New York County - Manhattan

Biography of Justice Barbara R. Kapnick

Born in New York City, Justice Barbara R. Kapnick received her bachelor's degree cum laude from Barnard College and her juris doctor from Boston University School of Law.

Between 1980 and 1991, Justice Kapnick worked as a Law Assistant to the Hon. Ethel B. Danzig in the Civil and Supreme Courts of New York County and as Principal Law Clerk for the Hon. Michael J. Dontzin in Supreme Court.

Justice Kapnick was elected to the Civil Court in 1991, appointed as an Acting Supreme Court Justice in April 1994 and was elected to the Supreme Court, New York County in 2001. During that time she handled many different Parts, and was assigned to the Commercial Division in September of 2008. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association, Judicial and Commercial and Federal Litigation Sections, and the New York City Bar, where she has served on numerous committees. She is a Master of the New York American Inn of Court, and is also a past president of the Jewish Lawyers Guild, where she remains active as a member of the Board of Governors. She is also a longstanding member of the New York Women’s Bar Association where she previously served as Co-Chair of the Litigation Committee.

Justice Kapnick sits on the Board of Directors of the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert and the New York State Association of Women Judges. She is also active in the Supreme Court Justices Associations in New York, serving as a Vice President of the Citywide Association, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Statewide Association.

Justice Kapnick, a frequent lecturer for many Bar Associations, has received several awards, including the William Goodstein Memorial Award for Dedicated Service and Leadership from the Association of Law Secretaries to the Justices of the Supreme and Surrogate’s Courts, and the Benjamin N. Cardozo Award from the Jewish Lawyers Guild.

In June 2008, Justice Kapnick was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics by Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau. She also serves as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the New York County Public Access Law Library.