Travis J. Mock
On Wednesday, November 25, 2025, the Federal Bar Council held its annual Thanksgiving Day Luncheon. The event took place at Cipriani 42nd Street and was chaired by Martin Bell of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
At the Luncheon, the Council recognized Bonita Robinson, of Linklaters LLP, and Gregory L. Diskant, of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, with the Council’s Thurgood Marshall Awards for Exceptional Pro Bono Service.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York addressed the audience to call on the bar to increase pro bono representations in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Chief Judge Swain identified a particular need for assistance in connection with immigration and deportation proceedings.
Celebrating Judge Glasser
The event celebrated Senior U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Glasser received the Federal Bar Council’s Emory Buckner Award for Outstanding Public Service. Bell, Vilia Hayes, and Federal Bar Council President Shawn Regan celebrated the remarkable life and career of the 102-year-old Judge Glasser, from his distinguished military service, to his early legal career, to his legendary and continuing service on the district court bench.
Judge Glasser then offered memorable remarks overflowing with the wit, warmth, and learning that have marked his distinguished career. He began by acknowledging the legacy of Emory Buckner, the namesake of the Council’s Award for Outstanding Public Service, and a Gavra Rabba who continues to inspire generations of lawyers. Judge Glasser then exhorted the audience to hold true to the nobility of the legal profession. Denouncing the casual diminishment of the profession as the “legal industry,” Judge Glasser recounted the myriad roles of lawyers in the preservation of rights and the execution of good governance.
Judge Glasser then summarized the essence of the legal profession with the following remarkable words:
The profession requires the lawyer to walk in the mud of mercantile affairs without becoming dirty, to mix with the vulgar without becoming coarse, though conducting business with the avaricious to stand straight as an independent contractor and not bow as a servant. That’s what being a lawyer means. To which industry or industry representative can he be compared?
Judge Glasser continued with a reflection on the role of judges in the preservation of the rule of law. He expressed “great concern” over remarks by the Deputy U.S. Attorney General, who recently declared that the Department of Justice is “at war with rogue activist judges who are not following the law.” “Are judges really the enemy of the people?,” Judge Glasser asked. “Or are they the bulwark against lawlessness and rogue lawyers?”
Judge Glasser ended on a lighthearted note of gratitude for his career in the law by endorsing Harrison Tweed’s famous assessment: “I have a high opinion of lawyers. . . . They are better to work with or play with or fight with or drink with than most other varieties of mankind.”