Justice Austin emphasized that the Section has succeeded in rising above the goblin-mode epidemic. He praised the Section for its dedication to hard work and for fostering a collaborative atmosphere. “Together, we can all aspire to be the Stanley Fulds of our generation by serving the law and its institutions with dedication, commitment, and pride. That is relevance. That is this Section.”
2023 Stanley H. Fuld Recipient—Hon. P. Kevin Castel
Judge Castel earned both his B.S. and his J.D. from St. John’s University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. He began his career in private practice, working primarily in commercial law and trying cases related to securities, antitrust, employment, and products liability law. Since 2003, he served as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York and, in 2017, was elected to serve as senior judge of that court.
With about 26 years in private practice and about 20 years on the bench, Judge Castel’s experience and influence in American jurisprudence boasts both breadth and depth. He presided over thousands of suits over the years—hundreds of which dealt with securities, employment, antitrust, consumer rights, copyrights, and trademarks, among other areas of law. The Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation designated Judge Castel to oversee four MDLs, including In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation and In re Bank of America Securities, Derivative, and ERISA Litigation.
Judge Castel’s organizational pursuits both as an attorney and as a judge reveal a consistent pattern throughout both phases of his career: he values taking an active role in the groups that guide and shape the legal profession. For the last two years, he served as chair of the New York State-Federal Judicial Council which promotes coordination and cooperation between the state and federal judicial systems. He also chaired SDNY’s Grievance Committee which functions as a lawyer-disciplinary body. Before his time on the bench, Judge Castel spent 12 years as a court-appointed member of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department. He was also president of the Federal Bar Council. He held positions in the New York State Bar Association, serving both as a member of the House of Delegates and a former chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section.
After accepting his 2023 Stanley H. Fuld Award, Judge Castel delivered his remarks with an eye toward the future development of the legal profession. A new trend is emerging that reconsiders requirements in the process for becoming an attorney. A goal of this trend is to make the process more accessible and, ultimately, make the legal profession more inclusive. He explained that client trust is often enhanced when lawyers come from the same communities as their clients—this is especially true in criminal cases. When trust is lost, our judicial system is the loser.
Judge Castel went on to describe the changes that are being considered as part of this overall trend to modify the path to becoming an attorney. On Feb. 6, 2023, the ABA House of Delegates will make the final decision about whether to continue requiring accredited law schools to consider standardized test scores for admission. There is also a movement to allow for the exercise of “diploma privilege”—the notion that those who have successfully graduated from accredited law schools should be guaranteed automatic admission to the bar. Another development is the rise of online law degree programs, where students take courses online with a modest requirement of in-person attendance which, in the first year, is about 12 days. The tuition is the same as an in-person program. Pipeline programs for undergraduate students largely in underrepresented communities have been developed by law schools and have achieved some notable successes.
The goal of his message was a call to action, urging members of the bar to take an active role in shaping the future of their profession. His urgence comes, in part, from an understanding that changes are sometimes considered only in isolation, without thoughtful consideration of the synergistic effect of multiple changes. New developments could produce a larger, unexpected net effect. Therefore, members of the bar may do well to consider these possible developments.
Kate Clendenen is a law graduate at Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the business litigation and dispute resolution practice group. She received her B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2018 and her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2022.
