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Member Feature

donnaDonna Azoulay – My City Bar Year

The students who caught my attention in law school weren't the ones who could recite statutes and precedents off the top of their heads. I was much more impressed by the ones who would bring up, say, the public policy implications of a court’s ruling on “the best interests of a child.”

If law is both a science and an art, I would say the art lies in the big picture, where laws are understood in the context of their meaning and effect on society. And I can’t imagine any place where the art of law is practiced better than at the New York City Bar Association. For the past year I have been immersed in the City Bar, both as special assistant to City Bar President Sam Seymour and as a member of the City Bar’s Sex and Law Committee.

When you join one of the City Bar’s over 150 committees, you do not just gain experience and insight on the singular topic of the committee’s focus, but also an understanding of how various practice areas intersect. A matrimonial case can also be a trust & estate case, a children’s rights case, or a tax case. As a member of the Sex and Law Committee, I work with a spectacular group of attorneys who see the significance of being part of an effort that goes beyond the parameters of their everyday work. This past year, the Sex and Law Committee created presentations for high school students on teen dating violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, supported the Lesbian Gay Transgender & Bisexual Committee’s Marriage Equality report, and worked with the Matrimonial Law Committee on the new matrimonial maintenance laws.

For the past year, I’ve had the privilege of helping Mr. Seymour engage and recruit law students, recent law graduates, and young associates to join the Association. I accompanied him as he visited every law school in the New York area to convey to students the message that being involved in the New York City Bar—or any bar association, for that matter—is especially beneficial for young lawyers just starting to map out their careers. We found that many students were receptive to this message, and over the past year we have seen significant growth in our young lawyer and law student membership.

As a young lawyer myself, I can attest to the unique value of the City Bar. That it is a legal crossroads is well known. This year I attended presentations by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow, Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., Executive Director of United Nations Woman, Michelle Bachelet, and many others.

But the City Bar is also a place where attorneys who are just beginning their careers are also welcomed, and where even young attorneys can contribute ideas and play a part in shaping public policy.

Donna Azoulay is a 2010 Columbia Law graduate and is Special Assistant to Samuel W. Seymour, President of the New York City Bar Association.

 

 

Nicholas Curmi – The 44th Street Bridge to Malta

It’s not every day that you meet a lawyer from Malta, a southern European country in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy. But it’s not surprising to meet one here at the City Bar, whose members come from all over the world.

Nicholas Curmi received his Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) and Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degrees from the University of Malta, and also studied maritime law at the Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy. After completing his studies, Curmi joined Maltese law firm Ganado & Associates as a member of its financial services practice group, where he developed a keen interest in corporate, insurance and capital markets matters. Like lawyers everywhere, he traveled when he could, and he networked. While attending a conference in Europe, he met a lawyer from a New York firm. Curmi soon set his sights on a bigger stage.

“I wanted to be in the financial capital of the world,” says Curmi, who is now studying to get his Masters of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Fordham University School of Law, specializing in banking, corporate and finance law. He also serves as an Associate Editor of Fordham’s Journal of Corporate and Financial Law. “My decision to study in New York was motivated by a desire to gain a U.S. legal perspective and also to help raise awareness here about what Malta has to offer in the financial services sector,” says Curmi. He says Malta, a European Union member state, is becoming a prominent center for financial services within Europe, where a growing number of international financial institutions are opting to set up operations given several key advantages that the domicile has over other well-established European jurisdictions.

Continuing his networking in New York, last fall Curmi attended the City Bar’s reception for International LL.M. candidates, where he was encouraged to join the City Bar. After becoming a member, he joined the Insurance Law Committee, on which he has become actively involved in projects concerning current legal and regulatory issues affecting the insurance industry. Curmi recognizes the importance of being involved in a City Bar committee, particularly for having the opportunity to meet and work alongside leading attorneys in their field. He says that the Committee takes a very hands-on approach to its work, and organizes some outstanding CLE programs at the City Bar on a regular basis.

Upon joining the Insurance Law Committee, Curmi was surprised to learn that the New York lawyer he had met over a year earlier at the conference in Europe was also a member of the Committee. “A year ago I would never have imagined that I would end up on the same Committee as him and other practitioners at the forefront of the U.S. legal industry, discussing current issues in New York law,” says Curmi. “But this is why I came to the U.S. in the first place: to broaden my knowledge, get a global outlook and become a truly international lawyer – I am indebted to both Fordham and the City Bar, who have helped me tremendously in working towards these goals.”

 

 


William Vidal – Member Profile

Having grown up between Paris and the U.S., William Vidal had long sought a way to bridge the two. That ultimately led him to law school and a specialization in International Trade. And that led him to the City Bar, where he applied to join the Association’s International Trade Committee.

In joining the committee, Vidal had interests beyond immersing himself in the subject area and engaging in substantive discussions about international trade. He also wanted to meet practitioners to understand what the actual practice involved. "The meetings were great, said Vidal, I got to work with practitioners and discuss the latest developments in the Doha Development Round, the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and ongoing tariff related disputes. The meetings also had a nice social aspect. Often, after meetings, several of us would have a drink, which allowed me to get to know the committee members on a more personal level."

Now an attorney in the New York City Law Department’s Commercial and Real Estate Litigation Division, Vidal has found the City Bar to be a friendly, collegial place, where lawyers can gain invaluable experience. As he puts it, “the City Bar’s committees have offered a unique opportunity to explore and learn about specific practices in an environment with little outside pressures. This allows for productive and frank conversations in a relaxed setting, which is ideal for a young attorney.”

During law school, Vidal interned for the Department of Justice’s International Trade Field office and for Senior Judge Tsoucalas at the Court of International Trade. His other main interest in law school was human rights, which he pursued by working as a research assistant for Professor Ruti Teitel and the Justice Action Center at New York Law School and through his work with Lawyers Without Borders (LWOB), an international non-profit organization whose goal is to provide legal support to Rule of Law and human rights projects. As part of his work with LWOB, Vidal and a group of students started a monthly Human Rights publication entitled Global Human Rights Bulletin, to increase awareness of Human Rights related issues. According to Vidal, his experience on the City Bar’s committee and his internships and Research Assistant work allowed him to determine that he was actually interested in the interface of development and human rights.

After graduating from law school, he applied to be a fellow at the Center for New York City Law. During his fellowship, he became very interested in how the City functions, which led him to apply to the New York City Law Department and eventually to join the Administrative Law division, where he stayed for two years. This past July he transferred to the Law Department’s Commercial and Real Estate Litigation Division. At the Law Department, Vidal has taken a special interest in urban development and how land use policies can be used to promote social objectives. To explore this interest, Vidal joined the City Bar’s Land Use and Zoning Committee, where he has been able to interact with great land use practitioners and discuss interesting land use issues, such as revisions to the zoning resolution and recent community benefit agreements.

The road to finding one's role in the legal profession can be a winding one, but as Vidal's career makes evident, the City Bar can be a great guide on the journey.