March is Women’s History Month, and we’ve been privileged to collect the oral histories of some of the pioneering women in New York law. These are Hon. Judith S. Kaye, the first woman judge on the Court of Appeals as well as the first woman Chief Judge; Charlotte Smallwood-Cook, the first woman elected District Attorney in the State; and Helaine M. Barnett, the first woman to be appointed full-time as Legal Services Corporation President. During their oral history sessions, these women reflected on the journeys that brought them to their being the “first,” and we provide excerpts here.
Hon. Judith S. Kaye, on breaking into law firms after graduation:
[T]he more I got rejected, the more it became absolutely imperative that I get into one of those Wall Street, you know, white shoe law firms. I mean I just wasn’t going to take no for answer and that’s all I was getting, was no for an answer, so that made life interesting.
So here I am, back at the firm of Casey, Lane & Mittendorf, for my second interview, the only second interview that was offered to me by anyone. The person who greeted me was… a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Robert Sweet. In fact, he was a member of this law firm, such a small world. But when I came into Bob Sweet’s office and he said his partners insisted that he make this offer to me, of employment, which sounded already nice to me, I didn’t know what the negative was. He said he genuinely hoped I would turn down the offer, he found it offensive. The offer was that they would pay the going rate for a man, for one of my male classmates. I think at the time it was like $7,200 a year, that’s what it was, but they would pay me $6,400. I turned that down… I did not feel that I deserved to be treated like a second-class citizen. I did fulfill Judge Sweet’s wish and turned the offer down right then and there.
This article was written by David L. Goodwin. It was first published in the Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook. David is a Staff Attorney at Appellate Advocates. He is a co-chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of The Historical Society of the New York Courts.
Photo: Judge Jane Bolin
Dear Jane,
You’re one of the reasons the courts for children are a greater hope than some people say. You’re one of the dedicated ones.[1]
Born and raised in Poughkeepsie, but with a career in the five boroughs of New York City, Jane Matilda Bolin (1908–2007) is best known for a particular “first” of groundbreaking magnitude. She holds the honor of being the first African-American judge in the entire United States, joining the bench of New York City’s Domestic Relations Court in 1939. Her appointment by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, which came as some surprise to Bolin herself — summoned with her husband to an audience with the mayor at the 1939 World’s Fair, she was not informed of the mayor’s intentions in advance — made “news around the world.”[2]
About that news: in announcing this historical judgeship, some outlets hedged the call, if ever so slightly. The Chicago Defender, which “chronicled and catalyzed [the African-American] community’s greatest accomplishments for nearly a century,”[3] proudly announced that La Guardia had “smashed a precedent for the entire United States” because Bolin was “thought to be the first Race woman judge to be appointed in this country.”[4] About two months later, the Defender had eliminated the qualifier, describing Judge Bolin as the “first Race woman to serve as a judge in the history of America.”[5] And despite the shifting nature of historical inquiry, her title has held firm; on the sad occasion of her obituary, she was still, resolutely, “the first black woman in the United States to become a judge.”[6]
Judge Bolin served with distinction, reappointed to the bench by three different mayors — O’Dwyer in 1949 (although not without some politicking), Wagner in 1959, and Lindsay in 1969[7] — while weathering the reorganization of the Domestic Relations Court into the Family Court in 1962.[8] She retired in 1979, but only reluctantly; in an interview conducted when Judge Bolin was in her early 80s, she made clear that, were it up to her, she would still be serving on the Family Court.[9]
This blog entry was written by John Caher, the Unified Court System’s senior advisor for strategic and technical communications. It discusses his recent interview with Robert Pigott about The Historical Society of the New York Courts’ upcoming program History of Foley Square: NY Legal Landmarks & Civic Reform on Feb. 27 at 6:30 PM at the NYC Bar Association. The interview was converted into an “Amici” Podcast, one of a series produced by the court system and maintained at http://www.nycourts.gov/admin/amici/index.shtml.
Photo: Foley Square Postcard, July 1939
How wonderfully ironic and deliciously tantalizing that Foley Square – the center of justice in New York City – is named for a Tammany Hall saloon keeper! As they say, only in New York.
From its colorful founding to its present-day prestige, Foley Square, home to a slew of federal, state and local court facilities, is the set and stage for all manner of real and fictional drama, from the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the custody trial of Gloria Vanderbilt to a gruesome assassination scene in The Godfather. It was even a triage center on 9/11.
