How One State Reduced Both Crime and Incarceration

Authors

Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the Court of AppealsFollow

Lecture Date

3-8-2010

Streaming Media

Speaker Information

Hon. Jonathan Lippman Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, was born in New York City on May 19, 1945. He was appointed Chief Judge by Governor David A. Paterson in January 2009 and confirmed by the New York State Senate in February 2009. As Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, he presides over the State's seven-member Court of last resort and heads the State's Unified Court System, overseeing a court system with a $2.7 billion budget, 3,600 state and locally paid judges and over 16,000 non-judicial employees in over 350 locations around the State.

In May 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer appointed him to serve as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Department, which has jurisdiction over appeals in New York and Bronx Counties. In that capacity, he also served on the Administrative Board of the Courts, the policy and rule making body of the New York State courts. From January 1996 to May 2007, he served, by appointment of Chief Judge Kaye, as the Chief Administrative Judge of all New York State Courts. Chief Judge Lippman was the longest tenured person to serve in that position and played a central role in many farreaching reforms of New York’s Judiciary and legal profession, including establishment of problem-solving community courts, drug courts, and domestic violence courts; creation of specialized commercial and matrimonial parts; opening of Family Court to the public; extensive reform of the jury system and elimination of mandatory jury sequestration; new rules governing fiduciary appointments; and reforms of the legal profession, including mandatory continuing legal education, attorney-client fee dispute arbitration, written letters of engagement, standards of civility, and a statement of client’s rights posted in all law offices.

Judge Lippman served as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term, Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts, from January 2006 to May 2007. In 2005, he was elected as a Justice of the Supreme Court for the Ninth Judicial District. In 1995, he was appointed as a Judge of the New York Court of Claims by Governor George Pataki and was subsequently reappointed to a full nine-year term on that court. He was appointed Deputy Chief Administrator for Management of the statewide court system in 1989. Prior to that, he served as Chief Clerk and Executive Officer of the Supreme Court, New York County, Civil Term and Principal Court Attorney for the Law Department of that same court. He started his career in the court system as an entry level court attorney.

Chief Judge Lippman is currently a member of Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), and is the former President of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), which consists of court leaders representing all 50 states and United States territories and is dedicated to the improvement of state court systems nationwide. He also served as Vice-Chair of the Board of the National Center for State Courts. He was formerly Chair of the New York State Court Facilities Capital Review Board, and served on the New York State Probation Commission.

Chief Judge Lippman lectures frequently in New York and around the country, has published many articles and essays, and has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including: Honorary Juris Doctor Degree from Albany Law School; President's Special Award, New York Women's Bar Association; Brooklyn Women's Bar Association's Beatrice M. Judge Award; the NYSBA Criminal Justice Section Vincent E. Doyle, Jr. Award for Outstanding Jurist; 2008 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence of the National Center for State Courts; Eugene J. Keogh Award for Distinguished Public Service of the New York University Alumni Association; Cyrus R. Vance Tribute of the Fund for Modern Courts; New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Attorneys in Public Service Award for Excellence in Public Service; Millennium Award of the New York State Bar Association’s Judicial Section; New York City Bar Association’s Bernard Botein Medal; New York State Trial Lawyers’ Association Judicial Recognition Award; New York State Women’s Bar Association’s Foundation Award for Support and Efforts on Behalf of Women in the Law; Robert L. Haig Award for Distinguished Public Service of the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section; Benjamin N. Cardozo Award of the Jewish Lawyers Guild; Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone Memorial Award of the Association of Trial Lawyers of the City of New York; Capozzoli Gavel Award and the Conspicuous Service Award of the New York County Lawyers’ Association; New York University School of Law Alumni Association Public Service Award; Cervantes Society Hispanic Heritage Recognition Award; and Alphonso B. Deal Award of the Tribune Society.

Chief Judge Lippman resides in Manhattan and Rye Brook with his wife, Amy. They have two children. He is a product of the New York City public school system. He received his B.A. in 1965 from New York University, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude, with a major in Government and International Relations. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1968, the same year he was admitted to the New York Bar.

Recommended Citation

Lippman, Jonathan, "How One State Reduced Both Crime and Incarceration" (2010). Howard and Iris Kaplan Memorial Lecture. 1.
https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/lectures_kaplan/1