As former Chief Judge Judith Kaye eloquently observed:
Diversity is important, not because people’s brains are microscopically different but because it is essential that we have the perspective of different life experiences in the vital role of adjudicating our fellow citizens’ disputes. A diverse bench gives the public a belief that they are included in the justice system.1
Likewise, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has stated that “the value of a diverse workforce needs no argumentinclusiveness promotes public trust in justice.”2 I strongly agree with both, and while we are making progress towards a diverse judiciary in the Third Department, we have a long path to travel before we achieve equal representation. Simply put, as a legal profession, we must remain vigilant in promoting diversity because the lack of it is perceived as unfair. For example, in 1990, when I sat as a Family Court judge in Ulster County along with another woman, Judge Mary Work, I experienced the satisfaction of seeing my son, Avanti, grow up in a community where having women judges and women lawyers was perfectly normal. Thus, from my perspective, he was being exposed to a diverse judiciary. Yet, one morning when Avanti was three years old, he asked me a startling question as we drove past the Family Court on our way to daycare. He said, “Mommy, how come only girls can be judges, why can’t boys be judges?” Of course I explained that not all judges are girls, but his concern, albeit born of limited experience, was valid. Unfortunately, my son’s perception about the courts being unfairly composed of a single type of person is shared by many people today.
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