4 Family Court judges share their career paths
Hon. Shawn T. Kelly, Hon.
Gilbert Taylor, Hon. Peter J.
Passidomo and Hon. Fiordaliza
A. Rodriguez took time
out of their busy schedules to
speak with 11 interns from
Legal Outreach Program on
Monday, July 1.
According to Shannon R.
Ashford, Deputy Borough
Chief of the NYC Law Department,
Offi ce of the Corporation
Counsel, “Legal Outreach
provides rising high school
sophomores with an opportunity
to shadow attorneys in
different law practices. Legal
Aid Society and Corporation
Counsel host students every
year.”
Rebecca A. Ivry, Esq., from
The Legal Aid Society – JRP,
and Ashford organized for the
judges to meet with the interns
and served as moderators.
Judge Taylor was appointed
in 2016 and Judge Rodriguez
was appointed in 2015, both by
Mayor de Blasio. Judge Kelly
shared that he was elected in
2013 as a civil court judge, but
is sitting in the Bronx Family
Court (designation is by Chief
Administrative Judge A. Gail
Prudenti). Judge Passidomo
was appointed by Mayor
Bloomberg in 2012. The brown
bag luncheon was very engaging
as the students asked
many questions of the judges.
Each judge spoke about
their cases, educational background,
career path, the hardships
each experienced and
how they overcame them. The
panel of judges was diverse not
only in ethnic background,
but also in their varied experiences.
Each judge shared wonderful
stories that resonated
with the students.
A few days after the luncheon,
the students signed a
thank you letter to each jurist
with personal comments about
how grateful they were and to
keep in touch. Some of the students
expressed they learned
the judges do not judge a person
by what crime they may
have committed, and looked
at the person as a whole when
determining what the Disposition
should be. Additionally,
they shared the court recognizes
that children still have
a long path ahead of them and
they need a positive foundation
for them to go on the right
path.
Legal Outreach interns
learned about the importance
of the work being done in Family
Court, the different types
Legal Outreach students with Bronx Family Court judges (back row, 2nd from left) Hon. Shawn T. Kelly, Hon. Peter
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 58 ULY 26-AUGUST 1, 2019 BTR
J. Passidomo, Judge Fiordaliza A. Rodriguez and Judge Gilbert Taylor.
Photo courtesy of Hon. Judge Fiordaliza A. Rodriguez
of cases heard there and what
it was like to be a judge. The
student’s interest in the career
paths of the judges was palpable.
All judges were glad to be
part of such a great program
and appreciated the opportunity
to help shape the minds of
the interns.
The Legal Outreach Program
has been around since
1983 and “prepares urban
youth from under served communities
in New York City to
compete at high academic levels
by using intensive legal
and educational programs as
tools for fostering vision, developing
skills, enhancing
confi dence, and facilitating
the pursuit of higher education.”
The program uses the law
to attract junior high school
students to academic programs
that inspire and motivate
them to strive for academic
success.
During the school year,
Legal Outreach students participate
in constitutional law
debates and have an attorney
mentor. Additionally, the program
assists students with the
preparation for ACT/SATs,
college entrance essays, and
they have a 98% college enrollment.
For additional information,
see the Legal Outreach’s
web site at www.legaloutreach.
org.
Hope everyone is staying
cool during this heat wave we
are under. The air conditioning
at the post lounge is kicking
if you need a place to come
and cool down, as well as your
choice of tasty beverages.
As I mentioned in the last
column our roof has been completed
and tested during the
last heavy rain we had, not a
drop in the place, our thanks
again to Councilman Mark
Gjonaj. We will begin working
on the inside of the place
on Monday evenings when we
are normally closed. Come
by and lend a hand, plenty to
do and you don’t have to be a
tradesman to help out, all are
welcome.
Here’s a refresher on upcoming
activities: Saturday,
August 3, 10:30 a.m. will be
the street renaming in honor
of our friend Doc Paul, all are
welcome to attend and remember
a great guy; the following
weekend Saturday August 10,
1 to 5 p.m. the Marine Corps
League will be holding their
BBQ. Burgers, dogs, chicken,
salads and desert, along with
tap beer, wine and soda and
a 50/50 raffl e all for a $25 donation.
Great organization,
please come down and lend
your support.
Make sure you are up to
date with your dues, meetings
begin in September and we
have lots of things to discuss
for the upcoming year. Membership
cards are in swing by
and pick yours up, if you cannot
get to us we will get it to
you, just give us a call. Thats
all for now.
We are stronger as one.
Let’s work together.
God Bless America.
BY ANNIE BOLLER
Hope everyone is enjoying
a happy and safe summer.
We’ve received positive
feedback after having additional
‘stop’ signs put up on
corners of East 196th Street
and St. Pauls Avenue.
We’re all aware of the
construction work going on
in the community which is
causing noise and inconvenience
in that parking
spaces have been blocked
off for NYC Department of
Transportation to park their
equipment. Permits for
all this work are available
on the NYC Streets Permit
Management System at the
following site: http://nycstreets.
net/public/permit/
search
Another site to look into
is called ‘Building on My
Block’ and can be found at:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/
bisweb/my_community.jsp
Membership dues are
due. Please send to 1720 Mayflower
Avenue, #9H, Bronx,
NY 10461.
Our monthly meetings
are suspended during summer
months and will resume
September 17th at 7:30 p.m.
in St. Theresa’s school cafeteria.
We urge all to join us
and make our civic stronger.
Also, try to join us for
our weekly Sunday morning
walks. For the summer,
we have moved our walks
to Pelham Bay Park. In nice
weather, we meet at 9 a.m.
between the track and parking
lot. The walk is about 45
minutes and about 1.5 miles
long.
For updates please check
our Facebook group: https://
www.facebook.com/groups/
CommunityBoard10
Hope to see you either at
our Sunday walks or in September
at our meeting.
FOR ADVERTISING RATES AND
INFORMATION CALL (718) 260-4593
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