Campus - 29th Kate Stoneman Day

Thursday, March 23, 2023
5:30 p.m. (Program)
A celebration reception to follow

Albany Law School, Dean Alexander Moot Courtroom
Available via Zoom (Link sent in Confirmation Email)

Registration

Join us for the 29th Kate Stoneman Day! This tradition celebrates women in the law in honor of the law school’s first female graduate, Kate Stoneman, Class of 1898. Albany Law School's prestigious Stoneman Awards are presented to individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to seeking change and expanding opportunities for women within the legal profession.

Albany Law School’s Kate Stoneman Honorary Committee is proud to honor Hon. Teneka E. Frost ’02—Schenectady’s first Black City Court judge—with this year’s Miriam M. Netter '72 Kate Stoneman Award. Additionally, Judge Patricia Marks ’74, the first female full-time Assistant District Attorney in the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, and Secretary Alejandra N. Paulino ’02, the first Latina to serve as the Secretary of the New York Senate, will be honored with Kate Stoneman awards. 

About our Honorees

The Honorable Teneka E. Frost ’02 (Miriam M. Netter '72 Kate Stoneman Keynoter)

Judge Frost served as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, co-chair of the Equal Justice in the Courts Initiative for the Fourth Judicial district, and as the Chief Administrative Law Judge and Director of the Office of Administrative Hearings at the NY Department of State. Last year, she was named to Albany Law School's National Alumni Association. In 2018, she was appointed as a city court judge by Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy.

In 2021, she began the United Against Crime Community Action Network (U-CAN), a program where first-time offenders 18-25 years old with no criminal record can learn from mentors and work on self-improvement  in a year-long program. In 2005, she was selected for a post-graduate fellowship in government law and policy at Albany Law School’s Government Law Center, during which she served as an elected member of the Board of Education for the City School District of Albany.

At Albany Law School, Frost was Northeast regional director of the National Black Law Students Association, regional representative of the Albany Law School Black Law Students Association (BLSA), and a member of the law school’s Moot Court Board. As a student she interned for the Black, Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caucus of the New York State Legislature and worked as a law clerk at Lemery Greisler LLC. 

The Honorable Patricia D. Marks ’74

Judge Marks was the first female full-time Assistant District Attorney in the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office in 1976 and became the first female County Judge elected in Monroe County in 1984. She served as a County Court Judge for 25 years and retired in 2011. Since her retirement, she has remained active in a number of areas throughout the law, including as Interim CEO/Executive Director of Veterans Outreach Center, a not-for-profit organization that provides advocacy, direct service, and community collaboration for veterans and their families; as a Hearing Officer with the NYS Local and Retirement System and the Title IX office at the University of Rochester. She also provides pro bono services to various family law clinics in Western New York. 

Marks also presided over the Judicial Diversion Program and Veterans Court, which she created, and played a key role in establishing the Monroe County Mental Health Court. She is the author of 27 published legal decisions and several New York State Bar Journal articles.

Marks began her legal career as a legal assistant with the Monroe County Department of Social Services.

Secretary Alejandra N. Paulino ’02

Secretary Paulino is the first Latina to serve as the Secretary of the New York Senate and is an expert in New York State election law.

She was elected by members of the State Senate in 2019 and serves as chief administrative officer to the Senate and its 16 departments.  She has increased access to resources and worked to improve working conditions at the New York State Senate. She has updated the Senate’s sexual harassment policies and has added cultural competency to the training for all Senate employees.  

She has spent her career in several different government offices and adjacent groups, starting as a Senate fellow and has since served in the Majority Counsel’s Office as Crime, Crime Victims, and Correction Committee Counsel and Team Counsel for Public Protection. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association’s Trail Blazer Award.

While at Albany Law School, she participated in Moot Court and was a member of the Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA) and the Black Law Students Association (BLSA). She has been an adjunct professor at Albany Law School since 2016 teaching Election Law and also serves on the Government Law Center Advisory Board.