The first in-person Law Day Ceremony since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic at the New York Court of Appeals on May 2, 2022, in Albany, New York. Photo: Alexander R. West/ALM

On Monday, the New York State Unified Court System held its annual recognition of Law Day, which is intended to highlight the importance of the rule of law in American society, for the first time in-person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those who spoke on celebrating New York's efforts to keep the wheels of justice turning during "trying times" for the state were Chief Judge Janet DiFiore; New York Attorney General Letitia James; and New York State Bar Association President T. Andrew Brown. "We are reminded that as Americans and New Yorkers we have the good fortune to live in a democratic system where the people have the power, at the ballot box and through their elected representatives, to amend the Constitution to achieve necessary reform of their government, including their court system," DiFiore wrote in a column that the Law Journal published last week for a special Law Day section that included pieces penned by the presiding justices of each of the states four Appellate Division departments. During the ceremony, Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks presented the 2022 Judith S. Kaye Service Award to Nikita Mebane of the New Rochelle City Court in the Ninth Judicial District; Anna Wilkinson and Jessica Douglas of the Third Judicial District Administrative Office; Carey Wone of the New York City Criminal Court in Queens; and Raymond Bailey, a court officer stationed at Rockland County Court, for rescuing his neighbors from a house fire.