Donate to Abbye Lawrence

Abbye Lawrence is an attorney in private practice specializing in personal injury law, bringing a wealth of diverse legal and judicial experience to her work. She served for over seven years as the Principal Law Clerk and Special Master for several Supreme Court Justices in New York City, including the Hon. James E. d’Auguste (Commercial Division), the Hon. Mary V. Rosado (ret.), and the Hon. Kathryn E. Freed (ret.). After spending the majority of her career in the judiciary, Abbye served as Senior Counsel in the Special State Law Enforcement Defense Unit for the New York City Corporation Counsel’s Office, where she defended complex high-stakes claims. 

A dedicated advocate for judicial integrity and community representation, she has served as a judicial and alternate delegate for over a decade, consistently supporting progressive judicial candidates and elected officials. She routinely handles a variety of high-profile, complex legal issues in courts across all counties and serves the community as a Small Claims Arbitrator.

Abbye began her career in the court system through a prestigious public interest fellowship, earning a reputation for her excellent research and writing skills, practical approach to complex cases, and unwavering fairness to litigants. She launched her career interning for the Hon. Marsha L. Steinhardt (ret.) in Supreme Court, Kings County—working alongside then-Law Secretary Hon. Consuelo Mallafre Melendez—before executing a subsequent federal internship in the Eastern District of New York. Her deep ties to Brooklyn include her father’s roots in Midwood, who inspired her path as an attorney. Breaking barriers, Abbye is proud to be the first female attorney in her family, which boasts nine lawyers across generations.

An exceptionally focused scholar, Abbye graduated from high school as valedictorian at just 16 years old. She earned her B.A. from Cornell University and her J.D. from Cardozo Law School, where she served as an Articles Editor for the Cardozo Law Review. Her independently published legal scholarship on nuanced issues in attorney discipline led to a special appointment to the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Discipline, where she helped unify the attorney disciplinary rules across all four judicial departments.