As past president of the New York State Bar Association, he has held leadership positions in prestigious legal organizations: member of the American Bar Association`s House of Delegates; President of the New York Correctional Association; Member of the New York State Justice Task Force and member of the New York City Independent Commission on Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform. He is also co-chair of the New York State Bar Association`s Parole System Task Force, which studies New York City`s probation system and makes recommendations for reform. Seymour W. James, Jr. Fifteenth District (2021 to 2024) Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco in Garden City and New York, New York Boston University School of Law, J.D., 1974 He is a member of the New York Chief Judge`s Justice Task Force and its commission tasked with reshaping the future of New York`s courts. He is also a member of the New York City Independent Commission on Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform. Previously, he served on the boards of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association and the New York State Defenders Association. At the annual pro bono awards ceremony, the Trafficking Victims Advocacy Project and the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton were recognized for their outstanding service to victims of trafficking in persons arrested for prostitution and prosecuted by overturning their convictions. Senior counsel Kate Mogulescu and her client attended the ceremony. Seymour James, a graduate of Brown University and Boston University School of Law, joined the Legal Aid Society of New York in the 1970s as a staff attorney in the Kings County Office of the Department of Criminal Defense.
He was promoted to prosecutor in charge of the practice of criminal defense in 2005 and served as chief prosecutor from 2014 to 2018. Mr. James` awards include the Lifetime Achievement Awards from the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the New York Law Journal, and the Robert L. Haig Award from the New York State Bar Association, Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. In March, Steven Banks announced that he was leaving the Legal Aid Society to accept the position of the city`s human resources commissioner. A national search led to the appointment of Seymour W. James, Jr. as his successor. Seymour is a partner at Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco in Garden City and New York, New York. He is the former chief prosecutor of the Legal Aid Society in New York.
He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2011 and has served as a member of the Federal Standing Committee on Justice and the Standing Committee on Legal Assistance and Defense of the Indigent. He was president of the New York State Bar Association (2012-2013) and the Queens County Bar Association (2001-2002). Following a search, Tina Luongo was appointed prosecutor in charge of the practice of criminal defence. Legal Aid has played a leading role in providing lawyers and social workers to represent unaccompanied immigrant children in immigration court. Children have fled desperate and dangerous situations in their countries.