Bleakley Platt Partner Mary Ellen Manley Chairs Joseph F. Gagliardi Award for Excellence
Partner Mary Ellen Manley chaired the Westchester County Bar Foundation’s annual Joseph F. Gagliardi Award for Excellence. The award is presented every year to non-judicial employees of the Unified Court System for the Ninth Judicial District, in recognition of outstanding service to the public and dedication to the administration of justice. The awards were presented at a ceremony conducted by the Honorable Alan D. Scheinkman, Administrative Judge, Ninth Judicial District, at the Westchester County Courthouse, Gagliardi Courtroom, on June 8th.
This year’s honorees were: Albert J. Degatano, Esq., Court Attorney-Referee Westchester Supreme/County Courts; Denise Helms, Court Assistant, Rockland Surrogate’s Court; and Renee McAllister, Associate Court Clerk, Westchester Supreme/County Courts.
Mary Ellen Manley, currently Vice President of the Westchester County Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Westchester County Bar Association, has also served as President of the Bar Association. She was a recipient of the “Above the Bar” award as the leading trusts and estates attorney in Westchester County, and has been named to the Super Lawyers list as a top rated estate and trust litigation attorney in the New York Metro area.
As head of the firm’s Trusts and Estates Practice Group, Ms. Manley concentrates in the area of Surrogate’s Court practice. She has substantial estate litigation experience, representing fiduciaries and beneficiaries in adversarial proceedings, including will contests, accountings, removal of fiduciaries, will construction or reformation proceedings, fee litigation, determination of right of election, kinship hearings, validity of creditors’ claims and wrongful death compromises.