Jhanice Domingo earns 2017 Lawyer of the Year award
Jhanice is president of the National Filipino American Lawyers Association. Here, she keynotes her organization’s recent Strategic Planning Session in Nashville.
This prestigious achievement is presented annually to carefully selected lawyers from bar associations across the state who, by virtue of their exemplary conduct, competence, diligence and demeanor, set a positive example for others. Domingo was presented with the award at the Commission’s Professionalism Awards Luncheon on November 9, at the Imperia in Somerset, New Jersey.
“We are thrilled, but not at all surprised, that Jhanice has been selected for the Professional Lawyer of the Year Award,” said Patricia M. Barbarito, Managing Partner at Einhorn Harris. “Jhanice’s professional work ethic and demeanor with her clients is at the forefront of her work each day and we are extremely proud that she is being recognized for it.”
As a Partner with Einhorn Harris’ Family Law Department, Domingo manages litigation of complex, high-asset divorce matters and mediation of low-conflict divorce cases. She navigates the legalities and sensitivities surrounding a variety of family law matters involving child custody, alimony, child support, equitable distribution, palimony, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, same-sex marriage and domestic violence.
Domingo was born in Manila, Philippines, and has resided in New Jersey since moving to the United States at the age of nine. She earned degrees in psychology and women’s studies from Boston College in 1999, and her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2002.
Domingo is the president of the National Filipino American Lawyers Association, Past President of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey (APALA-NJ), chair of APALA-NJ’s Judicial & Prosecutorial Appointments Committee and Vice President of the Legal Section of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce. She has served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Family Practice Committee since 2011, and is a member of the Somerset Community Action Program Board of Directors and the Korean American Family Service Center and its Benefit Committee.
In a 2013 article for New Jersey Lawyer magazine, Domingo decried the lack of diversity in the legal profession in her home state. She noted how in the history of New Jersey, there have only been “two Black and one Hispanic/Latino justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and no Asian Pacific American has ever served on our state’s highest court,” a clear case of “under-representation of minorities” in the courts.
“While there is a critical need to advance diversity in different sectors of our country’s legal profession, it is especially lacking in the courts and law firms of New Jersey, where Asian Pacific Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics/Latinos collectively represent 41.5 percent of the population,” she writes.
She maintained how a diverse bar “provides the necessary exchange of different opinions, perspectives, ideas, and experiences.”
“As attorneys, we are trained to look at all sides of an issue and all possible arguments and defenses in every case, because by doing so we can more effectively advocate for our clients,” she said.
© The FilAm 2017
