MAYOR DE BLASIO APPOINTS THREE JUDGES TO CRIMINAL AND CIVIL COURT

 

 Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced two appointments to Criminal Court and one appointment to Civil Court.

 

“These judges have fought for justice for the entire length of their careers,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I have no doubt that they will continue to champion fairness in our court system as New York City recovers from the pandemic.”

 

Criminal and Civil Court are part of the New York State Unified Court System. The City’s Criminal Court handles misdemeanor cases and lesser offenses and conducts arraignments. The judge newly appointed to Civil Court will be presiding in Criminal Court.

 

The Mayor appointed the following judges to Criminal Court:

 

Judge Joshua A. Glick has practiced criminal law for nearly 33 years. He began his legal career with The Legal Aid Society, Queens County Criminal Defense Division where he served for eight years before joining Queens Defenders and opening his own practice. Fourteen years later, he was briefly employed as a Principal Law Clerk to a New York State Supreme Court Justice and as an associate for a law firm. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he returned to Queens Defenders as a Supervising Attorney for nearly nine years while also maintaining his own practice.  Judge Glick received his undergraduate degree from Queens College and law degree from Temple University, Beasley School of Law.

 

Judge Valentina M. Morales began her legal career with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (“NDSH”) as a Kirkland & Ellis Fellow and created defensaNDS – a project dedicated to providing bilingual holistic representation to monolingual Spanish speakers accused of crimes in upper Manhattan.  After the end of her fellowship, she continued to serve the NDSH as the Project Director of defensaNDS. Thereafter, she worked for a private firm for five years before returning to public service as Principal Attorney-in-Charge, Mental Hygiene Legal Service, First Judicial Department. Most recently, Judge Morales served as Senior Director of Justice Initiatives with Fedcap Group where she created and directed innovative criminal justice programming with a focus on specialized populations including The Women’s Project. Judge Morales graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College and received her law degree from Columbia Law School.

 

The Mayor appointed the following judge to Civil Court:

 

Judge Germaine Auguste has practiced criminal law for nearly 30 years. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Auguste served with The Legal Aid Society, Queens County Criminal Defense Division, most recently as Supervising Attorney. She received her undergraduate degree from New York University and her J.D. from Howard University School of Law.  Judge Auguste is appointed to Civil Court and will be serving in Criminal Court.