As the Association of the Bar of the City of New York looks ahead to its 2002 wish list of legislative reform in Albany, the events of Sept. 11 are foremost on our minds. For every New Yorker, and every American, in one single day all of our previous priorities and expectations were suddenly in question.
On Sept. 10 our expected 2002 legislative agenda included meaningful campaign finance reform, equality for gays and lesbians and a massive overhaul of our state’s arcane and confusing court system. There was much optimism that reform of New York’s harsh drug laws and a rate raise for court-appointed attorneys, two of our main legislative issues for several years, would see substantial progress in the 2001 session.