Thomas F. “Big Tom” Foley died in 1925 and never had an opportunity to see what his namesake would become. If there’s an afterworld, and a bookstore in it, he’d do well to check out attorney Robert Pigott’s book, New York Legal Landmarks: A Guide to Legal Edifices, Institutions, Lore, History and Curiosity on the City Streets.
This blog article by Margery Corbin Eddy, Lisa LeCours, Paul McGrath and Frances Murray is excerpted from a tribute of the same title originally published in Judicial Notice Issue 5, in which the authors provide more detail about the inspiring life of Judge Stevens. In this excerpt, the authors discuss Judge Stevens and his Court of Appeals career. You can read the full article here.
Judge Harold A. Stevens was the first African-American to serve on the New York Court of Appeals. But this milestone, achieved in 1974, was only one of many trail-blazing “firsts” in the extraordinary life of this exceptional lawyer and jurist. Judge Stevens was also the first African-American to graduate from Boston College Law School in 1936; the first elected to the Court of General Sessions in 1950; the first appointed and then elected to the New York State Supreme Court; the first to serve on the Appellate Division (appointed 1958) and the first African-American Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division (appointed 1969). Born and raised in the South during segregation, Judge Stevens settled in New York, a state he served as an advocate, a legislator and a judge. We honor that service and pay tribute to Judge Stevens during Black History Month.
His Tenure on the Court of Appeals
Judge Stevens arrived on the Court of Appeals during a time of significant change for the Court. Court of Appeals judges were elected, although this method of selection had become controversial.
Between November 1972 and November 1974, there were no less than six Court of Appeals Judgeships to be decided by popular vote. In 1972 alone, three new members were elected to the Court (Domenick Gabrielli, Hugh Jones and Sol Wachtler). Judge Stevens joined the Court in the aftermath of a closely-contested election for the position of Chief Judge between then-Associate Judge Charles Breitel and private practitioner Jacob Fuchsberg in November 1973. Judge Breitel won the election but the hard-fought race caused many to call for change from an elective to an appointive system.[1]
This article was written by Christine Mooney, our inaugural Historical Society of the New York Courts Teaching Fellow. Prof. Mooney is an attorney and associate professor in the CUNY Community College System, where she has been involved in mentoring students for the Garfinkel Essay Scholarship since 2009. She’s been conducting teacher and student workshops and provide resources to help bring the contest to all CUNY Community College campuses.
Photo: Detail from the mural “Victory of Light over Darkness,” by Ernest Fiene, 1944, depicting a scene from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, March 25, 1911. This image was used for the 2011 Garfinkel Essay Scholarship flyer – the topic was “The Legal Legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire”.
Last spring my colleague, Dr. Edward Volchok and I were awarded the National Education Association (NEA) Excellence in the Academy Art of Teaching Prize, for our article, “A Reflection on Teaching Students About the Value of Public Sector Unions.” The article, a commentary about the current state of unions and their historical context, provides a look at the most recent Supreme Court case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
Our research involved a historical look at the early labor movement in New York. While developing my research plan, my outline immediately brought me to the words, “Garfinkel Essay Contest”. It was what we call an “AHA” moment. I quickly went to the Garfinkel Resource page and found all of the links to the topic of the 2011 essay contest, “The Legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire”. To my surprise, I was conducting the same research my students completed six years earlier. In my mind, the topics were for my students, and their essays, NOT ME! I never stopped to think that the legacy and reach of the contest had larger outcomes. After all, I am the teacher, and they are the students, WRONG! We are all students and learning should be a life-long process!
Photo: Opening remarks by Leigh Llewelyn, co-chair of the Society’s Young Lawyers Committee, at Kosciuszko event Oct. 26 at Fraunces Tavern Museum. Photo courtesy of Marta Monko.
New York legal history is a story of movements, institutions, ideas — and people, too, although it is kinder (and better-received) to tiptoe around the “history” label for those giants of the Bench and Bar who are still with us. Many of the Historical Society of the New York Courts’ events are backwards looking by necessity, but we often try to use our glance over the shoulder as a way of looking forward. It is that spirit that animates our summer speaker series — “history” in the short term, with lawyers, judges, and other luminaries taking the time to share their stories with both their contemporaries and the next generation of attorneys.
