Judge Laura A. Ward
(646) 386-4653; lward@courts.state.ny.us
Judge Laura A. Ward was appointed to the Criminal Court in New York County in 1997, where she served for three years before becoming an Acting Supreme Court Justice in January of 2000. She is currently assigned to Part N, a multi-calendar part, in New York County. Judge Ward presides over several alternative sentencing programs including: The Manhattan Treatment Court and Alternatives to Incarceration for first time felony offenders, the Drug Treatment Alternative to Incarceration Program for predicate felons and a drug treatment program for Probation violators. She also presides over drug-related Criminal Court, Supreme Court and Probation violation cases.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Ward was an Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the Eastern District of New York where she prosecuted traditional and Russian organized crime cases, including the successful prosecution of the boss of the Gambino Organized Crime Family, John Gotti. She was the Attorney-in-Charge of the Investor Protection and Security Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General. She also served as a Special Attorney assigned to the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice. Upon graduation from Fordham Law School, she became a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
As an Adjunct Professor, Judge Ward taught a seminar entitled “Organized Crime – Investigation, Prosecution and Defense” and a prosecution clinic at Fordham Law School. She has been an invited guest lecturer at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal and state agencies where she presented on electronic surveillance and the investigation and prosecution of major racketeering cases.
Judge Ward is the President of the New York County Lawyers’ Association’s Chapter of the American Inn of Court. She is Vice-President of Criminal Court Judges’ Association and a member of the Criminal Court Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.