Portrait Unveiling for City Bar Past President Sheila S. Boston

Before a packed and exuberant crowd on November 10, 2025, the New York City Bar Association unveiled the portrait of Sheila S. Boston, the first woman of color to serve as City Bar president. Known affectionately as “the Pandemic President” since she began her term right around the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Sheila was lauded for her inspired leadership, which included her dubbing the City Bar “the Bar of Hope.”

Attendees included former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch; Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg; the chief judges of the 2nd Circuit, the SDNY and the EDNY; Hon. Rowan D. Wilson, Chief Judge of the State of New York and the New York Court of Appeals, who gave the keynote address, and former City Bar Presidents Conrad Harper, the first person of color to be City Bar President; Roger Maldonado, the first Hispanic City Bar President; Carey Dunne; John Feerick; and Susan Kohlmann. Muhammad U. Faridi, the City Bar’s current and first Muslim President, welcomed the crowd with opening remarks.

Reed Harris Butts sang a stirring rendition of “Make Them Hear You” from the musical Ragtime.

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Speakers: 

Keynote Speaker:
Hon. Rowan D. Wilson, Chief Judge of the State of New York and the New York Court of Appeals

Welcome: 
Muhammad Faridi, President, New York City Bar Association

Presenters:
Ellen Kaye Fleishhacker, Global Co-Chair, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Bret Parker,  Executive Director, New York City Bar Association
Maria Cilenti, Former Senior Policy Counsel, New York City Bar Association
Lorraine S. McGowan, Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP

Musical Solo:
Reed Harris Butts, Abyssinian Baptist Church, “Make Them Hear You” – Ragtime

Portrait Artist:
Ms. Julia Bottoms

Portrait Unveiling:
Rev. Jerome Robinson, Husband
Louis J. Boston, Esq., USPTO, Brother

Platinum Sponsor:
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

More about Sheila S. Boston:
Sheila is a litigation partner at the law firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.  She is a trial lawyer and litigation strategist who defends clients from initiation of the case through trial and/or settlement. Recognized by Who’s Who Legal as a “Global Thought Leader” in Life Sciences – Product Liability, Sheila has successfully litigated before both state and federal courts, with significant MDL experience in mass tort actions. She has also represented companies in complex commercial matters such as breach of contract and consumer product litigation.

Active in bar associations, Sheila is a Vice President of the Federal Bar Council.  She served for several years on the National Bar Association’s Board of Governors and was Chair of the organization’s Minority Partners in Majority Firms Division. In October 2022, Sheila was awarded the John J. McCloy Memorial Award by The Fund for Modern Courts for her commitment to improving the NY Judicial System. Appointed by the Chief Judge of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Sheila is currently serving her second term on the Court’s Committee on Admissions and Grievances; appointed by the Chief Judge of the New York State Courts, she is a member of the Commercial Division Advisory Council; and appointed by the New York State Governor, she serves on New York’s First Department Judicial Screening Committee.

In recognition of her service to the legal community, Sheila was on City & State New York’s Law Power 100 List in 2021 and 2022. She has received other accolades including, but not limited to, selection as one of NEBLSA’s 2025 Most Influential Black Attorneys in the Northeast; Justice In Aging’s 2024 “Justice Award”; The American Lawyer’s inaugural Northeast “Trailblazers” list in 2021; a National Law Journal 2020 Litigation Trailblazer award; the 2018 Crain’s New York Leading Women Lawyers recognition; and a New York Law Journal’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement award. She was also honored in October 2021 by her alma mater, the Columbia Law School Alumni Association, for her service.

A passionate advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion, Sheila has won several awards for her efforts including the 2011 City Bar Diversity Champion Award and the prestigious Chambers Diversity Awards USA 2016 inaugural award for her “Outstanding Contribution to Furthering the Advancement of Diversity in the Legal Profession, Private Practice.”  Sheila is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School.  She is admitted to practice law in the New York State Courts, the SDNY, the EDNY, the NDNY, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.