The Capital District Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York is an organization of approximately 300 members that has grown steadily over the past 30 years. What began as an informal structure (there were no presidents) became an association when the group was approached by the New York Women’s Bar Association, an organization that had existed in New York City for several decades. This association already had one chapter, the Westchester County Women’s Bar Association, and they actively sought to include the Northeastern New York Women Lawyers Association as their second chapter. From this network grew a statewide bar association, The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, with Albany as one of the five founding chapters.

The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York now has 17 chapters and more than 3500 members from Suffolk County to Buffalo. It is a statewide network of women attorneys that maintains a host of active committees including legislative, matrimonial practice, criminal law, gender bias, real property, and tax law. The state Association has been visible on the federal level as amicus in Supreme Court cases, and in national networking with other state women’s bar associations. The building has begun – we are all a part of it.