Doris Ling-Cohan, a female civil judge, grew up in Manhattan's
Chinatown, New York. She was nominated by the Manhattan Democratic
Party for selection, and was widely supported by the Democratic
Party, Republican Party, Liberal Party and the Working Family
Party. On November 5, 2002, Ling-Cohan was elected as a New York
State Supreme Court judge, with more than 230,000 votes, to become
the first Asian female judge in New York's Supreme Court history.
Ling-Cohan, whose parents wash and iron clothes for a living, had
an ordinary family life. When just 16, and at senior high school,
Ling began working part-time at a clothing factory to help support
the family. She realized at a very young age that new immigrants to
America have to work much longer and harder than others. She pushed
herself to acquire knowledge and skills. After graduating with
exceptional grades from senior high school, Doris went on to become
a student at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New
York. She was later awarded a full scholarship and pursued further
studies at New York University (NYU).
After graduating from Law at NYU in 1979, Ling-Cohan became a
district court layer for seven years and then worked at the New
York State Attorney General's consumer fraud protection unit for
five years. She also once worked as deputy in charge of legal
counsel for the NYC Department for the Aging.
Doris insisted on being elected to higher positions, instead of
being politically appointed, because, as she explained, judges who
can continually withstand the test of public opinion have a greater
chance of being promoted to Supreme Court Judge.
"I
never expected to become a judge," she said. There were previously
no Asian judges in New York's judicial system and she says she has
never even seen any Asian bailiffs, scribes or secretaries.
"Actually, Asian people seldom appear in court, and when they do
they are frequently mistaken for interpreters." Since becoming a
lawyer and prosecuting attorney, Ling-Cohan has sometimes been
confronted with these awkward situations.
With more Asian people coming to America in recent years, the
number of people studying at law schools has been increasing. Yet
in various New York courts, the number of the Asian judges is still
very small indeed, and the ratio of Asian judges compared to the
Asian population is very much out of proportion. Currently, there
are only four Asian male judges in the Family Court, Criminal
Court, Higher Court and Supreme Court respectively and five female
Asian judges: three in the Housing Court and two in the Civil
Court. Altogether, there are only four elected Asian judges, and
only six Asian female judges from a total of 3,900 judges in New
York.
With regards to training Asian female leaders, Ling-Cohan believes
the most important thing is that females should not only have
specific goals in mind, but also specific ideas on how to achieve
their goals. The second thing is to encourage more females to
accept leadership roles and promote their self achievements to
inspire others. She believes that females can be leaders in both
family and daily life.
Ling-Cohan finally noted that it's important for more females to
show their talent before public without fear or hesitation.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, December 26, 2002)