Distinguished Female Attorneys Presented With Scheindlin Award and Kaye Scholarships
1.4.2024
Left to Right: Hon. Shira Scheindlin, Tracee E. Davis, Hon. Andrea Masley and Commercial & Federal Litigation Section Chair Anne Sekel.
Tracee Davis, partner at Seyfarth Shaw, was recently honored with the Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin Award for Excellence in the Courtroom.
The New York State Bar Association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section presented the Scheindlin award along with the Hon. Judith S. Kaye Commercial Litigation Academy Scholarships at the Daniel P. Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York City.
“Tracee is a pioneer who embodies this award. She is a recognized leader in our profession who has distinguished herself by standing up for a changing role for women in business and law. In boardrooms and courtrooms, she exerts her influence as a powerful litigator and role model to encourage more women and attorneys of color to be part of the next generation of attorneys,” said Richard Lewis, president of the New York State Bar Association.
Justice Andrea Masley, Commercial Division, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, presented the award to Davis.
“Tracee is a recognized leader in our profession,” Justice Masley said. “For Tracee, it is not enough to do a great job in the courtroom, but she insists that the judge presiding over that courtroom has the best judicial temperament and legal skills. What better way to achieve equal access to justice than to ensure that the courts are presided over by judges of the highest quality and who better than Tracee to insist on integrity and excellence in our judges?”
Davis serves as lead trial and class action defense counsel in litigating and arbitrating commercial and business disputes at Seyfarth Shaw.
Davis helped the association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section develop the groundwork in establishing New York’s Commercial Division, one of the country’s first commercial courts, during her time as section chair.
She is a previous recipient of the association’s Distinguished Leadership Award and chaired the association’s Smooth Moves Diversity & inclusion Continuing Legal Education Program for more than a decade.
The Scheindlin Award was first handed out in 2016 and is presented annually in November, on or around the date when women received the right to vote in New York State in 1917. The award is bestowed upon a female litigator who has distinguished herself in the courtroom in either the federal or state courts in New York and who has shown a commitment to mentoring young attorneys in the legal community.
The Judge Kaye scholarships were presented to Mary D’Agostino, partner at Hancock Estabrook; Becky (Hyun Jeong) Baek, associate at Farrell Fritz; Alexandra Gallo-Cook, associate at Mintz Levin; Amanda M. Leone, associate at Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschrtritt and Rachel Morgenstern, associate at Ruskin Moscou Faltischek.
The Judge Kaye scholarships cover the cost of the recipients attending the section’s Commercial Litigation Academy. The goal of the scholarship is to increase the number of women prepared to serve as first chair in large commercial cases.
The Taking The Lead CLE program: Empowering Women Lawyers in Commercial Cases; Winning Strategies and Techniques for Trial preceded the awards ceremony. The program showcased methods of creating compelling opening and closing statements and direct and cross-examinations of witnesses through a re-enactment of an actual civil trial by commercial litigators. Prominent members of the judiciary critiqued the trial performances.
Program Faculty:
- Shira A. Scheindlin (ret.), of counsel, Boies Schiller Flexner.
- Mae A. D’Agostino, U.S. District Court judge, Northern District.
- George Daniels, U.S. District Court judge, Southern District.
- Melissa Crane, Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.
- Ellen Tobin, Court of Claims Judge/Acting Supreme Court justice of Nassau County.
- Miriam Manber, partner, Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney.
- Alisha McCarthy, partner, Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler.
- Alyssa Goldrich, associate, Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt.
- Anne LaBarbera, Anne LaBarbera.
- Hamutal Lieberman, partner, Helbraun Levey.
- Yi-Hsin Wu, associate, Winget, Spadafora & Schwartzberg.
- Quinn N. D’Isa, associate, Foley & Lardner.
- Kate Clendenen, law graduate, Foley & Lardner.
