Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today appointed fifteen new members to the Mayor’s Committee on City Marshals.  Established by state law and an Executive Order issued in 1980, the committee establishes qualification criteria for Marshal candidates and identifies and recommends Marshall candidates for appointment and re-appointment by the Mayor.  The Mayor may appoint candidates as Marshals only upon recommendation by the committee.  The Committee on Marshals last met on November 21, 1995.

“I am pleased to appoint these distinguished individuals to the Mayor’s Committee on Marshals,” said Mayor Bloomberg.  “City marshals provide a valuable service to the City of New York by enforcing thousands of civil court orders each year, and this new committee will now enable us to make new appointments.  I am confident that this reconstituted committee will establish and adhere to strict qualification criteria in order to identify and recommend Marshal candidates that will best serve our City.”

The reconstituted committee consists of fifteen members, all appointed by the Mayor.  The Mayor appoints six of the members directly, three after selection by Presiding Justice of the First Judicial department, three after selection by the Presiding Justice of the Second Judicial Department, and three after selection by the Deans of three New York City Law Schools, who each select one member for appointment.  

There are currently 39 City marshals in New York City.  By law, the Mayor can appoint no more than 83 marshals.  The last appointments to the office of City Marshal were in 1989. Marshals primarily enforce orders from Civil Court cases, including collecting on judgments, towing, seizing utility meters, and carrying out evictions. Marshals collectively perform an average of 25,000 evictions per year.  While city marshals are public officials appointed by the Mayor, they are not City employees. Marshals collect fees, which are set by statute, from the private litigants whose judgments they enforce, and they also retain 5% of any money judgments they collect.  Marshals must pay an annual assessment to the City consisting of $1,500 plus 4.5% of their gross income.

New Committee Members:

Mayoral Selections

Steven M. Cohen will serve as Chair of the Committee.  Mr. Cohen is a partner in the litigation department of Kronish Lieb, specializing in white-collar criminal defense.  He served for seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney, and as Chief of the Violent Gangs Unit, for the Southern District of New York.  He also served as Staff Attorney in the New York Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Mr. Cohen is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School.  He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and he earned a BA from New York University.

Kiyo Ann Matsumoto will serve as Vice-Chair of the Committee.  Ms. Matsumoto is Chief of the Civil Division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.  She is also an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law. After graduation from law school, Ms. Matsumoto worked for two years in the Seattle firm of MacDonald, Hoague and Bayless.  She earned her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Barry R. Clarke has been the Deputy Clerk of the New York County Civil Court since 1995.  Prior to joining the New York court system in 1986, he served for eight years as an officer with the Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority.  He is an active member of the Flatbush-Tompkins Congregationalist Church.  Mr. Clarke earned his JD from New York Law School.

Joseph P. Dunne is currently Senior Vice President and Director of Security Services for the Americas for UBS Paine Webber.  Mr. Dunne served the people of New York City for 32 years in the Police Department.  He retired in December 2001 after working his way to the ranks of Chief of Department in 1999 and First Deputy Police Commissioner in 2000.  Mr. Dunne planned and coordinated the NYPD management of major events from the New Years Eve Millenium Celebration to the Y2K emergency preparations, and the response and recovery effort following the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center.  Mr. Dunne earned a BA in political science from St. Francis College and he is a graduate of Columbia University’s Police Management Institute.

Betty Lugo is a partner in the firm of Pacheco & Lugo, the first Hispanic women-owned law firm in New York.  From 1984 to 1987 she served as an Assistant District Attorney in Nassau County. She then joined the law firm of Jacobson & Schwartz as a litigation associate.  She has been active in politics, and in 1997 she ran as a Republican and Independence Party candidate for the New York City Council.  Ms. Lugo is an instructor with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.  She earned her JD from Albany Law School of Union University.

Thomas H. Roche is Deputy General Counsel and Senior Vice President at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  From 1980 to 1996 he served in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, becoming Senior Litigation Counsel.  Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Roche served the City of New York for nine years in the Department of Investigation as Assistant Commissioner, General Counsel and Examining Attorney.  His other professional experience includes: Deputy General Counsel for the New York City Special Commission of Inquiry into Energy Failures, Research Consultant at the Stanford Research Institute, and Special Assistant District Attorney for Kings County.  He served in the United States Army for two years as a Captain and General Staff Officer.  Mr. Roche is a graduate of Bowdoin College and the Temple University School of Law.

