Shirley Adelson Siegel

Shirley Adelson Siegel (born July 3, 1918) is a lawyer whose work as a housing activist and advocate has spanned over seven decades.[1] Siegel was the first head of New York State’s Civil Rights Bureau and served as New York State’s solicitor general.[1]

Early life

Siegel was born on July 3, 1918 to Jewish immigrant parents born in the part of Czarist Russia that is now known as Lithuania.[2] Her father’s name in Europe had been Abramowicz, but upon immigrating he changed it to Adelson.[2]

When Siegel was in her last year of high school, her family faced eviction from their home in Inwood.[2]

Education

Siegel graduated as valedictorian of her high school class in 1933 at the age of fourteen.[2]

Siegel attended Barnard in the 1930s, at a time when Barnard had a quota for Jewish students.[2] As an undergraduate at Barnard in the 1930s, Siegel became committed to the cause of affordable housing.[3] Her interest in housing developed after she served as an intern with the New York Legislative Service in 1936 and was assigned to become knowledgeable about the field of housing.[4] During her internship, Siegel encountered Charles Abrams and Langdon Post of the New York City Housing Authority.[4] Siegel studied government at Barnard and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.[4] After graduating from Barnard in 1937,[5] [6] Siegel was voted the recipient of a student-funded fellowship available to one graduating Barnard student to study abroad.[4] Siegel attended the London School of Economics,[7] where she continued to develop her studies of housing. Siegel entered Yale Law School in 1938 as the only woman in her class.[1]

Career

Upon graduation, Siegel interviewed with over forty firms before eventually landing a job at Proskauer, where she was the first woman ever at the firm.[8] In 1959, New York Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz hired Siegel to run the newly founded Civil Rights Bureau[8] of the New York State Law Department.[1] In that office, Siegel challenged the discriminatory hiring practices of the citywide building trade unions.[8] Siegel served as general counsel of the New York Housing and Development Administration under New York Mayor John V. Lindsay.[9] As an active member of the New York City Bar, Siegel ultimately became chair of the City Bar Committee on Housing and Urban Development.[8] In 1979, Siegel was appointed New York State’s Solicitor General by Attorney General Robert Abrams.[9] She served in that office until 1982.[10]

Miscellaneous

As a volunteer with the ACLU in the early 1940s, Siegel volunteered on the Supreme Court case challenging Japanese internment camps.[10] Siegel also authored The Law of Open Space.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dominus, Susan (2010-03-29). "A Lawyer Rejoins a Cause That First Gripped Her 70 Years Ago". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "ABA Commission on Women in the Profession : ORAL HISTORY of SHIRLEY ADELSON SIEGEL" (PDF). Americanbar.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  3. ↑ Dominus, Susan (2010-03-29). "A Lawyer Rejoins a Cause That First Gripped Her 70 Years Ago". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "ABA Commission on Women in the Profession : ORAL HISTORY of SHIRLEY ADELSON SIEGEL" (PDF). Americanbar.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  5. ↑ "Who's Who in American Law : Siegel, Shirley Adelson" (PDF). Americanbar.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  6. ↑ "Undeterred". barnard.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  7. ↑ "New York City Bar Association - Shirley Adelson Siegel". Nycbar.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "New York City Bar Association - Shirley Adelson Siegel". Nycbar.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  9. 1 2 Dominus, Susan (2010-03-29). "A Lawyer Rejoins a Cause That First Gripped Her 70 Years Ago". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  10. 1 2 3 "Shirley Adelson Siegel '41—A New Experience at the End of Her Career - Yale Law School". Law.yale.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.