Stephen Younger, a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP in New York City took office June 1 as the 113th president of the New York State Bar Association.

"Every crisis presents opportunities, and I see an opportunity now to help shape the future of our profession," he said. "This will be the central goal of my term."

He said he will appoint a new task force to explore major shifts that have taken place in society and the legal profession, their interrelation with the practice of law and how to address these issues. Among the issues to be considered are:

• How to better train young lawyers.

• How the legal profession can continue to attract the best and brightest as technology places increased pressure on work/life balance.

• How billing practices can be improved. The task force will examine the emphasis on billing for quantity of hours worked, rather than the quality of results, and what suitable alternative billing systems would look like.

• How technology is likely to change the law office of the future, what new developments are coming down the road and how the profession is going to deal with them.

Younger said he asked outgoing President Michael Getnick to spearhead a program through which law students would be matched up with sections of the Bar Association. The initiative would result in students working side-by-side with experienced members of association sections, giving them experience in researching and writing reports, as well as the ability to form relationships with leaders in the legal profession.

Younger also said he would reach out to law school deans statewide and start a conversation about the future of legal education.

"Law schools also need to evolve," he said, "and we need to help them develop programs and curricula that will prepare young people to be future lawyers."

He said he would appoint a task force on government ethics to consider such issues as:

• New York state currently does not have its own anti-corruption law. Jurisdiction for prosecuting government corruption cases is unclear. What authority do local district attorneys have? What authority does the state attorney general have?

• There are no comprehensive ethics laws for local government entities.

• Lawyers need to be able to serve in public office and meet ethical requirements for disclosure of income and clients - without violating their ethical obligations to clients.

Younger also said that he would appoint a task force on family courts and a special committee on youth courts.

"The family courts are in crisis with overcrowded dockets, insufficient numbers of judges and serious delays," he said.

Younger has been an active member of the state bar for 27 years. He was president-elect for the past year and chaired the association's House of Delegates. He also served as member-at-large of the Executive Committee in 2007-09. He served as chair of the state bar's Commercial and Federal Litigation Section in 2005-06.

In addition, he is past chair of the section's Securities Litigation Committee and its Pro Bono and Public Interest Committee. He chaired the state bar's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee; is a fellow of The New York Bar Foundation; and an active member of the association's Committee on Membership, having chaired its recent membership challenge. A trustee of Albany Law School and past president of the law school's National Alumni Council, he is a frequent lecturer and author in the fields of securities litigation, commercial arbitration and international dispute resolution.