Established | November 21, 1876 |
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Type | Legal Society |
Headquarters | Albany, New York |
Location |
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Membership | 74,000 in 2015 [1] |
Staff | 125 |
Website | www |
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice; and elevate the standards of integrity, honor, professional skill, and courtesy in the legal profession. [1]
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The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) was founded on November 21, 1876, in Albany, New York, and later incorporated on May 2, 1877, through an act of the state legislature. Its first president was David B. Hill. Elliott Fitch Shepard helped found the association and, in 1884, was its fifth president. [2] [3] Among its early achievements was advocating for reforms to the legislation that created the association, including the removal of restrictions on women's admission to the practice of law.
In 1896, the NYSBA proposed the first global mechanism for resolving international disputes, which eventually became the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. [4] The association also played a pivotal role in the development of legal ethics, adopting [5] the American Bar Association's (ABA) 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics in 1909. [6] These principles later evolved into the ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility. [5] In 2001, the NYSBA introduced changes addressing multidisciplinary law practice. For many years, New York was the last U.S. state—aside from California and Maine—still using the Model Code, while most other states had adopted the ABA Model Rules. [7] On December 17, 2008, the New York courts' administrative committee announced the adoption of a heavily modified version of the Model Rules, which took effect on April 1, 2009. This version incorporated New York-specific rules developed over time while retaining the Model Rules' overall structure, simplifying professional responsibility training for lawyers and easing compliance for out-of-state attorneys.
The NYSBA has also fostered international collaboration, signing memorandums of understanding with the Seoul Bar Association and the Dai-Ichi Bar Association of Tokyo.[ citation needed ] These agreements were announced in January 2020 by Hank Greenberg, then president of the association and a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Albany. [8]
The association continues to advocate for legislation that simplifies and modernizes court procedures, raises judicial standards, enhances voluntary pro bono service, and maintains the profession's integrity. It also provides public education and legal services to the indigent. Today, the NYSBA boasts over 74,000 members, including 18,000 residing outside of New York.
The control and administration of the state bar is vested in the House of Delegates, the decision and policy-making body of the association. The house meets four times a year (January, April, June and November). Action taken by the House of Delegates on specific issues becomes official state bar policy.
The state bar's current structure includes 28 specialized substantive law sections, and more than 60 standing, special, and other committees.
On July 8, 2020, the NYSBA issued an ethics opinion authorizing New York lawyers to advise clients regarding compliance with New York's recreational marijuana law. The opinion also authorized New York lawyers to use marijuana for recreational purposes. [9]
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York is the intermediate appellate court in New York State. The state is geographically divided into four judicial departments of the Appellate Division. The full title of each is, using the "Fourth Department" as an example, the "Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department".
A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant or paralegal specialist, is a legal professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with an admission to practice law. The market for paralegals is broad, including consultancies, companies that have legal departments or that perform legislative and regulatory compliance activities in areas such as environment, labor, intellectual property, zoning, and tax. Legal offices and public bodies also have many paralegals in support activities using other titles outside of the standard titles used in the profession. There is a diverse array of work experiences attainable within the paralegal field, ranging between internship, entry-level, associate, junior, mid-senior, and senior level positions.
Legal ethics are principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself.
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. In 2016, about one third of the 1.3 million practicing lawyers in the U.S. were included in the ABA membership of 400,000, with figures largely unchanged in 2024.
Professional responsibility is a set of duties within the concept of professional ethics for those who exercise a unique set of knowledge and skill as professionals.
The American Bar Association Model Code of Professional Responsibility, created by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1969, was a set of professional standards designed to establish the minimum baseline of legal ethics and professional responsibility generally required of lawyers in the United States.
The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate discipline, accepting attorney-member fees, and financially distributing sums paid through attorney trust accounts to fund nonprofit legal entities. It is directly responsible to the Supreme Court of California. Its trustees are appointed by the Supreme Court, the California Legislature, and Governor of California. All attorney admissions are issued as recommendations of the State Bar, which are then routinely ratified by the Supreme Court. Attorney discipline is handled by the State Bar Office of Chief Trial Counsel, which acts as prosecutor before the State Bar Court of California. The State Bar has been cited for its corrupt practices during the 21st century, and is subject to reforms issued by its governing body, the California Supreme Court.
Continuing legal education (CLE), also known as mandatory or minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) or, in some jurisdictions outside the United States, as continuing professional development, consists of professional education for attorneys that takes place after their initial admission to the bar. Within the United States, U.S. attorneys in many states and territories must complete certain required CLE in order to maintain their U.S. licenses to practice law. Outside the United States, lawyers in various jurisdictions, such as British Columbia in Canada, must also complete certain required CLE. However, some jurisdictions, such as the District of Columbia and Israel, recommend, but do not require, that attorneys complete CLE.
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is the state bar association of the U.S. state of Washington. It operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's nearly 41,000 active and inactive lawyers and other legal professionals. The WSBA's mission is to serve the public and the members of the Bar, to ensure the integrity of the legal profession, and to champion justice.
Legal advertising is advertising by lawyers (attorneys), solicitors and law firms. Legal marketing is a broader term referring to advertising and other practices, including client relations, social media, and public relations. It's a type of marketing undertaken by law firms, lawyers (attorneys) and solicitors that aims to promote the services of law firms and increase their brand awareness.
The Law Society of British Columbia is the regulatory body for lawyers in British Columbia, Canada.
The Alabama State Bar is the integrated (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1923, the association is governed by the 1975 Alabama Code, Title 34, Chapter 3.
Patricia E. Salkin is an American jurist. She is the Senior Vice President for Academic for the Touro University System, and the Provost of the Graduate and Professional Divisions of Touro University. She is the former Dean of Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip, NY.
Steven C. Krane was an American lawyer who was, at age 44, the youngest president of the New York State Bar Association, and died at the age of 53. He was known as "an expert in legal ethics" and professionalism. His most recent job was that of partner and general counsel at Proskauer Rose.
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative was established in 2007 by the American Bar Association to consolidate its five overseas rule of law programs, including the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, which was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative implements legal reform programs in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.
Louis Aloysius Craco Jr. was an American lawyer. At the time of his death, he was the youngest president of the New York City Bar Association and a life member of the American Law Institute. He was a partner with the law firm Willkie, Farr & Gallagher and, later, Craco & Ellsworth. He was a co-founder of the Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) of New York City - organization providing pro bono legal services to low income New Yorkers. In 2004 he was awarded a Gold medal from the New York State Bar Association for his numerous contributions to development of the profession.
The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) are a set of rules and commentaries on the ethical and professional responsibilities of members of the legal profession in the United States. Although the MRPC generally is not binding law in and of itself, it is intended to be a model for state regulators of the legal profession to adopt, while leaving room for state-specific adaptations. All fifty states and the District of Columbia have adopted legal ethics rules based at least in part on the MRPC.
Unbundled legal services, also known as limited scope representation and discrete task representation, is a method of legal representation in which an attorney and client agree to limit the scope of the attorney’s involvement in a lawsuit or other legal action, leaving responsibility for those other aspects of the case to the client in order to save the client money and give them more control. Unbundled legal services, limited scope retainers or discrete task representation are available in multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, as well as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. One common use of unbundled legal services is family law, as a case is often too complex for a pro se litigant to handle alone but the cost of full-service legal representation is often prohibitive.
The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) is a bar association located in New York City.
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