A Conversation with Roy L. Reardon & Patricia M. Hynes
David Goodwin, co-chair of the Society’s Young Lawyers Committee, moderating conversation with Roy Reardon & Patricia Hynes
In summer 2017, the Society was delighted to feature two decorated attorneys who are complementary in every way. A husband and wife team, they were kind enough to spend the evening reminiscing about their careers, discussing the challenges they have faced, and extolling the value of mentorship and pro bono service.
Roy L. Reardon is a fifty-plus-year veteran of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, the sponsor of the evening’s chat. A son of Queens, the first in his family to go to college, and a proud graduate of St. John’s University School of Law, Roy has lived the ideal of a big-firm attorney. From commercial litigation to pro bono defense work — and two trips to the United States Supreme Court — Roy has taken advantage of the connections, mentorship, and room for growth offered by one of New York’s biggest firms.
Patricia Hynes’s career began in public service, at a time when women were still a distinct minority in the profession. After graduating from Fordham University School of Law, Pat clerked for a federal judge and then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York — the only female attorney in the office. Initially posted in the civil division, Pat was soon trying criminal cases too, and eventually became a bureau chief. After leaving the USAO for private practice, Pat continued to rack up firsts; to name just one, she was one of the first female name partners at a national law firm (Milberg Weiss in 1993). Pat also served as President of the New York City Bar Association.
At times self-moderated — one of the unheralded advantages of the couple dynamic — the frank-and-funny discussion took the audience through both shoals and open waters, from the thrill of Supreme Court argument to the rank sexism that the profession has far from exorcised. While sporting very different careers, both Roy and Pat emphasized the necessity of strong mentorship connections, without which their paths would have looked very different. Their long view allowed for an objective and, at times, critical view of how the profession and law school have changed.
For both new and not-so-new attorneys, Roy and Pat had much to say and share. The Society and its Young Lawyers Committee thank these two titans of the bar for sharing their time, insight, and careers with a receptive audience.
An Evening at Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace: Theodore Roosevelt & the Constitution
Prof. Kermit Roosevelt III giving lecture at Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace in NYC
New York’s legal history is, in many ways, also the history of the United States. The native sons and daughters of New York became America’s sons and daughters — warming seats in the Supreme Court, the Oval Office, and the Capitol.
For its inaugural Cocktails & Commentary event, the Young Lawyers Committee of the Society celebrated the complex life and legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt. Entitled An Evening at Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace: Theodore Roosevelt & the Constitution, the evening was an examination of Roosevelt’s constitutional legacy and his ambivalence over an “activist” judiciary. And, in a fitting tribute, the featured speaker addressing this oft-overlooked aspect of Roosevelt’s presidency was Roosevelt’s great-great grandson, University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Kermit Roosevelt III, who was kind enough to brave the Northeast Corridor to join the Society and its guests in Gramercy.
Prior to the Professor’s talk, the evening’s guests gathered in the great hall of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site and roamed through the exhibits on display. While the “cocktails” in the series title turned out to be a bit misleading — although we hope to scale those heights quite soon, at the moment, none of our members turns out to moonlight as a mixologist — the event did feature a fine wine, beer, and finger-food hour, where lawyers, law-students, and judges were able to mix and mingle. Professor Roosevelt then delivered an incisive talk followed by a lively — and sometimes contentious — question and answer session.
From the perspective of the Society and Young Lawyers Committee, this inaugural Cocktails & Commentary event was a great success, mixing the informative with the social in a venue that truly celebrated New York’s expansive legal history. The Society and Committee thank Professor Roosevelt, co-chair Leigh Llewelyn, the National Park Service, and everyone who made the event a can’t-miss.
Kościuszko: A Bridge to Liberty for All
Magdalena Baczewska performing original compositions by Kosciuszko. Photo courtesy of Marta Monko.
In thinking about the American Revolution, its aftermath, and the people most responsible for shaping the post-independence order, Americans understandably focus on the founding fathers and their close associates. But doing so overlooks the extensive contributions during this period made by foreign nationals from outside the colonial/British divide. These momentous figures are far from ignored, however; indeed, some number among the most commemorated figures in America history. And while they might not quite muscle into the rarefied club of names-deserving-East/West-streets-in-Chicago, they adorn America institutions of no lesser character: parks, bridges, counties, skyways, and yes, perhaps the occasional North/South Chicago street.
