Longtime QCBA member Kristen Dubowski-Barba spoke with the Eagle about her goals as the association’s newest president. Photo courtesyof Kristen Dubowski-Barba
By Noah Powelson
Earlier this year, the Queens County Bar Association embarked on a rare moment in history – for only the second time in the QCBA’s history, the organization will be led for two consecutive years by a woman president.
Kristen Dubowski-Barba was officially installed as QCBA’s newest president last month, bringing with her a long career serving indigent and vulnerable populations throughout Queens and Brooklyn. She succeeded Zenith Taylor, the statewide civic engagement coordinator for the New York State Unified Court System, was also the first Black woman to serve as the president of QCBA.
Dubowski-Barba’s father, Joseph Dubowski, swore his daughter in at the association’s annual installation dinner in May.
Joseph Dubowski was an attorney himself, but despite law being such an integral part of their household, Dubowski-Barba said she never thought she’d be a lawyer. But she always held a deep desire to find ways to help those lacking the means to help themselves, and soon realized the law was one of the best ways she could do that.
It started with a college internship at a legal aid organization where she was exposed to indigent, underrepresented people arguing on their own behalf in Housing Court. From there, she knew she could make a difference in the courts and her pathway started to fall into place.
“When I was growing up, I never wanted to be an attorney. I had no desire to be an attorney,” Dubowski-Barba told the Eagle. “Then I did an internship when I was in college at Queen’s Legal Services, and I loved it. I saw how important it is for people that can’t afford private counsel to have representation.”
After law school, Dubowski-Barba’s first job was at the Family Services for Greater New York, which was called Brooklyn Housing and Family Services at the time. The organization was looking for an attorney to do foreclosure defense work. She said she knew nothing about foreclosure defense, but jumped head first into the work and came away with a lot of experience that enabled her to represent the same people she saw struggling while she was just an intern.
Eventually she used that experience to find a job closer to home with the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project, which is also how she found her way into QCBA. The project is an arm of QCBA and was located inside the association’s old building. Dubowski-Barba attended many CLEs hosted by the association to build on her defense work. From there, the progress to president was natural.
“I would go to every CLE that they had to offer, I went to all the meetings – either in areas of law that I was practicing in or interested in learning about,” Dubowski-Barba said. “I felt like it was really helping me grow as an attorney to expand on the areas I was practicing…and so I became more and more involved.”
Eventually Dubowski-Barba joined the association’s Academy of Law, which she currently serves as the vice dean, helping put together their legal education programs. She applied to be a member of the Board of Managers, and served two terms before she was offered to apply to be an officer. Once she was accepted, she worked her way up until she was installed as president this year.
As president, she said she’s hoping to spread the word about the association’s services and let members know how the QCBA can help them the same way it helped her.
“I’m hoping to really focus on making the bar association a welcoming place where our current members feel encouraged and invited to participate in what we have to offer, and making it clear what our services are and what we can do for our members and beyond,” Dubowski-Barba said. “I think we have a lot of members that don’t know everything that we do, and I want to make everyone informed of all the benefits that we have, all the programs we have, all the trainings, the networking events. I feel we have something for everyone.”
Looking ahead, Dubowski-Barba said she has a suite of ideas, programs and events she’s working on incorporating during her term as president. In particular, she’s hoping to form new lasting relationships with law schools in the area, including establishing legal clinics, organizing on campus food drives and encouraging students to volunteer at the courthouse to help with uncontested divorces.
But beyond networking and educational opportunities, the new president also views the association as a way to protect and advocate for the legal community during this current political landscape. President Donald Trump’s increasingly antagonistic relationship with the legal community, particularly with judges and law firms, will no doubt be a focus of the organization.
“If we need to take a stand, make a statement or advocate in any way for our members, we will do that,” Dubowski-Barba said. “That’s part of our job, to assist our members and to protect them… It’s challenging because we don’t know what’s coming down the pike, but we just need to stay on top of what is happening so that we can prepare to respond if needed in the best way that we can.”
Dubowski-Barba also said the team she has at QCBA brings decades of experience together to assist members and the greater Queens community.
As a member of the QCBA board for several years, Dubowski-Barba said she’s had several role models in the past presidents to learn from. She paid particular respect towards QCBA’s previous president, Taylor. Dubowski-Barba said there are a lot of practices she wants to emulate from her predecessors, including partnering with other bar associations to hold events celebrating Black History Month, Pride Month, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage and many others.
Part of the challenge will be accomplishing those goals in such a short time. As president, she knows the year will go fast before she passes the reins to her successor, but she’s looking forward to carrying out her passion for public service in the new role.
“I just want everyone to know that I’m really grateful for this opportunity, and I’m going to do my best to lead everyone and have a super successful year,” Dubowski told the Eagle. “I’m really looking forward to it, but I know it’s going to go fast.”
