GB126: What’s Her Story? Justice Tanya R. Kennedy

This week for our What’s Her Story? Series we are happy to bring you the phenomenal Justice Tanya R. Kennedy, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Division of New York State. Listen in and enjoy as we conclude our series and celebration of Women’s History Month 2021.

Justice Tanya’s bio…

Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy was appointed in July 2020 as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Prior to her appointment, Justice Kennedy served as a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County, commencing in January 2016, after election in November 2015. She was elected to Civil Court in November 2005 and thereafter served in Criminal Court, Civil Court, Family Court, as Acting Supreme Court Justice, and as Supervising Judge of Civil Court, New York County. She is also a former Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law, where she taught a Juvenile Justice seminar for ten years.

Before her election to Civil Court, Justice Kennedy served as Principal Law Clerk to Hon. Barry A. Cozier when he was an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department and when he was a Justice in the Commercial Division, New York County. Prior to her clerkship with Justice Cozier, Justice Kennedy served in the Office of the Corporation Counsel, New York City Law Department, as an Assistant Corporation Counsel in the Bronx Family Court Division and in the Bronx Tort Division, where she was promoted to Tort Trial Specialist and later to Assistant Deputy Chief.

Justice Kennedy is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York City Bar Association and past chair of the organization’s Special Committee to Encourage Judicial Service. She is also an Executive Committee member of the Women in Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; member of the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions of the Association of Supreme Court Justices of the State of New York; member of the Board of Overseers of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she received her law degree; and an Advisory Board Member of Penn State Law. Justice Kennedy is also the Past President of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ).

As a result of her commitment to increasing the pipeline of underrepresented communities to the legal profession, Justice Kennedy participates in the Role Model Program of the founding chapter of the New York Coalition of 100 Black Women and hosts summer interns from the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program and from the Law and Society Major Internship Program of the Brooklyn Technical High School, which is her alma mater. She is also committed to the pursuit of higher education and serves as a mentor through her visits to various churches, schools, and other organizations as a motivational speaker. Justice Kennedy further promotes the advancement and empowerment of women through her membership in the founding chapter of the New York Coalition of 100 Black Women and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Omega Chapter. In addition, Justice Kennedy is a board member and life member of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch, as well as a member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

A frequent speaker at various conferences, she has received numerous professional awards, including the 2021 John E. Higgins, Esq. Diversity Trailblazer Award from the New York State Bar Association; the 2020 Inspiration Award from the New York Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law; the 2017 Diversity Leadership Award from Penn State Law; and the 2015 Alumni of the Year Award from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

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Thank you so much Justice Tanya. Thank you for your support of Women’s History Month and our What’s Her Story? Series. It has been awesome. Stay tuned as we turn our focus to #CovidReflections -One Year Later for April.

With love & Gratitude,

~ Stacey Mack

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