Hon. Dianne T. Renwick is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department. She was designated to the Appellate Division by former Governor David Paterson in 2008.
Renwick began her judicial career when she was appointed to serve as a judge for the New York County Housing Court in March 1997. Later that same year, she was elected to the Civil Court of the City of New York, where she presided in both New York and Bronx Counties. Renwick was then elected to serve as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court in the Twelfth Judicial District in 2001. She was re-elected to the seat in 2016. While on the Supreme Court bench, she presided over a Civil Term and also presided over the IAS, Mental Hygiene, Article 81, Foreclosure, and Tax Certiorari Parts.
Renwick received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1982. She went on to earn a J.D. from Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1986.
After law school, Renwick became a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Division. Then, in 1989, she joined the Federal Defender Services Unit of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where she worked as a staff attorney until assuming the bench in 1997.
Renwick was chair of the City Marshal’s Committee and the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. She also served on the Governor’s Task Force on Judicial Diversity, Chess in the Schools, the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula (board of directors), the Black Bar Association of Bronx County, the Lehman College Art Gallery, the Pelham Art Center, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (board member), the New York Botanical Garden (board member), the President’s Council of Cornell Women (advisory board member), the Picture House Regional Film Center (advisory board member), and the New York American Inn of Court.