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September-October 20<strong>08</strong> THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 33<br />
Professionalism and ethical behavior drive attorney Seth Kirschenbaum<br />
S<br />
BY George<br />
Jordan<br />
eth Kirschenbaum is a very busy,<br />
involved Atlanta attorney. A partner in<br />
the law firm of Davis, Zipperman,<br />
Kirschenbaum<br />
& Lotito, LLP,<br />
Seth has been<br />
active in<br />
numerous lawrelated<br />
service<br />
activities for<br />
many years.<br />
His many contributions<br />
to the<br />
legal community<br />
resulted in<br />
Seth being<br />
selected as this<br />
Seth Kirschenbaum year’s recipient<br />
of the Charles<br />
W a t k i n s<br />
Award—the Atlanta Bar Association’s highest<br />
service award.<br />
Seth grew up in Glen Falls, in upstate<br />
New York. After graduating from the State<br />
University of New York at Binghamton, he<br />
helped his father start a jewelry store and<br />
was his father’s first employee. He started<br />
law school at Western New England<br />
College in Massachusetts. After one year,<br />
his high academic standing there enabled<br />
him to transfer to Emory Law School in<br />
l974, and he graduated in 1976. His first job<br />
was with Kilpatrick & Cody in Atlanta.<br />
After two years, he took a job with the U.S.<br />
Department of Justice, Antitrust Division<br />
(Atlanta Office). He then worked for the<br />
U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 1985, he started<br />
in private practice with his current firm. He<br />
and Lotito handle the firm’s criminal cases.<br />
He has been doing criminal defense work<br />
for 23 years.<br />
He represented members of the<br />
Olympic family during the games in<br />
Atlanta, which resulted in him being invited<br />
to Australia to speak to Olympic attorneys<br />
in Sydney.<br />
Seth has been involved in bar associations<br />
for many years. He worked in the<br />
criminal section of the Atlanta Bar<br />
Association and eventually became the<br />
chairman. At the same time, he was president<br />
of the Midtown Atlanta Neighborhood<br />
Association. An important issue was keeping<br />
a check on high-rise buildings, so that<br />
they did not encroach on certain neighborhoods.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Atlanta Bar Association has 6,000<br />
Chabad Intown opens preschool<br />
C<br />
habad Intown has opened the new Intown <strong>Jewish</strong> Preschool at 604 Cooledge<br />
Avenue, the site of the old Canterbury School, just one block from Piedmont<br />
Park in the heart of Virginia-Highland. After undergoing a massive renovation,<br />
the preschool officially opened its doors on August 28 to offer a new, creative, and progressive<br />
environment for <strong>Jewish</strong> families in Atlanta.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Intown <strong>Jewish</strong> Preschool, under the leadership of Director Dena Schusterman,<br />
has 28 students and will offer programs for children 18 months-4 years with two-, three-<br />
, and five-day-a-week options.<br />
With a successful Mommy and Me program for the last seven years, Chabad Intown<br />
continues to promote its progressive philosophy for all Jews, regardless of affiliation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Intown <strong>Jewish</strong> Preschool will continue this tradition and provide a new child-centered<br />
environment filled with developmentally appropriate learning, as well as <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
values and customs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> school has a multi-sensory, Reggio inspired learning environment. Its centers<br />
and equipment allow for children of different learning modalities to thrive and grow.<br />
<strong>The</strong> school takes advantage of the educational principals of Piaget and Dewey, which<br />
encourage children to learn and be exposed to many types of learning and thinking and<br />
then develop at their own pace.<br />
<strong>The</strong> new Intown <strong>Jewish</strong> Preschool site was purchased for $1.2 million, in large part<br />
from a challenge grant of $500,000 from an anonymous donor. <strong>The</strong> site is sunny, modern,<br />
and equipped with all the requisite amenities of a first-class preschool, including<br />
bright classrooms, indoor play areas, and outdoor playgrounds.<br />
For registration and information, visit www.intownjewishpreschool.org, or call<br />
404-898-0438.<br />
members. Seth served on the board of directors<br />
and was elected president in 2000. He<br />
assumed this office in May 2001, becoming<br />
the Bar Association’s first <strong>Jewish</strong> president.<br />
Atlanta has numerous bar associations<br />
representing diverse groups of attorneys,<br />
such as African-American, Hispanic, Asian,<br />
and gay attorneys. In 2001, Seth established<br />
the Multi-Bar Leadership Council.<br />
Originally comprising six bar associations,<br />
its membership has now grown to fourteen.<br />
<strong>The</strong> council works on projects together, has<br />
social events, holds seminars, sponsors<br />
debates, and more. Seth was ahead of his<br />
time in promoting diversity.<br />
After his year as president of the<br />
Atlanta Bar Association, Seth became<br />
involved with the Georgia State Bar and is a<br />
member of the Board of Governors of the<br />
State Bar. This group is tasked with overseeing<br />
the entire practice of law in the State<br />
of Georgia. This covers a broad spectrum,<br />
such as qualifications to be a member of the<br />
bar, lawyer discipline, and rules for procedure<br />
and evidence. One issue of concern to<br />
the State Bar is the unauthorized practice of<br />
law—non-lawyers preparing wills, doing<br />
real estate closings, and engaging in similar<br />
transactions. Also, the State Bar keeps an<br />
eye on advertising to ensure that it maintains<br />
professionalism and does not go<br />
beyond the appropriate bounds of soliciting<br />
cases.<br />
Georgia is one of the leaders in the concept<br />
of “professionalism” for its attorneys.<br />
Seth is the representative on the Chief<br />
Justices Commission on Professionalism.<br />
Seth stated that it is not just about<br />
ethics, but also about how a lawyer should<br />
conduct himself in a professional way to<br />
bring the legal profession to a higher level.<br />
Seth is also on the board of the Georgia<br />
Justice Project. Offering a holistic approach<br />
to criminal defense, it doesn’t just provide a<br />
lawyer; it obtains housing, job training,<br />
mental health treatment, drug treatment—<br />
whatever a client needs.<br />
Seth has also served as chair of the<br />
Atlanta Judicial Commission. This group<br />
supplies the mayor with the shortlists of<br />
potential judges for the municipal court and<br />
solicitors for the Public Defenders Office.<br />
Additionally, Seth is on the Citizens<br />
Review Board. This group, which reviews<br />
citizens’ allegations of police misconduct, is<br />
still in its formative stages.<br />
In May, Seth married Karla Tievsky, a<br />
violinist with the Georgia Philharmonic.<br />
Karla also teaches violin using the Suzuki<br />
method. His sister, Jill Kirschenbaum, is an<br />
editor at <strong>The</strong> Wall Street Journal. Seth’s<br />
mother, Claire, lives a very active life in<br />
Peachtree City. His father, George, died this<br />
year at the age of 88.