Suffolk judge to head NY judiciary admin

- Judge Gail Prudenti said Monday she's taking over a top job in the state judiciary "with heavy, mixed emotion."

After a lifetime spent in Suffolk County courtrooms, Prudenti said she really didn't want to leave her current job as presiding judge of the Appellate Division, a midlevel appeals court, and her chambers in Riverhead, where she has become close with her staff and colleagues.

It's also a gloomy time for the court system, with budget cuts triggering hundreds of layoffs statewide and 4:30 p.m. closing times for most trial venues.

But when Jonathan Lippman, New York's chief judge and Prudenti's longtime friend, asked her to take his old job as head of New York's Office of Court Administration (OCA) -- the management arm of the judicial system -- she said she couldn't say no.

"We spoke about how I could best serve the public and he's a very persuasive gentleman," Prudenti said. "And he convinced me I could do more for people inside and outside the system from this position."

"She told me, 'I'll do what's best for the court system.' I took her at face value," Lippman said with a laugh.

In her new role starting Dec. 1, Prudenti, 58, will supervise the daily operation of the state's court system, which covers 3,600 state and locally paid judges, 15,000 nonjudicial employees and more than 300 courtrooms.

The office has a $2.5 billion budget; her salary will be $147,600.

She grew up in Blue Point and is the daughter of the late Suffolk County Republican Chairman Anthony Prudenti. She has been a judge since 1992, including at the Supreme Court and Surrogate Court. She has served at the Appellate Division since 2001, and as its presiding judge since 2002.

She succeeds Ann Pfau, who left after four years on the job to serve as coordinating judge for the state medical malpractice program, which promotes negotiatingearly settlements.

Earlier this year, OCA terminated more than 300 employees and began limiting courtroom hours after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislators reduced its budget by 10 percent.

The head of the New York Bar Association said Prudenti, as a result, faces a daunting task.

"Her number 1, 2 and 3 issue is to figure out how keep the courts open and accessible to everyone," said Vincent Doyle, a private attorney in Buffalo.

The Bar Association is studying the impacts of the cuts and Doyle said that anecdotally, trials are taking longer to be scheduled and completed. That might spur a renewed call, he said, for lawmakers to reorganize New York's multilayered court structure.

Prudenti said her first task will be to "take a good, hard look at all of our operations." That includes judicial assignments, revenue streams and facility management.

She wants to explore public-private partnerships with law schools, law firms and charitable foundations.

"It's not an easy job," said Lippman, who held the post from 1995 to 2007. "But she is someone who grew up in the court system, to a great degree, and knows them very well. She has a great sense of what court operations are all about."