Nassau County
Bar Association


April 3, 2020


Dear NCBA Members:

We’ve made it through another week in our temporary stay-at-home status. I hope you and yours are still healthy and adjusting to this strange new reality. I’m hopeful that we will soon see hospitalizations for COVID-19 on Long Island peak and then start to drop. Nevertheless, the need for legal services prompted by the pandemic will continue for some time. The NCBA will meet the challenges presented.

County Executive Laura Curran held a press conference yesterday acknowledging the NCBA and the COVID-19 Community Response Task Force I created this week, Chaired by Past President Martha Krisel. See below for the full press conference video and press release.
Anyone who is seeking to join the NCBA COVID-19 Community Response Task Force initiative can contact Martha Krisel at kriselmartha@gmail.com . It is still too early to determine the full range of needs which will arise, but with Martha, NCBA Pro Bono Director Gale Berg, and various dedicated NCBA committee chairs shaping the direction of the Task Force, I am confident that the needs of Nassau County residents and businesses will be well served.
 
We are settling into a temporary relocation of Domus to “the cloud” to continue our many important functions. NCBA CLE Director Jen Groh has migrated many important Academy of Law offerings to the virtual world through our CLE on Demand program so that you can earn your CLE credit right from home. Click here to access CLE on Demand if you haven’t already done so.

To address the many other components of the NCBA, I have appointed Past Academy Dean Tom Foley to facilitate this process as, for want of a more formal term, the “Virtual Domus” Czar. Tom will be working with Hector Herrera to improve the ways members connect in our virtual world, such as through platforms like Zoom. Committee chairs can use Zoom for meetings (if you are uncertain about how, reach out to Tom). In addition, we have added a section to the NCBA COVID-19 web page with helpful articles and video tutorials on Zoom. Access it here .
 
NCBA Committees are already using Zoom to hold their meetings. The Surrogate’s Court Estates & Trusts Committee held a Zoom meeting this week and have presented the Executive Committee with a proposed resolution urging the Office of Court Administration to find Surrogate Courts and their practitioners to be an essential business because, for example, of the often exigent nature of the need to appoint administrators and marshal assets. The Executive Committee in in support.

There are upcoming Zoom meetings you should know about:

·        The Labor and Employment Law Committee will meet by Zoom on Monday, April 6, 2020 at 12:30 PM to discuss the Coronavirus Effect on Employment Law.
·        The Criminal Court Law and Procedure Committee is holding a Zoom meeting on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 12:30 PM to help criminal courts practitioners navigate the virtual courts that have been created in Nassau County.
·        The Business Law, Tax and Accounting Committee will hold a Zoom meeting on April 23, 2020 at 12:30 PM for discuss experiences in dealing with the pandemic (navigating your practice, advice and/or questions regarding government funded loan applications, and many other issues.

Lastly, on behalf of WE CARE, Chair Chris McGrath asked me to remind everybody that even under stay at home orders, the hospitals need blood and that any members who are able to donate, may do so. The blood centers are particularly conscious of protecting both the staff and the donors. If you wish to donate, you can find a center near you by visiting New York Blood Center or the American Red Cross .



Stay Safe Everyone,
Rick Collins
Richard D. Collins
NCBA President

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