Judges Monica Drinane and Vincent J. Reilly, Jr. Receive State Bar's Howard A. Levine Award

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Howard Levine, Monica Drinane, Vincent Reilly, Karen Fisher Gutheil

ALBANY, NY (05/08/2014)(readMedia)-- Judge Monica Drinane of the Bronx and Judge Vincent J. Reilly, Jr. of Schenectady were honored with the 2014 Howard A. Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare, given by the Committee on Children and the Law of the New York State Bar Association.

The award, presented on May 7 at the State Bar Center in Albany, recognizes individuals who have done outstanding work protecting and promoting the rights of New York's children.

"Judge Drinane and Judge Reilly consider the best interests of the child where appropriate and ensure that each child's legal rights are protected by making sure that children are represented in court and their voices are heard," said Karen Fisher Gutheil of Manhattan (The Legal Aid Society in New York City), chair of the committee. "They are fine jurists and most deserving recipients."

Judge Drinane is the supervising judge in Bronx County Family Court. She began her legal career at The Legal Aid Society in the Criminal Appeals Bureau. She transferred to the Juvenile Rights Division in 1985 and became the Attorney in Charge in 1998. She became a Family Court judge in 2004.

She was co-chair of the Family Court Advisory and Rules Committee from 2008 to 2013. She also served on the Permanent Judicial Commission for Justice for Children. She is a member of the New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force, New York City Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee for Probation and the State Office of Children and Family Services' Close to Home Initiative.

Judge Reilly is chair of the Advisory Committee for the Office of Attorneys for Children in the Third Judicial Department. He began his career as an assistant district attorney. He was Niskayuna Town Court justice from 1977 to 1984. He was elected to Family Court in Schenectady County in 1985 and to the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial District in 2000. He retired in 2012 and he is currently certificated for a two-year term.

He is a member of the New York State Council on Children and Families and its Juvenile Delinquency Division. He was a member of the Statewide Law Guardian Advisory Committee and the State Bar's Committee on Children and the Law.

The 75,000-member New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. It was founded in 1876.

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