Library reopening

Beginning Tuesday, June 1, 2021, the Appellate Division Law Library will open its doors by appointment only.

90-minute appointments will be available Monday through Thursday at the following times:

• 9:30 – 11:00
• 11:30 – 1:00
• 2:30 – 4:00

There is a limit of two appointments per week. Computer use, browsing the New York shelves, and retrieval of other books by request are available in this initial phase. No printers, copiers or scanners will be available. Available services will increase during future phases of the library’s reopening. (Existing “curbside” circulation and virtual reference services will remain available during this phase.)

To schedule an appointment, send an email to ad4ref@nycourts.gov or call 585-530-3251.

The Chief Judge of the Unified Court System has determined that masks must be worn over the nose and mouth inside all NYS courthouses regardless of vaccination status. Temperature checks and social distancing protocols also remain in place. Those who do not comply will not be allowed to enter the courthouse (or the library) and will be asked to leave if in non-compliance after entering. This policy will be strictly enforced.

We look forward to seeing you.

Law Library Statement on Accurate Legal Information

After the violent attempt on January 6 to interfere with election certification, an attempt based at least in part on disinformation, the Appellate Division Law Library would like to remind you that public law libraries have authoritative sources and provide access to accurate legal information and laws for all. Contact us at 585-530-3251 or ad4ref@nycourts.gov. More information on our reference services is available here.

We thank colleagues from Minnesota for the idea for this post and encourage all legal professionals to advocate for law libraries, now more than ever.

Book review: Keep Swinging

New Yorkers during the Pataki and Spitzer years will recall the disproportionate influence of “three men in a room” to determine state policy. Keep Swinging : a memoir of politics and justice invites readers into that room with Joe Bruno, New York Senate Majority Leader from 1994 to 2008. Beginning with his youth in Glens Falls, Senator Bruno describes the experiences that shaped his 32-year career in state government. Several chapters recount specific “horse trading” sessions with Assemblyman Sheldon Silver and the Governor’s office as they negotiated the State’s budget. The final chapters of the book address the senator’s 2008 retirement, and the controversial prosecution he faced for honest services fraud. Joe Bruno, a Korean War veteran, died in October 2020 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

The Library is grateful to our colleague Neil Campbell of Mental Hygiene Legal Service not only for the generous donation of this memoir, but for graciously accepting the request to provide the book review!

Library closing

The Appellate Division Law Library will be closed to the public starting Tuesday, March 17th due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Any patron who has material currently checked out will receive extended due dates at no charge because of the closure.

If you need assistance, you can email the reference desk at ad4ref@nycourts.gov and someone will assist you. PDF documents can be sent to you for a minimal fee. We are here to help you and apologize for any inconvenience.

Stay well!

Books & food

Books and food are some of the best things in life, but when enjoyed together ... not so good.

New NYSBA CLEs

Recent acquisitions of NYSBA CLE digital media:

The New Discovery Law: A Criminal Justice Revolution
Handling Law Enforcement Investigations as Corporate Counsel
Auto & Truck Claims, Accidents & Litigation (2019)
Construction Site Accident Claims & Litigation (2019)
Basics of Elder Law and Special Needs Practice (2019)
Intermediate Trusts and Estates Planning (2019)
Succession Planning: Retirement 101 (2019)
Matrimonial Law Basics (2019)
Matrimonial Trial Institute I: A Mock Financial Trial (2019)
Workers Compensation Law Update (2019)
Advanced Real Estate Topics (2019)
Honing Your Deposition Skills: Basics and Beyond (2019)
Gain the Edge: Negotiation Strategies for Lawyers (2019)

Black History Month

Harriet Tubman (William Henry Johnson, 1945)

Researching African American "firsts" in the law, we came upon the story of William Henry Johnson, in at least one scholar's assessment the first black attorney in the United States. And an amazing story it is, as wide of breadth and full of incident as a nineteenth-century novel, from his youth as a jockey on a plantation, acquaintance with presidents, escape from slavery, a shipwreck, and eluding of slave catchers with the assistance of John Jacob Astor, through to the dogged pursuit of learning that culminated in a long legal career and the abiding respect of his community in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Looking for more on this remarkable yet little-known individual, we discovered another remarkable, little-known person by the same name - a "ghost of history," in one writer's phrase, who served as the Albany correspondent for Frederick Douglass's North Star. This William Henry Johnson was instrumental in the passage of legislation in New York State prohibiting discrimination against African Americans in life insurance and in public education. His autobiography is available as a free e-book for those who may wish to read more about him. You can also find online a speech he delivered in Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1859, whose theme Rochesterians will no doubt recognize as similar to Douglass's "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech of seven years earlier, Independence Day having long been recognized by abolitionists as a powerful rhetorical opportunity.

Imagine our surprise when we then learned that President Lincoln's personal valet was named ...... William Henry Johnson. Johnson accompanied Lincoln to Gettysburg for the delivery of the Gettysburg Address. On their return, Lincoln fell ill with smallpox and Johnson nursed him back to health. Poignantly, Johnson also contracted the disease and succombed shortly thereafter.

At this point the rabbit hole beckoned and we jumped in: we weren't going to stop until we'd found as many African Americans of historical note with that name as we could. There were three more. One was a World War I soldier, more commonly known by his middle name, who fought off a German raiding party of as many as twenty-four men in hand-to-hand combat. Another was a painter who experimented with a diverse range of styles and subjects, from impressionistic still-lifes and landscapes to the work for which he is best known, African American themes in the tradition of American folk art. A substantial collection of his work is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Last is the figure known as Zip the Pinhead, a performer with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey sideshows and at Coney Island. Exhibited as a "missing link" in the overtly racist context of such entertainment and long thought to be microcephalic, Zip may well have had far more agency in his life than previously credited. For one thing, he saved a girl from drowning at Coney Island. For another, he managed to die a wealthy man. His final words to his sister were reputed to be, "Well, we fooled ‘em for a long time."

A shared name is a thin thread to tie any thoughts together and it's certainly not the intention here to sum up with any grand conclusions. It has been gratifying, though, to follow the serendipitous turns this research took. It's reminded us once again of the astounding determination, struggle, and creativity that mark black history in the United States. And it has offered an opportunity to discover and contemplate the life stories of people who deserve to be better known.