After being closed since September 2025, due to a leak in its over-a-century-old historic brownstone, the Brooklyn Bar Association reopened its doors to the public Wednesday morning for its first-ever breakfast event — which leaders say they hope is the first of many.
“I thought, since we just reopened this month, this would be a great opportunity to invite our members in the legal community to come back to our legal home,” said Anthony Vaughn, the organization’s immediate past president. “This is something new, and I’m hoping that we can use this as a jumping off point to do this each month [and] as an opportunity to get more events on the calendar.”
In-person events, like this breakfast, are critical to building the legal community, learning from each other and bridging generational gaps, Vaughn said.
“Without the in person experience, you lose sight of the importance of building and nurturing relationships,” Vaughn said. “I know there’s a different perspective that you can fulfill the same goals by online or through social media, and I agree in part, but there’s something about a screen which creates separation that in-person events eliminate.”
“I think it’s important for the younger generation, as well as our senior attorneys, to get together to bridge those gaps,” he continued. “The elders can learn from the youth, and quite frankly, the youth can always learn from the elders. But, it’s very difficult to do that if the elders aren’t on social media, but the young groups are. So, why don’t we get into a common space where we all feel comfortable and share ideas and do something new?”
Vaughn said he hopes to see more of the organization’s roughly 2,000 members return to the Brooklyn Heights brownstone located at 123 Remsen St., a landmark the association has called home since 1918. Founded in the wake of fraudulent city elections in 1872, the Brooklyn Bar Association offers attorneys, judges and other members of the legal community an opportunity for networking and legal education through seminars, dinners and other organized events.
A couple dozen attorneys, judges and members joined Vaughn and Brooklyn Bar Association President-Elect Angélicque Moreno in welcoming members back to the building and asking them what type of events they’d like to see held more often.
“We encourage people to think of ideas, whether it be a CLE or another activity, to get on the schedule,” Vaughn said. “More camaraderie, more support of this association, only advances our membership experience.”
The Brooklyn Bar Association will hold various presentations and seminars over the next few months, and its annual Judiciary Night is set for April.