Selections of the Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, 1st Department

Thomas Curran is counsel at the firm of Edwards & Angell, LLP.  From 1995-2001 he served in the New York County District Attorney’s Office as Assistant District Attorney in the Major Offence/Career Criminal Program and the Frauds bureau.  Mr. Curran has also worked as a litigation associate at Lord Day & Lord, Barret Smith and later at the firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart.  He received his J.D. from Fordham University Law School.

Stephanie Kupferman is a founding member and partner at Kupferman & Kupferman. LLP.  She is also a member of the New York City Civil Service Commission, and has also served the City previously as an Assistant Corporation Counsel in the Law Department’s Family Court Division.  Ms. Kupferman is a state delegate, and Chair of the Children’s Rights Committee, of the Women’s Bar Association, and she sits on the Board of Directors of the Queens County Women’s Bar Association.  She received her JD from Hofstra Law School. 

Justice Bentley Kassal is a retired judge who has served at every level of the New York State Court System, including Civil Court, Supreme Court, the Appellate Division and Court of Appeals.   Justice Kassal, who is currently counsel at the law firm of Skadden Arps, also served as a member of the New York State Assembly from 1957 to 1962.  He also has served his country with distinction in the United States Army, and he is a retired major in the Air Force Reserves.  Justice Kassal received his JD from Harvard Law School, which designated him as a Distinguished Alumnus in February 2002. 

Selections of the Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, 2nd Department

Justice Vincent Pizzuto is a retired judge who last served as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department.  Previously, he served in the state Supreme Court, the Surrogate Court, and the Appellate Term.  Before taking the bench, Justice Pizzouto engaged in a private law practice for 19 years and was then law secretary to Surrugate and Civil Court judges.  Justice Pizzuto is a graduate of St. Johns University Law School, where he is currently an adjunct professor.

Justice Thomas Sullivan was an associate Justice in the Appellate Division, Second Department until he retired in 2001.   Before that he served as a Justice of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial District and a District Attorney in Richmond County.  He has served as the President of the New York Association of Supreme Court Justices and as the Chair of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board.  He received his J.D. from Fordham Law School.

Justice Daniel Joy retired from the bench in 2000 after serving 42 years in government.  He spent 25 years specializing in housing matters, administering and enforcing housing laws of both the State and City of New York, and he served as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Rent and Housing Maintenance.  In 1983 he was elected to the Civil Court of the City of New York and two years later he was elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York where he handled both civil and criminal matters. In 1993, he was appointed to the Appellate Division Second Department and that same year Governor Pataki appointed him to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.  Justice Joy received his LLB from Brooklyn Law School.

Selections of Law School Deans

Columbia: Richard Briffault is the Vice Dean & Joseph Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at Columbia Law School.  Before joining the faculty at Columbia in 1983, he was an Associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and then Assistant Counsel to the Governor of the State of New York.  He served as a Member of Mayor Koch’s Early Childhood Education Commission, counsel on Governor Cuomo’s Advisory Commission on Liability Insurance, and as a consultant to the New York City Charter Revision Commission.  He also served as the Executive Director on the Special Commission on Campaign Finance Reform of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.  He earned his JD from Harvard University.

Fordham: Edgar De Leon is a partner at De Leon & Martin specializing in Criminal and Matrimonial/Family Law.  He has worked as a uniformed police officer, a Detective Sergeant, a paralegal and an attorney with the New York City Police Department. Mr. De Leon also works on a per diem basis for the firm of Wirth, Longworth, Bamundo & London LLP, representing members of the New York City Police Department Patrolman’s Benevolent Association.  After 15 years of service with the NYPD, Mr. De Leon retired in 1999 with the rank of Sergeant S.A. (Special Assignment) and entered private practice.  He earned his JD from Fordham University.

St. John’s: Jonathan Kingston is an attorney at Consumer Advocacy, Litigation & Legal Referral Services where he litigates on behalf of aggrieved consumers in cases related to consumer credit, general liability, commercial collection, bankruptcy and other cases.  Previously, he worked as an associate attorney with the law firm of Cooper, Kardaras & Scharf LLP, and later as an attorney with American International Group Insurance Co. (AIG).  He earned his J.D. at St. Johns University School of Law.