The Brooklyn legal community will look on with understandable pride on March 19, when the Brooklyn Bar Association, led by President Rose Ann C. Branda, holds a special reception in honor of the newly appointed associate justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department.

Sharing the spotlight when the event gets underway at 5:30 p.m. at 123 Remsen St. will be Associate Justices Ariel E. Belen, Cheryl Chambers and John Leventhal — of Brooklyn — and Randall T. Eng of Queens.

Serving as co-sponsors are the Asian American Bar Association of New York, the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and the Puerto Rican Bar Association.

While there is no charge for the event, due to the “generosity of the co-sponsoring associations,” BBA Executive Director Avery Eli Okin strongly advises that those planning to attend RSVP by mail, call (718) 624-0657 ext. 213 or e-mail him at aokin@brooklynbar.org no later than Friday, March 14.

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Inn President Finkelstein Seeks ‘Newer’ Lawyers
Now in its seventh successful year, the Nathan R. Sobel Kings County American Inn of Court has acquired a reputation for enhancing the quality of legal education and raising the positive profile of the profession. And now Inn officers, led by President Steve Finkelstein, want to do more.

Well-placed sources within the Inn — which continues a tradition established 800 years ago by English Inns of Court — have sent out word that the organization is about to embark on a program calculated to bring in lawyers who are newer to the practice of the law.

One report indicates the Inn may be establishing guidelines with “enhancements which would give special consideration to lawyers who have been admitted for fewer than five years.” This initiative is “in the works” and those interested — especially newer barristers — should contact President Finkelstein and his officers: President Elect Justice Neil Jon Firetog, Counselor Helene Blank, Treasurer Justice Gerard Rosenberg, Secretary Rosario Marquis D’Apice.

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Many of us, especially Baby Boomers and beyond, have deep doubts about the security of the Internet. When our computer demands we supply “Social Security Number,” “Date And Place of Birth” or “Spouse’s Birth Date,” for instance, we invariably hesitate to share this information whether buying airline tickets or paying a magazine subscription bill on-line.

Some of us are fortunate to have children or nieces or nephews who are skilled in these modern cyberspace marvels. And we call on them with shameless regularity. But few parents have the advantage enjoyed by Kings Justice Martin Schneier and wife Rebecca — when they want to know about cutting-edge maximum security for any possible computer entry decisions, all they have to do is call their son, Bruce Schneier. Any concerns they have will be immediately and expertly allayed.

Who is Bruce Schneier? I first learned of his lofty ranking in his field while reading “The Da Vinci Code” a few years back and came across this paragraph: “Da Vinci had been a cryptography pioneer, Sophie knew, although he was seldom given credit. Sophie’s university instructors, while presenting computer encryption methods for securing data, praised modern cryptologists like Zimmerman and Schneier but failed to mention that it was Leonardo who had invented one of the first rudimentary forms of public key encryption centuries ago.”

Aware that the Schneiers had a son who had written articles and books about computers, the Da Vinci book comment ultimately sent us to Google and Wikipedia for Bruce Schneier. The results of the easy search are impressive, to say the least.

At 44, he is now a world-renowned author, regularly appears on National Public Radio to explain his complex area of expertise and is best known perhaps for “Applied Cryptography,” described as a “popular reference work for cryptography.”

He first gained prominence with his 2000 book “Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World.” Schneier isn’t afraid of controversy in search of the truth and rocked his technical world when, according to Wikipedia, he denounced his “early success as a naive, mathematical and ivory tower view of what is inherently a people problem.”

In “Applied Cryptography,” he implies that correctly implemented algorithms and technology promise safety and secrecy, and that following security protocol ensures security, regardless of the behavior of others,” according to Wikipedia. While some of this may seem highly academic and theoretical, the same can be said of so much of the discussion swirling around the use and abuse of computer security.

And when NPR and various government agencies have questions on the topic, they don’t hesitate to consult the work of Bruce Schneier which is updated in a new book with Neils Ferguson entitled “Practical Cryptography.”

On the more mundane side, author Schneier and his wife, Karen Cooper, write restaurant reviews for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and other papers in Minnesota where they live. You should also know that Justice Schneier, who just happens to have an entire shelf of his son’s books in his 360 Court St. chambers, and his wife Rebecca, are understandably equally proud of their daughter Arlene Katz, a John Jay College graduate who is likely on her way to a distinguished career in the legal profession.

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RFLA To Hear From Expert On ‘Putin Era’ in Russia
Arthur Gerwin, president of the Respect for Law Association, let it be known that he is particularly “pleased” that international affairs expert Paul M. Joyal will be the guest when the RFLA holds its March 20 Speakers Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at Mutual of America headquarters, 320 Park Ave. in Manhattan.

Joyal, vice president and managing director of National Strategies Inc., is, according to Pres. Gerwin, “well-versed in the former Soviet Union, Russia in the Putin era [and post] terrorism and counter-terrorism. This [breakfast session] will be a must for all concerned with the mounting sensitivities between Putin’s Russia and the U.S.A.,” writes Gerwin, a retired brigadier general and founder of the RFLA.

Joyal earlier served as a federal law enforcement officer and as director for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1980 to 1989. In 1998, he represented the Georgian government — which is often at odds with the Putin Administration — before the U.S. Congress as its first lobbyist in this country.

He also served as advisor of the Georgian Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee and is clearly in a position to impart some interesting insights on the “Putin Era” when he appears before the RFLA on March 20.

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