New York, NY, Tuesday, October 1, 2024 – WBASNY congratulates retired Appellate Division, First Department Justice Angela M. Mazzarelli on her appointment as Chair of the Pre-Argument Conference Program for the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department. Appellate Division, First Department Presiding Justice Dianne T. Renwick announced the appointment. In her new position, Justice Mazzarelli will oversee the Special Masters, who are volunteer mediators assigned to facilitate settlements and/or assist the parties in simplifying the appellate issues. In 2023, the Program and the Special Masters achieved tremendous results by resolving nearly 200 appeals from the Court’s calendar before oral argument.

Justice Mazzarelli brings a wealth of judicial experience in both civil and criminal law as well as litigation experience to this role. Justice Mazzarelli served as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department from 1994 through 2022. She was the longest serving female Appellate Division justice and longest serving Appellate Division justice. At the time of her appointment to the Appellate Division by Governor Mario M. Cuomo, Justice Mazzarelli was the first Italian American and the second woman to hold that position. Justice Mazzarelli was redesignated in 1999 and 2004 and in 2006 was re-elected by voters for a 14-year term. Justice Mazzarelli served as an acting justice to the New York Supreme Court where she sat in the criminal term. Thereafter, she was elected as a justice of the Supreme Court where she sat in the civil term.

Prior to being elected as Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York in 1985, Justice Mazzarelli was a partner in the law firm of Wresien & Mazzarelli, where she practiced civil litigation. She also served as a Principal Law Assistant, Special Referee on Election Law, Special Assistant General Counsel of the Housing and Development Administration, and as a Staff Attorney for the Bronx Legal Services. Justice Mazzarelli was appointed to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. Justice Mazzarelli is the recipient of many well-deserved awards and has served on multiple boards and committees including the Association of Women Judges, the Criminal Court Anti-Bias Committee, the Board of the Practicing Law Institute, the Board of Directors for the National Organization of Italian American Women and Co-Vice Chair of the New York Pattern Jury Instructions Committee.

WBASNY extends a heartfelt thank you to Justice Mazzarelli for her dedication to the courts and her commitment to the public it serves. In so doing, she furthers WBASNY’s mission, which includes the fair administration of justice.

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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.