WBASNY Virtual Convention 2021 Journal

Hanna S. Cohn Pro Bono Award

Adrienne J. Orbach Adrienne Orbach received her Juris Doctor degree ( magna cum laude ) from the Pace University School of Law in 1999 and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Fordham University in 1988. In 2014 she formed the firm of the Law Offices of Adrienne J. Orbach PLLC where she utilizes her legal skills and social work training to serve her clients’ needs. Adrienne lectures in a variety of venues to both legal professionals and the public regarding legal issues that face LGBT families. Ms. Orbach has been an active member of WBASNY and the Westchester Chapter since law school, first as a volunteer at WBASNY convention 1999 selling Tee Shirts to later serve as a chapter delegate and

co-chair of convention committee. Presently she serves as co-chair of the LGBTQ committee for WBASNY having been one of the original founding chairs of this committee. She was the former Chapter Treasurer and currently serves as a state delegate to WBASNY and a new member of Westchester Chapter’s nominations committee. As a member of the New York State Bar Association Family Law Section, Ms. Orbach currently serves on the Family Law Executive Committee as Co-Chair of the LGBT Committee. In 2014, she was a recipient of the New York State Karen Z. Bell Moderate Means Panel Award. From 2015 to date, Adrienne has been designated a New York Metro Area “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters. In 2019, she was named one of New York’s Leading Lawyers in the area of Family Law by New York Magazine and in 2021 she was named one of the Top Lawyers in the Hudson Valley. Recently, Ms. Orbach accepted the nomination to serve again on the Board of Directors for Pace Law School John Jay Legal Service Clinic. She is a long-term member of the Pace Women’s Justice Center moderate means panel. She has strong community involvement from volunteering at the annual fundraisers for Rye YMCA Rye Derby to the American Cancer Society (ACS) Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The ACS team of walkers was dubbed “Team Orbach” by Linda Surace, former Executive Director of WWBA. Since 2014, Adrienne has been an enthusiastic volunteer with STRIDE at Catamount Ski Adaptive Program for disabled individuals. Early in the COVID 19 pandemic Ms. Orbach began organizing and delivering needed supplies and hot meals to front line workers at two emergency departments, Montefiore Hospital, Bronx NY and Orange Regional (Garret) in Orange County New York. Plans for resuming sending packages to soldiers stationed overseas are underway as her nephew was just deployed to Korea. This project began after 9-11 while her sister was stationed at Abu Ghraib, Iraq.