Kościuszko: A Bridge to Liberty for All, the second entry in the Young Lawyers Committee’s Cocktails & Commentary series, explored the multifaceted legacy of Tadeusz Kościuszko, Brigadier General of the Continental Army and Polish freedom fighter. Held at the Fraunces Tavern Museum, a beautiful space in southern Manhattan, and brought to fruition in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, the event featured fiery lectures by Professor Paul Finkelman and Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Alex Storozynski (who has celebrated Kościuszko’s legacy in both print and film, directing the documentary film Kościuszko: A Man Ahead of his Time). Topics addressed included the multi-year fight over Kościuszko’s multiple wills; Kościuszko’s passionate dislike of slavery, especially when contrasted against the doublespeak of Thomas Jefferson; and the proper way to place Kościuszko in American history. Closing out the evening was a piano recital by pianist and harpsichordist Dr. Magdalena Stern-Baczewska, performing original compositions by Kościuszko — and a little bit of Chopin for good measure.
The evening also marked another important milestone for the Society. While the previous Cocktails & Commentary event came up woefully short on proper cocktails, this omission was rectified by a toast joining the “spirits” of Poland and the United States. An original cocktail, “The Kościuszko Bridge,” married Polish Bison Grass Vodka and American gin. Comments about mixological heresy notwithstanding, early reports suggested that the amalgam was much like the man himself, sporting surprising depth and a great deal of fire.
As the year comes to a close, the Society reflects on the success of the Young Lawyers Committee in reaching an untapped audience and looks forward to many more of these events that inspire the next generation of attorneys. We can’t wait for the next event!
This article was written by Dr. James D. Folts. Dr. Folts has been head of Researcher Services at the New York State Archives since 1992, and employed at the Archives since 1980. One of his early assignments was to arrange and describe the pre-1847 records of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature, transferred to the Archives by the Court of Appeals in 1982. That work resulted in a publication, “Duely & Constantly Kept”: A History of the New York Supreme Court and an Inventory of Its Records (New York State Archives and New York State Court of Appeals, 1991) which received the Society of American Archivists’ Philip M. Hamer and Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award for Archival Advocacy. In 2016-17, he worked with Geof Huth of the Office of Court Administration, New York State Unified Court System, to implement the transfer of pre-1847 Supreme Court and Chancery Court records from the New York County Clerk’s Office to the State Archives.
Image: Detail of the Flushing Remonstrance; Erie Canal Document. Courtesy of the New York State Archives.
The Historical Society of the New York Courts, in partnership with the New York State Archives, extends an open invitation to attend a public event titled Documenting Our Past: Great Documents of New York Legal History on Thursday, November 30th at 6:30 PM at the New York City Bar Association. The program highlights major themes in New York law and jurisprudence, featuring attorneys, historians and archivists. For more information about the event and to register, click here.
Important themes in New York legal history are illustrated by original records preserved at the New York State Archives. Examples are the right to petition the government (the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657); a continuous, durable court system that provides judicial remedies, protects rights, and helps ensure social stability despite changes in political party or even political regime (New York trial court records, 1691-1847); and the New York’s development and management of transportation infrastructure, facilitated by or resulting in important innovations in property and contract law (records of construction and operation of the Erie Canal, starting 1817).
Right of Petition
The right to petition the government for relief was a right exercised in colonial New Netherland and New York, and is available to New Yorkers today. The right of petition is guaranteed by the New York State Constitution, Article I, Section 9.1. Though many petitions from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were destroyed in the 1911 fire that consumed the State Library, many examples survive in the State Archives and will be illustrated at this event.
One of the oldest petitions in the New York State Archives is the 1657 “Flushing Remonstrance.” The mostly-English residents of Vlissingen, now Flushing, Borough of Queens, successfully petitioned the Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, Petrus Stuyvesant, to allow the Quakers of their community to worship in private, exempting them from the 1656 ordinance banning the public practice of religions other than the Dutch Reformed Church. Petitions to the Legislature in the mid-19th century sought voting rights for women. Modern New York governors frequently receive letters and petitions favoring or opposing legislative bills being considered for approval or veto.
November is Native American Heritage Month, and the Society is celebrating with this biography of Ely S. Parker from our fourth Legal History by Era, Antebellum, Civil War, & Reconstruction New York: A New Court System & the Field Code, 1847-1869. Parker, a Seneca Native American, became an attorney, civil engineer, brigadier general in the Civil War, and interpreter for the Seneca people in their meetings with the federal government. He played an important role in securing land rights for the Seneca people. Due to his efforts, the Seneca people proclaimed Parker Sachem of the Six Nations. Parker is most well-known for his drafting the terms of surrender, which was signed by General Grant and General Lee and effectively ended the Civil War.
