Jonathan Lippman
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Lippman is an American jurist and currently Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals refers to the position of chief judge on the New York Court of Appeals.The chief judge supervises the seven-judge Court of Appeals...

.

Early life and education

Lippman is a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 native. He attended New York City public schools, graduated from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 (NYU) in 1965, and received his law degree from the New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....

 in 1968.

Legal career

In 1989, he became the deputy chief administrator for management support of the New York State court system, responsible for the day-to-day management. In 1995, then-Governor George E. Pataki appointed Lippman as judge of the New York Court of Claims
New York Court of Claims
The New York State Court of Claims is the court which handles all claims against the State of New York and certain state agencies. It is not a small claims court. Judges of the Court of Claims are appointed by the Governor of New York and confirmed by the State Senate for a 9-year term...

. In 1996, Lippman became New York's chief administrative judge. He served in that capacity for 11 years until 2007, the longest anyone has spent in that position. In 2005, he was elected to the State Supreme Court for a 14-year term. In May 2007, then-Governor, Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...

, appointed Lippman to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department is headquartered in Manhattan.-Jurisdiction:The Appellate Division holds jurisdiction over the Counties of New York and the Bronx...

.

On January 13, 2009, Governor David Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...

 appointed Lippman to the position of Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...

.
Lippman was chosen from a list provided to Governor Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...

 by the New York Commission on Judicial Nomination, in a process that drew scrutiny in 2008 when the commission did not refer any female or minority candidates to the governor for selection. Lippman was confirmed in his position by voice vote
Voice vote
A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....

 of the State Senate on February 12, 2009. He succeeds Judith S. Kaye
Judith Kaye
Judith S. Kaye is a retired New York judge who served as Chief Judge of New York from March 23, 1993 until December 31, 2008. She was the first woman to occupy the State Judiciary's highest office.-Early life and education:...

, who served as the state's first female Chief Judge from 1993 to 2008.

Much of Lippman's career in the justice system in New York has been in administrative roles, where he distinguished himself as an able and thorough administrator. He has been credited with persuading the state legislature to double the financing of the court system and pass other reform measures creating special purpose courts and updating the jury system. Justice Lippman wrote a summary of this work in January 2009 in the New York Law Journal. His resume as an appellate judge has been described as "thin," but in the 20 months that he was Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department he presided over more than 2,000 cases and wrote 14 opinions.

Tenure as Chief Judge

Under Chief Judge Lippman, the number of non-unanimous rulings made by the Court of Appeals has been on the rise. According to the court, unanimous rulings declined from about 82 percent during 2008, Judge Kaye’s final year, to 69 percent in Judge Lippman’s first year.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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