January 22, 2020: NYSBA to Honor Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, Appellate Division Justice Rosalyn Richter

New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore and Appellate Division, First Department Justice Rosalyn H. Richter will be honored by the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) on Friday, Jan. 31 at NYSBA’s 2020 Annual Meeting.

Judge DiFiore will receive the Judicial Section’s Distinguished Jurist Award, which recognizes judicial excellence and extraordinary commitment to the law.

Justice Richter will receive the section’s Judicial Diversity Award, which recognizes individuals for their commitment to diversity and inclusion at all levels of the judiciary. She will also receive the Women in Law Section’s Ruth Schapiro Award, which honors a NYSBA member who has made a noteworthy contribution to the concerns of women through pro bono services, writing, service to bar associations or community organizations or other such endeavors.

The Judicial Section awards will be presented at the Jan. 31 section luncheon. The Schapiro Award will be conferred at the NYSBA House of Delegates meeting earlier that day.

DiFiore has served as chief judge since Jan. 21, 2016. Previously, she was Westchester County district attorney from 2006 to 2016. DiFiore served as an assistant district attorney in the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office from 1981 to 1987 and was chief of its Narcotics Bureau from 1994 to 1998. She was elected a judge of the Westchester County Court in 1998 and later elected a judge of the New York State Supreme Court. Judge DiFiore was awarded the Gold Medal, NYSBA’s highest honor, in 2019.

Richter was appointed by the governor to the Appellate Division in March 2009. Previously, she was a New York State Supreme Court judge, a New York City administrative law judge and a prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. She was the first full-time employee at Lambda Legal, serving as its executive director and its sole staff attorney. In 2018, she was awarded the National LGBT Bar Association’s Dan Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award.

Honoring attorneys who render extraordinary service to the public and the profession is part of NYSBA’s Annual Meeting, which each January attracts thousands of lawyers from around the state, the nation and the world. They come to meet and connect with colleagues and to learn from experts in many areas of law.
A wide range of programs at NYSBA’s 143rd Annual Meeting Jan. 27-31 will explore current issues in law and legal practice. The Presidential Summit on Wednesday, Jan. 29, will look at White Nationalism and Domestic Terrorism in America.

At Thursday evening’s sold-out Gala Dinner, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan will receive the Gold Medal, NYSBA’s highest honor, and participate in a fireside-style chat with Prof. John Barrett of St. John’s University School of Law.

Other featured speakers at the Annual Meeting include New York State Attorney General Letitia James, the first African American and the first woman elected to that office; Janet DiFiore, chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals; and Craig Boise, dean of Syracuse University College of Law.

For more information on NYSBA’s Annual Meeting, click here.

About the New York State Bar Association
The New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. Since 1876, NYSBA has helped shape the development of law, educated and informed the legal profession and the public, and championed the rights of New Yorkers through advocacy and guidance in our communities.

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