In honor of Women’s History Month, Lexis Insights is showcasing 10 famous women attorneys who have had an impact in shaping the legal industry for women in the United States.  You can read short biographies of these attorneys: from Charlotte E. Ray, the first woman admitted to the District of Columbia bar, and the first black woman lawyer, to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, who tirelessly works to further civil protections for marginalized populations.

Between 1872 and today, the proportion of women attorneys in the US has  grown from just above 0% to 38% of all licensed attorneys, due in no small part to the work of these women.

On March 28, 1955, NYLS alumnus John Marshall Harlan ’24 formally took his seat as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.  An article titled “Mr. Worth Street,” appearing in the April/May 1998 issue of the NYLS student newspaper The Reporter, provides a short sketch of the Justice’s professional career and his connection to the school.

The law school celebrated the formal naming of the portion of Worth Street between Church Street and West Broadway as Justice John M. Harlan Way in May 1991 as part of the law school’s centennial celebration.

On this day in March 1950, Ferdinand Pecora, who attended New York Law School from 1903-1905, delivered the Commencement Address for the law school’s commencement exercises at the New York County Lawyers’ Association. Pecora received an Honorary Degree from the Law School in 1958.

He was best known in his role as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Banking and Currency, where he was instrumental in the post-Wall Street Crash of 1929 congressional hearings that led to the enactment of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which represented fundamental reforms to the American financial system.

Pecora went on to become one of the first SEC Commissioners, as well as a Justice of the New York Supreme Court.

See more at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/distinguished_judges/2/

September 11 marks one of the darkest days in New York City history. That day in 2001, close to 3,000 people were killed when four US commercial planes were hijacked and then weaponized. Two of the planes were intentionally flown into the Word Trade Center’s Twin Towers, New York City landmarks within walking distance of the Law School. Both towers soon collapsed.

New York Law School community members were deeply affected by the events. Many shared their thoughts, experiences, and recollections. Some of them are summarized below.

Andrew Baffi ‘02, was working as a commercial airline pilot while attending New York Law School in 2001.  He offers his perspective on 9/11 in the December 2001 issue [page 5] of the New York Law School Reporter

The Honorable Roger J. Miner ’56, was in his chambers on the 22^nd floor of the federal courthouse on Foley Square that day.  He recounted his experience here:

Later that year, the Law School published Eight Blocks Away: Memoirs of September 11 2001, highlighting the memories and reflections of Law School community members.  Contributors to the memoir included:  Former Law School Dean Richard Matasar, Associate Librarian and Professor of Legal Research Bill Mills, Professors Arthur Leonard, David Schoenbrod, Nadine Strossen, Stephen Ellmann, David Ferstendig, Lawrence Grosberg, Michael Perlin, Richard Bernstein and Jethro Lieberman. Students and staff members also contributed their own personal stories and a collection of emails and memos details the school’s recovery process.