Alumna wins Connecticut Bar Association’s 2019 Ladder Award
The Connecticut Bar Association is honoring retired Connecticut Superior Court Judge Lynda Batter Munro ’76 P’08 with the 2019 Ladder Award.
Created by the Young Lawyers Section Women in the Law Committee in 2007, the Ladder Award honors a Connecticut female attorney who has “left the ladder down” for women to follow in her footsteps, mentoring and supporting more junior lawyers in their own journeys to success.
Prior to her retirement from the bench in 2014, Munro created a mentoring program for judges and led the continuing legal education program for the branch for eight years. During her impressive 20-year career as a judge, she set new standards for accommodating the developmental needs of children, protecting witnesses and supporting the rights of parents and grandparents.
A former president of Connecticut College's Alumni Association Board of Directors and a former member of the Board of Trustees, Munro is an active member of the College community. She received the College’s highest honor, the Connecticut College Medal, in 2014 in recognition of her service to the College and her distinction in the field of law.
Munro now practices law at Pullman & Comley LLC’s Bridgeport office, where she is a member of the firm’s alternative dispute resolution and family law practices. She is an active member of the CBA, in which she co-chairs the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and is a member of the Family Law Section and the Committee on the Resolution of Legal Fee Disputes Program. Additionally, Munro provides guidance to women law students in job placement and career development at Quinnipiac University School of Law, where she is an adjunct law professor and a Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Center on Dispute Resolution.
“It was clear that throughout the various stages of Judge Munro's accomplished career, she has continually ‘left the ladder down’ for women in the legal profession,” YLS Women in the Law Committee co-chairs Choity R. Kahn, Madiha M. Malik and Alyssa V. Sherriff said in a press release announcing Munro's selection for the award.
“From providing mentorship and career counseling to young, aspiring attorneys, to spearheading programs and committees to address challenges female attorneys face in law firms and courtrooms, Judge Munro has been an advocate for implementing systemic changes for women in the legal profession and continues to pave the way for those following in her footsteps.”
The Ladder Award will be presented at CBA’s annual Pathways to Leadership for Women Lawyers event March 28 at St. Clements Castle in Portland, Connecticut. The event’s keynote address will be presented by Judge Elizabeth A. Bozzuto.
As a Ladder Award recipient, Munro joins a distinguished group of female attorneys, including Deirdre M. Daly, Justice Maria A. Kahn, Tanya A. Bovée, Diane W. Whitney, Nada K. Sizemore, Maureen Danehy Cox, Hon. Anne C. Dranginis, Rosemary Giuliano, Kathleen Brandt, Margaret Deluca and Elizabeth J. Stewart.