Photo: The room in the McLean House, at Appomattox C.H., in which Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant. Ely S. Parker is fifth from the right.
Ely S. Parker
Ely S. Parker was born on the Seneca Reservation at Tonawanda in western New York in 1828. His parents raised him in the traditions of the League of the Haudenosaunee (also known as Six Nations or Iroquois), but also educated him at a Baptist Mission school. There, he took the first name of the school’s minister and called himself Ely Parker.
A chance meeting with the anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan greatly influenced Ely’s life — Morgan sponsored him for admission to Morgan’s alma mater, the Cayuga Academy, an elite school in Aurora, Cayuga County, in western New York. Ely encountered difficulties at the school which he described in a letter to a friend:
“Once or twice I have been severely abused. But I returned blow for blow with savage ferocity. Whether I gained the upper hand of my antagonist I leave the public to decide. For mind you, these quarrels were public. Bad business, but it could not be helped.”
The academy provided an excellent education, and the curriculum included Latin, Greek and science. Ely participated in numerous school debates and became the Academy’s leading orator. His fluency in English enabled him to become the translator, scribe, and interpreter for the Seneca elders in their meetings and correspondence with the United States government.
Editor’s Note: Whether or not New York State should have a new constitutional convention is on the voting ballot this November. As such, the Historical Society took a look back on the history of the State’s Constitution with the April 18, 2017 program Constitutional Conventions in New York: Past, Present, and Future. In this article, Professor Peter J. Galie, who opened the program with his lecture “New York State Constitutional Conventions: Back to the Future,” and writing partner Christopher Bopst revisit the Constitutional Convention of 1938.
Image: “He Wants It Short and Plain” by Jerry Costello. Archives: L0096-78 Newspaper clippings file 1938.
Secretary of State Edward Flynn called the convention to order on April 5, 1938, amid inauspicious economic and political developments. The country was in the midst of an economic downturn that had started in May 1937. Unemployment, which had declined significantly after 1933, had increased to around 20 percent. The number of democracies throughout the world had fallen to pre-World War I levels.
The previous debate over the call for a convention was notable for the absence of issues that might have provided an agenda. But Flynn’s opening remarks sounded the note that would provide the convention with a theme and purpose:
You are assembled during a most critical time in the world’s history, when new forms of government are being created throughout the world and democratic principles are being forgotten.
The constitutional convention held in New York State in 1938, the state’s ninth, was a “people’s convention.” The convention was called pursuant to the provision of the state constitution mandating that every twenty years citizens be asked whether they wish to convene a convention to revise and amend the constitution. It was a people’s convention in another sense: Neither major party addressed the question in their respective platforms.
Voters approved the convention by a margin of 1,413,604 to 1,190,275. Discouraging for those who valued the exercise in popular sovereignty provided by the automatic call provision was the startlingly large number of voters who ignored the proposition. The total vote on the convention question was three million less than that cast in the governor’s race on the same ballot.
The 2017-2018 cycle of the David A. Garfinkel Essay Scholarship has begun, and we’re bringing some changes to the competition! After 11 years, the Society has made the difficult decision to restructure elements of the Garfinkel Essay Scholarship, but keep some the same!
A Society Trustee developed the resources for the previous 10 cycles and decided to take a step back to let a new person manage the preparation of Scholarship materials. She has even written an article about the importance of the Scholarship for our blog. This led to the creation of the Historical Society of New York Courts Fellowship. The Fellow’s duties include developing the topic and questions, preparing materials for the Scholarship website, and conducting teacher and student workshops.
Luckily, we were able to find the perfect person for our first Society Fellow: Christine Mooney, Esq.! Christine is an attorney and Associate Professor in the CUNY Community College system. She has written for our blog before about the impact of the Scholarship on not only her students but also her professional work (Read more here). As someone deeply invested in the success of the Garfinkel Essay Scholarship, Professor Mooney developed this year’s topic: Stolen Art: From the Holocaust to the Present – Role of the Courts in Restoring Cultural Objects to Their Rightful Owners. Christine truly understands how to integrate the Scholarship into course curriculum and connect the Scholarship’s topic to a variety of disciplines while still relating to the rich legal history of New York State. All resources are now available on the Garfinkel Scholarship section of our website.
