Legal Aid Attorney Grace Park Wins Judicial Primary In Manhattan

GRAMERCY/STUYVESANT, NY — Legal Aid attorney Grace Park won Manhattan's east side judicial primary Tuesday.

After midnight, Park had more than 73 percent of the vote with 90 percent of the results in, Board of Elections preliminary results show.

Park, who has been a Legal Aid lawyer in juvenile rights practice for 15 years, was running in Manhattan's sole primary against Lynne Fischman Uniman, another lawyer with four decades of experience and New York Law School professor.

"I am just so grateful to all my supporters and the voters!" Park said Tuesday. "I believe in America and the process!"

The primary win indicates Park will likely take the municipal courts' fourth district seat, since the district, which covers Stuyvesant Town through Gramercy, Kips Bay, Murray Hill and Midtown East, is heavily Democrat.

Park previously told Patch being a judge would allow her to help more people.

"I went to law school to help people, and I always knew I would end up in the public sector," Park, of Midtown West, told Patch. "Just like I went to law school to try to help people, I still have that goal, and I think judges have more impact on more individuals and families."

In the courtroom, she says she would plan to utilize court officers or even volunteers to help the court run more efficiently. She would try to allow some litigants to call in.

The civil courts are the "emergency rooms for the court system," she said. "You really need to learn to triage and spot check really quickly."

Uniman and Park had various endorsements from Democratic clubs and politicians. Both were approved by the New York City Bar Association, LGBT Bar Association of New York, and the New York County Democratic Independent Judiciary Screening Panel.

But Park still took 2,719 votes, with some ballots that have yet to be counted. Uniman took 966 votes, according to results as of 12:30 a.m. The BOE's results are still technically unofficial, with about 90 percent of the results in.

Though Park took the east side seat, civil court judges can be placed anywhere in the city. Civil court judges can be assigned to work in family and criminal courts as well. Cases include what the state describes as "everyday legal problems" for less than $25,000. The position is a 10-year term.