| NEWSLETTER |  |
FALL 2020 |
The Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission congratulates the following persons on their achievements and promotions |
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Judicial |
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Honorable Kevin M. Carter In October 2019, Judge Carter was appointed by Justice Paula L. Feroleto, Administrative Judge, Eighth Judicial District, to serve as the Supervising Judge of the Family Courts in the Eighth Judicial District. Prior to this position, Judge Carter served as Presiding Judge of the newly-formed Erie County Youth Part. In 2008, Judge Carter served as acting New York State Supreme Court Justice, presiding over post matrimonial cases and civil jury trials involving personal injury actions. Judge Carter started his judicial career in 2002 in the Erie County Family Court after being appointed by Governor George E. Pataki and confirmed by the New York Senate. He went on to be elected by the people of Erie County in November 2002 to a 10-year term and re-elected in November 2012. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Carter was a general practitioner. He served as an attorney for children in cases involving custody, visitation, juvenile delinquency and persons in need of supervision. In 1999, he became an associate in the law firm of Sullivan & Oliverio, where his practice concentrated in general civil litigation. Judge Carter graduated from Canisius College in 1986, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. He earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1989 from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. Judge Carter also currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Canisius College. |
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Honorable Craig D. Hannah The Honorable Craig D. Hannah is the Chief Judge of the Buffalo City Court and the Supervising Judge of the 11 City Courts in the Eighth Judicial District encompassing Western NY. Judge Hannah has risen to national fame as the Presiding Judge of the first Opioid Intervention Court in the U.S., established in May 2017. Judge Hannah has served on the City Court Bench since 2006 and has been appointed an Acting Erie County Court Judge since 2008, where he primarily handled juvenile matters. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the State University at Buffalo Law School, where he lectures in Trial Advocacy and Procedure and is a proud member of the prestigious Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission. He is a past president of the Minority Bar Association of Western NY and the recipient of its Legal Service Award. Judge Hannah is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee of the University at Buffalo Law School and a former vice president of its Alumni Association. In May 2018, he was the recipient of the Law School’s Distinguished Alumni Award and the Outstanding Jurist Award by the Bar Association of Erie County. Judge Hannah was awarded the Outstanding Jurist Award by the NY State Bar Association, Criminal Division, in 2018. In May 2019, Judge Hannah was awarded the Distinguished Jurist/Alumni Award by University at Buffalo Law Review and in January 2020, he was bestowed the Transformative Leadership Award by the City of Buffalo for his positive contribution to the community and enhancing the image of Buffalo. |
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Honorable Lizbeth González Associate Justice Lizbeth González was appointed to the Appellate Division, First Department, by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in November 2019. She served in a dual capacity as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term, First Department, effective July 2016, and as a Supreme Court Justice in the Civil Branch for Bronx County, since January 2016. Prior to holding these positions, she was an Acting Supreme Court Justice in Bronx County from 2011 to 2015. Justice González served as Judge for the NYC Family Court in 2010, Judge for the NYC Civil Court from 2005 to 2010, and Judge for the Housing Part of the NYC Civil Court from 1999 to 2004. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her B.A. in Anthropology from Stony Brook University. Justice González is a past president of the Latino Judges Association and the Network of Bar Leaders. She currently co-chairs the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Committee of the New York Federal-State-Tribal Courts and Indian Nations Justice Forum. Justice González is a Visiting Scholar at Stony Brook University, where she is studying Native Long Island languages. |
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Honorable Julio Rodriguez III Justice Julio Rodriguez III is a lifelong public servant. On February 19, 2020, he was appointed Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters in the Twelfth Judicial District – Bronx County. Justice Rodriguez began his judicial career in 2013 when he was appointed to the New York City Criminal Court. In 2017, he was designated an acting Supreme Court Justice and served as Deputy Supervising Judge, New York City Criminal Court, Bronx County. Justice Rodriguez was elected in 2018 to Supreme Court, Bronx County. Prior to his appointment as Administrative Judge, he was assigned to Supreme Court Civil Term in New York County. Before joining the bench, Justice Rodriguez was Deputy Commissioner and Executive Director, Environmental Control Board, for the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Justice Rodriguez began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. |
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Honorable Marguerite A. Grays On June 23, 2020, Hon. Marguerite A. Grays was appointed as Administrative Judge for Civil Matters in the Eleventh Judicial District by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. Judge Grays career in the Courts began as a law assistant in New York City Civil Court, Queens County and then as a principal law clerk in State Supreme Court, Queens County. Judge Grays’ public service career on the bench began in 2000, when she was elected to New York City Civil Court in Queens County. In 2002, Judge Grays was elected to State Supreme Court in Queens County and re-elected in 2016. Since 2000, she has also served as Presiding Justice of the Queens County Supreme Court’s Commercial Division. From 2015 until her recent appointment, Judge Grays was the Eleventh Judicial District’s Deputy Administrative Judge for Civil Matters. Judge Grays received her Juris Doctor degree from Hofstra University School of Law. |
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Honorable Robert E. Torres Hon. Robert E. Torres was appointed to the Appellate Term, First Department, which hears appeals from cases originating in the Civil and Criminal Courts in Manhattan and the Bronx. Prior to this position, Judge Torres served as Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters, Twelfth Judicial District, from 2014. Judge Torres has also served as Justice of the Supreme Court, Bronx County having been elected in 2005. Judge Torres also serves on the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission. |
