Myra L. Freed has been practicing in Manhattan, concentrating on matrimonial law since 1981. She has been a solo practitioner since 2002. She also serves as a private pay Attorney for The Child in custody and parenting time litigation. In addition, Myra practices Collaborative Law as an alternative to the litigation process.

Myra grew up in Long Island City and attended the Ramaz School in Manhattan. She is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the City College of New York where she received the Leskes Award in the fields of civil rights and civil liberties. She was a cofounder of the City College Women’s Center.

Myra received her JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. There, she participated as a clinical intern with the Bronx Legal Aid Society, serving as criminal defense counsel handling cases from arraignment through the appeal process under the direction of Barry Scheck, Esq.

Since joining the NYWBA in 1984 on the advice of Cardozo classmate Dianne Abeloff, Myra has served on numerous committees, held several offices and Chair positions. She has been active on the Matrimonial Law Committee and chaired that Committee from 1988-1991. In 1988, she also became a member of WBASNY’s Matrimonial Law Committee and remained active on that committee for several years, serving as Co-Chair in 1991.

She joined the NYWBA Board of Directors in 1998 and served as Vice President from 2002-2004. She served as Corresponding Secretary 2015-2016. She chaired the Working Mothers Committee in 1996-1997 and again in 2001-2002. In 1998-1999, she served as Co-Chair of the Membership Committee and served on our Nominations Committee for many years. She has served as Annual Dinner Chair and Co-Chair for several years and continues to remain active on the Dinner Committee. In 2003 and 2004, Myra chaired the Annual Judges’ Reception. In 2007 she was the proud recipient of the NYWBA Doris S. Hoffman Service Award for her outstanding service to the association.

Myra has been invited to give numerous CLE lectures in the area of matrimonial law and has also lectured to the lay public on family law topics.

She is proud to have served as a pro bono attorney mentor for inMotion, Inc., (now called Her Justice), as a pro bono attorney for the Hon. Jacqueline W. Silbermann Pro Bono Matrimonial Program of the NYWBA in New York County and as a member of the Steering Committee of the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG) Straphangers Campaign, a coalition of neighborhood associations and community residents working to improve New York City mass transit. She received the Public Citizenship Award from NYPIRG in 1986 for her work with the Straphangers Campaign.

Myra lives in Carnegie Hill with her husband, Seth Orlow, a professor at New York University School of Medicine. They are the proud parents of daughter, Emma, a 2017 graduate of NYU Gallatin.

Myra expresses her gratitude to all the amazing NYWBA presidents under whom she has served, and who have been sources of inspiration. She remembers with love Dianne Abeloff (President 1987-1988) and Sandra W. Jacobson (President 1989-1990), friends and mentors over the years, both of whom we lost this past year under tragic circumstances. Myra thanks Executive Director Karen Lu, who serves us with great dedication, loyalty, and spirit, and makes all our work possible. Myra also thanks Mariam Hashmi, her paralegal for the past three years, who has made work in the office, for the NYWBA and beyond more of a joy and wishes her all the best as she starts law school this August. We look forward to Mariam being part of the next generation of bar association members and leaders. Finally, Myra thanks her parents for all their love, support and encouragement. They taught her by their own example about community service and Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.