Sheila S. Boston is a litigation partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. She is a trial lawyer and litigation strategist who defends clients from initiation of the case through trial and/or settlement. A member of her law firm’s Product Liability Group and Complex Commercial Litigation Department, Ms. Boston has successfully litigated before both state and federal courts, with significant MDL experience in mass tort actions. As an active participant in her firm, Ms. Boston serves as a member of the Pro Bono and Hiring Committees and is an elected Ombudsperson at the firm.
Ms. Boston recently served as President of the New York City Bar Association, an organization comprising about 24,000 members and that has over 150 committees, task forces and working groups. Notably, her presidency had historical importance, as Ms. Boston was the first woman of color to serve as the organization’s President in its over 150 years of existence. Moreover, she led the City Bar during extraordinarily challenging times — during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor of New York appointed her to serve on New York’s First Department Judicial Screening Committee and she is finishing her second three-year term in that capacity.
A passionate advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion, Ms. Boston has received several awards for her efforts including the prestigious Chambers Diversity Awards USA 2016 inaugural award for her “Outstanding Contribution to Furthering the Advancement of Diversity in the Legal Profession, Private Practice.” She has also been recognized by the Judicial Friends with the 2021 Jane Bolin Award; the Corporate Counsel’s Women Influence & Power In Law with a 2021 Law Firm Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion award; the National Bar Association with the 2021 Clyde E. Bailey Corporate Leadership Award; the New York State Unified Court System’s Black History Month Committee with the “2020 Equality of Justice Award”; and a New York Law Journal’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement award.
Ms. Boston has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal in Product Liability Defense every year since 2012. Ms. Boston frequently represents pro bono as well as corporate clients and is active in several bar associations. She was recently honored in October 2021 by her alma mater, the Columbia Law School Alumni Association, for her “contributions to Columbia Law School and to the legal community [that] have been of inestimable value.”
Ms. Boston received her A.B. in the School of Public and International Affairs from Princeton University in 1990, and her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1993.