Henry M. Greenberg, president of the New York State Bar Association. Photo: David Handschuh/NYLJ

Editor’s note: This is the second article in a series. Read the first part here.

Over the next year, lawmakers in Albany, New York could be looking to a number of task forces formed in recent months by the New York State Bar Association for legal and regulatory advice on a host of significant issues, from changes to the state’s laws on parole to governing autonomous cars.

The state bar considers itself uniquely positioned to be a resource for the Legislature on matters that require legal counsel and deliberation, said the association’s president, Hank Greenberg.

“We’ve launched a series of initiatives, blue ribbon task forces, that are going to be producing recommendations and reports,” said Greenberg, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig. “We have tried to identify issues, parole is one, where we can be of value, and as a resource.”

Task forces are nothing new to the state bar, which often forms such panels to analyze issues facing state lawmakers from a legal perspective. The group has a task force on wrongful convictions, for example.

But the organization took a first-in-the-nation step this year when it formed a task force to analyze and report on the impact autonomous cars will have on society and the legal system. No other bar association in the country has made a similar move, Greenberg said.

He expects that any reports or recommendations issued by the panel will create a national template for other lawmakers and regulators to follow.

“Their recommendations will be valuable, not only to New York state, but also be of value to the other 49 states and the territories of the United States about how you should appropriately regulate these vehicles when they come—and they’re coming,” Greenberg said.

The task force is composed of a collection of attorneys, academics and judges and is led by Aviva Abramovsky, the dean of the University at Buffalo School of Law. The goal of the panel is to examine how state officials, including the Legislature, can set certain safeguards before autonomous vehicles take to the streets.

Because of the safety issue, the task force will consider whether the state’s insurance laws need to be updated to accommodate autonomous cars, which Greenberg likened to the next major transition of transportation in society. They’ll also look at what other laws or regulations should be enacted to address the issue, and how it could impact the civil justice system.

“We’re not going to wake up one day driving down the Thruway and see a 16-wheeler without a body behind the steering wheel, without a comprehensive statutory and regulatory scheme to protect you and everybody else on the road,” Greenberg said.

That’s not the only issue the organization plans to tackle in the coming months that one might consider outside the normal operations of a bar association. The group has also formed a task force to examine the challenges faced by local news outlets in the modern age.

The panel was convened in June, and will be tasked with making recommendations on how the state, legal industry and business sector can sustain local news outlets at a time when many have considered cutting back on coverage and staff. Four hyperlocal news outlets in the North Country closed just two months ago, for example.

But that might beg the question: why does the state bar, and others in the legal profession, care about the density of local news coverage? Greenberg said it’s about civil liberties. 

“In smaller communities, and even cities, who’s going to be the watchdog for local government?” Greenberg said. “If you don’t have a robust and independent press that has the financial wherewithal to do the work, that impacts profoundly First Amendment values and free expression.”

That’s a common theme among the state bar’s task forces. The organization is interested in promoting the rights of individuals in New York, including their access to justice.

Another task force, previously reported by the New York Law Journal, was formed to tackle the ever-growing shortage of attorneys in rural areas of the state. Outside cities in New York, many attorneys are approaching or at retirement age, Greenberg said. Younger attorneys, at the same time, aren’t moving to practice in those areas.

The panel will examine a number of reasons why younger professionals aren’t moving to rural communities to practice law. But among them, Greenberg said, may be the rising cost of attending college and law school.

“I grew up in Sullivan County, in a small community, so I know what it’s like to be in an area with a small bar,” Greenberg said. “Lawyers, when I was a kid growing up, were not graduating college and law school with $200,000 or more in debt.”

That, compounded with the low rates paid to assigned counsel in New York, could be inhibitive to younger attorneys moving to areas where they may not earn enough to make ends meet, Greenberg said.

Each of those three panels will review issues relatively new to the Legislature, which could consider their work in crafting new legislation and regulations to address each area. 

But the Bar Association is also studying matters of public policy already familiar to the Legislature, like the state’s laws on parole. That task force, announced in June, is expected to issue recommendations ahead of next year’s legislative session. That way, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature can consider the panel’s guidance early while crafting new laws.

Greenberg decried how many offenders on parole are re-incarcerated for minor technical violations and said the task force would consider that problem. There was actually legislation introduced earlier this year to block the state from sending offenders back to prison for many technical violations, but it didn’t gain traction before the end of session in June.

Lawmakers moved to reform the state’s laws on cash bail, criminal discovery and the right to speedy trial, but largely left out any changes to how offenders are treated after they’ve gone to court. Greenberg expects them to come back next year with fresh eyes on the issue.

“New York is out of step with a lot of the nation, including a lot of states that pride themselves as being law-and-order oriented, which have done a better job addressing that issue,” Greenberg said.

The Legislature is also expected to renew discussions on legalizing marijuana for adult, recreational use in January. The state bar already has a cannabis committee that’s analyzed full legalization in the past. Greenberg expects them to offer guidance on the issue when lawmakers return to Albany in January.

“We’re looking forward to their recommendations,” Greenberg said.

READ MORE:

Hank Greenberg, NY State Bar President, Aims to Seize Chance to Achieve Long-Sought Legislative Goal

NY State Bar Association to Focus on Why Parolees End Up Back Behind Bars

Lawyer Shortage in Rural NY Shows Need for Non-Attorney Justices, Group Says