Principal For A Day

Peter Fishbein Esq. of Kaye Scholer Spends the day with Law and Finance

Peter Fisbein, a Partner with the Law Firm of Kaye Scholer, spent a day with the staff and students at Law and Finance. After getting the chance to eat some breakfast with the students, he visited with various classes, answering questions about the field of Law.

Mr. Fishbein spent a good amount of time sitting down with us, and learning about the student life, getting a better pulse as to what kinds of classes we are now taking, and how we ourselves see ourselves in the working world.

Mr.Fishbein is one of around 100 Partners and 800 lawyers at Kaye Scholer. The firm has offices not only in New York City, but also in cities such as Shanghai and Frankfurt, Germany. Mr. Fishbein has worked on all kinds of cases, ranging from international litigation to labor disputes.

In discussions Mr. Fishbein had with students, he stressed that to enter the field of law, you not only have to do well in school, but have to pursue education for an additional seven years beyond high school: after completing four years of undergraduate college, it is then necessary to attend Law School for three years.

Students had all kinds of questions for our visiting lawyer. Here is a sample of some of the questions asked of Mr. Fishbein, with excerpts of his answers:

Q: What is the best case you have worked on?
A: A case in which New York City has argued that the Board of Education in New York City has not been getting its proper share of money from the state.

Q: What is the longest case you have worked on?
A: Three to four years, but with interruptions.

Q: How old were you when you started out as a lawyer?
A: 24 - I have been in law for forty years.

Malik

Q: Have you ever defended someone that was declared not guilty ... but you felt inside the person was really guilty?

A: Mistakes do happen, but not that often. (Good question Malik, but we'll give you free tuition to your law school of choice if you can get any lawyer to answer that question to your satisfaction!)

Adam

Q: Do you ever use historical documents to help you on cases?

A: Sometimes legal issues go back over one hundred years. With some cases, we have had to go back to cases that happened as early as 1810. We still refer to cases that were decided before the Civil War.

Susan Riemer Sacks of Barnard, Evan Schwartz, and Peter Fishbein, Esq.

This was a visit that was enjoyed by all. We hope Mr. Fishbein enjoyed his time with us. We certainly appreciated the fact that he took time from his busy schedule to listen to us, and answer our questions on the legal field.

This visit was made possible by PENCIL, an organization that sponsors the Principal For A Day (PFAD) program in New York City. PENCIL annually mobilizes more than 1,200 civic, corporate, creative and community leaders throughout the tri-state area to experience a day in the life of a New York City public school.