Henry "Hank" Greenberg, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig's Albany office with a long list of public-service accolades and a finalist for Law Journal's Attorney of the Year award, flew to Tel Aviv within weeks of Hamas' deadly invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.

Greenberg spent five days there, and from his firm's Tel Aviv office convened a virtual meeting between leaders of New York's legal community and the Israeli Bar Association, for a discussion on ways the Empire State bar could assist with Israel's legal needs.

Greenberg, who experienced three air raids during his time in Israel, played a pivotal role in establishing a pro bono-technology portal for Israelis. He organized a forum in New York on judicial independence for a delegation of Israeli jurists.

At one point during his visit, Greenberg and others were forced to get off a bus and lie face down as the Iron Dome was bombed.

Similarly, in 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Greenberg traveled to the Polish village of Medyaka, a major border-crossing between Ukraine and Poland. There he observed the Ukrainian relief effort up close.

In an interview with the Law Journal, Greenberg said he would have believed that embarking on such experiences would have seemed farfetched—and that his year-long term as president of the New York State Bar Association beginning in June 2019 would have been a bookend to his career in public service.

"But these opportunities present themselves if you're willing to work on a pro bono basis, and people know they can call on you, and that you will deliver," said Greenberg, a prolific writer and public speaker who considers public service "the highest and noblest calling for a lawyer."

A longtime contributor to the Law Journal, Greenberg said public service "has been extraordinarily satisfying and important and meaningful to me. I would encourage others to do it."

Greenberg said his message to law school students would be: "You can do public service in addition to having a vibrant and satisfying private practice. It's possible to do good and do well at the same time."

The 62-year-old, who's in his third decade as a New York lawyer, is a former federal prosecutor in Albany who served as the principal law clerk from 1988 to 1990 to Court of Appeals Associate Judge Judith Kaye, an eventual chief judge who passed in 2016.

Greenberg is an expert on New York's administrative laws, which derives from his years of service in state government. He is a former general counsel to the state health department, and to the state Attorney General's office under Andrew Cuomo.

"Oftentimes, I've represented state agencies and officials in lawsuits when the Attorney General has a conflict," Greenberg said.

Over the past year, Greenberg successfully represented the New York Racing Association in a lawsuit that challenged a $455 million loan that state lawmakers approved in 2023 to finance the reconstruction of Belmont Park in Elmont, which was last renovated in 1968.

He's also recently represented Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits in litigation that successfully challenged the New York State Liquor Authority's promulgation of regulations that would have imposed fees on bars and small retailers for certain bulk alcohol purchases.

Meanwhile, Greenberg continues to serve on a variety of state boards and legal organizations in unpaid roles.

He's counsel to the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination, the bipartisan 12-member body that chooses candidates to forward to the governor for nomination to the New York Court of Appeals.

After being busy screening candidates for five Court of Appeals vacancies from summer of 2021 to April 2023, Greenberg said he's glad to have a period of respite.

"It felt like a full-time job," he said.

When asked about his feelings on the difficulty of his work on the commission, considering increasing scrutiny on gubernatorial nominations for the Court of Appeals—specifically the unsuccessful confirmation of Appellate Division, Second Department Presiding Justice Hector LaSalle as the the high court's chief judge before the State Senate's judiciary committee—Greenberg paused before answering.

"The satisfaction of public service comes from the work and knowledge that you're making a contribution – to the profession, to the public, to the community," he began.