The Fund for Modern Courts, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice in New York State, next month will honor Bettina B. Plevan, president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY), as the recipient of the 2006 John J. McCloy Memorial Award.
The presentation event, sponsored by Proskauer Rose LLP, will take place on Tuesday, May 9 at the Bryant Park Grill, 25 West 40th Street, New York City. A cocktail reception begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the award presentation at 6:30 p.m.
Named in honor of John J. McCloy, who served as chair of the Fund and Committee for Modern Courts from 1961 to 1978, this award recognizes lawyers who have made outstanding contributions to improving the administration of justice in New York.
Ms. Plevan is a senior partner at Proskauer Rose, where she specializes in employment litigation and has served as a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Hailed by New York Magazine as one of the '100 Best Lawyers in New York,' she also was listed by the National Law Journal as one of the best labor and employment lawyers in the country.
Ms. Plevan currently is finishing her two-year term as president of ABCNY, the second female president of the 134-year-old organization, where she has promoted an agenda of increasing diversity at the middle and top of the profession and pro bono participation at all levels of the bar.
Her long standing commitment to judicial reform is evidenced by her participation on Chief Judge Breitel's Committee that drafted implementing legislation following passage of the 1977 Constitutional Amendment changing the selection process for the Court of Appeals and her contribution to an amicus brief in support of that constitutional amendment.
Ms. Plevan has had an impact on improving the administration of justice in the writing and issuing of several significant reports in her role as chair of two ABCNY committees, State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction and the Council on Judicial Administration.