The jury trial is vanishing, should anyone care?
Chuck Otey’s Pro Bono Barrister
First, some perspective. Back in 1973, on a chilled winter morning, several hundred lawyers — members of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Bay Ridge Lawyers Association, among others — traveled en masse to Albany to do battle against the possibility of the Legislature passing the dreaded automobile insurance No Fault Law!
No Fault, it was widely feared, would wipe out automobile negligence litigation and snatch from tens of thousands of injured New Yorkers the right to their day in court.
The late Frank Maher, a noted defense attorney, and Ray Ferrier organized the Bay Ridge Lawyers contingent, which traveled upstate to meet with influential area legislators Sen. Bill Conklin and Assemblyman Dominick DiCarlo, both Republicans.