Hon. Kathy J. King ’84

Justice King’s parents immigrated to the United States from Montserrat, a small island in the British Caribbean. She grew up in Queens, N.Y., in a close-knit community. Her parents were her role models and instilled the value of education.

She met and married Edward King, who also pursued a legal career and is also a civil court judge in Brooklyn.

Justice King began her legal education in City College’s Urban Legal Studies program and completed her degree in history there before attending the University at Buffalo School of Law, which she selected due to financial considerations. Not having visited Buffalo before, she liked the conducive academic environment and lack of distractions. Justice King appreciated the collegiality among students and formed long-lasting friendships. She and her partner won the Best Brief award in the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition. Early on she interned with Hon. Kenneth Brown, the first African-American Supreme Court justice in Queens County.

Justice King was a private practitioner focusing on trusts and estates, real estate and consumer rights before she became a court attorney for Judge Ross Sparks in Civil Court, Queens County. Subsequently, she became the general counsel for the New York City Board of Elections, followed by an administrative role as deputy clerk, where she helped to manage election operations for the largest voting constituency in New York State.

First elected to the Civil Court in 2003, she presided over civil matters based on law and equity, guardianship hearings (under Article 81 of the New York State Mental Hygiene Law) and criminal arraignments. She served as an acting Supreme Court justice from 2009-2013. She was elected a justice of the Kings County Supreme Court, Civil Term, in the Second Judicial District of New York, in 2014.

Justice King is committed to ensuring diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. She is an active leader and lifetime member of the National Association of Women Judges, for which she chairs the New York mentor team, and assists Afghan judges. She has addressed the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, where she emphasized the importance of access to education for girls and women in Afghanistan. Judge King is committed to continuing this impactful and important work.