Kay Crawford Murray. Photo: Rick Kopstein/ALM

I started working at the New York State Bar Association late last year, but I actually began preparing for the job some 27 years ago when I was lucky enough to work with Kay Crawford Murray.

Murray, who died in January, is the former general counsel to the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice and was active with the State Bar Association for many years, including serving as chair of the Committee on Women in the Law.

NYSBA presents an annual award named for Murray, to recognize an attorney who enhances diversity in the profession and advances the professional development of women attorneys.

I first met Murray in 1994, when I was hired to handle media relations and communications for DJJ. The agency had been formed about a decade earlier, bringing together several existing city government entities and facilities in an effort to provide better and more effective custody and care for young people charged with crimes and awaiting adjudication.

DJJ's mission was to make a positive difference in the lives of children in custody, rather than acting as a feeder system for adult correctional facilities. By the time I got there, the agency was already running innovative and effective intervention and aftercare programs, even as it dealt with public backlash from high-visibility crimes allegedly involving juveniles, such as the Central Park jogger case.

As a nonlawyer, I had a lot to learn about juvenile law and the way the judicial system worked for the children in our care, and Murray was my tutor. She answered every question I asked with a thorough explanation of the practical aspects of a given statute and the context of the law within DJJ operations—all couched in a stern respect for the law and the judicial system. She also made sure I was aware of underlying legal issues and how they related to my job, which often involved explaining DJJ to a skeptical media and public.

Before I got to DJJ, Murray's work had already made a difference in the lives of the children in the agency's care. Historically, secure juvenile detention was a bleak setting. School programs were virtually nonexistent, and despite the high correlation between delinquency and learning disabilities, there was no screening or support for special education services. In Andre H. v. Sobol, Murray led the successful fight to ensure that children in the juvenile justice system received the special education services to which they were entitled under state law.

I certainly had a good idea of what attorneys did before my job at DJJ, but my professional relationship with Murray gave me an extraordinary opportunity to see a lawyer—and the law itself —in action.

Working with Murray was an experience that had a profound effect on my life. I am so grateful that it put me on the path that led, decades later, to working for the organization that was so important to her, and to which she gave so much.

Dan Weiller is managing director of marketing and communications for the New York State Bar Association.