When Justice Ellen Spodek first walked into a Brooklyn courtroom, it wasn’t as a lawyer or a judge; it was as a juror. Watching the late Justice Sybil Hart Cooper preside over jury selection, she said, set her on the path to the bench.

“I was in her courtroom, and I was watching her, and after that experience, I decided I was going to take the LSAT and apply to law school,” Spodek said.

“I didn’t have role models of women who were lawyers or doctors, but seeing Sybil Hart Cooper, who was a force to be reckoned with, made me realize that I could do it too.”

Spodek shared that story during the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association’s “Lunch with a Judge” program, where she joined BWBA President Lisa Michael and moderator Justice Dweynie Paul for an hour-long conversation about her path to the j

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