NORMAN SIEGEL TO CHAIR NYCLA MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

  NEW YORK COUNTY

LAWYERS’ASSOCIATION

14 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10007

NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS ADVISORY

 

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia (212) 267-6646, ext. 225, aaboulafia@nycla.org

 

NORMAN SIEGEL TO CHAIR NYCLA MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

 

NEW YORK – JANUARY 5, 2006 – Norman Siegel, former Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), has been appointed chair of New York County Lawyers’ Association’s (NYCLA) Municipal Affairs Committee. Mr. Siegel, who most recently made an unsuccessful bid to unseat Betsy Gotbaum as New York City’s Public Advocate, has worked in the public sector for most of his career and is currently in private practice.

 

The NYCLA Municipal Affairs Committee reviews and comments on proposed City legislation, rules, regulations, practices and procedures, and hosts meetings and public fora with noted experts and government officials to discuss these matters. NYCLA’s President, Norman L. Reimer, said, “Norman Siegel is one of the pre-eminent civil libertari­ans of our times. His dedication to preserving a balance between effective government and individual liberty perfect­ly embodies the NYCLA mission.”

 

As the NYCLU’s Executive Director from 1985 to 2001, Mr. Siegel was involved in some of the City’s most critical civil rights and civil liberties struggles, including the creation of an independent Civilian Complaint Review Board, the successful defense of the Brooklyn Museum’s right to exhibit controversial art and the fight for citizens’ access to the steps of City Hall for protesting.

 

The New York County Lawyers’ Association (www.nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion or gender. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

 

# # #