Congratulations to Hon. Doris Ling-Cohan, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Term, for receiving the Leadership Award at the CUNY Asian American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI)’s 15th annual gala which took place at Jing Fong on Dec. 8.

Justice Ling-Cohan is a proud CUNY alumna, having graduated from Brooklyn College. She has blazed many trails in her storied career, and she most recently was re-elected to the New York Supreme Court after receiving the Democratic Party’s nomination at the convention in September, despite the Manhattan Democratic Party not reporting her out under unprecedented and unusual circumstances.

In her acceptance remarks, Justice Ling-Cohan graciously thanked everyone in the community that stood up in support of her nomination. She acknowledged that “it takes a village” to elect (and in her case, re-elect) a judge, and she had the full weight of the Asian American and LGBT community as well as other under-represented groups in New York City – her “village” – behind her.

On hand to celebrate with Justice Ling-Cohan were AABANY Executive Director Yang Chen, AABANY LGBT Committee Co-Chair Glenn Magpantay and AABANY Past President P.C. Cheng. AABANY members Tiffany Ma and Richard Young, partners at Young & Ma, also attended the gala, along with KALAGNY President Bridgette Ahn and Board member Eve Guillergan. Both Bridgette and Eve were instrumental in the successful effort to rally support for Justice Ling-Cohan and to make sure that she got on the ballot to be re-elected to the bench.

Congratulations also to CUNY AAARI on their 15th annual gala and to the other honorees!