Brooklyn Bar Association President Arthur Aidala gets cozy with Mayor Bill de Blasio at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge Hotel for the Brooklyn Bar Association Foundation’s Annual Dinner, where six people were honored, including a pair of retiring judges.
More than 1000 lawyers, judges and members of Brooklyn’s legal community packed the ballroom to see honorees including Hon. Sterling Johnson Jr., a judge in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York; Hon. John M. Leventhal, associate justice, Appellate Division Second Department; Alan M. Dershowitz, professor emeritus, Harvard Law School; and Hon. Patricia DiMango, star of CBS’s “Hot Bench.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio was a special guest and was seen surrounded by colleagues and admirers, before he made a short speech on the uniqueness of Brooklyn and gave Arthur credit for filling the large ballroom. “Brooklyn has had an extraordinary journey, absolutely extraordinary, and is now known all over the country, all over the world, as a place synonymous with culture,” said de Blasio.
The dinner was the biggest in history of the BBA, raising over $150,000. The money raised will help the BBA run its various events and will go toward upgrading the BBA’s headquarters on Remsen Street.