About ACJ

Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary


About the MACJ

Executive Order
Message from the Chair
Message from the Executive Director
Executive Director's Bio
Press Releases
Previous Public Hearings
Events
Contact MACJ

Executive Order

Message from the Chair

Message from the Executive Director

Executive Director's Bio

Press Releases

Previous Public Hearings

Events

Contact MACJ


About the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary (MACJ)

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George J. Silver, Chair

Silver is a native Bronxite, who attended public schools from elementary school until his graduation from Christopher Columbus High School. After graduation, he attended New York University where he was conferred a MS in Accounting and Management. He graduated from Hofstra University School of Law and later obtained an MBA in Finance from New York University Stern Graduate School of Business in 1992. At the time, he was working full time as in-house counsel for five private bus companies. Thereafter, he joined Fields & Rosen, a firm specializing in maritime law, commercial and real estate matters and personal injury actions. After several years, he became an equity partner in the firm which became Fields, Silver & Santo, L.L.P. and ultimately Silver & Santo, L.L.P. In 2004, he was elected to the Civil Court of the City of New York, initially assigned to Civil Court, Kings County until he was re-assigned in 2009 to Family Court, Bronx County where he presided over juvenile delinquency matters. In 2010, he was appointed as Supreme Court Judge by designation and assigned to Supreme Court, New York County where he presided over the approximately two thousand motor vehicle cases pending in that county. From April 2011 until October 5, 2015, he presided over the Trial Assignment Part in Supreme Court, New York County. In 2012, he was tasked to handle potential early settlement of Medical Malpractice Cases as part of a specialized grant program and in the same year was elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York. In October 2015, he was asked to preside over a newly created Mediation Part called J-Med. In July 2017, he was appointed by Chief Judge DiFiore to the position of Deputy Chief Administrative Judge (“DCAJ”) for New York City Courts, where he oversaw the day-to-day court operations for the Trial Courts. He simultaneously served as the interim Administrative Judge (“AJ”) for New York County until December 2017. Thereafter, in addition to his role as the DCAJ for New York City Courts, he again assumed dual roles as interim AJ for Bronx County from January 2018 until December 2018 and as interim AJ for Queens County in 2019 and part of 2020. In October 2021, Silver retired from the bench in order to open his own Mediation company Silverstar Mediation and Arbitration LLC.

Amber Baylor

Baylor is the Founding Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at Columbia Law School, and her work focuses on local criminal regulation and the impact of these regulations on communities. She was the Founder and Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at Texas A&M School of Law; and previously served with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem along with the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. She received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, law degree from New York University School of Law and LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.

RoseAnn Branda

Branda is an Executive Partner and Co-Director of the Family and Matrimonial Law department at Abrams Fensterman, LLP. Her professional focus and concentration encompasses all areas of matrimonial and family law. She is an experienced lawyer in both settlement negotiation and trial litigation. Branda graduated Brooklyn Law School in 1984. She began her career at Caruso & Caruso, P.C., and later became a Partner in the firm of Caruso, Caruso & Branda, P.C. In 2014, Branda was appointed as a member of the Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee by then Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York, the Honorable A. Gail Prudenti. She was also appointed by both Judge Prudenti and Judge Randall T. Eng, then Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department as the Chair of the Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission for the Second and Thirteenth Judicial Districts. She was also appointed a member of the Committee on Character and Fitness for the Second, Tenth, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts and serves as a member of the Judicial Hearing Officer Selection Advisory Committee for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts. She was the former President of the Brooklyn Bar Association, the Bay Ridge Lawyers Association, and Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn. She is presently the Co-Chair of the Family Law Section of the Brooklyn Bar Association and serves on the New York State Bar Executive Committee for the Family Law Section as a representative of the Second District. She has been designated as a New York Super Lawyer every year since 2007 and more recently recognized as one of New York’s Women Leaders in the Law. She has earned one of the most prestigious distinctions in the country from Martindale- Hubbell being named a Top-Rated New York Women Leader for Ethical Standards and Legal Ability.

