There are 11 members of the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Each serves a renewable four-year term. Four members are appointed by the Governor, three by the Chief Judge, and one each by the Speaker of the Assembly, the Minority Leader of the Assembly, the Temporary President of the Senate (Majority Leader) and the Minority Leader of the Senate.
Of the four members appointed by the Governor, one shall be a judge, one shall be a member of the New York State bar but not a judge, and two shall not be members of the bar, judges or retired judges. Of the three members appointed by the Chief Judge, one shall be a justice of the Appellate Division, one shall be a judge of a court other than the Court of Appeals or Appellate Division, and one shall be a justice of a town or village court. None of the four members appointed by the legislative leaders shall be judges or retired judges.
The Commission elects a Chair and a Vice Chair from among its members for renewable two-year terms, and appoints an Administrator who shall be a member of the New York State bar who is not a judge or retired judge. The Administrator appoints and directs the agency staff. The Commission also has a Clerk who plays no role in the investigation or litigation of complaints but assists the Commission in its consideration of formal charges, preparation of determinations and related matters.
The current members of the Commission and their terms of office are listed below. Asterisk (*) indicates that the appointing authority no longer holds that office.
Commission Member |
Appointing Authority |
First Appointed |
Expiration of Term |
Joseph W. Belluck, Chair |
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo |
2008 |
3/31/2020 |
Paul B. Harding, Vice Chair |
Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb
|
2006 |
3/31/2017 |
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman* |
2010
|
3/31/2018
|
|
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver* |
2010
|
3/31/2018 |
|
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo |
2013 |
3/31/2019 |
|
Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins |
2004 |
3/31/2020 |
|
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman* |
2005 |
3/31/2017 |
|
Chief Judge Janet DiFiore |
2016 |
3/31/2020 |
|
Senate President Pro Tem Dean Skelos* |
2011 |
3/31/2019 |
|
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo |
2012 |
3/31/2018 |
|
Vacant |
Governor |
|
3/31/2017 |
COMMISSION MEMBERS
Joseph W. Belluck, Esq., Chair of the Commission, graduated magna cum laude from the SUNY-Buffalo School of Law in 1994, where he served as Articles Editor of the Buffalo Law Review and where he was an adjunct lecturer on mass torts. He is a partner in the Manhattan law firm of Belluck & Fox, LLP, which focuses on asbestos, consumer, environmental and defective product litigation. Mr. Belluck previously served as counsel to the New York State Attorney General, representing the State of New York in its litigation against the tobacco industry, as a judicial law clerk for Justice Lloyd Doggett of the Texas Supreme Court, as staff attorney and consumer lobbyist for Public Citizen in Washington, D.C., and as Director of Attorney Services for Trial Lawyers Care, an organization dedicated to providing free legal assistance to victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Mr. Belluck has lectured frequently on product liability, tort law and tobacco control policy. He is an active member of several bar associations is a recipient of the New York State Bar Association’s Legal Ethics Award.
Paul B. Harding, Esq., Vice Chair of the Commission, is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego and the Albany Law School at Union University. He is the Managing Partner in the law firm of Martin, Harding & Mazzotti, LLP in Albany, New York. He is on the Board of Directors of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Marketing and Client Services Committee for the American Association for Justice. He is also a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Albany County Bar Association. He is currently on the Steering Committee for the Legal Project, which was established by the Capital District Women's Bar Association to provide a variety of free and low cost legal services to the working poor, victims of domestic violence and other underserved individuals in the Capital District of New York State.
