Alston & Bird congratulates the Hon. Betty Weinberg Ellerin, senior counsel in the firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group, as the latest honoree to be the subject of a portrait as part of the New York City Bar Association’s “Women on the Walls” initiative. Slated to be unveiled at a May 6 ceremony, the portrait was commissioned by the City Bar’s Women in the Legal Profession Committee to recognize the trailblazing careers of female legal professionals with strong ties to New York City.
Justice Weinberg Ellerin’s distinguished career includes more than 20 years as a jurist in the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, where she was the first woman appointed as an associate justice to the First Judicial Department and the first woman to serve as the department’s presiding justice. She was also the first woman appointed as the state’s deputy chief administrative judge for New York City courts, where she was responsible for the operation of all trial courts within the city.
The May 6 event will feature remarks by Alston & Bird managing partner Richard Hays; Karl Geercken, litigation partner in Alston & Bird’s New York office; Bret Parker, executive director of the New York City Bar Association; Hon. Rowan D. Wilson, Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals; and Hon. Dianne T. Renwick, Presiding Justice of the New York Appellate Division, First Judicial Department.
“Women on the Walls” aims to achieve gender representation in the art that decorates the City Bar’s landmark building at 42 West 44th Street. New York artist Patty Horing painted Justice Weinberg Ellerin’s portrait. New York’s Chief Judge Judith Kaye and District Court Judge Deborah Batts were previously recognized as part of this initiative.