As a Supervising Judge of the Queens County Civil Court, Bernice Siegal is trying to make the court as accessible to the public as possible, encouraging Queens’ residents to resolve their disputes within its walls. She believes that the Civil Court is the “people’s court” and strives “to ensure that the people of Queens get justice when they step into the building.”
Siegal was appointed as a Supervising Judge in March 2007 after serving on the bench for five years. Her very first decision as a civil court judge was cited in McKinney’s Consolidated Law of New York in 2003. Siegal admits that she “was quite thrilled” to sit on the other side of the bench and be the judge, who is actually writing the decisions, and subsequently have her case not only published but also followed by her colleagues and the appellate courts.
Before her election as a civil court judge in November 2001, Siegal worked in the private sector for over a decade, providing among other things legal services and advice to labor union locals, including the International Association of Machinists; the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. She also served as a counsel to New York City Councilmember Sheldon Leffler, former chair of the Public Safety Committee. With her ample knowledge of housing matters and zoning, she created various strategies and legislation to win significant legal and political battles.
Siegal is also a frequent guest speaker and lecturer at continuing legal education seminars and forums at the Women’s Bar Association and the Queens Bar Association. Her lectures encompass a number of topics, among which include motor vehicle trials, insurance litigations and enforcement of money judgments. “We just do it out of love of the law,” she said.
Judge Siegal has also published an article in the Queens County Bar Bulletin, titled Non-Military Affidavits: Providing Civil Relief at Home. According to the publication, if a civil action is brought in court against a person who is in the military, the plaintiff (the person filing the complaint or initiating the trial) needs to show that the defendant is not on active duty outside of the United States in order to get summary judgment (usually money awarded) against that defendant.
In that way, American soldiers get a bit of “breathing space,” while they are on duty and cannot appear in the civil court to defend themselves. Siegal authored the article “in order to assist the fighting men and women who are out there in the field, protecting us.”
Siegal matriculated with honors in 1985 from New York Law School, where she was a member of its Law Review and National Moot Court Board Order of Barristers. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from CUNY’s Queens College.
She has received the Alexander Forger Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession and the American Jurisprudence (Amjur) Award for law school excellence. Siegal has been honored by former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, incumbent Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Assemblymember Mark Weprin. She sits on the board of directors of the National Association of Women Judges and Queens Women’s Bar Association. She is also the president of the Brandeis Association and a treasurer of the New York City Board of Civil Court Judges.
Siegal resides in eastern Queens with her husband Kevin. She has two daughters — Rebecca, a student at Colby College and Sara, undergraduate at Fordham University. “I love my children,” Siegal said. “I wouldn’t be here without my family.”
