Jonathan Lippman
Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, was appointed by Governor Paterson in January 2009 and confirmed by the New York State Senate in February 2009.
In May 2007, Governor Spitzer appointed him to serve as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Department. In that capacity, he served on the Administrative Board of the Courts, the policy and rule-making body of the New York State Court System. 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 and is the longest tenured person to have served in that capacity. In 2005, he was elected as a Justice of the Supreme Court for the Ninth Judicial District. Chief Judge Lippman also served as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term, Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts, from January 2006 to May 2007.
Chief Judge Lippman’s career in the court system spans four decades, starting as an entry level court attorney and including service as a law clerk in Supreme Court and Surrogate’s Court, and as Principal Court Attorney for Supreme Court, New York County, Civil Term. He was named Chief Clerk and Executive Officer of that court in 1983. Chief Judge Lippman was appointed Deputy Chief Administrator for Management of the statewide court system in 1989. In 1995, he was appointed by Governor Pataki as a Judge of the New York Court of Claims and was subsequently reappointed to a full nine-year term on that court in 1998.
Chief Judge Lippman previously served on the Board of the National Center for State Courts and is a former President of the Conference of State Court Administrators, which consists of court leaders representing all 50 states and United States territories. In 2008, he received the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, an award given annually by the National Center for State Courts to one state court judge chosen from throughout the country.
Chief Judge Lippman received his B.A. in 1965 from New York University, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1968.
He is married to Amy Lippman and they have two children, Russell and Lindsay.