CityLaw

CityLaw Profile: Arthur Leonard, Professor, Author, Editor, Chronicler, Composer, Bassist

Arthur Leonard

Arthur Leonard for 40 years has been one of the most important and most-read chronicler of the LGBT rights movement. In 1979, as the founder and president of the City’s Gay Lawyers Association Leonard began reporting judicial decisions involving LGBT rights and slipping them in the monthly mailer—this was the start of LGBT Law Notes. Originally a two-sided photocopied sheet of paper, LGBT Law Notes is now a monthly newsletter with a circulation of thousands. … <Read More>

Prison Reform: The Monitor’s First Report in the Nunez Case

Prison Reform

Recently the City got some good news about Rikers Island, a change from the bad news of recent years. On August 2, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio, together with Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, announced that for the first six months of 2016 the frequencies with which staff used serious force on inmates and inmates seriously assaulted staff dropped by nearly half over the past year. Overall uses of force and assault numbers were also down … <Read More>

Preservation Consultant Gregory Dietrich on a Unique Path to a Unique Career

Gregory Dietrich, Principal of Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting, works as one of the small number of privately practicing historic preservation consultants. His vocation brings him into close contact with regulatory bodies, developers, land use agencies, advocacy groups, non-profit organizations and more.  This gives him a unique perspective, and requires a wide range of expertise he continues to broaden.  In conversation, his intellectual versatility becomes readily apparent, as he discussed his work, his background, and … <Read More>

Ellen Hoffman: President of the New York City Tax Commission

Ellen Hoffman, a lawyer for 40 years, earned a JD from New York University School of Law in 1977 and an LLM in Taxation in 1978. She began her career in tax law at a private firm in New York City, when after 11 years, she felt the urge to do something different. Hoffman stumbled upon a posting for a tax attorney position with the New York City Department of Finance and, as Hoffman … <Read More>

How Small is Too Small: the Trivial Doctrine in New York Law

How small is too small when it comes to trip hazards on New York City sidewalks? New York courts, grappling with this issue for over 125 years, have declined to advance a standard based solely on the size or dimensions of the defect or hazard and instead have opted to evaluate each slip, trip and fall case on the merits under a totality of the circumstances test. The result is that it is difficult for … <Read More>