Barnard College Hosts the Hon. Judith S. Kaye '58
Chief Judge of New York Speaks about her Groundbreaking Career and the Road Ahead
Updated 09.26.08
Judge Judith Kaye '58
l-r:
President Spar; Judge Gloria Sosa-Lintner '70, NY County Family Court; Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum '50, U.S. District Court, Southern District of NY; Judge Kaye '58; Robert J. Tolchin, Esq.; Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam '74, NY County Supreme Court
On September 24, the Honorable Judith S. Kaye '58, Chief Judge of the State of New York, returned to Barnard College for an evening of conversation led by President Debora Spar. Anna Quindlen '74, Chair of the Board of Trustees and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, provided introductory remarks.
The first woman to hold her post, Judge Kaye has led New York's judicial branch since 1993, overseeing more than 1,200 judges in 363 courthouses across the state. Throughout her tenure, she has worked to reform many aspects of the judiciary process, paying particular attention to children and families, and procedures for dealing with drug offenders and domestic violence.
"Judith Kaye is one of the College's most distinguished alumnae," said Quindlen. "In many ways I consider her the essential Barnard woman, because she has used a position of great prominence not for self-promotion but to do great good in the justice system."
The James Room in Barnard Hall was at capacity for the event, packed with students, faculty, and community members. Many members of the Barnard Board of Trustees, who had attended an all-day meeting on campus, were also in attendance.
VIDEO:
Introduction, Judge Kaye's address (33m)
Pres. Debora Spar and Judge Kaye (19m)
In her remarks, Judge Kaye recalled the accomplishments of her life with humor and humility, sharing both her struggles and triumphs as a woman breaking professional boundaries. While her years leading from the bench required fortitude, she said, the path leading to the bench was marked by instances of fortuity, which she defined as "a chance occurrence of the greatest good fortune." The first of these, she told the crowd, was attending Barnard College.
After graduation she sought work as a journalist, but as a woman in the field in 1958, the only position she could secure was as a social reporter in New Jersey. She found covering women's club meetings, church socials, engagements and weddings to be "utter misery," but credits the experience with causing her to make another life-changing decision: She enrolled at the New York University School of Law.
"My intention was never to be a lawyer. That never crossed my mind," she said. "My intention was only to get off the social page, and I didn't think anyone would have the nerve to employ me as a social reporter after a year or two of law school. Imagine, but for that fortuity, today I could be getting laid off from a newspaper."
In spite of the odds against women in the legal profession, Judge Kaye landed a job at the prestigious white-shoe firm Sullivan and Cromwell, where she met her husband, and practiced law for "21 pretty terrific years." In that time she also raised three children, "one lawyer daughter and two non-women." In 1983 Governor Mario Cuomo appointed her to the New York State Court of Appeals, making her the first woman to serve on the state's highest court, where she spent the next ten years.
In 1993 she took over as Chief Judge of New York, presiding over a system that receives 4 million new cases a year, encompasses 15,000 employees, and operates on a $2 billion budget. The post has come with "a lot of challenges and a lot of joys," she said. Throughout her tenure she has focused on finding ways to make the legal system work better for the public, from reforming jury service to developing “problem-solving courts,” in which prosecutors, defense attorneys, and social service workers collaborate to constructively stop a defendant’s downward spiral, rather than feeding him or her into the cycle of prisons and recidivism.
Judge Kaye and President Spar debated whether the move toward family- and child-oriented policy reform in the courts was related to the growing number of female judges. "It would be too much of a coincidence that the expanding numbers of women in the legal system and the courts, and even in politics, would coincide with an increased policy focus on the rights of families and children," said Spar.
Audience members asked questions and made observations about a variety of concerns, many of them based on personal experience or professional interest, including matrimonial law, the disproportionate numbers of prisoners of color, the role of physicians in child abuse cases, and legal challenges to foster families.
"Both Judge Kaye and President Spar are such inspiring people," said Barnard senior Karyn Heavenrich, a political science major who plans to attend law school. "As a senior, to see the legacy of Barnard women is inspiring. To think that in 40 years I'll maybe have left a legacy as well, and looking around the room at all the other Barnard women who are here listening wide-eyed, is really a great feeling."
Now that Judge Kaye has reached the mandatory retirement age for New York State judges, she doesn't intend to give up working for justice for women and children. This June she re-joined the Barnard Board of Trustees, on which she previously served from 1995-2002.
I've seen tremendous change for women, but I also see we have a lot of issues ahead. And I plan to be there," she said. "I am so delighted to be back here at Barnard College at this juncture in my life because this is where my life began."
