Our justice system is under attack. One recent salvo appeared on NBC 4 New York. NBC permitted a grossly misleading news report prepared and aired by reporter Sarah Wallace to air on its network. The report targeted Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Waterman-Marshall. Make no mistake: The damage inflicted by Ms. Wallace’s sensational news coverage, like other similar pieces, does untold damage to our justice system; it undermines the credibility of courts, judges, and attorneys. In the process, it sends a message to the public that New York State jurists and our courts are not trustworthy, undermining the public’s trust and confidence in the judiciary, and in turn decreasing the likelihood litigants will seek available protection from our courts. It comes as no surprise to most attorneys to hear that a recent national poll found that public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has fallen from 75% in 2000 to under 50% in 2022. We acknowledge that our justice system is imperfect, which is why we are advocates for change when warranted. Each of us have dedicated our careers to helping our clients resolve their family conflicts in the New York State Supreme and Family Courts, and we welcome responsible reporting on our court system. However, we condemn those reporters and news agencies that put sensationalism over sincerity and ratings over reality. As the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis noted well over a century ago, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” But let us not forget that the converse is also true: bad things happen in the dark.
As attorneys and officers of the court, we are responsible for advocating for justice not simply within the four walls of the courthouse but outside as well. Part of our advocacy requires us to speak out when news reporters misrepresent what is happening in our courthouses. Our advocacy is critical because judges cannot comment on cases they are involved in. When a news reporter reports on a New York State jurist misleadingly, no one is more qualified—or more obligated—to challenge false news reporting than the attorneys who know the law and who know these jurists. We must be the ones to bring sunlight into the darkness of misleading news reports. We must be the disinfectant.
Sarah Wallace’s piece, “Uncovering claims of judicial misconduct in New York,” aired on NBC News in August 2024. Ms. Wallace’s news story furthers a dangerous precedent—it seeks to sensationalize the accounts of two litigants found in contempt, facts be damned, at the expense of Justice Waterman-Marshall and our entire matrimonial bench. Worse, a follow up piece was aired shortly after the initial, this time featuring other purportedly aggrieved matrimonial litigants, all who engaged in name calling and hurled insults against the Judge, with Wallace again failing to indicate any research she had done as to the allegations—either factually or legally—before she rushed them to air.
We call upon Wallace and NBC News to do better. This reporter permitted NBC to be a sounding board for two matrimonial litigants that had been found in contempt of court. They had failed to pay substantial court-ordered financial obligations, including those to pay child support for their children. Wallace showcased these individuals in her piece and dramatized their assertions without remote challenge, while cavalierly mentioning these litigants amassed tens of thousands of dollars in child support arrears, as if this point was an afterthought against the portrayal of these litigants as sympathetic victims deprived of due process. In contrast, this news reporter portrayed Waterman-Marshall as a judge who had run roughshod over many litigants’ rights. Glaringly absent from Ms. Wallace’s piece was mention of the real victims when support orders are violated; most commonly the mothers and their children who are struggling to make ends meet as their husbands ignore court-ordered obligations and, at times, elect to wield their financial resources as a weapon to exact concessions in divorce proceedings or otherwise to simply attempt to exert control over their spouse.
In just one example of how Wallace maligned Waterman-Marshall to sensationalize her story, one litigant in her piece presented himself as a gainfully employed anesthesiologist, who thus presumptively earns a handsome income. Instead of researching the applicable law, inquiring as to his finances, or reviewing the applicable pleadings to understand why this litigant was found to have committed civil contempt and if his allegations were even on their face plausible, Wallace permitted this litigant to air his grievances on NBC News and claim that he was deprived of his right to assigned counsel and wrongly imprisoned. Wallace dramatically splashed this individual’s own judicial misconduct complaint on the screen while providing a voice over citing minimal and misleading information on court rules regarding eligibility for assignment of counsel in contempt cases. Not one legal expert appeared or was cited in the piece. Wallace does not state whether she investigated this individual’s finances, whether she asked to review court transcripts, made any attempt to speak to the opposing party or their attorney in any of these cases, or if she completed any meaningful research into the applicable law on the right to assignment of counsel. For this news piece to have some semblance of unbiased reporting, we submit that these were questions that needed to be answered, yet they were not even mentioned. This is unacceptable.
We all know that there is no automatic right to counsel in family legal proceedings. The taxpayer does not fund counsel for people with the financial resources to retain counsel but chose not to do so in civil contempt proceedings. The applicant has the burden of proof regarding their entitlement to appointed counsel and right to court appointed counsel is limited to genuinely indigent persons, those who are financially unable to obtain counsel for reasons other than those who intentionally limit their income Carney v. Carney 38 N.Y.S.3d 765 (N.Y. Sup Ct. 2016).
