Jonathan Lippman

Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York, was born in New York City in 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.

Chief Judge Lippman previously served, by appointment of Governor Eliot Spitzer, as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Department. From January 1996 to May 2007, he served as the Chief Administrative Judge of all New York State Courts – the longest tenured person ever to serve in that position – and played a central role in many far-reaching reforms of the Judiciary and legal profession. In 2005, he was elected as a Justice of the Supreme Court for the Ninth Judicial District and went on to serve as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term for the Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts. He was first appointed to the bench in 1995 by Governor George Pataki as a Judge of the New York Court of Claims. His career in the court system has spanned four decades, starting as an entry level court attorney in the Supreme Court in Manhattan. Chief Judge Lippman is a member of the Conference of Chief Justices, former President of the Conference of State Court Administrators, and former Vice-Chair of the Board of the National Center for State Courts.

Chief Judge Lippman lectures frequently in New York and around the country on access to justice and judicial branch leadership and innovation. He has published many articles and essays on these and other topics and received numerous awards and honors, including the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence from the National Center for State Courts and the Cyrus R. Vance Tribute of the Fund for Modern Courts. Chief Judge Lippman 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.