Bettina “Betsy” Plevan, a Proskauer Rose partner and former president of the New York City Bar Association who was considered by many to be a trailblazer for women in the legal profession, has died. She was 75.

A 1970 graduate of the Boston University School of Law, Plevan worked as an associate at Proskauer in the 1970s, when she was part of a handful of women working there and the only one in the firm’s litigation department. She was promoted to partner in 1980.