Olga Fort - Russian-speaking Lawyer running for Civil Court Judge NYC  

Written on Aug, 26 2018 18:50

 I’m running for Civil Court Judge in the Municipal Court District 8 in Brooklyn.  This is the only district that contains a large Russian speaking community.  We need more Russian speaking judges in Brooklyn courts, who understand the difficulties, mentality and culture of the immigrants from the former USSR.  While I believe it is important to have a better understanding of the parties involved in litigation, it is my goal, if elected as a judge, to be fair and just.            

As a lawyer, I have represented consumers forced to pay high prices for medications due to the illegal monopoly by pharmaceutical companies, defended seniors who suffered life-threatening side effects of medications(Пожилых людей, пострадавших от опасных для здоровья и жизни побочных эффектов лекарств).  I have also represented victims of customer data security breaches (Жертв, пострадавших вследствие утечки персональных данных) and victims of stock fraud by corporations (Владельцев акций, пострадавших от мошенничества корпораций).            

I was born in Moscow to a family of doctors.  Since I was a little girl, I was used to seeing people coming to our home for help, and I knew that I would follow my parents’ and grandparents’ steps and become a doctor one day.  However, when it was time to apply to colleges, I felt that, because of the rapidly changing political, economic and cultural regime in the country, I could no longer become a doctor and was convinced that I had to take part in the reforms.  I believed that restructuring legal framework should be one of the primary objectives for the country to integrate with the world economy and fight corruption and oppression, and decided to become a lawyer.            

While working on various projects as a lawyer, I faced enormous challenges in pushing for new legislation, and difficulties with having people trying to adapt to a new way of thinking and accept proposed reforms.  I clerked for a Judge in a Military Court.  After seeing injustice and significant violations of the Civil and Criminal Codes, I left the position.  I volunteered for initiative groups lobbying to adopt new legislation to support transformation of the country to a democratic society.  Instead, I witnesseda policy of repression, and violations of human rights such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression.  Then, I was offered a position of legal counsel at one of the leading banks in Russia.  I have always tried to advance my knowledge in the legal field.  I was accepted into the Graduate program (аспирантура)attheLaw School of the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property.  I concentrated my studies on legal protection related to patents and copyrights and published two articles in Legal Journals.          

I immigrated to the United States in 2000.  I was fascinated by the U.S. Constitution, the freedoms and legal protection, which citizens of this amazing country have been afforded for years.  I then attended Fordham Law School concentrating my studies in Banking, Corporate and Finance Law.  While in Law School, I was a legal assistant to Mary C. Daly, former Dean of St. John’s Law School and conducted research for her book RIGHTS, LIABILITY,  AND ETHICSIN INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PRACTICE, published in 2004.            

I was admitted to the New York State Bar (2005), Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.            

My extensive legal education and experience allowed me to successfully work on various cases, involving antitrust, securities and consumer law issues, and represent plaintiffs and defendants in New York Civil Court and Arbitration, where I argued cases and conducted in-court settlements.  I was on the legal team representing clients in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and the United States Supreme Court against a large corporation.  While working on the case, I conducted depositions, participated in conferences with the opposing counsel, attended court hearings, and managed electronic document discovery.I have litigated in the New York court systemfor several years representing both sides of the litigation process.  I believe that my well-rounded experience as a litigator in various aspects of law will benefit me as a judge.            

I settled in the Brighton Beach community, where I have lived for the past 18 years with my husband and two sons.  I have been active in the community and am a member of the Youth Initiative Committee.  I have provided free legal assistance to the elderly within the Brighton Beach community.