Celebrating legal pioneers: The Justice Thompson Awards honor Shillingford and Simmons

March 4, 2024 Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Hon. Valerie Brathwaite Nelson (left) presented Justice Ruth Shillingford with the Hon. William Thompson Award, an award that is given out by the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, each year as part of its observation of Black History Month.
Photos: Robert Abruzzese/Brooklyn Eagle

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In a Black History Month ceremony held at the Appellate Division, Second Department, the legal community came together to celebrate the contributions of three towering figures in the fight for justice and equity.

Judge Ruth Shillingford and Esmeralda Simmons, Esq., along with U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, were honored as the 2024 recipients of the Hon. William C. Thompson, Sr. Award in Brooklyn Heights on Wednesday.

Organized by Presiding Justice Hector D. LaSalle and the associate justices, alongside co-sponsors including the Judicial Friends Association and the Brooklyn Bar Association, the event not only commemorated Black History Month but also paid homage to the legacy of the Honorable William C. Thompson, Sr.

Hon. Paul Wooten, a justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, presents Esmeralda Simmons with the Hon. William Thompson Award.

Justice Shillingford, appointed to the Court of Claims by Gov. Kathy Hochul, has built a distinguished career over more than 17 years on the bench. Her journey includes roles as acting Supreme Court justice in Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, and Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel for Criminal Justice at the Office of Corporation Counsel for the City of New York. She served as one of the legal advisors to the Federal Monitor in the landmark Floyd v. The City of New York stop and frisk litigation.

A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Lincoln University, Shillingford’s career has been marked by her dedication to justice and her commitment to serving the community. Hailing from the Commonwealth of Dominica, her extensive experience and service on various boards and associations underscore her role as a leader and educator in the legal field.

Hon. Frank Seddio, the former chair of the Kings County Democratic Party, stands in to accept the Hon. William Thompson Award from the late judge's son Bill Thompson, Jr., on behalf of U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. — Hon. Frank Seddio, the former chair of the Kings County Democratic Party, stands in to accept the Hon. William Thompson Award from the late judge’s son Bill Thompson, Jr., on behalf of U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

Esmeralda Simmons has focused on racial justice for people of African descent in New York throughout her career, especially in her role on the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board, to which she was appointed by the NYC Public Advocate Jumanne Williams in 2020.

Simmons’s career is a testament to her dedication to civil rights, having served as the founding executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, and holding positions such as the first deputy commissioner for human rights for the State of New York. She continues to inspire, recently completing a fellowship at Harvard University that laid the foundation for an inspirational media campaign for the Black liberation movement in the USA.