New York State Court of Appeals Chief Judge Rowan Wilson on Wednesday accepted the 2024 Stanley H. Fuld Award, joking that the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section could not give him what he truly wanted—to be Judge Fuld.

“Although I will never be Judge Fuld,” Wilson told the packed luncheon, “I will look at the Fuld award and it will remind me that it is perfectly fine for my grasp to exceed my reach.”