Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Benefits Habitat for Humanity

 In late 2023, an interesting storyline of extended giving emerged, as the Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna in Elkton, Maryland, utilized a large Norway spruce recently displayed to the world as the 2021 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

The 79-foot-high tree was originally from the Elkton area of Cecil County, a majestic presence behind a rural Glen Farms home. Cut down and loaded onto a flatbed truck on Nov. 11, 2021, it was driven to New York City and adorned with a massive star loaded with Swarovski crystals and 50,000 colored lights. The traditional lighting ceremony was broadcast live, and thousands of visitors came to take pictures and enjoy the holiday ambiance during its one-month reign in Manhattan.

The trunk was ultimately milled into kiln-dried planks donated to Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna at the original tree owners’ request. The inscription “ROCKEFELLER CENTER CHRISTMAS TREE 2021” was burned into each sturdy plank. With wood from the tree already used to build one house, the most recent project to incorporate the two-by-six planks has involved crafting window trim, sills, and blocking for an Elkton-area ranch home in which a single mother of three resides. In this way, the tree’s journey has come full circle, unique from the usual practice of mulching the Christmas tree for NYC city parks’ use.

Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice Pro Bono Promotion

 

Dyan Gershman is the founder and partner at Gershman Law, PLLC, a New York City-based boutique corporate law firm established in 2014. In addition to her corporate and M&A work with startups, private equity investors, and large and mid-market companies in the United States and abroad, Dyan Gershman is an active member of the New York City Bar Association and related nonprofits, such as the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice.

The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice is a provider of pro bono legal services to social justice groups and law firms around the world. The philanthropic organization manages numerous programs with this goal in mind, including the Pro Bono Promotion program. First established in 2011, the program now functions as the cornerstone of all Vance Center efforts, with over 10,000 lawyers in 21 countries performing upwards of 200,000 hours of pro bono work every year. Members represent more than 540 international law firms.

While pro bono legal services are valued in virtually all industries and communities around the world, Vance Center programming often focuses on the nature of pro bono work itself, emphasizing markets where pro bono culture is unknown or in its earliest stages of development. The program has developed the Pro Bono Network of the Americas to advance pro bono activities throughout Latin America, while the Pro Bono Declaration of the Americas functions as a set of standards and expectations for providers of pro bono legal representation.

Other Vance Center programs include the Lawyers Council, Women in the Profession, and African Legal Fellows. More information about these programs and other justice center resources can be found online at vancecenter.org.

 Mediation - Forging Areas of Agreement and Compromise

Based in New York City, Dyan Gershman has a focus on US and international business law and handles corporate transactions and complex commercial contracts. Maintaining membership in the New York City Bar Association, Dyan Gershman is part of an organization that offers seminars on professional topics such as representing clients in mediation.

A type of dispute resolution, mediation presents an informal way of handling disputes without resorting to the expensive, time-consuming litigation and investigative processes. A mediator, acting as a neutral third party, delivers assistance in reaching a resolution that is voluntary and fully negotiated. Parties meet and discuss differing views, while working to understand past misunderstandings and define areas of agreement. Rather than seeking justice or the truth, the more manageable goal is finding a mutually acceptable outcome that both parties can tolerate.

What this means is that effective advocacy within a mediation setting takes more than the ability to present a persuasive legal argument. It requires well-honed negotiation skills, as well as the ability to communicate disparate viewpoints in ways that generate a sense of common ground. With impartiality at the forefront, the mediator must gain the trust of all parties involved, even as he or she devises the most practical way of resolving complex issues. With the parties involved controlling the narrative they may ultimately decide to resolve the dispute in the courtroom, but this at least provides an initial alternative resolution process.

 NYCBA Speaks Out against Supreme Court Ethical Lapses

Based in New York City, Dyan Gershman leads Gershman Law, PLLC, delivering counsel in wide-ranging corporate and international legal matters, from mergers and acquisitions, to intellectual property licensing, to contract negotiations. Active with the New York City Bar Association (NYCBA), Dyan Gershman follows developments in the legal sphere.

In August 2023, the NYCBA issued a statement that reflected the urgency of addressing rapidly falling levels of public trust in the US Supreme Court. With recent polling showing strong and persistent political divisions, public approval of the Supreme Court has reached an all-time low. Yet the legal body continues to be held as an impartial arbiter of the law, tasked with transcending politicized lower courts in delivering fair and thoughtful decisions.

Unfortunately, significant concerns have emerged regarding the ethical conduct of specific justices, including the potential receipt of extravagant accommodations, gifts, vacations, real estate, and other forms of benefits. These benefits were not publicly reported, as is required under federal disclosure laws. More than the ethical lapses, the NYCBA is also concerned about potential conflicts of interest that easily arise in cases related to accepting such large gifts.

In spite of these weighty ethical concerns, instances of recusals, where justices abstain from participating in decisions, continue to be exceedingly infrequent. The breach of expected behavioral norms for public office holders has led to what the NYCBA describes as an "appearance of ethical impropriety." Allowing the situation to fester instead of addressing it has delivered a blow to the reputation of the highest court in the nation.