Norman St. George named new Nassau administrative judge

Longtime local jurist Norman St. George will take on a new role supervising all of Nassau County’s courts, state officials announced Thursday.

As the new Nassau administrative judge, St. George assumes the responsibilities Thomas Adams previously held.

Starting in January, St. George will take charge of the daily operations of every court in Nassau, which officials said includes nearly 100 judges and about 1,000 employees.

Earlier this month, Adams, 70, of Rockville Centre, accepted an appointment as the presiding justice of the appellate term of the Supreme Court for two judicial districts. In that role, Adams will oversee appeals from criminal and civil cases that were handled in district, city, town and village courts in Nassau, Suffolk and five other counties.

Adams first took the bench in 1988 when he won election to Nassau's District Court, going on to serve on the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, the state Court of Claims and the state Supreme Court in Nassau. He had served as Nassau's administrative judge since a 2013 appointment.

St. George, 55, of Freeport, has been the supervising judge of District Court in Nassau County since 2013, a court he said handles 100,000 cases each year.

“Serving the people of Nassau County has been the focus of my legal career and 14-year judicial career ... It is an honor to be given the privilege to continue my service as the new administrative judge for Nassau County," he said in a statement Thursday.

The Democrat won a seat in state Supreme Court in the November election. Before his current role as an acting state Supreme Court justice supervising the District Court, the 1988 Hofstra Law graduate served as a County Court judge. In that job, he presided in Nassau criminal matters that included domestic violence and sex offense cases.

St. George also was a prosecutor in Nassau County and spent a number of years in private law practice before becoming a judge in 2004.

New York's Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks appointed St. George, with the approval of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, court officials said.