This week on the Touro Law Review Podcast, we are joined by the Honorable Sol Wachtler, former Chief of the New York State Court of Appeals. This podcast is moderated by Professor Lauren Wachtler. Judge Wachtler has had an exceptional career. Serving for many years in government, and as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and later elected to the New York Court of Appeals where he served first as an associate judge and then as its Chief over the course of 14 years.
The discussion begins with a conversation about the complicated and confusing nature of the New York court system after which Judge Wachtler dives into the jurisdiction of the New York Court of Appeals, its present mandate that it may only review issues of law on appeal. Judge Wachtler discusses many present and past cases of interest which have become before the NY State Court of Appeals, including “The Subway Vigilante” case of Bernard Goetz.
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Our guest today is the Honorable Sol Wachtler.
The Honorable Sol Wachtler
Sol Wachtler began his government career in 1963, when he was elected supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead. He was appointed to the New York State Supreme Court in 1968 and elected to the New York State Court of Appeals in 1972. In 1985, he was appointed Chief Judge of the State of New York and the Court of Appeals, positions in which he served until 1993. He was also the founder and first chair of New York’s State Federal Judicial Council as well as the National State Federal Judicial Council and a member of the American Law Institute. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation and In 2021 he was awarded the inaugural President’s Award of the New York State Bar Association for his “Indelible impact on the Law.”
Professor Lauren Wachtler
Lauren J. Wachtler is a partner with the law firm Barclay Damon LLP. She was a former Chair of the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section of the NY State Bar, a member of the State Bar’s House of Delegates and its Executive Committee. She has been a member of numerous task forces for the State Bar, including the Chair of the “Women’s Initiative” Task Force and one of the draftspersons of the Task Force’s Report “If Not Now When: Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in The Courtroom and ADR” and its follow up report “The Time is Now.” She has consistently been on the New York Times “Super Lawyers” list for Business and General Litigation from 2006 through the present and selected as “Best Lawyers in America” from 2016 through the present. She was the 2021 recipient of the Shira Scheindlin Award for Excellence in the Courtroom, and the recipient of the “Champion of Change” award from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention of RiverSpring Health. Since 2017, Ms. Wachtler has been the Chair of the program entitled “Taking the Lead: Winning Strategies and Techniques for Commercial Cases” presented at the SDNY courthouse, involving a mock trial of a real case with members of the judiciary presiding. She is a frequent guest lecturer and panelist on topics ranging from evidence, trial practice, ADR and pretrial litigation techniques and developments in the law.
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