Preetha Chakrabarti

Chakrabarti is a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, and a member of the firm’s Technology & Intellectual Property Department, a co-leader of the firm’s ESG Advisory Group, and a co-leader of the firm’s Metaverse working group. Her practice cuts across all areas of intellectual property, consisting of litigation, counseling, licensing, and transactional due diligence as well as trademark prosecution. In particular, she advises clients in the technology, retail, and fashion industries on how best to manage risks when using and developing intellectual property. Ms. Chakrabarti has an active pro bono practice, including cases involving appellate, immigration, family, and employment law as well as IP counseling for nonprofit entities. She successfully represented Sandra Avery, a woman sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent, low-level drug crime who sought commutation of her sentence from President Barack Obama, reducing her life sentence to time served. Ms. Chakrabarti received her B.A. from Brown University, cum laude, an M.A. in Secondary Science Education from Columbia University, and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, magna cum laude.

Joseph M. Drayton

Drayton is a first chair trial lawyer and partner at Proskauer Rose LLP where he has represented some of the nation’s most prominent companies across a wide array of industries in all facets of intellectual property (IP) litigation before both state and federal courts, as well as the International Trade Commission and American Arbitration Association. He also counsels clients in all aspects of IP acquisition, transfer, protection, and enforcement. His recent professional recognitions include receiving the C. Francis Stadford Award by the National Bar Association, as well as being regularly recognized as one of the top lawyers in the United States, having consistently been named to the IAM Patent 1000 list. He has served as the 76th president of the National Bar Association and is also a former vice president and Board chair of the New York City Bar Association. Drayton received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and his J.D. from the University Pennsylvania Law School.

Keisha-Ann Gray

Gray is a Trial Lawyer and Partner in the Labor & Employment Department of Proskauer Rose LLP where she focuses on employment discrimination litigation and conducting workplace misconduct investigations. Prior to joining Proskauer, she served in the United States Attorney’s Office (Civil Division) - Eastern District of New York, and as a former Federal Law Clerk to the Honorable Jaime Pieras Jr., Senior United States District Judge in the United States District Court of Puerto Rico. She currently serves on the Board of the Attorney Grievance Committee for the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, 1st Judicial Department, the Board of the Federal Bar Council, the Board of the Eastern District Association, and she co-Chairs the Federal Bar Council’s Employment Litigation Committee, as well as Proskauer’s Workplace Investigations Practice Group. Gray received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her law degree from the New York University School of Law.

L. Priscilla Hall

Hall is currently an Arbitrator and Mediator with Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, JAMS, and a member of the Legal Expert team of retired judges to the Federal Monitor. She had served on the bench since 1986, including nine years as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department and one year as the Administrative Judge of Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term. When she was first appointed to the bench, she presided in Criminal Court and subsequently in New York State Supreme Court before serving as an Associate Justice on the Appellate Division. She was also an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law teaching New York Criminal Procedure. Early in her career, Hall served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County, an Inspector General for the New York City Department of Employment and New York City Human Resources Administration. Hall graduated from Howard University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, received a Master of Science with Honors from Columbia University School of Journalism, and graduated from Columbia Law School.

Everett Hopkins

Hopkins is the managing attorney of Hopkins Law Group, LLC. The firm’s history began in 1990, and from 1999 to 2008 was known as Hopkins, Lawrence, and Bailey, L.L.C. which later branched into two law firms: Hopkins Law Group, L.L.C. and Bailey and Bailey, L.L.C. with Lamont R. Bailey, as "of counsel" to the Firm. Hopkins received his undergraduate degree from the City University of New York at Hunter College in 1979 and earned his law degree at the University of Buffalo in 1982. During his career he served with distinction for eight years as General Counsel and Director of Administration for the New York City Criminal Justice Agency. Prior to this position, he held key positions with the NYC Housing Preservation and Development and Fraud Enforcement with the Internal Revenue Service. Over the last twenty years, Hopkins has also served as Adjunct Professor at Medgar Evers College, York College, Baruch College and the College of New Rochelle.

