Mayor appoints three judges to New York City courts

Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed two judges to New York City Criminal Court and one to New York City Civil Court on Wednesday.  Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

By Jacob Kaye

Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed two judges to Criminal Court and one to Civil Court Wednesday.

Judges Joshua Glick and Valentina Morales were appointed to serve in New York City Criminal Court and Judge Germaine Auguste was appointed to New York City Civil Court, however she will also preside in Criminal Court when she takes the bench, de Blasio said.

“These judges have fought for justice for the entire length of their careers,” the mayor said. “I have no doubt that they will continue to champion fairness in our court system as New York City recovers from the pandemic.”

The judges presiding in Criminal Court will hear misdemeanor cases, lesser offenses and conduct arraignments.

Glick began his nearly 33-year career with The Legal Aid Society, Queens County Criminal Defense Division.

He went on to join the Queens Defenders eight years later and then open his own practice.

Glick served as a principal law clerk to a New York State Supreme Court justice and as an associate at a law firm after that.

However, he couldn’t shake his Queens roots – he rejoined the Queens Defenders as a supervising attorney and recently was a member of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s transition team when she took office in January 2020.

Auguste also spent a good chunk of her career working as a public defender in the World’s Borough. She served with The Legal Aid Society, Queens County Criminal Defense Division and also as a supervising attorney at the law group.

She received her law degree from Howard University School of Law. She’s practiced criminal law for nearly three decades.

Morales began her career with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and, while there, created defensaNDS, a project that provides bilingual representation to Spanish speakers accused of crimes in upper Manhattan.

She went on to work at a private law firm before returning to public defense as the principal attorney-in-charge at Mental Hygiene Legal Service, First Judicial Department.

Most recently, Morales served as the senior director of justice initiatives with Fedcap Group.

She received her law degree from Columbia Law School.

Last month, the mayor appointed St. John’s School of Law alums Tamra Walker and Cynthia Lopez and M. Liberty Aldrich as judges to Family Court.

In addition, he reappointed Judges Alan Beckoff and Anne-Marie Jolly.