Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Task Force on U.S. Territories

2023 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Beacon Award Winner

Ronelle C. Porter, Esq.

Assistant Deputy Chair, Capital Markets and Corporate, Loeb & Loeb LLP

Ronelle Porter has almost 20 years of experience as a transactional attorney. Ronelle focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, joint ventures, cross border transactions, corporate governance, and general corporate matters. She counsels and advises both private and public companies on strategic, business, and corporate transactions in a variety of industries, including energy, technology, health care and manufacturing, along with a range of corporate day-to-day matters. Ronelle also works on debt and equity offerings, representing both issuers and underwriters. Ronelle collaborates with her clients to understand their strategic and financial goals beyond any particular transaction and works closely with them to ensure that those goals are continuously considered not only in corporate transactions but also in day-to-day business decisions. In addition to her corporate practice, Ronelle co-chairs Loeb & Loeb’s New York Women’s LEAD Network and is a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee.

2023 John E. Higgins, Esq. Diversity Trailblazer Award Winner

Honorable Randolph F. Treece

Of Counsel, E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy LLC

On May 9, 2016, Randolph F. Treece joined E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy LLC, as of counsel specializing in mediations, arbitrations, civil rights, employment, and personal injury litigation.

Mr. Treece was appointed on April 26, 2001, Magistrate Judge to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.  On September 14, 2009, Judge Treece was re-appointed to a second term as United States Magistrate Judge, retiring on September 25, 2015.    Mr. Treece was the first African-American to be appointed to the federal judiciary in the Northern District of New York and the first person of color to be appointed or elected to the judiciary at any level, state or federal, in 104 years in eastern, upstate New York.  James Campbell Matthews, an African-American, served as a judge to the Recorder Court (now known as City Court) for Albany in the 1890s.

Prior to his appointment as Magistrate Judge, Mr. Treece served as Counsel to the Office of the State Comptroller in H. Carl McCall’s administration and directed and coordinated all aspects of the Division of Legal Services in accordance with the Comptroller’s overall goals, objectives and philosophy.  Prior to his appointment as Counsel in February 1999, Mr. Treece served as First Deputy Capital Defender of the New York State Capital Defender Office, appointed in September 1995 to manage the Albany Office, and provide trial level representation to those accused of murder in the first degree who may face the sentence of death.

Randy Treece was born and raised in Troy, New York, the oldest of three children of Marguerite Smith and John Treece.  He attended schools in the Lansingburgh School District graduating from Lansingburgh High School with a Regents Diploma and as a member of the Honor Society.  Mr. Treece graduated from Siena College in 1970 with a B.B.A. in Accounting.

After graduation, he worked with the big eight accounting firm of Peat, Marwick and Mitchell until he entered Albany Law School in 1973.  He earned a Juris Doctorate from Albany Law School in 1976 and promptly commenced a private practice, specializing in criminal law and litigation.  Mr. Treece maintained this private practice for eleven years.  While in private practice, he also served as an Assistant Public Defender for Rensselaer County and taught at two area junior colleges.  During his stint as Assistant Public Defender, he handled hundreds of cases in all of the trial courts and served as lead trial counsel on several high-profile criminal cases.  In 1987 Mr. Treece joined the New York State Department of Law as an Assistant Attorney General, practicing civil litigation until September 1995.  There he handled many voluminous and complex tort cases filed against the State.

In 1989, Mr. Treece was appointed an adjunct professor at Albany Law School until 2005.  In addition to teaching trial tactics, Mr. Treece has instructed a public defender criminal law clinic, conducted legal educational seminars, and occasionally is asked to be a guest lecturer in other law school classes as well as at other law schools and colleges.

Mr. Treece possesses a strong commitment to his community and has served on countless community boards of directors.  Currently he serves on New York State Appellate Division Third Department Character Fitness Committee and the Judicial Screening Committee as well as the New York Court of Appeals’ Bar Exam Task Force. He is the Attorney Trustee for the Peter and Elizabeth Tower Foundation. He is a member of Board of Trustee of the Albany Palace Theater. He is Trustee Emeriti of the Board of Trustees of Albany Law School, and a former Board Trustee for the Capital District YMCA, Hudson Valley Community College and Siena College. He has served on three committees of the New York State Bar Association and as a former delegate to the House of Delegates.  He also served on the Board of Directors of the New York Bar Foundation as Treasurer.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the Albany County Bar Association for approximately ten years, serving as Treasurer of this association and served as Chair of the By-Laws Committee and the Association’s Minority Lawyers Subcommittee and is the author of this Association’s Minority Hiring Project and Diversity Internship Fellowship Program.  He served as Board Member, Executive Vice-Chair and Acting Chair in 1996 of the Urban League of Northeastern New York, Inc.

