Justice Anita R. Florio earned degrees from Manhattanville College in 1958 and Fordham University School of Law in 1963, the same year that she was admitted to the bar. She later earned an LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 1966. Florio was engaged in the private practice of law from October 1963 until February 1969, when she became an assistant district attorney for Bronx County. She then served as an administrative attorney for the Office of Legal Procedures of the Parking Violations Bureau of the City of New York (1970-1972) and as law secretary to Justice Joseph P. Sullivan of the Bronx County Supreme Court (1972-1974). Florio was appointed as Deputy Secretary of State and Counsel to New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo in April 1975.
In December 1977, she was appointed by Mayor Abraham Beame as a Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York. She held this position until January 1981, when she was promoted to Acting Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court. In 1983, Justice Florio won election to a fourteen-year term as a Justice of the Supreme Court for the Twelfth Judicial District, and she was re-elected in 1997. She was designated to the Appellate Division, Second Department by Governor Mario Cuomo in January 1994. Justice Florio retired in 2012 after 35 years on the bench.
Throughout her distinguished career, Justice Florio was active in professional and civic organizations, including serving as President of the New York State Association of Women Judges (1990-1992), Director of the National Association of Women Judges, District 2 (1991-1993), and President of the Supreme Court Justices Association, NYC (1997-1998). She also served as President of the Board of Governors (1969-1971), Chairman of the Bronx County Bar Association Board of Directors (1977) and President of the Bronx County Bar Association (1976). Her other memberships included the New York State and Metropolitan Women’s Bar Associations, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and the Columbian Lawyers Association. She was honored with the Charles A. Rapallo Award in 1989.
Sources
“Justices of the Court: Associate Justice Anita Florio.” Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department. New York State Unified Court System. Web. 21 Sept. 2011. http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/justice_florio.shtml
Keshner, Andrew. “Standing Ovation for Retiring Justice Florio.” New York Law Journal 2 Nov. 2012: page.