Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Labor and Employment Law Section

2025 John E. Higgins, Esq. Diversity Trailblazer Award Winner

Mirna Martinez Santiago, Esq.

President & CEO, Girls Rule the Law, Inc.

MIRNA MARTINEZ SANTIAGO has more than 25 years of legal experience. Mirna lectures on an array of
topics – with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and the elimination of bias – and has published on legal, as
well as non-legal subjects. Mirna has been featured in Latina Magazine, The Grio talk show, Reuters, PLI,
National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) Magazine, and NBC News, among other media.

In 2018, Mirna founded Girls Rule the Law (www.girlsrulethelaw.org) to introduce middle and high school
girls to the law and to provide them the opportunity to interact with mentors in the legal, judicial and legislative
fields.

Mirna has a successful consulting practice (www.mirnasantiago.com) where she helps identify employment risks and conducts
independent investigations, as well as lecturing and training on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). Mirna is the
immediate past Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s (NYSBA) Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and is an active
member of the NYSBA, including co-chairing the Task Force on the U.S. Territories.

2025 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Beacon Award Winner

A.J. Bosman, Esq.

Executive Director, The Children’s Rights Initiative, Inc. Principal Attorney, Bosman Law Firm LLC

A.J. Bosman, Esq. is a lifelong resident of upstate New York, her office
currently in the hamlet of Blossvale, New York. After earning a Bachelors and
Masters degrees from SUNY Brockport, she commenced her law school education
in the part time program in 1983 at Syracuse College of Law – with a four month
old daughter and 4 year old son, married to a NY State Trooper and Viet Nam
combat veteran. While attending law school, she subsidized her tuition with a
teaching stipend at Syracuse University’s department of Speech communication,
serving on numerous Auburn, NY community boards and committees and copublishing “The Original Fingerlakes Women’s Guide”. Commencing in 1988 she
served seven plus years as the first pro se law clerk/staff attorney for the Judges
and Magistrate Judges of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York,
working primarily with pro se prisoner constitutional issues.
In 1997, after briefly working for a small law firm, Ms Bosman started a
solo practice and founded The Children’s Rights Initiative, Inc., a 501c-3 Legal
Services Corporation based on the premise that children were under-represented in
Constitutional issues and should have the right to choose and obtain their own
counsel for their legal issues. This premise was met with resistance by an Oneida
County Family Court Judge, and successfully litigated. Cassandra R. by Next
Friend, The Children’s Rights Initiative, Inc., v. Flemma, 269 A.D. 2d 862 (4th
Dept. 2000)
1
Just after she opened her own practice concentrating in civil rights and
constitutional law, she was the first New York attorney to earn her LLM in Trial
Advocacy (Honors) at Beasley College of Law, Temple University in 1998. Since
that time, she has pursued cases that are complex, often involving long and very
adversarial discovery and pre-trial proceedings, mainly on behalf of Plaintiffs
against governmental agencies, local, state and federal, and with the expected
subsequent years’ long appeal process. Eventually, many cases reached trial,
where she took them through jury verdict and often endured the years’ long
appeals process for or against verdicts and attorney’s fees applications.
1Although the appeal was dismissed as moot, the court gave credence to the central issue,
stating “We note, however, that the Family Court Act “specifically provide[s] for representation
of a child by counsel of his or her own choosing” (Matter of Elianne M., 196 A.D.2d 439, 440,
601 N.Y.S.2d 481; see, Family Ct. Act §§ 241, 249[a] ), and the record does not reflect a valid
basis for denying petitioner that right”

Notable successes were forged against discriminatory law enforcement
agencies: Lore vs. City of Syracuse; Lee vs. City of Syracuse; Irving Linton vs.
City of Syracuse; Calverase v, City of Syracuse; Beauchine v. City of Syracuse;
Dotson v. City of Syracuse; Patterson v. County of Oneida; Perez v. County of
Rensselear; Gilbert v, Cooperstown; Wolongevicz v. Camillus, just to name a few.
Not only did her firm win monetary verdicts, but more importantly for all
employees, females, the disabled, and minority police officers in particular, the
cases she pursued resulted in many instances to changes in policies and a record of
egregious retaliation practices. The pursuit of these case was in hopes of
impacting change in policies and practices, in that all employees, especially
women and minorities, will have equal opportunity to advance in their careers
without being silenced by intimidation and fear of being “othered”. The impact
also includes more visibility of women and minorities the community, especially
in positions of authority
It is not only minorities who are victimized by retaliatory employment
practice. In Miller vs. Ithaca Police Department, Ms. Bosman represented a white
male officer who was terminated for having filed a complaint with the Division of
Human Rights. The case and damage awards were tried three times before three
juries. Several recent successful jury verdicts in other matters are also pending
appeal.
AJ’s husband passed in 2021. They have three brilliant and beautiful
grandchildren. Their daughter, Brynne Stark is operating a successful bakery:
“Brynne’s Bread” out of Oakham, Massachusetts, and their son, Padric Moore,
Esq. has his own successful law practice in Latham, NY.