Attorney Dweynie Esther Paul has become the first Haitian-American elected a judge on the New

York City Civil Court. She joins an impressive team of elected Haitian-Americans in the New York Metro

area, including New York State Assemblywomen Rodneyse Bichotte and Kimberly Jean-Pierre and New

York City Council member Mathieu Eugene. Paul is an experienced litigator who was previously in-house

counsel for Travelers Indemnity Company, managing a caseload involving premise liability, personal

injury and construction.

Born of Haitian parents in Queens, New York, Paul earned bachelor and master’s degrees from Stony

Brook University. She worked for the New York Deputy Comptroller’s office under Carl McCall. During

her time there, she studied immigration-related issues, with a focus on immigrant’s ability to gain access

to essential resources, such as education, employment and healthcare and their impact on New York’s

economy. She graduated from George Washington University’s Law School and clerked for Maryland

Circuit Court Judge Marcella Holland.

Active in her community, Paul is vice president of a non-profit organization called Eye of a Dream, which

works to raise scholarship funds for children to attend private school in Haiti. She has been a member of

Community Board #3, which covers the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. As director of community

service and public affairs for the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, she developed programs that

utilize the talents of its members to be a resource and a contribution to the community. Until recently,

she was a board member of the Haitian Roundtable.