Early voting starts Saturday, June 13 in New York’s June 23 Primary Election. If you’re like many New Yorkers, you might be struggling to find information on the judicial primary candidates on your ballot.
If you live in Brooklyn, look no further: Candidates running in the borough’s two contested Democratic judicial primaries are detailed below. There are no contested Republican judicial primaries in the borough.
District 6: Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Lefferts Gardens, Park Slope, Midwood, Kensington
Brooklynites living in these neighborhoods will be voting for one of two candidates to serve on the borough’s Civil Court bench, where they may handle housing, contract, small claims and other civil cases.
Michelle DeSouza
Michelle DeSouza took a slightly untraditional path into the legal field: She went to law school 10 years after she graduated from college, passed the bar while she was pregnant, and, after no one would hire a pregnant woman during the tight economic times of the late 2000s, started a solo practice right out of law school, helping everyone who walked through the door.
“No one wanted to hire someone who was showing [pregnancy],” said DeSouza, who now has nearly a decade and a half of experience under her belt. “So, I eventually started my own practice, where I did real estate, immigration, DACA applications, family petitions, trusts in real estate, family custody: Whatever came in the door.”
After a few years at her solo practice, she moved to an elder care firm, Grimaldi and Yeung, where she drafted various types of trusts before moving to public service law. Most recently, she served as assistant corporation counsel at the New York City Law Department, where she litigated cases on behalf of the city. She’s on leave from the office as she runs her judicial campaign.
DeSouza was born in Guyana and moved to Brooklyn as a teenager with her family, where she grew up in East Flatbush. She currently resides in Canarsie.
The attorney said she’s seeking to be a judge now to create a courtroom where everyone is met with respect and gets equal treatment under the law. As a Guyanese woman, she said she’s been marginalized in the courtroom, especially at the beginning of her career, by people who have assumed she isn’t an attorney or told her they couldn’t understand her because of her accent.
“The courtroom is usually reserved for attorneys, and I remember going to sit in on the first row, and I was told that it’s only reserved for attorneys,” DeSouza said at a candidate forum.
“You do not judge people by the way they look and who they are. I’ve learned that early on in my career,” she continued. “For me, it’s about treating everyone with respect and being impartial, because I know how it feels to be marginalized, and I would never want someone to come into my courtroom and feel that way.”
DeSouza is endorsed by the Shirley Chisholm Democratic Club and the Yes We Can Democratic Club. She has been approved by the New York City Bar Association.
Janice P. Purvis
Currently a court attorney in Brooklyn Civil Court, Janice Purvis said she’s always wanted to be a judge. She’s spent over two decades within the city’s Law Department and as a court attorney, where she’s worked directly with dozens of judges, helping to research and write decisions, conference cases, and resolve motions.
“Serving as a judge is the ultimate form of public service that I can provide for the community; it is an incredible opportunity to make a lasting impact in people’s lives,” Purvis said in a statement. “I have always wanted to be a judge and have spent my entire legal career working to develop the extensive experience needed to have the temperament, wisdom, and understanding required to make thoughtful, precise and accurate decisions on the bench.”
Over the course of her 20 years with the Law Department, she’s worked on personal injury, medical and legal malpractice, labor, family, property, and breach-of-contract cases. She currently works directly with Brooklyn Judge Brian Gottlieb and as a special referee in the matrimonial court under Statewide Coordinating Judge for Matrimonial Matters Judge Jeffrey Sunshine.
Purvis said she’s “carefully observed and learned” from the judges she’s worked for for years and wants to bring those lessons together to run her own.
“Observing so many judges over the years, the ways that they run their courtrooms during trials, conferences and motions, how they interact with court staff and litigants, and their approach in rendering legal decisions has given me insight into the type of judge I want to be,” Purvis said. “I would apply laws impartially, ensuring that every litigant has an equal opportunity to be heard and their arguments considered.
She also plans to bring the experience she’s had supporting self-represented litigants in the courtroom and the “sensitivity” she’s developed in understanding backgrounds different from her own.
“I can understand what it feels like for somebody to come into the courthouse not having an attorney and not understanding even what they’re in the courthouse for,” Purvis said. “Equal access to justice is really important to me. I just want to make sure that anybody who appears before me feels that they have had the opportunity to be heard, that they can tell their story … so that even if I have a ruling that’s against them, they feel heard and they feel understood, and they feel that I’m being impartial.”
Purvis is executive vice president of the court attorneys union and a member of various bar associations, including the New York State LGBTQ Association, Brooklyn Bar Association, Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn, Small Claims Arbitrators Association, and Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York. She currently lives in Crown Heights with her daughter and rescue cats, where she’s vice president of her block association.
She has been endorsed by LGBTQ group Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, the Working Families Party, Independent Neighborhood Democrats and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats.
District 8: Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Garrett’s Beach, Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, Bergen Beach and parts of Midwood and Flatlands
Brooklynites living in these neighborhoods will be voting for one of the two candidates to serve on the county’s Civil Court. While both candidates currently live in Manhattan, they say they have deep roots in Brooklyn.
Abbye L. Lawrence
Currently a construction liability and personal injury attorney at Litchfield Cavo LLP and small claims arbiter in New York City Civil Court, Abbye Lawrence says she wants to join Brooklyn’s bench because she believes the borough’s Civil Courts can better serve the people who depend on them.
“Throughout my career serving in New York City courtrooms, I have seen firsthand how deeply court decisions affect people’s lives, whether it involves their homes, livelihoods, families, or future opportunities,” Lawrence said in a statement. “I want to help ensure that justice is accessible to all, no matter who they are, where they come from, what language they speak, or how much money they have.”
Before moving to private practice, she worked as Senior Counsel in the Special State Law Enforcement Defense Unit in the city’s Law Department and clerked for Civil Court and Supreme Court judges in the city for years. That work, she said, taught her “how the courtroom works” and provided her with experience working with self-representing litigants.
“It taught me a lot about working with self-represented people and how to treat individuals fairly and with respect,” Lawrence said at a Brooklyn candidate forum.
A lifelong New Yorker, Lawrence has said she “won’t let anyone be pushed around in her courtroom.” She said she would have a focus on “expanding access to justice to women and families,” and protecting people’s rights in the courtroom.
“I want to be a judge because I believe the courts should be a place where every person is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect,” Lawrence said. “As a judge, I would be honored to serve the people of Brooklyn by upholding the rule of law, protecting due process, and ensuring that every litigant receives a fair hearing.”
Lawrence has been endorsed by Four Freedoms Democratic Club.
Susan A. Liebman
After working in “just about every part of the court system,” Susan Liebman is seeking a seat on Brooklyn’s Civil Court bench.
If elected, she says she’ll bring the “unique sensitivity” she’s gained in her current role: offering pro bono legal services to domestic violence survivors through Mount Sinai’s victim services program.
“It’s given me respect for everybody and their unique situations. Everyone’s unique lifestyles must be respected, and that’s what I would bring to the courtroom,” Liebman said at a candidate forum. “I treat everyone as human beings and as individuals.”
Prior to working with women and transgender people escaping abusive situations through Mount Sinai, Liebman has been a law clerk to three different Brooklyn Supreme Court judges, drafting thousands of decisions on everything from foreclosures to personal injury to matrimonial matters over the course of several decades, she said.
Liebman has been endorsed by LGBTQ group Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, Independent Neighborhood Democrats, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and elected officials Diana Gonzalez, Mark Hanna and Joanne Simon. She has been found highly qualified by Brooklyn’s judicial screening committee.
Early voting for the June 23 election runs from June 13 to June 21. You can find your polling place at https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/.
