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NY Governor Announces Court Of Claims And Interim Judicial Nominations
18 Jun, 2009 WorkersCompensation.com
New York, NY (CompNewsNetwork) - Mr. Dollinger currently serves as Senior Counsel at Underberg & Kessler, the firm he first joined in 2005. Prior to that role, he worked as a partner from 1995 to 2005 at Barrett, Greisberger, Dollinger, Fletcher, Peartree & Tallon. From 1989 to 1995, Mr. Dollinger served as a Trial Partner in the Litigation Department at Mousaw, Vigdor, Reeves, Heilbrenner & Kroll. He started his legal career in 1980 with Greisberger, Zicari, McConville, Cooman, Morin & Welch in Rochester, where he remained until 1989. Mr. Dollinger also has had a career in public service. He was elected a member of the Monroe County Legislature in 1988 and served in a variety of capacities through 1992. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 1992 and served from 1993 until 2002. In 2005, he was elected to the position of Town Justice in the Town of Brighton and served from 2006 until February 2008. Mr. Dollinger graduated from the University of Toronto St. Michael's College in 1973 and received his law degree from Albany Law School in 1980.
Mr. Marks currently serves as the Administrative Director of the Office of Court Administration, a position he has held since 2004. From 1998 until 2003, he served as Special Counsel to the Chief Administrative Judge and from 1991 until 1997, the Criminal Justice Counsel for the Office of Court Administration. From 1985 until 1990 he worked for the Legal Aid Society in New York City, serving as Associate Appellate Counsel from 1985 to 1988 and then Senior Supervising Attorney from 1989 to 1990. He was briefly in private practice at the law firm of Hughes Hubbard and Reed LLP, from 1983 to 1985, as a Litigation Associate. He also served as a law clerk from 1982 to 1983 to the Honorable Thomas C. Platt. Mr. Marks graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1979 and received his law degree from Cornell University in 1982.
The annual salary of a Court of Claims Judge is $136,700. These nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.
The Governor also announced five nominations to fill interim vacancies in other judicial offices: the Honorable Dominic R. Massaro to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the First Judicial District; the Honorable Robert T. Russell to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the Eighth Judicial District; the Honorable Francesca E. Connolly to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the Ninth Judicial District; Richard A. Hanft to fill a vacancy on the Family Court in Rensselaer County; and the Honorable Deborah S. Schneer to fill a vacancy on the Ulster County Court.
The Honorable Dominic R. Massaro is currently a Judge on the New York State Court of Claims, a position he has held since 1986. Justice Massaro was originally appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo in 1986 and was reappointed by Governor George Pataki in 1996 and 2005. Justice Massaro is also currently an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of Bronx County, a position he has held since 1987. From 1976 to 1986, Justice Massaro served as an Administrative Law Judge for the City of New York and engaged in private practice. From 1967 to 1976, Justice Massaro was a member of the New York City Commission on Human Rights and served in the State Division on Human Rights. During this period, he was first appointed to serve as a member of the New York State Appeals Board of the Selective Service System and then as the United States Regional Director of the Agency for Voluntary Service. He clerked with the law firm of Philip E. Parker, Esq. from 1964 to 1966 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1969. Justice Massaro graduated from New York University in June 1961, received his Masters in Public Administration from New York University in February 1965 and his law degree from New York Law School in 1992. He also received a Masters in Criminal Justice from Long Island University in 1989.
The Honorable Robert T. Russell, Jr. is an Associate Judge of the Buffalo City Court, where he has served since 1992, and a full-time acting Erie County Court Judge. He has been one of the national leaders in treatment courts, starting a Drug Treatment Court in 1995, the first Mental Health Treatment Court in the Eighth Judicial District in 2003, and a Veterans' Treatment Court in Buffalo in 2008, the first in the nation. His work on the Veterans' Treatment Court has received national and international recognition. Before assuming the City Court bench, Judge Russell worked in the offices of the Ohio Attorney General, the Erie County District Attorney and the New York State Attorney General. He has served in faculty positions for national institutes and organizations, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and the Department of Veteran Affairs, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, as well as at the State University at Buffalo School of Law. Judge Russell graduated from Morris Brown College in 1976 and his received his law degree from Howard University in 1979.
The Honorable Francesca E. Connolly began a four-year term as Town Justice for the Town of Ossining in 2006. Justice Connolly is also currently in private practice at the law firm of Malapero & Prisco LLP, a position she has held since 2003. From 2000 through 2005, Justice Connolly was a Town Council Member for the Town of Ossining, and from 2003 to 2005 was a Deputy Town Supervisor for the Town of Ossining. Justice Connolly has also served as District Leader for the Ossining Town Democratic Committee from 1998 through 2005, and as an Ossining Town Planning Board Member from 1997 to 1999. From 1989 to 2003, Justice Connolly was in private practice at the law firm of Gallina & Connolly, and from 1985 to 1989 at the law firm of MacCartney, MacCartney, Kerrigan & MacCartney. Justice Connolly served as Assistant General Counsel in the Office of General Counsel, New York City Department of Probation, from 1982 to 1983 and again from 1984 to 1985, and Law Assistant to the Deputy Administrative Judge of the Family Court in Queens County from 1983 to 1984. Justice Connolly graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1979 and received her law degree from Pace University School of Law in 1982.
The annual salary for a Supreme Court judge is $136,700. These nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.
Richard A. Hanft serves as Counsel to Tully Rinckey PLLC in Albany and focuses his practice in the areas of municipal, as well as family and matrimonial law. He also currently serves as the Legislative Assistant to the Troy City Council. He was appointed to the Character and Fitness Committee of the Appellate Division, Third Department, in 1986 and has continuously served on that Committee for 23 years. He was President of the Rensselaer County Bar Association from 1986 to 1987. In 1977, Mr. Hanft was appointed a member of the SUNY-Albany University Council and served that body in a number of leadership capacities for 25 years. A certified Law Guardian since 1973, he has extensive experience representing children in custody and divorce matters. In addition to his New York State Bar admission, he is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the Federal District Court, Northern District of New York. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1968 and received his law degree from Albany Law School of Union University in 1971.
The annual salary for a Rensselaer Family Court judge is $119,800. This nomination is subject to senate confirmation.
The Honorable Deborah S. Schneer has been in a full-time solo practice since 2003 and has served as the Town Justice for the Town of Rochester since 2006. She began a part-time solo practice in 1998 while also working part-time for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. In 1987, she spent a year with the New York State Department of Law, returning to Prisoner's Legal Services as a staff attorney and then Managing Attorney until 1998. She began her legal career with Prisoner's Legal Services of New York in 1984. She graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University in 1980 and received her law degree from New York University Law School in 1984, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar.
The annual salary for a Utica County Court judge is $131,400. This nomination is subject to senate confirmation.
Under the New York State Constitution, the Governor may nominate individuals to fill vacancies on Supreme Court, County Court, Surrogate's Court and Family Court outside of New York City until the vacancies can be filled at the next general election.
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