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Honorable Manuel Jacobo Méndez Olivero On July 13, 2020, Hon. Manuel Jacobo Méndez Olivero was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. In 2012, Justice Méndez was elected as a State Supreme Court justice and since 2018, has served as the coordinating judge of the New York City Asbestos Litigation (NYCAL). Before his Supreme Court election, Justice Méndez had served as a Judge of the Civil Court from 2004 to January 2010, having been elected to New York County in 2003. He presided by designation in Bronx Criminal Court from 2008 to 2010. In January 2010, he was designated an acting justice of the Supreme Court and served in that capacity in Bronx County until January 2011 and later in New York County. From 1999-2003, he was a solo practitioner and was a partner in the firm of Kwasink & Méndez from 1993 through 1998. He also served as a senior staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Division in the Bronx from September 1990 to October 1993. |
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Honorable Tanya R. Kennedy On July 13, 2020, Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy was appointed as an Associate Justice to the Appellate Division, First Department, by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Justice Kennedy has served as a justice of the Manhattan Supreme Court since January 2016, after her election in November 2015. She was elected to Civil Court in November 2005 and then served in Criminal Court (January 2006-September 2008), Civil Court (September 2008-December 2009), Family Court (January 2010-December 2010), as acting Supreme Court Justice (January 2011-December 2012) and as supervising judge of Civil Court (January 2014-December 2015). As an acting Supreme Court justice, Justice Kennedy presided over an integrated guardianship and landlord-tenant calendar and conducted bench hearings on a daily basis from January 2012 to December 2013. She previously served as a law clerk to Justice Barry Cozier. She was an assistant corporation counsel in the Bronx Family Court Division (August 1992-August 1994) and in the Bronx Tort Division (August 1994-August 1997), where she was promoted to Assistant Deputy Chief. |
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Honorable Carol Robinson Edmead On August 3, 2020, Hon. Carol Robinson Edmead was appointed Presiding Justice of the Appellate Term, First Department, with the approval of Hon. Rolando T. Acosta, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department. At the time of her appointment, Justice Edmead had been serving as an Association Justice of the Appellate Term, First Department. She began her judicial career in 1998, upon her election to the New York City Civil Court and was subsequently elected to the State Supreme Court, New York County. Prior to becoming a judge, she served as counsel at the law firm of Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle and as counsel to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Earlier in her career, Justice Edmead was an associate counsel for the New York City Law Department’s Commercial Litigation Division and an associate at the law firms of Proskauer Rose and Townley & Updike. |
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Honorable Eddie J. McShan On August 3, 2020, Hon. Eddie J. McShan was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term, First Department, with the approval of Hon. Rolando T. Acosta, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department. In Justice McShan was elected to the New York City Civil Court in 2013 serving in Bronx County. He was subsequently named an acting Supreme Court Justice, assigned to the Supreme Court-Civil Term in Bronx County. He joined the Unified Court System in 1998 as an associate law clerk, later serving as a principal law clerk and special referee. Previously, he was in private practice. |
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Honorable Adrian N. Armstrong On July 24, 2020, Hon. Adrian N. Armstrong was appointed to the Court of Claims. Since 2015 until the time of his appointment to the Court of Claims, Judge Armstrong served as a Mount Vernon City Court Judge since May 2015. In addition to his work on civil matters, misdemeanors and arraigning felony cases, he had run the Court’s Adolescent Diversion program, which seeks alternative dispositions in cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds. Prior to this judicial career, Judge Armstrong worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and then as a Principal Law Clerk to State Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills. |
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Honorable Cheryl A. Joseph On August 25, 2020, Hon. Cheryl A. Joseph was appointed as the Supervising Judge of Matrimonial Parts for Suffolk County. The appointment was made by Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks after consultation with Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Vito C. Caruso and Presiding Justice Hon. Alan D. Scheinkman, Appellate Division, Second Department. Judge Joseph was appointed to the Court of Claims in May 2015. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Joseph served for nine years as a Support Magistrate in Family Court. She also served as a Court Attorney and later a Supervising Court Attorney in Queens County Family Court. |
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Honorable Lyndon Williams On August 3, 2020, Hon. Lyndon Williams was appointed Mount Vernon city judge by Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard. Judge Williams succeeds Adrian Armstrong, who was appointed to the Court of Claims. Prior to his appointment, Judge Williams had served a Westchester County Legislator for 13 years. As one of three full-time judges in Mount Vernon City Court, Williams will handle misdemeanor cases, felony arraignments and preliminary hearings and civil matters including landlord-tenant disputes and small claims cases. |
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Honorable Shahabuddeen (Shah) A. Ally Hon Shahabuddeen A. Ally has been appointed as Supervising Judge of New York County Civil Court. Judge Ally’s judicial career began when he was elected to the Civil Court, Countywide, from New York County in 2018. For a decade prior to election to Civil Court, Judge Ally operated his own law practice specializing in Family and Criminal law. Judge Ally has also worked as a staff attorney with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the New York City Law Department as an Assistant Corporation Counsel. Judge Ally has also been recently appointed to the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. |
Non-Judicial |
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Eileen D. Millett Eileen D. Millett serves as Counsel for the Office of Court Administration. Previously, she was a partner in Phillips Nizer LLP’s Interdepartmental Environmental Group and had practiced environmental law, land use law, and litigation for more than 30 years. She is also former Staff Counsel to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a former General Counsel to the Interstate Environmental Commission, a tri-state water quality authority. Ms. Millett has also served as a New York State Assistant Attorney General, New York City Police Department Assistant Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Personnel Inspector General, and Queens Assistant District Attorney. She received her B.A. from Syracuse University in 1971 and earned her J.D. from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1974. |
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