A. Thomas Levin Named Secretary of State Bar Association

A. Thomas Levin, a partner in the Mineola law firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein P.C., has been elected secretary of the 67,000-member New York State Bar Association (NYSBA). He was chosen at the organization's 124th annual meeting in Manhattan, and will begin his term of office on June 1, 2001. Levin is the first Nassau County attorney elected to statewide office in the NYSBA.

A graduate of Brown University, Levin holds J.D. and LL.M. degrees from New York University School of Law. He concentrates his legal practice in the areas of local government law, land use regulation, and environmental compliance, representing both governments and private citizens.

Active in the NYSBA, he currently serves on its Executive Committee as 10th Judicial District Vice-President (Nassau and Suffolk counties), a position he has held since 1998. He previously served on the committee as a member-at-large (1995-1998). Levin has served as a delegate to the House for more than 13 years. He currently chairs the Association's By-Laws Committee and is a Life Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.

Levin is a member of the NYSBA Municipal Law Section, serving on its executive committee. He is also a member of the NYSBA Environmental Law Section, and its committees on Judicial Administration, Legislative Policy, Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction, NY Law/NET Project, and Unlawful Practice of Law, and on the Judicial Selection Appellate Panel. He also serves on the Electronic Communications Task Force, Special Committee on the Law Governing Firm Structure and Operation (MDP), Special Association House Committee and Young Lawyer Mentor Program. He is a past chair of the New York State Conference of Bar Leaders and of the Task Force to Study 'Pay to Play' Concerns (the practice of contributing to political campaigns in return for future work from a public entity).

In addition to his NYSBA activities, Levin is a past president of the Nassau County Bar Association and the Nassau County Bar Association Fund. He is a life member of the county bar’s board of directors, where he serves as chair of the By Laws Committee and a member of the Nominating Committee.

Levin is also a member of several committees of the American Bar Association (ABA) and Suffolk County Bar Association. He is a past delegate to the ABA's House of Delegates, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the Federal Bar Association.

Levin previously served as counsel to the New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Joint Legislative Committee on the State's Economy, law secretary to state Supreme Court Justice Bertram Harnett and Nassau County senior deputy county attorney for appeals. He is Village Attorney for the villages of Great Neck Estates, Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Neck, North Hills, Saddle Rock, Thomaston and Woodsburgh, and has served as special counsel to scores of Long Island communities.

A member of the Florida and U.S. Virgin Islands bars, and of the International Municipal Lawyers Association, Levin has served on two statewide groups by direct appointment of the Chief Judge of the state of New York: the Unified Court System Task Force on the Profession and the Courts, and the Committee of Lawyers to Enhance the Jury Process.

The Rockville Centre, NY resident is the author and editor of numerous articles and publications on various legal subjects. Levin is the Editor of Bench Book for Trial Judges, and served as a consultant on Civil Practice in New York: Pretrial Proceedings. He frequently lectures on such legal issues as professional ethics, law office management, municipal law, land use regulation, environmental compliance, and civil rights.

Since 1972, Levin has provided free legal services as general counsel to the Day Care Council of Nassau, Inc. and the Rosa Lee Young Childhood Center, Inc.