STAMFORD—It was a busy day when the Stamford Judicial District celebrated Law Day 2013 on April 26th. Emphasizing the Law Day theme, Realizing the Dream: Equality for All, the Fairfield County Bar Association and its co-host the Stamford JD, honored student winners in the Law Day Art & Essay Contest and celebrated the swearing-in of new attorneys.

After Remarks by Law Day Co-Chair Attorney Jonathan T. Hoffman and Stamford JD Administrative Judge Gary J. White, attorneys were sworn-in by Superior Court Judge Kenneth B. Povodator.

Judge Povodator then delivered the Keynote Address—a comprehensive look at the meaning of the concept of equality, which he notes has changed over time—and where we are today. From Revolutionary times to the present Judge Povodator charted the course of equality and its meaning to those times. When he finally arrived in present-day Connecticut, he emphasized that we must not become complacent because equality in many areas has been obtained.

“It may be true that in terms of equality, our current society is better than any that has gone before but we cannot be complacent,” he said. “I do not know what new challenges we will face—but history has shown that we can and will move in the right direction.

“Sometimes it will be through the courts, even if belatedly, as in Brown v Board of Education. Sometimes it will be through enactment of laws such as the Civil Rights amendments of the 1860s and the Civil Rights and Voting laws passed by Congress 100 years later. Sometimes it is the decency of large numbers of people that triumphs, such as the resistance in the North to the spread of slavery which eventually led to the Civil War—and the refusal, 100 years later, of protesters to allow the status quo of racial discrimination to continue. Sometimes there is a single individual—Susan B. Anthony for the right of women to vote and Martin Luther King, Jr. for the end of racial discrimination.”

He then focused on Connecticut and continued, “The scope of equality guaranteed by Connecticut’s current anti-discrimination law would have been incomprehensible 100 years ago. As far as we have come, we must remain vigilant to the possible need for further expansion of the concept of equality.”

Following his address, Judge Povodator presented awards to the Art & Essay Contest Winners along with Attorney Amy J. LiVolsi, Chair of the School Art & Essay Contest for the FCBA.
 

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