Further, he has served on the Honorary Board of the Women’s Law Project, Advisory Board of Albany Law School’s Government Law Center, Advisory Board of Albany Law School-NAACP Legal Assistance Program and is one of the founders and former President of the Capital District Black Bar Association, now the Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association, and served as the President of the National Bar Association Region II Bar Foundation.

The Chief Judge of the New York Court System, Judith Kaye, appointed Mr. Treece to serve on the Jury Project that recommended many significant improvements to New York State’s jury system.  Many of these recommendations were made into law.  This appointment came after the Capital District Black Bar Association’s report on minorities and juries, principally written by Mr. Treece, which received the Root/Stimson Award and is cited as an authority on the subject matter by other jurisdictions.  He also sat on the New York State Bar Association’s Judicial Selection Committee and served in a similar capacity for the City of Albany.

Mr. Treece has been the recipient of an array of honors and awards.  In January of 1996, Mr. Treece was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Justice Award from the Albany Chapter of the NAACP.  On October 20, 1997, the New York Chapter of American Civil Liberties Union bestowed its Roland J. Smith Award for exemplary legal service upon him.  In April 1998, the Urban League of Northeastern New York presented him with its McNamee Award for outstanding services as a Board Member.  In April 1999, the Albany Law School Alumni Association bestowed its Distinguished Service Award upon Mr. Treece.  The Albany County Bar Association in 2000 bestowed its 1999 President’s Award and in the same year the Troy Boys and Girls Club inducted him into its Hall of Fame.  On September 21, 2001, Mr. Treece’s high school inducted him into its Hall of Fame.  That same year Omega Phi Psi named him 2001 Citizen of the Year.  The Center for Law and Justice bestowed its Frederick Douglas Award upon Mr. Treece in 2002.  Also, in 2002, the New York State Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission on Minorities presented him with its Millennium Award. In March of 2004, Albany Law School bestowed its Distinguished Alumni in Government Award; in April, the Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association presented him with an award for Distinguished Service to Attorneys of Color; and, on October 15, the Troy Chapter of the NAACP presented him with its Outstanding Leadership Award.  In late 2008, the Capital District YMCA bestowed its President’s Award for 2009. In 2014, the Albany Chapter of the NAACP bestowed its Medgar W. Evers Award, in 2015, Albany Law School bestowed its Legal Profession Leadership Award, and in 2016, the Troy Boys and Girls Club bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 2017, the New York Law Journal bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award upon Mr. Treece.  In 2020, Albany Law School bestowed upon him the Trustee’s Gold Medal.  In 2021, the Franklin H. Williams Commission on the Judiciary bestowed upon him its Trailblazer Award. In 2022, the Albany County Bar Association’s Racial Justice Committee bestowed upon him a Special Recognition Award.

2023 John E. Higgins, Esq. Diversity Trailblazer Award Winner

Ross F. Moskowitz, Esq.

Partner, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Ross F. Moskowitz serves as a strategic advisor to leading real estate development clients with an emphasis on land use, zoning, public-private partnerships, environmental and tax abatement and exemption issues. His practice includes structuring and financing public-private development transactions. He regularly appears before governmental agencies, including the New York City Planning Commission, the Board of Standards and Appeals and the Landmarks Preservation Commission on behalf of private developers, institutional investors, investment management groups and not-for-profit institutions seeking discretionary zoning approval. He advises financial service and media companies and professional service firms regarding their strategic plans for multiple occupancies throughout New York City.

Ross joined the Real Estate Practice Group in 1998 from the New York City Economic Development Corp., where he was executive vice president. There, he was instrumental in structuring many of New York City’s most complicated public-private real estate ventures; recruited companies to New York City; and helped to create the Plug N’ Go program, which drew new media and internet companies to New York, creating Silicon Alley. Ross also served as executive director of the New York City Industrial Development Agency, where he supervised issuance of more than $1 billion in tax-exempt and taxable bonds.

As one of the country’s leading real estate lawyers, Ross has been recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. According to Chambers, “Ross demonstrated mastery of the technical aspects of the matter, strong political acumen and extensive relationships and a connection to us as a client that made it easy to welcome him as part of our family.” He was named Law360 Real Estate MVP and ranked among Commercial Observer’s Leading Legals: New York’s Most Powerful Real Estate Attorneys.

His pro bono service includes helping the Museum of Arts and Design to acquire 2 Columbus Circle in New York, and defending the deal against four separate lawsuits. He serves on Stroock’s Executive Committee and Co-Chairs the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Council. Ross received Chambers USA’s Diversity and Inclusion “Outstanding Ally” award in 2019, in recognition of his outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, and as an ally for diverse groups.