John M. Leventhal

Leventhal, retired Associate Justice of the State Court of New York, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, is currently a Partner with Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins, P.C. His focus is appellate law, civil and criminal litigation, trusts & estates, and guardianships. Leventhal began his legal career as a Law Assistant to a Civil Court Judge before starting and maintaining his own law practice. He went on to become a Partner of Rosenthal, Vallario, Leventhal and Coffinas before serving as an elected Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, presiding in Kings County Domestic Violence Court. Then appointed by Governor Eliot Spitzer as Associate Justice in the State Court of New York, Appellate Division, Second Department. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University, earned a master’s degree in Urban Affairs from Hunter College, and received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School.

William F. Mastro

Mastro is the former Senior Associate Justice of the Appellate Division Second Department. He served as a member of that court from 2002 to 2021. During this period, he served as Acting Presiding Justice from December 2011 through September 2012, and from January 2021 to May 2021. In 1972, Mastro served as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy until his honorable discharge in 1974. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Villanova University, and his JD from New York Law School. In 1979, Mastro began his career in State Government, upon his appointment as a staff attorney for the now Mental Hygiene Legal Service in New York City. In 1981, he served as a Law Assistant to NYC Civil Court Judge Michael L. Pesce before beginning an eleven-year tenure as the Principal Law Clerk to the Honorable Louis Sangiorgio in Supreme Court, Richmond County. Maestro’s judicial career began in 1992, after being elected as a Justice of the Supreme Court in Kings County. In 2002, he was appointed to the Appellate Division Second Department. Previously, Mastro served as president and board member of several community and civic organizations. He retains memberships in several bar associations and served on the Second District Committee for Litigation Cost and Delay, created by Chief Judge Kaye. He served for many years as Chair of the Ethics Commission for the Unified Court System and is also a member of the New York Bar Foundation.

Angélicque M. Moreno

Moreno is the Managing Partner and a Senior Trial Attorney at Avanzino & Moreno, PC, with over 25 years of experience representing injured victims in a wide variety of automotive, workplace, medical malpractice and wrongful death actions. Among her many professional affiliations, Moreno is a Past-President of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and the President of the Puerto Rican Bar Association. She was appointed to and has served on the New York State Court of Appeals Judicial Screening Committee, on behalf of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the Judicial Screening Committee, on behalf of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. She has lectured throughout New York City on a wide range of topics, including New York State Labor Law and Trial Practice Skills. As an interested community leader, Moreno has served as President of the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club and is a two-time honoree as a Paul Harris Fellow as well as the recipient of the 2016 Brooklyn Service Cornerstone Award. Moreno received her undergraduate degree from Binghamton University and her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

Amanda T. Perez

Perez is Vice President & Assistant General Counsel, Head of Civil Litigation at Pfizer Inc. in New York. In her role, Ms. Perez is responsible for trial strategy and management of a broad docket of complex civil litigation, including securities, antitrust, product liability, consumer fraud, trade secret and commercial litigation matters. Ms. Perez is a member of the Litigation Leadership Team and advises the Company’s senior executives and management as well as business units with respect to legal risk mitigation in light of enterprise goals. In addition, Ms. Perez is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of New York and a Member of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for the Judiciary of New York City. Ms. Perez is a 1998 graduate of Yale Law School and is a member of the Yale Law School Fund Board. Following law school graduation, Ms. Perez served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph Irenas of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Ms. Perez spent nine years practicing law in the Litigation Department of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and two years as a Senior Legal Director with Merck & Co., Inc. (formerly Schering Plough Corp.) before joining Pfizer in 2010. She received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and her law degree from Yale Law School.

A. Camila Popin

Popin has maintained her own solo practice in Queens County for the last 20 years and specializes in Family Law and Divorce. Providing representation to clients throughout New York City, Long Island and Westchester. Early in her legal career, she worked with a private firm focusing on Divorce and Family Law. She received her bachelor's degree from St. Francis College (NY) and Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School.

