Biography
Kaylin L. Whittingham is a New York State Commissioner on Ethics and Lobbying in Government and a Referee for the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. She is the principal of Whittingham Law, where she concentrates her practice on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Prior to private practice, she served as counsel at the Attorney Grievance Committee, First Judicial Department where she investigated and prosecuted a wide array of professional misconduct cases. Kaylin served as Staff Attorney at the Mental Hygiene Legal Services in the First Department; Judicial Intern to the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Honorable Milton Tingling, Supreme Court for the State of New York, New York County. She started her legal career in the Litigation Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
In the world of legal ethics, Kaylin currently serves on the American Bar Association Commission on IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts) and is a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. She served as Chair of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Professional Discipline Committee; a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics; the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Council on the Profession Committee and Litigation Funding Task Force; the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Ethics Compendium Board of Advisors; and Secretary of the Ethics and Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, New York Chapter.
As a Bar leader, Kaylin served as President of the Association of Black Women Attorneys; Board member of the National Bar Association’s Board of Governors; member of the Network of Bar Leaders’ Executive Council; Chair of the Committee of Bar Leaders, Secretary of the Women in the Law Section; a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Nomination Committee; and Committee on Leadership Development. Kaylin is currently a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Executive Committee, a member of the House of Delegates and is a New York State Bar Foundation Fellow.
Outside the legal community, Kaylin serves on the Board of Catholic Migration Services and served on the Board of Unique People Services, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving individuals with developmental disabilities, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS.
Kaylin is featured in the Book and World Exhibit—"200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World.” She is the recipient of the 2016 Black Women of Influence (BWOI) Trailblazer Award; 2017 Association of Black Women Attorneys Achievement Award; 2018 National Bar Association Presidential Award; the 2020 and 2023 Top 100 National Black Lawyers; and was named 2022 and 2023 Super Lawyer for the New York Metro Area. Guided by her mantra: "Inspire. Empower. Engage."—Kaylin advocates for women rights, immigrants, victims of domestic violence, and the mentally ill.
Kaylin is admitted in New York, New Jersey, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the United State District Court of New Jersey.