THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LawCrossing Legal Daily News Feature
Appellate Court Bows to Criticism, Promises to Improve Hiring Practices Following the scathing report of the New York state’s judicial conduct commission published on Monday, Chief Administrative Judge Gail Prudenti announced on Tuesday that the court would follow the commission’s recommendations to avoid ‘the appearance of favoritism.’
04/04/12
The commission’s recommendations were accepted by a unanimous vote at the Tuesday morning meeting of
The commission’s report, among other things, found
the administrative board of the courts presided by Chief
that the court had not posted vacant administrative
Judge Jonathan Lippman.
jobs externally, resulting in a system of favoritism where vacancies could be filled only by applicants who
Thomas Klonick, a town justice in Perinton, and the
had personal connections to judges and court staffers.
commission’s chairman said, “The commission’s recommendations focused on making the hiring process
Due to the presence of systemic hiring conventions
in the future a better one, one which would enhance
containing loopholes, charges of nepotism could not
public confidence in our judicial system.”
be established against Luis Gonzalez, the presiding justice of the First Department, for hiring his ex-wife
The defective hiring practices went on despite the
and others with personal connections. However, the
presence of a 99-page written policy from the 2000s,
anomaly was noted and strongly criticized.
used by the Second Department. The document, which had gone largely unnoticed and had accumulated the
The conduct commission went against the convention
dust of a decade, was distributed to each presiding
of delegating court staff recruitment to the discretion
justice on Tuesday as a potential guide.
of presiding justices or clerks of the court. It issued specific recommendations to overhaul the recruitment
Each presiding justice is encouraged to create hiring
system in appellate courts. Principal recommendations
protocols in writing to be shared with applicants and
include:
the human resources department of the courts.
•
Public advertising of job requirements,
While Gonzalez, who was being investigated for charges
•
Vetting of applicants by senior staffers and
of nepotism was able to save his skin because the
judges,
vacancies filled by his ex-wife and other friends and
Recusal of employees from hiring process where
family were never posted publicly, the practice drew
the applicant is a relative, and
flak from the commission.
• •
Assigning employees to positions that minimize conflicts of interest between supervisors and
The report mentioned, “Such a practice undermines
subordinates
the judicial obligation to make appointments based on merit, avoiding favoritism and nepotism.”
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