Thomas Principe

Principe has been a partner at Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore, representing injured parties in the specialty of personal injury and medical malpractice for 33 years. He was a former prosecutor with the Queens County District Attorney’s Office rising to the rank of Deputy Bureau Chief of the Supreme Court Trial Bureau. He then practiced as defense counsel in the field of medical malpractice/personal injury. Principe served in the New York Army National Guard for 33 years, retiring as a Brigadier General, with the Legion of Merit, awarded by the United States Army and the Conspicuous Service Medal, awarded by the State of New York. He was Staff Judge Advocate to 53rd Troop Command for 9 years and served during our 9/11 National Disaster in that capacity. Principe is a member of many professional associations and was Past-President of the St. John's University School of Law Alumni Association. He is a graduate of St. John’s University and St. John’s University School of Law.

Ronald Richter

Richter is the CEO and Executive Director of JCCA formerly the Jewish Child Care Association, one of New York’s oldest human services organizations. For three decades, he has worked to create a more just child and family services system by placing the utmost value on the wellbeing of each child and family. As JCCA’s CEO, he has expanded the agency’s academic enrichment services, and helped the organization become a premier provider of support services for children with complex trauma, chronic illness, or severe emotional disturbance. Richter is a former New York City Family Court judge, former Commissioner of New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), and former attorney with The Legal Aid Society. During his time leading ACS, he spearheaded a landmark shift in child welfare evidence-based practices geared towards helping parents and children avoid foster care placement, heal from past traumas, and reduce time spent in the system. Richter has an undergraduate degree from Tufts University and a Master of Science and JD from Boston University. He currently serves on the boards of ChildTrends, Chelsea Day School, the NYS Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health and is a member of the Child Welfare League of America’s National Commission for Policy and Practice. He is an adjunct professor at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.

Rebecca Roiphe

Roiphe is the Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law at the New York Law School (NYLS) where she focuses on the interaction between lawyers’ work and the rhetoric or ideals of professionalism. Prior to joining NYLS, Roiphe worked as a Manhattan prosecutor. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Bruce Selya in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Her scholarship emphasizes the important, mediating role prosecutors play in American democracy and examines the country’s tradition of prosecutorial independence. Roiphe is frequently quoted as an expert on legal ethics and criminal justice in the media, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, Vice News, and the New York Law Journal and she is a contributing legal analyst at CBS News. Roiphe received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, her J.D. from Harvard Law School, and her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Noah A. Rosenblum

Rosenblum is an Assistant Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he was previously the Samuel I. Golieb Fellow in Legal History. He also serves as Faculty Director of the Vanderbilt Scholars and Katzmann Scholars programs. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Jenny Rivera of the New York Court of Appeals and Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Rosenblum works primarily in administrative law, constitutional law, and legal history. He is also a frequent commentator on state and federal law as well as an advocate for New York State court reform, on which he has written for several New York publications. He pursued his undergraduate studies at Deep Springs and Harvard College, earned his J.D. from Yale Law School and his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, where his studies were supported by a Javits Fellowship.

Rudyard F. Whyte

Whyte currently heads the Immigration Department at The Cochran Firm. His practice is civil litigation, primarily in the areas of personal injury, immigration, and naturalization. He has tried numerous personal injury claims on behalf of his clients including obtaining the two highest verdicts for his clients in Lead Paint cases in New York. Early in his career, he was a former Corporation Counsel. Whyte was born in London, received his undergraduate degree from CUNY Brooklyn College and his law degree from Georgetown University. He has been admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey State Courts, United States District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

David Zornow

Zornow is Of Counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Mr. Zornow, who founded the firm's white-collar criminal defense practice in 1989, represents both corporations and individuals in federal and state grand jury investigations and at criminal trials. From 2009-2020, Mr. Zornow was the global head of Skadden's Litigation/Controversy practices. From 1983 to 1987, Mr. Zornow served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he supervised the investigation of corruption at the New York City Parking Violations Bureau and was a member of the trial team that obtained the RICO conviction of Stanley Friedman, the Bronx Democratic leader. He then served from 1987 to 1989 as an Associate Independent Counsel for the Iran/Contra matter and was a member of the prosecution trial team in the case of United States v. Oliver L. North. From 1994 to 1996, he served as chair of the N.Y.C. Civilian Complaint Review Board. Mr. Zornow is a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He obtained his J.D. degree from Yale Law School and his B.A. degree from Harvard College.