President Richard Lewis Reflects on a Groundbreaking Year
5.29.2024
“We’ve had a lot of success in approaching the issues that matter to lawyers this year including discussing rules changes in the CPLR,” Lewis said. “In addition, we have lobbied successfully for increased fees for court appointed lawyers.”
Lewis took on substantive policy issues including hate crimes prosecution, medical aid in dying and artificial intelligence. Several of those task forces not only finished their work but were able to impact the current legislative session.
On the issue of hate crimes, Miranda said Lewis was prescient in calling attention to the issue before the war in Israel.
“Events tend to affect what we do, but frankly I thought that [hate crimes] report was necessary long before the present war, because of what was going on specifically in New York State,” he said.
The task force report, which was approved by the House of Delegates in January, was instrumental in the legislature’s reform of hate crimes law in New York State this spring.
“We were a leading voice on this issue,” Lewis said.
You can listen to or watch our full Miranda Warnings episode here:
