Honorable Elizabeth Bonina Is Featured in an Article Honoring Her Distinguished Career

News

October 23, 2017

NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation) is proud to announce that an article featuring Hon. Elizabeth Bonina, an alum of Poly Prep Country Day School, was recently published in Polycam, the school's alumni e-newsletter. The article entitled, 40 Years of Women at Poly: Judge Elizabeth Bonina ('79) Was Among the First Class of Girls at Poly, examines how the decision to transfer from an all-girls high school to Poly Prep, then an all-boys high school, changed the course of Judge Bonina's life when she became a member of Poly's first co-ed class in the late 70's. Further, the article follows how the education she received at Poly prepared her for a distinguished career as a judge, a professor and as an arbitrator and mediator.

Judge Bonina acknowledges that transferring schools in the middle of the school year was daunting, yet it was a decision she would never regret, “During my career, I've worked in many male-dominated fields. Whether it was my career in politics, law, as a member of the judiciary or now as a private arbitrator and mediator, I've found that, more often than not, I'm the only woman in the room. I have to thank Poly for teaching me not to be intimidated by that.” She also credits the instructors, the courses and the training she received in public speaking at Poly for preparing her for a career in law and advises her young Poly alumni, “A career in law requires a great deal of dedication, but it can also be very rewarding when you are able to advise and help someone.”

Poly Prep is an historic independent high school located in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. The school has graduated thousands of alumni who have become some of the nation's leaders in the arts, athletics, business, science, medicine, law, government, education and philanthropy. The school's mission is to prepare and inspire the next diverse generation of leaders and global citizens to act with intelligence, imagination and-above all-character.

For the fifth consecutive year, Judge Bonina was named a “Best Individual Arbitrator” in New York State by the 2017 New York Law Journal Reader Rankings Survey, with three of those years being voted #1. She has also been ranked one of the Top Ten Mediators in the state for the past seven years in that same survey. Judge Bonina has arbitrated and mediated a myriad of case types including employment, professional malpractice, premises liability, labor law, sports and entertainment, products liability and personal injury. In 2014, Judge Elizabeth Bonina was honored by being the first woman to receive Poly Prep's Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award.

Click here to view Judge Bonina's resume

Click here to view the 2017 New York Law Journal Reader Rankings Survey

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