The Committee for Modern Courts is a private, nonpartisan nonprofit organization organized under § 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Committee lobbies for legislation designed to improve the administration of justice in New York. Contributions to the Committee for Modern Courts are not tax-deductible.
Officers
Chair
William C. Silverman
Proskauer Rose LLP
Vice Chair
Mary Schutte
Past Chairs
Amelia T.R. Starr
Barry A. Bohrer
Member, Mintz; former partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP and co-chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense & Government Investigations Group. Barry has extensive litigation experience handling white collar criminal and complex civil matters in federal and state courts for individual and corporate clients. He also has an active trial and appellate practice. Barry has successfully defended clients, including major corporations, financial institutions, political figures, corporate executives and individuals, professionals and prominent law firms.
Milton L. Williams, Jr.
Partner, Walden Macht & Haran, LLP, specializing in white collar criminal and regulatory matters, employment law, litigation and advisory work representing corporations, as well as complex commercial litigation. Former partner, Raskin & Clark, PC, specializing in Employment and Labor Law. Deputy General Counsel and the Chief Compliance Officer at Time Inc. Served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office.
Victor A. Kovner
Partner, Davis, Wright, Tremaine, LLP, specializing in Communications Law and Civil Litigation. Recipient of the Jerome Michael Award and the E.B. Converse Prize. Current Member, New York State Commission on Public Access; past Member, New York City Mayor’s Committee on the Judiciary; past Member and Chair, New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct; Former Corporation Counsel, City of New York, 1990-1991.
Fern Schair
Senior Vice President, the American Arbitration Association. Currently Vice Chair, Committee on Women and The Courts and President of the Children’s Law Center; Member of the Board, American Judicature Society and Legal Services for New York. Has served as Executive Secretary and Chief Administrative Officer of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, as Program Development Officer for the Soros Foundation-Open Society Institute and is the President of LSNY.
Michael A. Cardozo
Litigation Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP; former New York City Corporation Counsel, City of New York; formerly Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP; past President of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; former Chair, New York State Committee on Judicial Administration; former Chair, New York State Appellate Division Task Force.
Edwin F. Chinlund
Vice President and Treasurer of R.H. Macy & Co.; President of Postal Telegraph; Partner, Arthur Andersen. Chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of the National Urban League; a Trustee of Citizens Budget Commission; Member of the Executive Committee of Citizens Union.
John D. Feerick
Professor and former Dean, Fordham University School of Law; former Chair, Board of Directors, American Arbitration Association; past President, Association of the Bar of the City of New York; former Chair, New York State Commission on Government Integrity; past President, Board of Directors, Citizens Union Foundation.
Robert M. Kaufman
Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP; United States Chairman of the Board of the Pirelli Group; past President, American Judicature Society; past President, Association of the Bar of the City of New York; member, judicial selection committee of Senator Daniel P. Moynihan; former legislative assistant to Senator Jacob K. Javits.
Robert MacCrate
Senior Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell; past President, American Bar Foundation; past President, American Bar Association; past President, American Judicature Society; past President, New York State Bar Association and the New York Bar Foundation; former Counsel to Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
John J. McCloy
International banker, lawyer and diplomat who was an advisor to U.S. Presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan. President of the World Bank. Chair of the Board of Chase Manhattan Bank. Member, Milbank, Tweed, Hope, Hadley & McCloy, and also Member, Cravath, DeGersdorff, Swaine & Wood. Chair of the Boards of the Ford Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, and International House.
Cyrus R. Vance
Secretary of State from 1977 to 1980. Deputy of Defense under Robert McNamara, and international negotiator deployed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to Panama, Cyprus, and South Korea. Member of Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett. Chair of the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, Vice Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, and member of the United Nations Association and Trilateral Commission.