Moreover, for no informational purpose we could ascertain and appearing to simply be a means of sensationalizing her story, Wallace and her camera crew audaciously pursued Judge Waterman-Marshall in public when she was not on the bench. Wallace is seen thrusting a microphone in the defenseless judge’s face and bombarding her with questions that Wallace knew, or should have known, she could not answer; for the judge to have commented on litigants in cases that she was presiding over would have been a violation of her oath of office and the rules of ethics that govern the judiciary.
Justice Waterman-Marshall sits in the matrimonial part of Manhattan Supreme Court. She handles extremely high-conflict divorce and post-judgment cases, cases that often have children involved and their safety at risk. Hers is a stressful and difficult job, and many jurists seek to avoid assignment in matrimonial parts for this very reason. We have all practiced before Waterman-Marshall. While she has not always ruled in favor of our clients, we have never seen Judge Waterman-Marshall be anything but appropriate, and respectful to the litigants and their counsel. She is extremely well-versed in the law and thoughtful in her rulings. In our experience, she has never wielded her civil contempt powers lightly. Also notable about the judge is that she is known to be highly protective of the children of the litigants in her cases, often taking great pains to keep these children insulated from their parents’ conflict.
In sum, we value a free press, but we demand a fair press, as should all attorneys. Well-researched, legitimate news reports on our courts and judges are welcome, but sensational character assassination pieces laden with misleading, selective information on courts and judges are not. We must fight to correct the record when judges, such as Waterman-Marshall, fall victim to misleading news stories. News reporters must be called out when they track down judges in public and harass them for no other purpose than to sensationalize their misleading reporting. If we fail to fight and call out news reporters in cases when they produce pieces like the one against Judge Waterman-Marshall, it is not only the jurists who we are hanging out to dry; we are allowing our profession to be damaged and the public to be deceived. Each of us must do our part to restore public trust in our judiciary. For us, it starts with this article.
We implore our colleagues never to take a back seat when they come across a misleading news story smearing our judiciary, profession, or our colleagues. We must be the sunlight, the disinfectant in the face of news stories that mislead the public about our judges, our laws, and our courts. If we do not do our part, if we do not speak up, then we can expect erosion of public trust in our judiciary to continue unimpeded. Bad things happen in the dark.
Philip Katz is a founding partner at Fink & Katz, PLLC, is a Family Court Assigned Counsel panel member in the Appellate Division, 1st Dept., and the Vice President of the Assigned Counsel Association of the State of New York
Danielle Petitti is the founder of Petitti PLLC where she practices exclusively in the areas of matrimonial and family law
Daniel Lipschutz is a partner at Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP where he handles complex and contentious domestic and international disputes in family law matters
The following individuals and law firms endorse the sentiments expressed by the authors of this article:
Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, LLP
Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein LLP
Bikel Rosenthal & Schanfield, LLP
Cohen Clair Lans Greifer & Simpson LLP
Hon. Douglas E. Hoffman, Esq. (Ret.)
Green Kaminer Min & Rockmore LLP
Harriet Newman Cohen, Esq.
J. Kaplan & Associates, PLLC
Hon. Jane Pearl, Esq. (Ret.)
Krauss Shaknes Tallentire & Messeri LLP
Law Office of Larry Carlin
The Law Firm of Laurence P. Greenberg
Leigh Baseheart Kahn, Esq.
Hon. Matthew F. Cooper, Esq. (Ret.)
Margery A. Greenberg, founding partner at Segal & Greenberg LLP
Marilyn T. Sugarman, Esq.
Michael Beyda, Esq. partner at Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda, LLP
Moses Richards Notaro & Tankha, LLP
Rabin Schumann and Partners LLP
RoseAnn C. Branda, executive partner, Abrams Fensterman, LLP
Rottenstreich Farley Bronstein Fisher Potter Hodas LLP
Virginia A. LoPreto, Esq.
Source link
Attorneys and law firms can elevate their online presence with professionally written content from SEO Content Writing Services monthly plan. Our team of experienced writers specializes in crafting blog posts, articles, and written content that accurately reflect the expertise and knowledge of our clients in the legal field. With a keen eye for detail and a thorough understanding of legal terminology, we provide high-quality writing that helps our clients stand out from their competition and engage with their target audience. Trust SEO Content Writing Services for one time article writing or monthly written content to handle all of your written content needs and showcase your law firm's expertise.
If you need written content, blog posts, or articles professionally written for your website, we can help. Go HERE to find out more.
or email us here: myseowritingservices@gmail.com
To find out more about our article writing or blog post services, fill out the form, thank you.
