It’s hard to believe this battle is still being fought in the State of NY!

Because I know just how Ruben Diaz feels, I’d like to share with you some personal background that may be helpful to those still involved in the struggle -- data that regrettably has been lost to public consciousness with the passage of time.

As you may know, until the illegal immediate, indefinite, and unconditional suspension of my law license on June 14, 1991, in retaliation for my judicial whistle-blowing, I was a leading member of the New York bar for more than 35 years and known throughout the country for my work as a matrimonial and human rights attorney. What you probably are unaware of is that I became known as “the Mother of Joint Custody” for launching the case back in the early 70’s that articulated, and culminated with the development of, that concept  (Molinoff v. Molinoff). The case drew widespread publicity, got headlined coverage in the Christian Science Monitor, national TV, and other national media. I was frequently consulted by reporters, interviewed, and featured, including a four-page photographic spread in People Magazine (including photos of father Molinoff and his two sons.)

For your further information, as a matter of historical significance, I was instrumental in the formation of an Equal Rights for Fathers organization in New York  and worked with many of its leaders. I held a kick-off meeting of a new Westchester Chapter of that organization in my home after a blatantly biased judge in a publicized custody case I handled for a father in Westchester County awarded custody to the mother, who had abducted the child from the marital home in Virginia and taken him to NY, while the father was at work, simply because the child was of tender age. I obtained shared or exclusive custody in a number of bitterly contested divorce cases, which led to a major news story on the subject of fathers’ gaining custody, that was published in the NY Times, Sunday Magazine. For years I provided free advice, counsel, and inspiration to members of Equal Rights for Fathers in NYS, NJ, Texas and testified several times in Albany at Legislative Hearings in favor of legislative adoption of a bill to enact shared custody as a presumption of law.

At a huge meeting of the Section of Family run by matrimonial icons of the NY bar, during the comment period, as a member of the participating audience, I described the Molinoff and other divorce cases I had handled in which I had obtained custody, shared or exclusive for the father, and asked their support for the concept of joint custody and the beneficial effects of a presumption in favor of it. The reaction of the Chairman of the Section and the Chairwoman of the program was extraordinary and unforgettable. I was publicly castigated with the categorical, conclusory statement that any lawyer who would advocate the idea of awarding a father custody or shared custody when the children were of tender age, when the mother was not unfit (which thesis was specifically included in my question) “should be disbarred.”  

All of my foregoing work on behalf of fathers, but actually on behalf of the cause of equality, as I saw it, led to my being viewed by some women as having committed an “unforgiveable sin” and treated as a “traitor to the cause, (of women’s liberation) -- this, after years of pioneering equal rights for women and even after being honored by NYS NOW in 1981 for my “outstanding achievements on behalf of women and children contributions in the area of Family Law, especially for [her] courage and unselfishness during the 1980 Legislative session, and for her intensive work to obtain a just law governing divorce and property distribution in the State of New York.”

So what else is new?

www.judgewatch.org     Doris L. Sassower Director              Center for Judicial Accountability, Inc.                                      283 Soundview Avenue White Plains, NY, 10606-3821 doris@judgewatch.org                                                 Tel:                                                  Fax: 914-997-8105 914-684-6554

PLEASE REPLY TO: doris@judgewatch.org
 
ELENA'S FREE -- VICTIMS-OF-LAW'S SALUTE TO ELENA FOR HER COURAGE & FORTITUDE  http://victimsoflaw.net/Elena1.htm

ELENA HONORED AS "DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION" AND AS "WHITE PLAINS PERSON OF THE YEAR" http://www.whiteplainscnr.com/article3217.html


Like Mother, Like Daughter,

written by Jeff Biener. 

Set to music and sung by Mary Meriam,

commemorating Elena's July 4th jailing for exposing judicial corruption.

-----Original Message-----
From: dickins895@aol.com [mailto:dickins895@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 7:19 AM
To: AMOJ_MAIN@yahoogroups.com; dafellows2001@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [AMOJ_MAIN] Diaz family