Lauren J. Wachtler is a partner with the law firm Barclay Damon LLP. She was a former Chair of the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section of the NY State Bar, a member of the State Bar’s House of Delegates and its Executive Committee. She has been a member of numerous task forces for the State Bar, including the Chair of the “Women’s Initiative” Task Force and one of the draftspersons of the Task Force’s Report “If Not Now When: Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in The Courtroom and ADR” and its follow up report “The Time is Now.”  She has consistently been on the New York Times “Super Lawyers” list for Business and General Litigation from 2006 through the present and selected as “Best Lawyers in America” from 2016 through the present. She was the 2021 recipient of the Shira Scheindlin Award for Excellence in the Courtroom, and the recipient of the “Champion of Change” award from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention of RiverSpring Health. Since 2017, Ms. Wachtler has been the Chair of the program entitled “Taking the Lead: Winning Strategies and Techniques for Commercial Cases” presented at the SDNY courthouse, involving a mock trial of a real case with members of the judiciary presiding. She is a frequent guest lecturer and panelist on topics ranging from evidence, trial practice, ADR and pretrial litigation techniques and developments in the law.