New York, NY, Friday, August 9, 2024 – With a heavy heart, the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (“WBASNY”) shares the news of the passing of the Honorable Sondra M. Miller, retired Associate Justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Second Department. Justice Miller served as a Vice-President of WBASNY, and was a beloved founding member and Past President of the Westchester Women’s Bar Association (“WWBA”), a Chapter of WBASNY. In her honor, the Westchester Women’s Bar Association Foundation (“WWBA Foundation”) created the Justice Sondra M. Miller Scholarship.
Justice Miller was one of the first women admitted to Harvard Law School and was a graduate of Wellesley College. She had a long, successful career on the bench. She was first elected to the Westchester County, Family Court in 1983 and in 1986, she was elected as Judge to the New York State Supreme Court for the Ninth Judicial District. In 1990, Justice Miller was appointed as Associate Justice to the New York State Appellate Division, Second Department again breaking barriers as the first woman from the Ninth Judicial District to achieve this designation.
In 2004, Justice Miller was appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of the Court of Appeals to Chair the Matrimonial Commission, which was responsible for recommending reforms to the divorce process in New York State. She also served as a member of the Matrimonial Practice and Rules Committee, an Office of Court Administration Committee. Justice Miller was the recipient of many well-deserving awards and has been recognized for her leadership and outstanding work in advocating for women’s justice and in the area of children in the law. Justice Miller retired from the bench in 2006. After leaving the bench, Justice Miller remained active serving as a distinguished judge-in-residence at Pace University Law School and going into private practice as Chief Counsel and head of appellate practice, mediation and arbitration for McCarthy Fingar, LLP and later Goldschmidt & Genovese, LLP.
WBASNY extends its thoughts and prayers to Justice Miller’s family and friends. The family will not be holding a funeral or sitting shiva. There will be a memorial service for Justice Miller in the Fall. The family respectfully requests that contributions in memory of Justice Miller be made to the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (“JALBCA”) and the WWBA Foundation.
Donate to the WWBA Foundation: https://wwbany.org/donate-2
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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.