Ronald C. Minkoff — Presidential Induction Speech May 28, 2026

Remarks of Ronald C. Minkoff

Annual Meeting

May 28, 2026

Induction Speech

Thank you, Tyler, for those incredibly kind words.  Tyler is my law partner at FKKS, and a superstar in the world of professional ethics.  It is a true pleasure and honor to have Tyler introduce me today.

I am so proud and so humbled that my NYCLA colleagues have given me the honor, and the responsibility, of becoming president of this beloved, 118-year-old association.  There are larger bar associations in this state, and in this country, but I will venture to say none that has the legacy and the outsized influence of this one.  And we must continue to maintain that influence as we confront some of the gravest threats to the rule of law in our nation’s history.

I will talk more about those in a moment, but first some thank yous are in order.  As I sat down to write this, I kept thinking of the talking heads song you just heard – Once in a Lifetime – where David Byrne asks: “how did I get here?”  And one thing is for sure: I didn’t get here by myself. There are so many people in this room who have helped me, have mentored me, and have taught me what it takes to lead this association.

Let me start with my predecessor Richard Swanson, a wonderful man who, over the past five years, has become a wonderful friend. In a time of great uncertainty, of great fear, with the institutions of our democracy, including the rule of law and access to justice, in jeopardy, Richard worked tirelessly to make NYCLA’s voice heard. I have been lucky enough to stand by his side as he taught me what it means to lead with thoughtfulness, with class, and with diplomacy.  Let’s give him another round of applause.

Then there are the others who have served in leadership with me:  past presidents Vince Chang and Adrienne Koch, current treasurer Asha Smith, past treasurer David Cohn, secretary Jai Chandrashekar and, of course, our new president-elect Hank Greenberg and our new vice-president Rolando Acosta. You have no idea how much time and effort these people put into running this association and planning for the future. They are all here tonight, they should stand up, and they too deserve applause.

I want to thank our many board members for their commitment to, and leadership of, our association. And I also want to thank our active past presidents, who are passionate about our association and its mission, and who have mentored me in so many ways.  I stand on their shoulders as I embark on leading the association they helped build.

Of course, I want to thank the staff:

• Starting with exec director Sophia Gianopolous, whom Richard has described as being NYCLA’s CEO, COO, CFO and CAO – everything, everywhere all at once. It is hard to imagine NYCLA accomplishing anything without her.

• There is our general counsel and head of pro bono Sharon Sash.

• Our programming director Bari Chase (who has worked here so many years and I’m sad to lose to retirement),

• And our other staffers who are here making the trains run on time, put all our events and programs together, get our statements out, and stay late to staff programs and events like this one. I don’t have the time to name all of them, but they are all terrific. Any glory we earn as officers is because of them, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. They too deserve applause.

Finally, and most important of all, is my wife of 45 years, Rachel Greenfield.  As many of you know, we met on the fourth day of college, on Rachel’s 17th birthday.  She is here tonight, [along with my son Ben], making a rare appearance at a lawyer event, but she is an amazingly accomplished woman who supports me in every possible way, putting up with the crazy hours, the anxiety, the pressure, and my pure bar junkie-ism. There are literally no words to describe how important she has been to my life and my career. I am deeply, deeply grateful, and so happy she and Ben are here.  

So here I am, about 5 minutes into my presidency.  This could be the high point:  I’ve thanked everybody and done nothing that anyone can criticize.  

So, going back to the talking heads, how did I get here?   

It started in 2014, when Judge Aaron recruited me to be in a lawyer show about Judge Betty Ellerin.  I had a blast and got to meet many NYCLA members who were performing with me. And so, I became more committed to NYCLA: 12 years of committee meetings, task force reports, and board service later, here I am. 

It’s the same story as for many of you in this room, learning what the organized bar in general, and this association in particular, can do — for you, for the profession, and for the public. 

Because this association has been a leader for 118 years, and that has not stopped. Over and over again during my time in leadership, we have led:  Whether it was protecting the Iola program, getting 18-b lawyers a long overdue pay raise, or fighting against the “death gamble” facing sitting judges.  And these are only a handful of the battles we have fought and won.

