Almost 50 years have elapsed between my first and most recent appearance before the New York Court of Appeals and a recent LEXIS search shows I appeared in 117 cases in that court, arguing about 80 of them.
My maiden appellate argument was in 1963 in Seagirt Realty v. Chazanof.1 Apart from nervousness I still feel before any argument, I was completely at ease standing at the lectern in that beautiful and familiar courtroom where I spent countless hours during the years I was a law clerk to Judge Charles Froessel, learning the fundamentals of appellate advocacy. The case allowed me to use what I had learned about the court’s limited scope of review when confronted with affirmed findings of fact. They are binding upon it.2
