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November 18, 2010
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The Daily Record
OnTheTOWN
Seventh Judicial District
celebrates ‘pro bono’ week
On Oct. 29, attorneys in Rochester
and throughout the Seventh Judicial
District joined in the ABA’s Second
Annual National Celebration of Pro
Bono by attending “Ethics Redux.” The
live pro bono CLE program held at
Rochester’s Hall of Justice was broadcast district-wide thanks to the support
of the Hon. Thomas M. Van Strydonck,
Administrative Judge, Seventh Judicial
District.
Volunteer Legal Services Project of
Monroe County Inc. and ProBonoNY cosponsored the program.
Sharing their expertise in ethics as
CLE presenters were: the Hon. Marian
W. Payson, U.S. magistrate judge,
Western District of New York; Gregory J.
Huether, chief counsel, Attorney
Grievance Committee, Appellate
Division, Fourth Department; and
Christopher K. Werner, Boylan, Brown,
Code, Vigdor & Wilson LLP.
Over 50 attorneys attended the CLE
and agreed to accept a pro bono case
referral, truly a cause for celebration in
these challenging times.
— Photos by Nora Jones
Ethics Redux panelists Gregory J. Huether, Christopher K. Werner and the Hon. Marian W.
Payson
Election outcome still uncertain
I COURT from page 1
Steiner joins fellow Justice J. Scott
Odorisi, also of The Odorisi Law Firm.
On election night, the highest vote
getters were Republicans Irondequoit
Town Justice Vincent M. Dinolfo with
117,313 votes; Henrietta Town Justice
James J. Piampiano, 112,993; and
Justice Argento, 103,380. They also ran
on the Conservative and Independence
lines. Judge Wolford, a Democrat,
received 100,785 votes on election
night.
There were not enough outstanding
ballots to affect the outcomes for Justice
Dinolfo and Justice Piampiano, but
7,618 absentee ballots were yet to be
counted, enough for Judge Wolford to
possibly make up the difference between
her and Justice Argento.
Counting absentee votes was complicated by a subsequent court-ordered
impoundment of all ballots in the 25th
Congressional District, which remains
too close to call. A large part of
Northeastern Monroe County is in the
25th. Those ballots in Monroe County
were counted Friday.
Monroe County Board of Elections
Commissioner Peter M. Quinn, earlier
this week, said there is still a question
on about 236 ballots that were still
under impoundment. He said in separate counts Nov. 9, 11 and 12, Justice
Argento picked up an additional 4,115
votes to Judge Wolford’s 3,677, increasing the difference from 2,595 to 3,033.
Results are unofficial until certified
by the state, but Quinn said he doesn’t
think the results will change in the
county court race.
“I don’t believe so with the numbers
that are left,” he said Tuesday.
Judge Wolford said she had not
received any updated numbers and had
not conceded. She is hearing cases in
Wayne County Court. In fact, because
she had been with the district attorney’s
office before her May appointment, she
was assigned to Monroe County Family
Court for six months to avoid a potential
conflict of interest with cases she may
have worked on as a prosecutor.
The plan was to move her to county
court in November, but that changed
after the election when it looked like she
might not win the judgeship. There was
also talk about Judge Wolford returning
to the district attorney’s office in
January, which she said she can’t rule
out as a possibility in case the votes
don’t come out in her favor.
The possibility of her hearing criminal
cases in county court for more than a
month raised concerns with Public
Defender Timothy P. Donaher who
approached Judge Patricia D. Marks,
supervising judge of the criminal courts
for the Seventh Judicial District.
He gave her a copy of a 2007 opinion
by the Advisory Committee on Judicial
Ethics which addressed a similar matter.
In that case, a judge’s personally
James P. McElheny, VLSP Board of Directors co-president and managing partner at Woods
Oviatt Gilman, makes opening remarks at Ethics Redux CLE.
Shannon O’Keefe, Barney & Affronti. and Bill Taylor, Monroe County Law Department
appointed court attorney had applied for
a job with the local, large urban district
attorney’s office that prosecuted almost
every matter that came before the judge.
Because the matter involved an application for employment, the committee
trusted a judge to exercise appropriate
discretion, but said action should be taken
if the district attorney offered employment
or if the two parties were negotiating for a
position.
Options include transferring the court
attorney to a civil part of court or insulating the court attorney until negotiations
ended or, if a job offer was accepted, until
the court attorney assumed the new position.
“I have the utmost respect, both personally and professionally for Judge
Wolford, but I was concerned about the
perception our clients would have when
a judge who had conducted their criminal matter, shortly thereafter returns to
the district attorney’s office in a senior
staff position,” Donaher said. “My concern was predicated upon the common
belief that she was returning to the district attorney’s office.”
Judge Marks said Donaher was perfectly within his rights and raised a
legitimate issue.
Monroe County District Attorney
Michael C. Green would not say whether
Judge Wolford would return to his office.
“She’s not here now,” Green said.
“She’s still on the bench. I don’t have any
comment on what might happen when
she’s done with her term on the bench.”
County Communications Department
Director Noah Lebowitz said the vacancy created in the district attorney’s office
in May when Judge Wolford joined county court remains open.
“The district attorney makes his own
hiring decisions,” Lebowitz said.
“Assuming he wants to bring her back,
that’s his decision.”
Judge Wolford was appointed to the
bench in May to replace the Hon.
Alexander R. Renzi, now a state supreme
court justice. The other vacancies were
created by the May 15 death of Judge John
J. Connell and the retirement at the end of
this year of Judge Richard A. Keenan.
When Judge Wolford was assigned to
family court, Family Court Judge Joan S.
Kohout began hearing criminal matters.
Judge Kohout will be back in family
court starting Monday.
“I think that it is appropriate to have
Judge Kohout return to family court,”
said Judge Craig J. Doran, supervising
judge of the family courts. “She’s elected
to serve in family court and her assignment in criminal court was only meant to
be temporary.”
Judge Wolford stopped hearing family
court matters this past Monday. Filling
the void left by Judge Kohout’s departure
from the criminal courts will be Wayne
County Court Judge Daniel G. Barrett.
Judge Wolford is filling in for Barrett.
“We looked for someone willing to
come to Monroe County and do the judicial version of trading places,” said
Judge Marks. “It’s pretty routine. As of
Monday, he will cover the cases Judge
Kohout had in the interim.”
— denise.champagne@nydailyrecord.com
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