Young Lawyers Section

Anne L. LaBarbera, Esq.

Anne L. LaBarbera of New York City is the new chair of the section. The principal attorney at Anne LaBarbera Professional Corporation, she concentrates her practice in entertainment law, media law and commercial law.

A six-year member of the association, LaBarbera most recently served as chair-elect of the section. She also is a member of the House of Delegates, as well as the Committee on Media Law and Commercial and Federal Litigation Section.

LaBarbera graduated from Michigan State University and earned her law degree from the University of Aberdeen.

Message from the Chair

It has been a year of forced change and reorganization. We are coming out of the worst of this pandemic that took us by surprise leaving us a forever changed profession. Some of these changes will be permanent and only time will tell on the road ahead.

NYSBA is poised for change and there is no better time to be involved. This is a unique opportunity to influence the direction of such change. As we emerge from isolation, fatigued from video conferencing and social disruption, I expect the role of NYSBA to be greater in my life for the coming year, not just because I take over the Young Lawyers Section Chair position this year but because I feel like my networking life has been in some ways brought back to where it was in 2015 when I was newly admitted and searching for colleagues.

As the Young Lawyers Section, we support each other in our first years of entry into the profession, moving from isolation felt as that new person in the room who is afraid she doesn’t even know enough to join the conversation, to the experienced attorney who gets all the inside jokes.

In 2015 I at first felt intimidated by NYSBA, a revered organization with history and prestige, full of experienced attorneys I was sure might not have time to support a newbie. My fears were compounded by the fact that as a 40 something newly admitted attorney, I was not even sure that I was eligible for participation in the Young Lawyers Section. After attending just one NYSBA event I found out what many of you are soon to learn. This is an organization for everyone made up of attorneys from all walks of life. The predominant culture of the organization that stands out for me is an absolute willingness to support each other in career development.

Thinking of my experience as an older young lawyer my thoughts turn to diversity. At NYSBA, young lawyers are defined as lawyers in their first ten years of practice regardless of age. We actively seek the participation of young lawyers of all ages.

Statistics show that the young lawyers reflect the same diversity as the legal profession but we are not satisfied to stop there. Young lawyers are uniquely connected to law students and those considering pursuing a career in law. We want to increase diversity so our Section matches the diversity of society at large. This is an ambitious goal because the only practical way to do this is to influence the profession itself to become more diverse.

Any long journey starts with the first step and every step thereafter takes us closer to the goal. As we emerge from social isolation and start to build or rebuild our social networks, as the case may be, please join the Young Lawyers Section in our journey to influence the future of the profession by getting actively involved at NYSBA. We are planning some exciting things this year to repair what has been disrupted by the pandemic. Let’s do this together.