Jonathan Lippman - Legal Career

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. 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, appointed Lippman to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department.

On January 13, 2009, Governor David Paterson appointed Lippman to the position of Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Lippman was chosen from a list provided to Governor Paterson 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 of the State Senate on February 12, 2009. He succeeds Judith S. Kaye, 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.