In 1981, Justice Feinman graduated from Columbia University with a degree in French literature, the start of a love affair with French culture, friends said. He has made it a tradition to take each of his nieces and nephews to Paris on their 16th birthdays.

As an undergraduate, he worked as a legal intern, helping people in Upper Manhattan navigate the social services maze. “It was from this experience that I first came to truly appreciate how being a lawyer is a helping profession and that helping people can be a source of great satisfaction,” he told the lawmakers.

He earned a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was a founder of an association of gay students. On graduating, he started his law career as a public defender with the Legal Aid Society, first in Nassau County and then in New York City during the height of the crack epidemic, when the courts were jammed with people charged with drug crimes and violent felonies.

Within two years, he had landed a job as the court lawyer for Justice Angela Mazzarelli, remaining with her for seven and a half years as she moved from the trial courts to the appellate division.

He was also diving into Democratic politics in Chelsea and the West Village in Manhattan, and he became a leader in the L.G.B.T. Bar Association. He handily won a contested election for Civil Court judge in 1996 and was soon serving as an acting Supreme Court justice. He won an election for that seat in 2007, and Governor Cuomo elevated him in 2012 to the Appellate Division, First Department.

Justice Feinman and his husband, Robert Ostergaard, a web publisher, live on Roosevelt Island. They are avid weekend gardeners and fierce Mets fans.

Justice Feinman is considered thoughtful and methodical, a judge whose decisions show empathy for the parties.