Eight awards, one legendary honoree, and a Manhattan room you will want to be in

Brian O’Dwyer, who has spent more than four decades using the law to defend immigrants and advance the cause of Ireland in America, will be honored with the 2026 IrishCentral Legal Elite Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, November 12. The ceremony takes place at Rosie O’Grady’s, 148 West 51st Street in New York City, and tickets are available now.

The IrishCentral Legal Elite Awards celebrate the most distinguished leaders of the Irish American legal community, honoring excellence, integrity, and service in law. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the headline honor of the evening, reserved for a lawyer whose career has left a lasting mark on both the profession and the wider community.

Few careers fit that description as neatly as O’Dwyer’s. 

He was born into one of the best-known families in Irish New York. His father, Paul O’Dwyer, left Mayo for Brooklyn in 1925 and became a celebrated civil rights lawyer and president of the New York City Council. His uncle, William O’Dwyer, served as mayor of New York from 1945 to 1950. Brian spent almost his entire legal career at O’Dwyer & Bernstein, the downtown Manhattan firm his father founded, and has been cited as a New York Super Lawyer since the ranking began.

Brian O'Dwyer.

His most enduring legacy may be the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, which he co-founded in 1988 in a small office in Woodside, Queens. Today, it is the largest Irish immigrant center in the United States, with a second base in Woodlawn in the Bronx. Reflecting on the generations of Irish immigrants who built his family’s life in New York, O’Dwyer has said that “we became the heirs to that tradition of a helping hand.” Of stepping back from the day-to-day running of the firm, he said he intended to keep “fighting for people that don’t have people to fight for them.”

O’Dwyer traveled with President Bill Clinton on each of his three trips to Ireland while advising the White House on Irish issues, including the Northern Ireland peace process. In 2019, he was grand marshal of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, following his father and his uncle up Fifth Avenue.

He follows former Congressman Joe Crowley, the 2025 honoree, and former Congressman Bruce Morrison, honored in 2024 for the visa program that transformed the lives of tens of thousands of Irish immigrants.

IrishCentral Chair Liam Lynch and former Congressman Bruce Morrisson.

Seven further awards will be presented on the night, covering Rising Star, Outstanding Community Service, Client Service Excellence, Public Interest Law, Mentorship, Technology and Law, and Human Rights Defender. This year’s judging panel is made up of the 2025 winners.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a networking reception with an open bar and hors d’oeuvres, followed by the awards presentation at 7.30pm. Tickets start at $350 for the Professional package, with Honoree’s Circle at $500 and Legal Supporter at $750.

The awards run in partnership with the Irish American Bar Association of New York and the Brehon Law Society of New York, with the National Law Review as media partner. Tickets and sponsorship details are available at irishcentral.com/irishcentral-legal-elite-awards.