President’s Message

Greetings All,

My name is Soukaina Sourouri, President of the Staten Island Women’s Bar Association (SIWBA) for the 2023-2024 year.

I am the first Muslim Arab American woman to serve as President of the Staten Island Women’s Bar Association. I am truly humbled to be the first, and I would like to recognize that this would not have happened without the sacrifices of all those who came before me. It’s my honor and privilege to serve as this year’s president. 

Staten Island Women’s Bar Association (SIWBA) is a chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY). We are one of 20 chapters throughout the state and one of the founding chapters of this organization.

This year, WBASNY President Dawn Lott’s theme is “Still We Rise, Honoring Our Past, Fortifying Our Future”. Following with that, as President of SIWBA I plan to remember and honor our past while pushing our organization into the future.

In Honoring Our Past, I want to take a moment to recognize all the past presidents for the work they have done in establishing and continuing SIWBA. Thank you to those women that did the work to keep this organization alive and growing. In additional, the work of each woman that has served on our Board in years past will not go unnoticed. Without those that came before us, there would not be a present-day Board.

In Fortifying Our Future, I want to take a moment to recognize my officers, they are a hard-working group of amazing women, and I am excited for our members to get to know them.

I am thankful for all the women that came before me and the women that have contributed in some way to my legal career. An immense part of my personal involvement in SIWBA is due to the more seasoned women attorneys that have given me advice over the years. A common theme in that advice has been “get involved and stay involved”. Not only can I attest to those wise words, but I also intend to give that same advice to future attorneys.

One of my primary goals for this coming year is to conduct outreach to newer attorneys in Staten Island and encourage them to join SIWBA. I want to ensure that our organization pivots into the future by introducing our new attorneys on Staten Island to our well established attorneys to pave the way for the continued growth of our association and the Staten Island legal community.

Another one of my goals is to increase membership. For those who are unaware, our membership numbers help us gain delegates to vote on behalf of our chapter at the state level on legislative issues, lobbying, and issues that affect the direction of WBASNY. Our chapter currently has two delegates and our goal for the 2023-2024 year is to gain another delegate – this can only be achieved through an overall increase in our membership numbers. To our current members, thank you for renewing your membership and allowing us to have a voice in the state-wife organization.

We have several other events to look forward to over the court of this year. We will continue to offer Continuing Legal Education Credits (CLEs), both virtually and in person. In honor of the late Honorable Robert J. Gigante, we will be collecting contributions to Judge Gigante’s annual teddy bear drive; these teddy bears will be distributed to children battling cancer. Our chapter also plans to partner with Staten Island elementary schools to collect books for “Read Across America Day” on March 2, 2024 – more details to follow.

We were able to raise money for breast cancer awareness month with the Making Strides Foundation. Our team, Legally Pink participated in this year’s annual walk in South Beach.

Please continue to check our website for additional events.

Very truly yours,

Soukaina Sourouri, Esq.

Staten Island Women’s Bar Association President