About

Managing Attorneys' and Clerks' Association, Inc. "MACA" is a non-profit corporation comprised of over 125 large, litigation-based law firms and corporate legal departments in New York City. Its members' positions within their respective firms and companies and concomitant responsibilities afford them a breadth of understanding of the day to day operations of the various state and federal court systems. In particular, our members have extensive experience with the interplay between court rules and practices and play a central role in their respective firms’ understanding of and compliance with the federal rules and the rules of our local federal courts and amendments thereto, as well as rules governing practice in the courts of the State of New York and other states in which their firms litigate.

 

Mission

  • Advance common professional interest in the managing attorneys and clerks community.

  • Facilitate communication among members.

  • Facilitate communication with relevant government agencies.

  • Promote the professional interests of members.

  • Improve the professional conditions of members.

October Note from the President,
Owen Wallace

“Summer has come and passed . . . wake me up when September ends.” Green Day’s 2004 song is a melancholy reflection of past events. Fall in the Northeast is generally a time of decay as green turns to red, orange, and then brown. However, the end of September means it’s MACA season again. A time to see friends and colleagues not seen in the intervening months of summer. In that vein, I welcome the end of September and the beginning of fall.

This October marks the beginning of our second full year of in-person luncheons post Covid disruption. We all have our own stories of the past few years. The MACA story has been one of perseverance and adaptation. I thank our past President, Peter McGowan, for helping guide MACA through this unpredictable and, at least for those reading these words, unprecedented time these past few years. I thank the board for continuing to move this organization forward within the constraints imposed by outside forces. And, I thank the membership for your continued support as we tried in fits and starts to get our old routines back on track.

Some things will never be the same, but that gives way for the new. In the coming weeks, we will host Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks of the Eastern District of New York for an in-person chat session. To my knowledge, this is the first time a sitting jurist has exclusively addressed MACA outside the confines of our luncheons. We are working to upgrade and enhance our website, www.maca-ny.org. We have welcomed new members into the organization. We continue to interact with court clerks and administrators to address the concerns of our members. And, this year we hope to make a trip to Albany to see the Court of Appeals in action.

Thank you, Jennifer Pordes and Peter McGowan, who have taken over the editorial duties for the newsletter. Thank you to all those who contribute articles on a regular basis, and I encourage you all to think about an issue or item you may be able to write about. Finally, I give a special shout out to Robert Westrom, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for the wonderful and diligent work he has done for the past many years to keep this newsletter running. Thank you, Robert.

Welcome fall!