Catherine A. Christian, counsel for special projects, the New York County District Attorney's Office, Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, has been installed as the 55th president of the New York County Lawyers' Association (NYCLA).
Ms. Christian is the first African American to be inducted as NYCLA's president and the second woman president of the Association. (Rosalind S. Fink was NYCLA's first woman president in 1997.) At 43, Ms. Christian is also the youngest person to serve as president of the 99-year-old Association.
Also installed at last month's NYCLA Annual Meeting were Ann B. Lesk, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, as president-elect; James B. Kobak Jr., Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP and president of the NYCLA Foundation, as vice president; Louis Crespo, Special Referee, New York County Supreme Court, as secretary, and Joel B. Harris, Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP, as treasurer.
Ms. Christian is responsible for all aspects of legal training for assistant district attorneys, paralegals, investigative and financial analysts, interns and investigators in areas such as ethical obligations, trial advocacy, grand jury practice, complaint drafting, electronic surveillance, search warrant practice and investigative techniques. She handles matters for the Special Investigations Bureau, including money laundering and financial investigations. Ms. Christian also supervises and manages all of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office litigation involving motions for re-sentencing, and litigates the Office's most significant re-sentencing hearings of high-level or violent drug traffickers.
In addition to the officers, the following directors were elected: Stewart D. Aaron, Arnold & Porter LLP; Rhea Kemble Dignam, Ernst & Young LLP; Gail Donoghue, special counsel to the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York; Thomas G. Draper Jr., Mazur, Carp & Rubin, P.C.; the Hon. Marcy S. Friedman, justice, New York State Supreme Court; David M. Grunblatt, Proskauer Rose LLP; Vilia B. Hayes, Hughes Hubbard; Mariana Hogan, professor, New York Law School; Stacey J. Rappaport, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP; the Hon. George Bundy Smith (ret.), Chadbourne & Parke LLP, and Lewis F. Tesser, Tesser & Ryan, LLP.