Yonkers resident Claire P. Gutekunst took office as president of the New York State Bar Association on June 1, making her the sixth woman in the association”™s 140-year history to assume the post.
A member of the State Bar Association for 29 years, Gutekunst served as president-elect during the previous year and as treasurer from 2011 to 2013.
Gutekunst, who earned her law degree from Yale Law School, was previously a litigation partner at Proskauer in New York City for nearly 30 years before establishing her practice as an independent mediator and arbitrator in 2012.
Gutekunst will serve a one-year term as president. The 74,000-member New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation.