Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession: Where are the Diverse Female Partners and Judges
Presentation of the Inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Vanguard Award and Free CLE Program
Presiding Justice Elizabeth A. Garry, Appellate Division | Third Judicial Department
Presiding Justice Elizabeth A. Garry was appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo as the 16th Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division Third Department on January 1, 2018. She is the First LGBTQ Justice to serve as Presiding Justice of an Appellate Division in New York State. She was appointed as Associate Judge to the Third Department on March 19, 2009. In 2006, she was elected to the Supreme Court for the Sixth Judicial District. She served as Confidential Law Clerk to the Hon. Irad S. Ingraham. She served as Town Justice for the Town of New Berlin in 2001-2005. She is the current Commissioner and past Co-Chair of the Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission of the New York Courts. She has served on various boards and professional associations including: International Association of LGBTQ Judges, Director, 2015-present; New York State Bar Association Committee on LGBT People and the Law, 2011-present; Albany Law School, National Alumni Association Board, 2011-present; New York State Bar Association Committee on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction, 2013-2018; New York State Continuing Legal Education Board, member, 2012-2015; Third Department CLE Committee, Chair, 2010-2014; Association of Justices of Supreme Court of New York State, Treasurer, 2012-2015, 6th District Representative 2008-2016, Bench Book Committee, 2011-2013; and Del-Chen-O Chapter of Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, founding member. She received her J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University and her Bachelor of Arts from Alfred University.
Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Appellate Division | First Judicial Department
Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels was appointed by Governor David Patterson as an Associate Justice to the Appellate Division, First Department in October 2009. She is the First Latina Justice to serve in the NYS Appellate Division in the history of New York State. She began her legal career with the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx as a criminal defense trial attorney in 1988. Thereafter, she served as Principal Law Clerk to Justice Frank Torres, Bronx Supreme Court and Justice Luis A. Gonzalez, Administrative Judge, Bronx Supreme Court. In November 1999, she was elected as Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County. In November 2001, Judge Manzanet-Daniels was elected and received a Gubernatorial Citation for becoming, at the age of 37, the youngest Justice of Hispanic Heritage ever elected to the New York State Supreme Court. Justice Manzanet-Daniels, is President of the Latino Judges Association. She received her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law and B. A. from Marymount Manhattan College. She served as commencement speaker and was bestowed a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa by her alma mater, Hofstra University School of Law. She served as president and founder of the Latino Law Students Association in 1987-1988 and cofounded and served as the first chair of the Latino Alumni Scholarship Fund which continues to raise thousands of dollars for aspiring Latino law students. She has served as board member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association and Latino Judges Association. She serves as a mentor to many young lawyers, law students and college students. She is the founder of the Dare to Dream scholarship which is bestowed on a law student of Hispanic heritage at the Puerto Rican Bar Association Scholarship Fund Gala. She has received numerous recognitions and has been honored by the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Jewish Lawyers Guild, and the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, among many others.
Moderator and Presenter: Betty Lugo, Esq., Chair | NYSBA Trial Lawyers Section
Betty Lugo is a founding member of Pacheco & Lugo, PLLC, the first Hispanic women owned law firm in New York established at One World Trade Center in 1992. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Albany Law School of Union University in 1984 and her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She began her legal career as the first Hispanic woman to work as an Assistant District Attorney in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office in 1984. She is the Chair of the NYSBA Trial Lawyers Section; House of Delegates member, Section Caucus delegate and serves on various NYSBA Committees including the Federal Legislative Priorities and Initiatives. She is a Maryann Saccomando Freedman Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation. She served as a member of the State of New York Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts from 2015-2019. Ms. Lugo is the Vice President of the Puerto Rican National Bar Association, Inc. and served as President of the Puerto Rican Bar Association in New York (PRBA) 2015-2017 and currently serves as Recording Secretary and Chair, PRBA Judiciary Committee and Co-Chair, PRBA Historic Preservation Committee. She is a past Regional President of the Hispanic National Bar Association and active member of various bar associations.
Moderator and Presenter: Angélicque Moreno, Esq., Co-Chair | NYSBA Trial Lawyers Section Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Angélicque Moreno has been principal and partner at Avanzino & Moreno since 2008 in Brooklyn, NY. She is first Hispanic woman to serve as President of the NYS Academy of Trial Lawyers when she was installed as its 15th president in 2019. She focuses her practice on labor law and construction accidents, product liability, premises liability, negligent security, civil rights violation and automotive cases. She has honed her trial skills at several firms throughout New York and has successfully overseen hundreds of cases from their inception up to and including trial throughout her career. Ms. Moreno received a B.A. from Binghamton University and a J.D. and from Northeastern University School of Law. She is very active in the legal community, and has served on the NYS Academy of Trial Lawyers Judicial Screening Committee since 2014. She is also active in the leadership of the New York State Bar Association, the Brooklyn Bar Association, the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, and the New York City Trial Lawyers’ Alliance. She has lectured frequently on a variety of topics for the NYS Academy of Trial Lawyers, and has contributed to the Annual Update series for over ten years as a presenter and in recent years as co-author of the Labor Law section.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Vanguard Award Recipient: Tricia Prettypaul, Staff Attorney | Travelers Companies
This year’s recipient is Attorney Tricia Prettypaul who is a staff attorney with The Travelers Companies. In her legal work, she is responsible for litigation, appeals, research, investigation reviews, writing briefs and motions, and for providing training to both the company clients and legal staff. She currently holds various leadership positions, including lead of the Regulatory Compliance Committee, the Appeals group, the Legal Services subcommittee on Innovation and Technology Communications, the Technology Resources subgroup, and past co-lead of the firm’s investigation team. She is dedicated to philanthropy, volunteerism, and propelling diversity initiatives. She has organized events that raised funds supporting local organizations and garnered the participation of multiple business lines to volunteer for events to fund the grants. She is chair of Travelers’ NYC Diversity Committee, and lead of the NYC Pride Diversity Network. In her chair role she is responsible for planning, programming and creating presentations on diversity initiatives. In the past year, she has received the Legal Services’ Diversity in Action Award, and has twice received the Claim Legal Diversity Award given quarterly. Tricia graduated with her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Fordham University, Omicron Delta Epsilon and obtained her law degree from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. She is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and the Southern District of New York. She is a member of the NYSBA, and a Committee member of LGBT & the Law and member of the NYSBA Task Force on Attorney Well Being.