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Family Court cases fall into 3 general categories: child protective, juvenile, and general family law cases. Child protective cases include neglect, abuse, and termination of parental rights (tpr). These cases are usually filed by the Administration for Children’s Services against parents or other caretakers of children. The respondents are alleged to have endangered the life, health, or safety of the children. Abuse cases involve more serious conduct than neglect, often rising to criminal offenses. Children can be placed in foster care in these proceedings. If they are, and if the parents take too long to get them back, a TPR can be commenced, and the children could eventually be adopted. Juvenile cases include delinquency and persons in need of supervision (PINS) cases. Delinquency cases involve allegations of criminal conduct against…Read More

Some thoughts on the recent decision on the NYPD stop and frisk policy: My constitutional law is a little rusty, but I did retain a few things from my second year Con Law class at Columbia. In order for a cop to stop, detain, search, and/or arrest someone, they have to have “probable cause.” This means they have to have a reasonable belief that the person has committed a crime. Now, in the vast majority of the NYPD stops, there is no probable cause. The most common reason given for a stop is a “furtive movement.” This is way too vague to establish probable cause. So, how could anyone think the stops could be constitutional? Well, the Supreme Court has established an exception to the general rule. Police are allowed…Read More

This is a blog post I didn’t expect to write. I got a call the other day from a woman who said she had something important to discuss with me. I called her back, assuming she was a potential client. Not exactly. She told me a story about a man she met and dated for a while. He wined and dined her extravagantly. He claimed to be a successful lawyer with a Columbia law degree. As proof, he showed her his website. Although things started off well, he started going psycho and stalking her, and she had to call the police. I guess it’s not that surprising. So, what does this have to do with me? Well, the lawyer with a Columbia degree that he claimed to be was ME!…Read More