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D&I Changemaker:
Lillian Wan, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Dept
By John Caher, Senior Advisor for
Strategic/Technical Communications
Justice Lillian Wan of the Appellate Division, Second Department, is always amused when people marvel at how well she speaks English.
Although her parents were from China, having fled during the Communist takeover in 1949, Justice Wan was born, raised, and educated on Long Island, and then in college she majored in English. So, why would anyone be surprised that she speaks English as well or better than any other kid from Queens—except for the fact that she shares physical features that are common among those of Asian heritage? It was an early and enduring lesson in implicit bias and, in hindsight, good training for a future judge.
“Honestly, I think that we are all more alike than we are different,” Justice Wan said in a new Diversity Dialogues podcast interview. “I feel like we could all do better if we slow down, if we take a moment to think about it, take extra care, check ourselves and our implicit biases before making an assumption about somebody.”
Justice Wan, a “regular obnoxious American teenager” who fought with her parents over boys, concerts, staying out late and sleepovers, studied at Binghamton University, with the vague notion that she wanted to be in a “helping” profession, and thought teaching might be her destiny.
An interest in public service led her to Albany Law School, and then to the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, where she handled abuse and neglect cases, and ultimately Kings County Surrogate’s Court, where as a court attorney/ referee she dealt with matters involving developmentally disabled adults, adoptions and similar issues. In the Surrogate’s Court, her boss and mentor, the Hon. Margarita López Torres, suggested she pursue a judgeship.
“Nine years working for the City of New York, appearing before judges all day every day from morning until night, never once did I look up and understand that this was a job that I could do,” Justice Wan recalled. “I saw judges as people who just magically dropped from the sky... I certainly never appeared in front of any judges that looked like me.”
In the podcast interview, Justice Wan describes her climb up the judicial ladder, and how, at every rung of that ladder, the early lessons she learned about implicit bias and the importance of inclusiveness were evident.
“I wanted my courtroom to be a place where everyone feels welcome, everyone feels included, where everyone feels, regardless of the outcome—win, lose or draw— that I'm not going to prejudge you based on what you look like or where you come from and that you're going to get a fair shake in my courtroom, whether you love my decision or hate my decision, and that's still what I aspire to,” Justice Wan said.
To hear the full interview with Justice Wan go to:
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