Still, we face three major threats to our profession, and they are threats to our legal system itself.

The first, as we all know, are the current administration’s continuing attacks on the rule of law.

NYCLA was the first – and the most prolific – bar association to stand up to the current administration’s attacks.  We have made speeches, written articles, given interviews, drafted reports, held programs, participated in amicus briefs about every aspect of those attacks.

This includes the executive orders targeting law firms, the lawless rendition of illegal and legal migrants to hellhole detention centers and foreign countries, the supreme court’s misuse of the shadow docket, the deployment of ice into our cities, the continual attacks on our judges . . . The list goes on and on.

It will surprise absolutely no one to hear that I remain committed to continuing to speak out in favor of the rule of law and judicial independence.

But there is a second major threat to our legal system:  the simple inability of poor people and working people to find or afford lawyers – what some call the justice gap and Hank Greenberg calls the “justice chasm”.  If people cannot afford a lawyer, if they can’t access our courts or afford properly written contacts, then the idea of a rule of law is just a dream. 

NYCLA has been out front in addressing this for decades, but the work ahead remains massive.  To continue to lead on this, i hereby announce the formation of a task force devoted to what we call “non-lawyer practice” – the use of trained paralegals and social workers to expand our legal system’s ability to provide help to people who need it, all while acting under the supervision of lawyers.   I am grateful to our board member Sateesh Nori, who has agreed to head this task force.

And then there is the third major threat: AI.  Will it replace us, destroy our profession, or will it make legal services cheaper and easier to obtain?  What to make of a technology that is so imperfect that it gets lawyers in trouble almost every day – more than a thousand “hallucination” cases alone—but has such great promise on access to justice?

I pledge to work with the justice center and our technology committee to monitor how ai can improve access to justice without getting us all in trouble.

Now, people say to me, even people in this room tonight: it’s great, all the things that NYCLA does, but why should I join?  What’s in it for me?  And more importantly, what’s in it for younger lawyers? 

It always astonishes me when people ask that question.  I mean, we’re all here, right?  Some of us have been members of this association for decades?  So, we see some value in it, right?

We know what the value is:

• The chance to work directly, as I have just described, to fight back against threats to our legal system and the rule of law.

• The chance to build your professional reputation in our open committee system, taking on projects you invent that allow you to enhance your career while changing the law – or in my case, the ethics rules – for the better.

• You can meet and network with people from other areas of the law at our events and program, large and small. This leads to cross-referral networks and life-long friendships.

• The chance to enhance your skills in our excellent pro bono programs, while also helping people who really need it.

We understand the threats bar associations face, and the opportunities bar associations provide, especially for junior lawyers.  Because, to go back to the talking heads, the bar world is “not the same as it ever was”.  It is evolving, changing, in a world where lawyers are no longer coming to the office every day – or even at all – and where screens take the place of face-to-face relationships. 

We either evolve with it, creating opportunities for personal connection, or we fail.  It is that clear, that simple. 

It’s equally clear and simple that we can’t succeed without working together to make this a welcoming, exciting place for our next generation of lawyers.

• A place with a younger and more diverse membership.

• A place with more, and more fun, small social events and activities, so people can get to know each other.

• A place with better and more effective social media communications.

• A place with more, and more effective, training not just in substantive areas, but also in the soft skills necessary to succeed in the profession, from networking to job hunting, from legal writing to legal billing

• And a place with even more and better pro bono opportunities that can change people’s lives – both clients and lawyers.

We must, in short, implement the strategic plan that Richard has spearheaded during his presidency.  It will not be easy, but NYCLA has led before, is leading now, and must continue to lead in the future.  As your president, I ask you all to join me in putting this association first, in affirming its great traditions while adapting us for the present-day.

If you are not a member, we ask you to join us.  If you are a member, we ask you to become more active, more involved in the association.

In short, let’s make the future happen at NYCLA, and let’s do it together. 

I thank you all, and I look forward to working with you.