New York, NY, Thursday, July 25, 2024 – The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (“WBASNY”) applauds Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State legislature for enacting a law to expand the number of family and civil court judges in New York. WBASNY also thanks the bills’ sponsors, Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Landon C. Dais for their leadership. The new law amends the Family Court Act and the New York City Civil Court Act by adding twenty-eight (28) new judicial positions. The judicial assignments will be distributed throughout New York State as follows:

• Sixteen (16) new assignments for New York City;
• Two (2) new assignments for Nassau County and Suffolk County; and
• One (1) new assignment for Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Erie, Jefferson, Rensselaer, Rockland, and Westchester Counties.

WBASNY is committed to ensuring that women, children, and families are afforded equal access to justice and full participation in the court system. The addition of twenty-eight (28) judges is a first step in addressing the crisis of large backlogs occurring in family courts in New York State, particularly in the busiest courts downstate. While the new judges should provide some relief in emergency domestic violence matters, it should also provide caseload relief to existing judges, and help reduce the reliance on judges being temporarily assigned to family court, but more relief is needed. Additional financial resources need to be allocated to those organizations that provide court-appointed attorneys for children in family court matters so that the current caseload cap per attorney can be reduced. Nonetheless, the addition of twenty-eight (28) judges should help provide much needed relief to families in assuring that these important matters are adjudicated fairly and swiftly.

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The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) is the professional membership organization of choice for nearly 4,000 attorneys throughout New York State and the largest statewide women’s bar association in the country. For more than four decades, WBASNY has been a singularly important resource for women lawyers, providing professional networking, continuing legal education programming, leadership training, and advocacy for the rights of women, children, and families. Through involvement with WBASNY’s 20 regional chapters and its 40-plus substantive law committees, WBASNY’s members collaborate with one another on a variety of issues and perform public and community service, in furtherance of its mission to promote the advancement of the status of women in society and women in the legal profession; to promote the fair and equal administration of justice; and to act as a unified voice for its members with respect to issues of statewide, national and international significance to women generally and women attorneys in particular. WBASNY holds United Nations NGO status with the U.N.’s Department of Public Information, and Special Consultative status in association with the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). WBASNY is also a founding member of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations.