In Memoriam: Bettina B. Plevan

Bettina ‘Betsy’ B. Plevan has died following a fourteen-month battle with acute myeloma leukemia. She was 75.

Plevan was elected to ALI in 1993 and served as an Adviser for Restatement of the Law, Employment Law. She was a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and former member of the Executive Committee at Proskauer Rose, where she worked for almost 50 years.

Her practice included banking and finance, health care, entertainment, publishing, and education. She represented leading law firms in counseling and litigation assignments and conducted high profile investigations.

Excerpted from the Proskauer obituary:

Betsy gave her utmost to her clients, to our firm and to our profession. She has made an indelible impression on generations of Proskauer lawyers.

She was promoted to partner in 1980 and was the first female partner in her department. Betsy served two terms on the Proskauer Executive Committee and was the first woman ever to serve on that committee. Betsy was an outstanding mentor to younger lawyers, setting an example of working hard, striving for excellence and balancing the demands of that hard work with devotion to, and care of, her family.

Betsy was responsible for many noteworthy cases – creating precedent and setting legal standards nationwide. She received many public accolades and lifetime achievement awards, including the James Duane award (for exemplary service given by SDNY Bar and Bench), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer. She was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Outside of her work with Proskauer, Plevan was president of the New York City Bar from 2004 to 2006, a member of the ABA Board of Governors from 2006 to 2009, and chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary from 2013 to 2014.