Joel Stashenko

July 20, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Governor Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders announced agreement yesterday on a plan to reform state campaign finance laws, resolving an issue that has caused the unrelated judicial pay raise bill to stall in the Legislature for months.

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

December 03, 2007 | Law.com

A New York state court on Friday dismissed all but one of the grounds in a suit filed by three judges seeking their first pay increase since January 1999. Acting Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara rejected a variety of constitutional and statutory arguments made by the judges. He allowed one claim -- that the lack of a pay increase has impinged on the independence of the judiciary -- to proceed to trial but indicated that the plaintiffs would face an uphill battle.

By Joel Stashenko and Daniel Wise

6 minute read

November 02, 2007 | Law.com

Stymied so far in efforts to lobby Albany for a judicial pay increase, New York state court administrators said Thursday they have found funds to give each judge up to $5,000 a year to reimburse them for job-related expenses ranging from uncovered medical costs to judicial robe purchases. The 1,300 state judges will also receive more vacation time. Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau said court administrators were continuing to lobby Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature for a pay hike.

By Joel Stashenko

6 minute read

December 14, 2009 | New York Law Journal

An upstate appeals court has ordered cell phone records and the wireless air card from a laptop computer to be examined during discovery in suits filed by two automobile passengers injured when their vehicle was hit by a driver they contend may have been distracted by his electronic communications devices. Rejecting right-to-privacy arguments, the unanimous Appellate Division, Third Department, panel cited the tradition of courts "liberally" construing discovery statutes when ordering an examination of the devices held by drivers in accidents.

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

March 12, 2010 | Law.com

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Thursday appointed former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye to take over his office's investigations of Gov. David Paterson for possibly misusing police personnel to intervene in an aide's domestic violence case and for improperly accepting Yankees tickets. Having concluded that an immediate resolution did not appear imminent, Cuomo said it was best to bring in someone like Kaye so there is no taint of conflict of interest while the AG is widely thought to be preparing a run for governor.

By Joel Stashenko

6 minute read

August 04, 2009 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

May 29, 2009 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

6 minute read

December 29, 2008 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

10 minute read

January 15, 2008 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

6 minute read

January 09, 2008 | New York Law Journal

By Joel Stashenko

3 minute read