Judith Kaye

Judith Kaye
Born	Judith Ann Smith 1938-08-04 Monticello, New York, United States
Died	2016-01-07 (Age 77) Manhattan, New York, United States
Alma mater	Barnard College, New York University School of Law
Judge with close ties to Sullivan & Cromwell  Chairman of the Commission on Judicial Nomination In office March 31, 2009 - March 31, 2013  Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals  In office March 23, 1993 - December 31, 2008 Deputy Eugene F. Pigott Preceded by Richard D. Simons Succeeded by Jonathan Lippman  Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals  In office 1983 - 1993 Boss Richard D. Simons, Sol Wachtler Succeeded by Richard D. Simons

Judith Ann Kaye (née Smith) was an American lawyer, jurist and the longtime Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, serving in that position from March 23, 1993 until December 31, 2008. She was the first woman to serve as chief judge, the highest judicial office in New York State, and the longest-serving chief judge in New York history.

Early life and education

Kaye was born as Judith Ann Smith in Monticello, New York on August 4, 1938. Her parents, Benjamin and Lena (née Cohen) Smith, were Jewish immigrants from Poland who lived on a farm in the hamlet of Maplewood, Sullivan County, New York and operated a women's apparel store.

She graduated from Barnard College in 1958 with B.A. in Latin American civilization. She became a reporter for the Union City, New Jersey Hudson Dispatch, where she was a society news reporter, but left to become a lawyer.

She worked as a copy editor during the day and attended night school at the New York University Law School, graduating with an LL.B. cum laude in 1962, as one of ten women in a class of almost 300. Kaye was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1963.

Kaye was married to Stephen Rackow Kaye (d. 2006), a commercial litigator who had been her colleague at Sullivan & Cromwell and later a partner at the law firm of Proskauer Rose. They had three children: Luisa (Hagemeier), Jonathan and Gordon.

Legal career

She began her career in private practice in New York City at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. Kaye left Sullivan & Cromwell to join the IBM legal department. While raising a family, Kaye worked as a part-time assistant to the dean of the New York University Law School, her alma mater.

In 1969, Kaye was hired by the prominent law firm of Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O'Donnell & Weyher as a litigation associate. In 1975, she became that firm's first female partner.

Tenure on the New York Court of Appeals

Kaye was appointed associate judge by Cuomo in 1983. In 1993, Chief Judge Sol Wachtler suddenly resigned, and Cuomo nominated Kaye to fill the vacancy. As with her initial appointment, her confirmation by the State Senate was unanimous.

The chief judge of New York has both an administrative role (overseeing the entire state court system, which in 2016 had about 16,000 employees) and a judicial role (hearing and deciding appeals to the state's highest court). In 2008, as Kaye approached mandatory retirement age, The New York Times editorial board praised her, writing: "In her 15 years as chief, Judith Kaye has excelled at both, earning national praise for her jurisprudence and as a court reformer."

As chief judge, Kaye pushed forward with judicial reform and modernization efforts. New York State became a national leader in establishing problem-solving courts, which offered treatment and other alternatives to incarceration in cases involving addiction, mental illness, or domestic violence and abuse. Kaye also took steps to make jury service more efficient and convenient. Kaye also successfully pushed to eliminate all exemptions from jury service (a phrase Kaye preferred over "jury duty").

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