At a meet-and-greet event on January 11 at the Federal Court in Manhattan, the Network of Bar Leaders inaugurated its officers for the 2022–2023 term and recognized two of Brooklyn’s Most Distinguished Jurists.
The organization recognized Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix, New York City’s Corporation Counsel, and Hon. Cheryl Chambers, an associate judge of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, for their leadership roles in their respective bar associations.
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The organization hosted an installation for its new president, Eve Guillergan, and the other officials before the awards event. Judge George Daniels of the Southern District of the Federal District Court presided over the ceremony.
Yacine Barry-Wun, Margaret Ling, Michael Kohan, and Natoya McGhie were the other officers, in addition to the president and vice presidents.
Gloribelle J. Perez, William F. Dahill, Domenick Napoletano, Ronald Katter, Inie Park, the Honorable Jeffery Levin, Anthony Perroto, and Denisse Mira were among those who took the oath of office as members of the Executive Counsel. Although she wasn’t there, Meredith Miller, the immediate past president, will join the executive counsel.
Justice Chambers, who was unable to attend the ceremony, was introduced by Guillergan and Ling thereafter, and they discussed how deserving of the honor she was. Following that, Yvette Hinds Wills welcomed Justice Hinds-Radix.
“Justice Chambers has served the NYC court for more than 20n years,” Ling noted.
“She never hesitates to find time for things of importance despite her busy docket. She is the vice president of the New York State Bar Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the New York State Bar Association, she is also a member of the State’s Bar house of delegates. Since 2010. She has been a member of the State’s Bar Committee of Diversity and Inclusion, which advocates for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.”
Hinds Wills further added, “just over a year ago she was nominated and later appointed to her current position as Corporation Counsel.”
“In the role, she represents the mayor, the city counsel, the mayoral agencies, and the city of New York. She has the distinction of being the first Caribbean-American woman to hold that office. With her experience, don’t be surprised if her gig is somewhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
The president of the Caribbean American Lawyers Association, Justice Hinds-Radix, spoke about how she helped start the organization. She said that Brooklyn’s legal community was lacking before the establishment of that bar organization.
“It’s a pretty young organization that started in 2020 during the pandemic,” Hinds-Radix noted.
“Yvette and other Caribbean American Lawyers approached me and said, Why don’t we start a bar association? Of course, having been a bar leader and having been a part of the Caribbean g time community for a long time I jumped on the idea. We learned a lot about Zoom, but in just two years we already have almost 100 members and we have been able to focus on what we find most important, which is to give out scholarships.”
Not just mentorship, but also scholarships, are given a lot of weight by Justice Hinds-Radix. She supported CALA in December when it awarded eight students with scholarships. She aided with the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association’s fundraising effort in October, which resulted in a donation of more than $100,000 that will be utilized by the Foundation to fund more scholarships.
