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Statement
I'm looking forward to
discussions how NYSBA can help itself, and its members, make
efficient and effective use of electronic communications
technology to enhance their respective functions and
productivity.
With respect to NYSBA, I would like to see us developing
electronic means of communications with members, and more
effective ways of providing NYSBA resources to members via the
internet. I think this is an excellent medium to permit us to
get information about our agenda out to members and the
public, and to provide members with a resource base which will
serve as an attraction to membership in the Association. In
particular, we can use our website as a public relations
medium for our Association (keeping in mind that the only ones
who will see what we put on the site are those who come to it
for some other reason).
With respect to member attorneys, it is clear that electronic
communications are here to stay, and that they are becoming an
ever more popular alternative to other means of discourse
(which is not always good). Attorneys need to learn how to use
it, tame it for their particular needs, and not allow it to
overwhelm their time management systems.
I would also like to find ways to make better use of distance
teleconferencing, so long as the essential element of an in
person group meeting (the ability to see and hear the other
participants, and participate in the give and take of
discussion) are not lost. This would be an excellent means of
coping with a problem which I encounter on a regular basis:
the frequent scheduling of short committee meetings
exclusively in NYC, so that the only participants are those
who are nearby and can attend without an excessive expenditure
of time and/or money.
Biography
A. THOMAS LEVIN
is a partner in the law firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein
P.C., with offices in Mineola, New York City, Albany and
Washington D.C. He is a graduate of Brown University, and New
York University School of Law (J.D. and LL.M.).
A member of the Bar in New York, Florida, the US Virgin
Islands, the US Supreme Court and various other federal
jurisdictions, Mr. Levin is currently Secretary of the New
York State Bar Association, and will become President-Elect of
that Association on June 1, 2002, and President on June 1,
2003. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the
New York State Bar Association, serving as Vice President and
as an At Large Member, since 1995. He also served on the
Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association
Municipal Law Section for several years, and has served as
Chair, member or Executive Committee Liaison to many
committees of that Association, including the Task Force on
Pay to Play Concerns, the Special Committee on Law Firm
Structure and Operations (MDP), the By Laws Committee, the
Electronic Communications Task Force and the President’s
Special Committee on Access to Justice.
Mr. Levin is a former President of the Nassau County Bar
Association, and is a permanent member of that Association's
Board of Directors. He is a Fellow of the New York Bar
Foundation and the American Bar Foundation, a former member of
the ABA House of Delegates, a past President of the Bar
Association of Nassau County Fund, Inc., and a co-founder and
former Vice-President of the Nassau Bar Tech Center, Inc.
Mr. Levin concentrates his practice in the field of commercial
litigation and local government law, representing clients in
the private and public sectors. He is Village Attorney for
eight Nassau County villages, and special counsel to numerous
other villages, school districts, Nassau County, the City of
Long Beach, the City of Glen Cove, the Town of Hempstead, the
Town of North Hempstead, the Town of Brookhaven, the Great
Neck Cable Commission and the Public Access Television
Corporation.
In the public service field, Mr. Levin has been counsel to the
Judiciary Committee of the New York State Assembly, and to the
Joint Legislative Committee on the State's Economy, and has
been active in numerous community and charitable
organizations. He has served as a member of the Board of
Trustees of the Long Island Community Foundation. Mr. Levin
has been pro bono general counsel to the Child Care Council of
Nassau, Inc. and the Rosa Lee Young Childhood Center, Inc. for
more than twenty five years, and represents many other
organizations and individuals on a pro bono basis. He is a
former member of the Brown University Alumni Association Board
of Governors, and is President of the Brown University Club of
Long Island, Inc.
Since 1972, Mr. Levin has been the Editor of the Bench Book
for Trial Judges, first published by the New York State
Judicial Conference and the Office of Court Administration,
and now published by Westgroup. He is also the author of
numerous other legal articles, and is a frequent lecturer on
legal topics.
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