Ronnie Abrams
Lecturer-in-Law
Ms. Abrams joined Davis Polk & Wardwell in the spring of 2008 as Special Counsel for Pro Bono. In this position, she oversees Davis Polk’s broad array of pro bono cases and initiatives and manages the many relationships that the firm maintains with various legal services organizations.
From 1998 to 2008, Ms. Abrams was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, serving as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division from 2007 to 2008. From 2005 to 2007, she served as the Chief of the General Crimes Unit, where she supervised hundreds of investigations and prosecutions in a variety of cases, including ones involving violent crime, firearms offenses, immigration offenses, child exploitation, financial fraud and identity theft. She was responsible for the supervision and training of all new federal prosecutors in all aspects of criminal prosecution.
Ms. Abrams received the Department of Justice Director’s Award for Superior Performance as a Federal Prosecutor for two cases—the first involved the convictions of members of a Colombian gang wanted for the murder of an NYPD detective and approximately 100 armed robberies and the second case was for the convictions of the leadership of the United Blood Nation, a street gang commonly known as the Bloods. She also received the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association’s Group Achievement Award.
Ms. Abrams graduated from Cornell University in 1990 and in 1993 received her J.D. from Yale Law School. She clerked for the Honorable Thomas P. Griesa, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, from 1993 to 1994.
