Lecturer Bios
Steven Eric Liebman
Steven E. Liebman is a Special Referee in New York County with the New York
State Supreme Court, First Judicial District - Civil Branch. He has been in the New York
State court system for over thirty-four years. Prior to being a Special Referee, he was a
Court Attorney with the New York County Supreme Court’s Law Department, with a
particular assignment to the various IAS matrimonial parts in the court. Referee Liebman
started in the court system in the NYC Criminal Court, Kings County, first as a Law
Assistant Trial Part, and then as the Supervising Law Assistant.
Referee Liebman currently presides over non-jury trials and framed issue hearings
on both a hear and report and a hear and determine basis. While he is referred all manner
of general civil cases, a large portion of his regular calendar consists of divorce cases and
related matrimonial issues. He is routinely assigned uncontested matrimonial matters and
had been previously assigned to the uncontested matrimonial inquest calendar.
Referee Liebman is a current member and past Chair of the Matrimonial Law
Section of The New York County Lawyers’ Association. He is also a member of the
Family Law Sections of the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar
Association and has been a member of the Matrimonial Law Committee of the
Association of the Bar of The City of New York. He has participated in various
programs as a lecturer on family law topics and matrimonial and civil practice for bar
associations and in judicial programs through the Office of Court Administration.
Referee Liebman is admitted to the Bars of New York, Florida, Pennsylvania and
the District of Columbia. He received his J.D. from Albany Law School, M.A. from
New York University and B.A. from Hofstra University.
Myra L. Freed, Esq.
Myra L. Freed has been practicing in Manhattan, specializing in matrimonial law for over 30 years. She has been a solo practitioner since 2002. She also serves as a private pay Attorney For The Child, by court appointment, representing children in custody and and parenting time litigation.
Myra serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Women's Bar Association, where she has been an officer and director for more than 10 years. She has served as Chair and Co-Chair of the NYWBA's Matrimonial Law Committee and remains active in that committee. She also served on and Co-Chaired the Matrimonial Law Committee of the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York. She has also been an active member of the NYCLA Matrimonial Law Section for the past 25 years. Myra is also a Collaborative Lawyer and member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals.
Myra has been invited to give numerous CLE lectures in the area of matrimonial law, and has also lectured to the lay public on family law topics.
Myra is a recipient of the NYWBA's Doris S. Hoffman Service Award for her commitment to serving the Association and enhancing the status of women in society and the law. She is proud to have served as a pro bono attorney mentor for inMotion, Inc. and as a pro bono attorney for the Hon. Jacqueline W. Sibermann Pro Bono Matrimonial Program of the NYWBA in New York County.
Joan G. Levenson
Joan Levenson is principal law clerk to the Honorable Deborah Kaplan, Supreme Court, New
York County, Matrimonial Term. Previously, she was principal court attorney to Honorable Ira
Globerman, Acting Supreme Court Justice, Bronx County, Matrimonial Term. Joan has also
taught matrimonial law to paralegal students as an adjunct professor at Hunter College Legal
Studies Program and has lectured on matrimonial law at the CLE program sponsored by the
Legal Services Detachment of the 88th Brigade of the New York Guard. She has completed basic
training in mediation (26.5 hours) at the New York City Bar Association and in divorce
mediation (42 hours) at the Center for Family & Divorce Mediation. Joan graduated, cum laude,
from New York University and cum laude from Brooklyn Law School, where she was a notes
editor for the Brooklyn Law Review.
Hon. Tandra L. Dawson
Tandra L. Dawson is a judge for the Bronx County Family Court in New York. She was first appointed to this position in 1998 by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. She was reappointed to the position in 2005 by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. She was most recently reappointed in 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio for a term that will expire in 2025.
Dawson previously served as an acting justice for the New York County Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the 1st Judicial District of New York. She was appointed to this position full-time (serving in the Integrated Domestic Violence Court) in 2007.
