Bettina Plevan

Bettina Plevan is a New York City lawyer, a partner at the firm Proskauer Rose LLP, and a former president of the New York City Bar Association.

Education

Bettina Plevan received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College in 1967, and her Juris Doctor from Boston University in 1970, where she graduated magna cum laude and was an editor of the Boston University Law Review.

Career

Bettina Plevan is currently a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP specializing in labor law and employment law. She serves as co-head of both the firm’s Labor and Employment Division and Class/Collective Action Group, and serves on its seven-person executive committee. She has represented clients in the banking, health care, entertainment, and consumer products industries, and has argued cases before both state and federal appellate courts.

Plevan has also been active in both the American Bar Association, where she has served on the Board of Governors representing New York, and the New York City Bar Association. At the City Bar she has worked in a number of capacities. She served as the first chair of the Bar’s Committee on Women in the Profession, and played a role in the publication of its influential study of gender in the profession, “Glass Ceilings and Open Doors.” She has also served on the board of Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS), the Bar’s citywide pro bono initiative, and the City Bar Fund. From 2004 to 2006, she served as the Bar’s second female president.

Plevan has also served on the board of the Legal Aid Society, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and the Second Circuit Committee on Gender Bias.

She has been recognized many times for legal excellence, including being named by New York Magazine as one of the “100 Best Lawyers in New York City” and by the National Law Journal as one of the “Best Labor and Employment Lawyers in the Country.”

Sources

• “New York Lawyer Bettina B. Plevan is New Member of ABA Board of Governors,” American Bar Association
• Bettina B. Plevan Biography at Proskauer Rose
• Bettina Plevan Faculty Profile at Practising Law Institute
• “Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?” The New York Times. March 19, 2006.
• “Bettina Plevan of Proskauer Rose Named One of 50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America by National Law Journal.” Proskauer Rose LLP/ May 30, 2007.