Judge Tandra L. Dawson has presided in the New York County Integrated Domestic Violence Court (IDVC) since January 2007. IDVC is a unique problem-solving court that that handles one family’s related criminal, matrimonial and family court cases. Judge Dawson previously presided over the Intimate Partner Sex Assault Part which adjudicated sex offenses between intimate and former intimate partners from 2012 to 2013. Prior to that she served as a Family Court Judge in Bronx County from 1998 to 2006, where she presided over family offense, custody and visitation proceedings.
Judge Dawson has participated in many panels and presentations on a variety of topics dealing with domestic violence and family related matters including, Family Violence Task Force Seminar, Hot Topics In Domestic Violence (White Plains, New York); Practising Law Institute, Domestic Violence: Survivors as Defendants (New York, N.Y.); Conference of Chief Justices/Conference of State Court Administrators, IDV Courts-Reducing Burdens on Victims and Families (Jackson, Wyoming ); 20th Annual Fordham Forum on Domestic Violence, Specialized Courts: New Approaches to Domestic Violence and Trafficking; We All Really Matter, Raising Awareness in the Community About Domestic Violence (Harlem, N.Y.); Women and Incarceration (New York County Lawyers Association); CUNY School of Law, Diversity in the Judiciary; Domestic Violence Courts: National Models and Promising Practices (Boston); The Role of the Judiciary in promoting Gender Justice in Africa (Accra, Ghana); The Battered Woman’s Justice Project Conference (Saint Paul, Minnesota); Understanding Children’s Communications in Custody Conflicts, Lincoln Hearings and Beyond (Association of the Bar of New York City); Integrated Domestic Violence Court Legal Training Program (New York, N.Y.).
Judge Dawson has served on several boards and committees including, The Independent Review Board of the New York State Office of the Ombudsman, The Family Court Advisory and Rules Committee, The Special Commission on the Future of the New York State Courts, The Matrimonial Commission and The Board of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. As a former member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, she served on several committees including the Children and the Law Committee, the Domestic Violence Task Force and the Matrimonial Law Committee.
Judge Dawson was a recipient of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association’s Jurist of the Year Award in 2011, Sanctuary for Families CAP Recognition Award in 2005 and The Lawyers Committee Against Domestic Violence In the Trenches Award in 2016.