Honorable Rolando T. Acosta is a graduate of Columbia College and the Columbia University School of Law. He served as a Judge of the New York City Civil Court from 1997 to 2002, as an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002, and as an elected Justice of the Supreme Court from 2003 to present. He presently serves as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, having been appointed in January 2008. Prior to his judicial career, Judge Acosta served in various capacities with the Legal Aid Society, including Director of Government Practice and Attorney in Charge of the civil branch of the Brooklyn office. He also served as Deputy Commissioner and First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
Joel Cohen, Esq., is a graduate of Brooklyn College and New York University Law School, where he earned a J.D. and an LL.M. He is Of Counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP in Manhattan, which he joined in 1985. Mr. Cohen previously served as a prosecutor for ten years, first with the New York State Special Prosecutor's Office and then as Assistant Attorney-in-Charge with the US Justice Department's Organized Crime & Racketeering Section in the Eastern District of New York. He is a member of the Federal Bar Council and is an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching Professional Responsibility at Fordham Law School, having previously done so at Brooklyn Law School. He widely lectures on Professional Responsibility. Mr. Cohen is the author of three books dealing with religion -- Moses: A Memoir (Paulist Press 2003), Moses and Jesus: A Conversation (Dorrance Publishing 2006) and David and Bathsheba: Through Nathan's Eyes (Paulist Press 2007). He also authored Truth Be Veiled: A Justin Steele Murder Case (Coffeetown Press, 2010), a novel on legal ethics and truth. Mr. Cohen has authored over 200 articles in legal periodicals, including a bimonthly column on "Ethics and Criminal Practice" for the New York Law Journal, and columns for Law.com and Huffington Post.
Jodie Corngold graduated from Swarthmore College. She oversees communications for Kolot Chayeinu, a synagogue in Brooklyn, and previously served as Director of Communications for the Berkeley Carroll School, a college preparatory school in Brooklyn. She sits on the Board of the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, is a marathon runner, and is engaged in a variety of activities associated with her alma mater.
Richard D. Emery, Esq., is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School (cum laude), where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is a founding partner of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, civil rights, election law and litigation challenging governmental actions. Mr. Emery enjoys a national reputation as a litigator, trying and handling cases at all levels, from the U.S. Supreme Court to federal and state appellate and trial courts in New York, Washington, D.C., California, Washington state, and others. While a partner at Lankenau Kovner & Bickford, he successfully challenged the structure of the New York City Board of Estimate under the one-person, one-vote doctrine, resulting in the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous invalidation of the Board on constitutional grounds. Before then, he was a staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union and director of the Institutional Legal Services Project in Washington state, which represented persons held in juvenile, prison, and mental health facilities. He was also a law clerk for the Honorable Gus J. Solomon of the U.S. District Court for the district of Washington. He has taught as an adjunct at the New York University and University of Washington schools of law. Mr. Emery was a member of Governor Cuomo's Commission on Integrity in Government and sat on Governor Eliot Spitzer's Transition Committee for Government Reform Issues. He was appointed to the New York State Commissions on Judicial Conduct and Public Integrity and was appointed chair of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board. He is a founding member of the City Club, which addresses New York City preservation issues. He also is a founder and president of the West End Preservation Society, which has achieved the landmarked West End-Riverside Historic District. His honors include Landmark West’s 2013 Unsung Heroes Award for his preservation work; the 2008 Children’s Rights Champion Award for his civil rights work and support of children’s rights; the Common Cause/NY, October 2000, "I Love an Ethical New York" Award for recognition of successful challenges to New York's unconstitutionally burdensome ballot access laws and overall work to promote a more open democracy; the Park River Democrats Public Service Award, June 1989; and the David S. Michaels Memorial Award, January 1987, for Courageous Effort in Promotion of Integrity in the Criminal Justice System from the Criminal Justice Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Honorable Thomas A. Klonick, is a graduate of Lehigh University and the Detroit College of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review. He maintains a law practice in Fairport, New York, with a concentration in the areas of commercial and residential real estate, corporate and business law, criminal law and personal injury. He was a Monroe County Assistant Public Defender from 1980 to 1983. Since 1995 he has served as Town Justice for the Town of Perinton, New York, and has also served as an Acting Rochester City Court Judge, a Fairport Village Court Justice and as a Hearing Examiner for the City of Rochester. From 1985 to 1987 he served as a Town Justice for the Town of Macedon, New York. He has also been active in the Monroe County Bar Association as a member of the Ethics Committee. Judge Klonick is the former Chairman of the Prosecuting Committee for the Presbytery of Genesee Valley and is an Elder of the First Presbyterian Church, Pittsford, New York. He has also served as legal counsel to the New York State Council on Problem Gambling, and on the boards of St. John’s Home and Main West Attorneys, a provider of legal services for the working poor. He is a member of the New York State Magistrates Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Monroe County Bar Association. Judge Klonick is a former lecturer for the Office of Court Administration's continuing Judicial Education Programs for Town and Village Justices. Judge Klonick chaired the Commission for eight years, 2008-2016.
