Dorothy Chin Brandt, the first Asian American female judge in New York state, has died at 78.
According to The New York Times, Justice Chin Brandt died on January 27 in Queens due to complications from sepsis.
Brooklyn Law reports that Chin Brandt was also the first elected Asian American public official in the state, having been elected to the New York City Civil Court in 1987.
She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and her law degree from Brooklyn Law School. After graduating from law school in 1974, she became the Assistant Dean of Graduate Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.
Chin Brandt became a judge on the New York City Criminal Court in 1998 after her time with the New York City Civil Court. In 2001, then Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman appointed her Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.
“She wrote the script for Asian Americans in the New York courts, and was a role model and trailblazer for Asian American women judges. Dorothy was also a leader in the Chinese and Asian American bar, and very active and influential in legal and judicial circles,” Lippman said, per The New York Times.
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