Two Alumnae Named to Women on the Rise List
Two Albany Law School alumnae will be honored as Women on the Rise by the Albany Business Review.
Mara Afzali ’17 and Mishka Woodley ’16 were selected as part of the publication’s Women in Leadership program.
Afazali, an associate at Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, is a litigator specializing in risk mitigation, prevention strategies, discrimination, and more.
While at Albany Law School, she and Tyler Robbins ’17 won the 2015 Domenick L. Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Competition. She has an undergraduate degree from Siena College and was an intern in the Government Law Center through the law school’s partnership with Siena. She was an intern for the Hon. Mae A. D’Agostino at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York and served as a member of the Albany Law Review. Additionally, she served as Student Trustee to the Albany Law School Board of Trustees during her 3L year.
She presently serves on the Dean’s Leadership Council and as a Captain in the United Stated Army (Reserves) Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps.
Woodley, an associate attorney at Dowling Law PLLC, specializes in healthcare, regulatory, and compliance matters.
She started at Albany Law School after switching from a pre-med track at the University of Virginia where she received her undergraduate degree in biology and bioethics. While working on her law degree, she pursued a masters in bioethics policy from Union Graduate College and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
“My mom and dad have always encouraged me to 'bloom where you are planted' and I have tried to follow that advice by participating in new and diverse experiences at Albany Law School and in the community,” she said in 2015. “My M.S. program nicely complements my law school experience because I have the opportunity to engage with professors and students academically and socially from all over the world.”
She serves on numerous task forces and boards including several with the New York State Bar Association and the Albany County Bar Association—particularly in the areas of continuing legal education (CLE) and workplace diversity.