Honorable Leslie G. Leach, is a graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York, the Columbia University School of Law and the University of Massachusetts, where he earned a master’s degree in labor studies. He presently serves as an elected Justice of the Supreme Court, Queens County. Justice Leach previously served as a judge of the New York City Criminal Court from 1993 to 2003, as an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court from 1995 to 2003, and as an elected Justice of the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2007, serving as the Administrative Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District, Queens County. In 2007, Justice Leach left the bench to serve as Executive Deputy Attorney General of State Counsel under then-Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. From 2011 to 2012, Justice Leach served as Appointments Secretary to Governor Cuomo, then taught as Distinguished Lecturer at Queens College. In 2015 he returned to the Supreme Court bench.
Richard A. Stoloff, Esq., graduated from the CUNY College of the City of New York, and Brooklyn Law School. He maintains a law practice, Richard A. Stoloff PLLC, in Monticello, New York. He also served for 19 years as Town Attorney for the Town of Mamakating. Mr. Stoloff is a past President of the Sullivan County Bar Association and has chaired its Grievance Committee since 1994. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and has served on its House of Delegates. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.
Honorable David A. Weinstein is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Harvard Law School, where he was Notes Editor for the Harvard Human Rights Journal. He is a Judge of the Court of Claims, having been appointed by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in 2011 for a term ending in 2018. Judge Weinstein served previously as Assistant Counsel and First Assistant Counsel to Governors Cuomo, David A. Paterson and Eliot L. Spitzer, as a New York State Assistant Attorney General, as an Associate in the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, as Law Clerk to United States District Court Judge Charles S. Haight (SDNY) and as Pro Se Law Clerk to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He also served as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Writing at New York Law School and has written numerous articles for legal and other publications.
RECENT MEMBERS
Honorable Sylvia G. Ash, served on the Commission from April 2016 through August 2016. She is a graduate of Howard University School of Law. In 2005, Justice Ash was elected to the New York City Civil Court serving in Kings County, and in 2010, she was elected as a Justice of the State Supreme Court. She currently serves as the Presiding Justice of the Commercial Division in Kings County Supreme Court. Prior to her judicial career Justice Ash served in various capacities in the District Council 37’s Municipal Employees Legal Services Plan, including chief counsel of the Immigration Unit and supervising attorney of the Family and Administrative Law Units. Justice Ash also served as General Counsel for the NAACP’s Social Service Chapter in New York City. After graduating law school, Justice Ash served as a clerk for the Hon. Dennis J. Braithwaite of the New Jersey Superior Court. Justice Ash currently serves as a Board Director of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert Association, and the Judicial Friends Association. Justice Ash is a Director and a Master in the Nathan R. Sobel Kings County American Inns of Court, and an Executive Committee Member of the NYSBA Commercial & Federal Litigation Section. Justice Ash has been the recipient of numerous proclamations, citations and awards including the Brooklyn Bar Association Award for Recognition of Outstanding Achievement in the Science of Jurisprudence and Public Service.
Honorable Terry Jane Ruderman, served on the Commission from October 1999 through March 2016. She served as Vice Chair of the Commission from 2011-2016. Judge Ruderman is a graduate of Pace University School of Law (cum laude), holds a Ph. D. in History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Masters Degrees from City College and Cornell University. In 2015, Judge Ruderman was appointed to the state Supreme Court. She previously served as a Judge of the Court of Claims from 1995 to 2015. At the time of her appointment to the Court of Claims she was the Principal Law Clerk to a Justice of the Supreme Court. Previously, she served as an Assistant District Attorney and a Deputy County Attorney in Westchester County, and later she was in the private practice of law. Judge Ruderman is a member of the New York State Committee on Women in the Courts and Chair of the Gender Fairness Committee for the Ninth Judicial District. She has served as President of the New York State Association of Women Judges, the Presiding Member of the New York State Bar Association Judicial Section, as a Delegate to the House of Delegates of the New York State Bar Association and on the Ninth Judicial District Task Force on Reducing Civil Litigation Cost and Delay. Judge Ruderman is also a board member and former Vice President of the Westchester Women’s Bar Association, was President of the White Plains Bar Association and was a State Director of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York. She also sits on the New York State-Federal Judicial Council and the Cornell University President’s Council of Cornell Women.
