Faculty: Hon. Frederic Block, E.D.N.Y.

Special Guest: Jabbar Collins, who spent 16 years in prison for a murder he did not commit and is the model for the protagonist in the novel

Program Co-Sponsors: NYCLA’s Law and Literature Committee, Civil Rights and Liberties Committee and Criminal Justice Section

                “Judge Block’s Race to Judgment is a gripping page-turner with the added virtue of realism, thanks to the author’s decades of experience as a  lawyer and federal judge. I devoured it in a weekend, and I suspect you will do the same.”

                                              -- David Lat, founder and managing editor of Above the Law


Hear from Hon. Frederic Block, about how his real life experiences led him to write  his "reality-fiction" first novel which is "loosely based on a number of high-profile cases" that he handled during his more than 23 years on the federal bench in Brooklyn, including the Crown Heights riots, the civil case against New York City filed by Jabbar Collins who was unjustly convicted of murdering an Orthodox rabbi, and the Peter Gotti trial. Judge Block will discuss his views on racial tensions, political corruption and how they can lead to wrongful convictions of innocent defendants. These real life experiences have been translated into a "historical novel [that] dramatizes a defense attorney’s perilous stand against judicial corruption in Brooklyn."

Joining Judge Block will be : Jabbar Collins and Joel B. Rudin,  who will discuss the real life events that inspired Judge Block's literary work.

All paid attendees will receive a copy of Race to Judgement, by Hon. Frederic Block – a $24.95 value