ALBANY, NY – On July 16 in New York State’s capital city, Albany, 151 new attorneys were sworn in: a process that culminates years of law school labor by awarding the Juris Doctors a license to practice law in The Empire State. There was apparently only one Greek-American among them (based on a reading of the complete list of names), Eleni Kalmoukos, the daughter of TNH Religion Editor Theodore, and Angeliki Kalmoukos.
Kalmoukos, a graduate of Wheaton College and Suffolk University Law School, both in Massachusetts, passed that state’s bar seven years ago and has been working there as an attorney, but it was always her dream to be admitted in New York state, too.
“It is really an extremely joyful day for me and my beloved parents, who have always stood by my side during my course of studies and they continue to do so today in supporting my choices.” Kalmoukos told TNH. “Education was my parents’ first priority for me since I was a little girl and now that I have grown up I can’t describe how much I appreciate it.”
Kalmoukos, in fluent Greek, discussed her love of Greece: “Hellenism is the soul and the mind of the entire world. The Hellenic Civilization is fascinating, unique, and extremely rich. It is universal – ecumenical as my father often says, and very rightly so – because it is not only ours, I mean of the Greeks, it belongs to the entire world. But above all, it is my civilization, for which I feel extremely proud.”
Kalmoukos is also grateful to her “second family” – the TNH family – particularly Publisher Antonis H. Diamataris, who called her from Greece to congratulate her moments after she was sworn in.
Eleni is already a practicing lawyer in the State of Massachusetts. She passed the Massachusetts Bar Exam seven years ago, and for the last six and one half years has been working for a Legal Services office in Massachusetts. Her dream was to also be admitted to the New York Bar, in order to be able to also practice law in New York, a state which she likes very much.
Eleni also said “I thank God for helping me to fulfill another big dream in my life, because ever since I was a law student at Suffolk, I always wanted to first pass the Bar in Massachusetts and down the road to also acquire my law license in New York, in order to be able to practice as a lawyer in both states, which I love dearly.”
Eleni also loves Greece very much. She said “I adore Greece, it is the most beautiful country in the world” and she added “I feel so sorry that I won’t be able to go this summer because my schedule doesn’t allow it, but my dream is to take a month off next summer and visit.”