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Making Society a Better Place: On Accountability & Responsibility

September 2 @ 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

What We’ll Explore

From pedophile church scandals and Wall Street Fraud, to improper sports betting by athletes and addiction-related tragedies…how might we make society a better place? 

In this evening’s program led by Hon. Mark C. Dillon, we’ll examine this question through the lens of philosophy and ask:

  • What kinds of personal responsibilities do we have to others?
  • Does our society have a tolerance level? If so, where are we at? What kinds of things contribute to our tolerances (or lack thereof)?  
  • Do we have fewer guardrails now than we did in the past? Are the guardrails we have sometimes ineffective?
  • How can we hold ourselves and institutions accountable?
WHEN & WHERE

Wednesday, September 2nd
6pm-8:30pm (MST)
Venue: TBD

COST
Free (Donations appreciated)
BYOB & snacks provided

About Our Discussion Facilitator

A Justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, and senior associate justice of the court, Mark C. Dillon has over 19 years of experience on the bench. An adjunct professor of Practice at Fordham Law School and celebrated author (Montana Vigilantes 1863-1870: Gold, Guns & Gallows and The First Chief Justice: John Jay and the Struggle of a New Nation), he earned his B.A. from Colgate University, M.A. from NYU, and J.D. from Fordham Law School. Through Fordham, Mark has volunteered time over three summers teaching mediation techniques to tribal chiefs, priests, and imams in remote regions of western Africa.  A lifetime long distance runner, he has four children are grown, and he resides with his wife in Dutchess County, NY.

Justice Dillon was elected to the state’s Supreme Court in the Ninth Judicial District in 1999 and re-elected in 2013.  Prior, he served as a Judge of the Westchester County Court in 1997 and as a Town Justice of the Town of Yorktown from 1988 to 1997.  His career also includes three years as a Westchester County Assistant District Attorney, and a total of twelve years as a trial attorney at the law firms of Cerussi & Spring P.C. and Dillon & Sarcone, LLP. in White Plains, NY.

A contributing author of McKinney’s CPLR Practice Commentaries beginning with the 2019 supplements, and has written six new hard cover volumes that have replaced those earlier authored by the late Professor David Siegel. He has published seven law review articles during the past decade through the Albany, Pace, NYU, Cardozo, and Hofstra Law Schools.

Justice Dillon also published a 449-page hard cover book of legal history entitled Montana Vigilantes 1863-1870: Gold, Guns & Gallows (Univ. of Colorado Press, 2013), one of five books nominated for A History Book of the Year by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association. More recently, he authored a book of legal history entitled The First Chief Justice: John Jay and the Struggle of a New Nation (SUNY Press, 2022), which focuses on Jay’s career and cases while the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Jay book was one of ten books nominated nationally for History Book of the Year by the Foreward Independent Booksellers’ Association.

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