IF NOT NOW WHEN? Achieving Equality for Women in the Courtroom and ADR

As a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, the Honorable Elizabeth Bonina facilitates the settlement of cases involving a range of areas of practice including personal injury, premises liability, labor law, sports and recreation, and employment law cases. More significantly, it is Judge Bonina’s skill as a mediator and arbitrator that makes her an effective neutral as she is known for her intelligence, determination, patience, and ability to get even the most complex, highly emotional and contentious cases resolved.

In 2018, for the sixth year in a row, the Honorable Elizabeth Bonina was voted a Best  Individual Arbitrator in New York State in the New York Law Journal Annual Reader Rankings Survey with three of those years being voted #1 (2015, 2014, 2013). Judge Bonina has also been ranked one of the Top Ten Mediators in the state for nine consecutive years in that same survey. Representative matters over which she presided while serving as a Justice (Click here for full bio).

Carrie Freed is Assistant General Counsel, Litigation & Investigations for PMI Global Services Inc., a service entity that provides legal services to Philip Morris International Inc. and its affiliates (PMI). She manages product liability litigation and other cases of company-wide significance for PMI concentrating primarily on litigation in Latin America and Canada. Freed is also responsible for conducting internal investigations relating to governmental-inquiries.

Freed is a member of the Women’s Group Steering Committee for the Association of Corporate Counsel-New York City. She is the former chairperson of New Visions, New Venture, a Virginia-based non-profit organization that provided education, training, and financial loans to women-owned small businesses. (Click here for full bio).