Kaelyn Gustafson and Robin Kramer are the new co-chairs of WILS Legislative Affairs Committee (LAC), succeeding Denise Bricker and Sarah Simpson who successfully led the LAC through very active New York State legislative sessions from 2019 to 2022. During this time, the LAC worked on a number of important legislative issues, which included helping draft … Continued

The Women in Law Section held a webinar on June 5, 2023 addressing current litigation over medication abortion after the Dobbs decision. Moderator and WILS member Josephine Reina was joined by Kirsten Moore (founder and director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access (EMAA) Project), Whitney Cloud (partner at DLA Piper and founding member of the firm’s Dobbs task force), … Continued

Justice Dianne T. Renwick has become the first woman of color appointed as Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department. Governor Kathy Hochul’s June 2023 appointment is a welcome continuation of appointments of exceptionally qualified women to serve in leadership positions. Justice Renwick has a depth of understanding of the challenges facing the legal … Continued

Effectively managing time takes effort, but breathing, slowing down and prioritizing are a good way to start. That was the message from Alyssa Malin, former in-house counsel to a New York City real estate investment firm who switched to life coaching. Nowadays, she runs The Stet Collective, which is focused on helping female lawyers with … Continued

The Honorable Deborah H. Karalunas was appointed as the administrative judge for the Fifth Judicial District by Chief Administrative Judge Joseph A. Zayas, with the approval of Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson, effective July 10, 2023. Judge Karalunas becomes the first female administrative judge for the Fifth Judicial District. This marks another noteworthy milestone in … Continued

The daily demands on lawyers in private practice are plentiful—billing hours, managing clients, keeping up on changes in the law and CLEs, to name a few. The list goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . . . On top of all those demands is the expectation that lawyers … Continued

I have been a member of a gym for almost two decades now and go there three or four times each week. When I share this, I often receive the following reply, “I don’t know how you do it.” It often follows, “I don’t know how you find the time, or the drive to go … Continued

When dealing with issues of health, well-being certainly cannot be overlooked. Thanks to the work of the NYSBA Task Force on Attorney Well-Being and now the Committee on Attorney Well-Being, NYSBA is seeing more open dialogue and conversations pertaining to this critical topic. On May 6, 2023, the Commercial and Federal Litigation and Dispute Resolution … Continued

In sickness or health? No, not really. While the divorce rate hovers just under 50%, marriages involving one chronically ill spouse have an increased likelihood of ending in divorce. In fact, marriages where one spouse has a serious or chronic illness have a 75% chance of ending, according to statisticians. But worse than that, if the wife … Continued

The New York State Bar Association presented Shelley Wu, a champion of women’s and children’s rights, with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Scholarship during its House of Delegates meeting April 1 in Albany. Wu is a third-year law school student at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. Wu ranks in the top 10% … Continued