Former top Queens judge officially named chief administrative judge
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Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas. Photo via OCA
By Jacob Kaye
Joseph Zayas, who spent two decades of his legal career in Queens, was officially named chief administrative judge of New York’s court system on Thursday.
Zayas’ appointment, which was first announced a little more than a month ago, became official this week after the judge was confirmed to the new position by the Administrative Board of the Courts.
The Manhattan-raised judge succeeds Tamiko Amaker, who had been serving as acting chief administrative judge since December 2022. Amaker took up the post following the resignation of former Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks, which came several months after the abrupt resignation of former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. .
As the second-most powerful judge in the state, Zayas will be responsible for overseeing the daily administration and operation of the state’s Unified Court System, which includes 3,600 judges, around 15,000 non-judicial employees, over 300 courthouses and a budget of $3.3 billion.
He takes over the post at a time of transition for the courts. The court system is currently undergoing a modernization process, instituting a number of changes stemming from lessons learned during the pandemic. It’s also still recovering from the pandemic, its financial impact and its effect on the system’s growing backlog of cases.
In a statement, Zayas said that he was excited to work alongside newly-appointed Chief Judge Rowan Wilson in “leading the New York State court system as we seek targeted, viable solutions to address the myriad issues that today confront our courts and justice system.”
“I look forward – with the collective efforts of our talented, hardworking court administrators, judges and court personnel across the state, along with the support of our many justice partners – to effecting changes that will make the court system more efficient, accessible, equitable and transparent, serving to advance the delivery and quality of justice for all New Yorkers,” Zayas said.
Wilson celebrated Zayas’ appointment on Thursday, calling the former Queens judge “a forward-thinking, hands-on manager.”
“Judge Zayas has a stellar reputation for his keen judgment, hard work, integrity and deep knowledge of both the law and the complex workings of the New York State court system,” the chief judge said in a statement. “Judge Zayas brings an impressive breadth of expertise to this key post.”
“I am grateful to him for accepting this vital position and am confident that, working together and carefully assessing the local needs of courts throughout our state, we will successfully navigate the many challenges facing our court system,” Wilson added. “Our paramount objective is to ensure that our courts provide just results to all in a timely manner, while simultaneously promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace and building stronger bridges between our courts and the communities we serve.”
Zayas, born into a large Puerto Rican family, was raised in West Harlem. He attended law school not far from where he grew up – Columbia University School of Law.
One of his earliest assignments as a young attorney was arguing a case in the Court of Appeals, New York State’s highest court.
“I got to argue a case in the Court of Appeals as a brand new lawyer. It’s just an amazing experience for a lawyer,” Zayas told the Eagle in 2021. “They say most lawyers never get to set foot in a courthouse and here I was, virtually a brand new lawyer, arguing a case in the state’s top court.”
In the early years of his legal career, Zayas served as a principal law clerk to the recently retired Judge Rolando T. Acosta.
Zayas also worked as an attorney for The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Appeals Bureau, Criminal Trial Division and Death Penalty Unit.
He was first appointed to the bench in 2003, by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His first assignment was serving in Queens’ Criminal Court. There, Zayas served as the presiding judge of the county’s misdemeanor treatment court and its mental health recovery court.
In 2010, he was designated as an acting Supreme Court justice and two years later, he was appointed to the Court of Claims. In 2016, he was elected in Queens to serve as a Supreme Court justice.
Prior to his election, he was named as the administrative judge of Queens County Supreme Court, Criminal Term. He served as the top judge of the borough’s trial criminal court from 2013 until 2021.
While there, Zayas oversaw the daily operations of one of the state’s busiest criminal courts and also presided over Queens’ Youth Court.
Zayas previously told the Eagle that some of his most meaningful work came as the presiding judge of the Youth Court. Toward the end of his time in Queens, Zayas also presided over a number of cases brought forth by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s Conviction Integrity Unit, which worked to review claims of wrongful convictions in Queens.
Zayas told the Eagle in 2021 that presiding over the cases was “extremely rewarding and eye opening.”
In 2021, Zayas was elevated to serve as an associate justice in the Appellate Division, Second Department. He served there until his appointment to chief administrative judge this week.
During his two decades in Queens, Zayas became heavily involved in the borough’s legal community. He is an active member of a number of bar associations in the county, including the Queens County Bar Association and the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens.
“We’re excited and extremely proud,” said Camila Popin, the president of the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens. “This position is well deserved.”
“He's worked so hard to improve access to justice for the community at large,” she added. “He’s worked hard to help Latinos, especially, advance in our profession. This could not have happened to a better human being or to a more deserving person.”
Popin said that throughout his legal career, Zayas has had an open door policy to young attorneys or judges looking to take the next step in their own careers. He’s also served as a mentor to many Latino lawyers in Queens, she said.
“He is someone who is extremely approachable, not only as a judge, but on a personal level,” she said. “He is someone who is always willing to listen and I think he will bring that to this position.”
“There are many problems that that are facing our judicial system – it's going through a lot of changes at the moment and I think his ability to listen and to be empathetic to any of those issues will make him an ally to everyone who is trying to create a system that we all want to see,” she added.
It appears as though collaboration is at the heart of both Zayas’ and Wilson’s approach to their new leadership positions.
Both Wilson and Zayas spoke at a recent dinner hosted by the Queens County Bar Association. There, Wilson noted the transitory moment the state’s court system was in.
“We are at a moment where all of us, if we all put our shoulders to the wheel and push, we can make this the best court system in the country,” Wilson said. “That is my objective.”
To do that, he said, requires collaboration.
“One of the things that Judge Zayas and I…are going to do is to visit everywhere, and learn about the problems everywhere, because they’re not the same,” Wilson said. “To provide a top down solution, a one size fits all, is not going to get us where we want to go.”
“We’re going to spend a lot of time talking to people,” he added. “And we need all of you, when you see an issue and you have an idea about how you want to solve it, to raise that with us because that's the only way we can learn the things we need to learn and do the things we need to do.”
