Support for legislation requiring certain town and village judges have appropriate legal qualifications

SUMMARY

The Council on Judicial Administration and the Criminal Courts Committee issued a report supporting State legislation that would require town and village justices in New York’s highest-volume courts to be licensed attorneys with at least five years of legal experience. The bill aims to ensure that judges presiding over serious criminal and civil matters—such as arraignments, bail hearings, and housing disputes—have the legal training necessary to safeguard due process and constitutional rights.  The City Bar first endorsed this reform in 2007, based on findings from the work of its Task Force on Town and Village Courts. While the City Bar continues to advocate for all town and village justices to be attorneys, this bill represents a critical step toward improving justice in New York’s busiest local courts.

BILL INFORMATION

A.5787 (AM Rajkumar) / S.1409 (Sen. S. Ryan) – Relates to requiring certain town and village justices be admitted to practice law in the state (NYS 2025-26).

Issued March 2025

REPORT

REPORT BY THE COUNCIL ON JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION AND THE CRIMINAL COURTS COMMITTEE

A.5787 (AM Rajkumar)
S.1409 (Sen. S. Ryan)

AN ACT to amend the Uniform Justice Court Act, to require certain town and village justices to be admitted to practice law in the state for at least five years as of the date they commence their duties of office.

THIS BILL IS APPROVED

The Council on Judicial Administration and the Criminal Courts Committee of the New York City Bar Association (the “City Bar”) support the enactment of A.5787/S.1409 (the “Bill”), which requires certain town and village justices in a town or village with a high arraignment volume to be admitted to practice law in this State for at least five years prior to taking office.

This Bill would ensure that certain town and village justices (those serving in towns and villages with the 100 highest arraignment volumes in town and village courts in the state) have equivalent legal qualifications, experience and education as city court judges and that the persons who come before such town and village justices will have their cases heard by a justice with the appropriate legal qualifications. Town and village courts preside over a wide range of criminal and civil matters. Criminal matters include criminal arraignments, bail hearings, preliminary hearings in felony cases, orders of protection and suspension of licenses, motion practice, probable cause hearings, and trials, pleas and sentencing in misdemeanor cases. Civil matters include housing matters, evictions and enforcement of local laws.

These matters involve serious threats to liberty, one’s safety, housing, and can impact the exercise of constitutional rights, including due process and the right to counsel in criminal cases. These matters also often involve changes in the law (such as bail laws), complex legal issues, as well as procedural and substantive cases, statutory and evidentiary law, all of which should not be entrusted to a non-lawyer.

Indeed, the Council on Judicial Administration and the Criminal Courts Committee members would prefer that all town and village justices be admitted to the practice of law. However, ensuring that the 100 busiest town and village courts have judges with adequate legal training, experience and qualifications is a good starting point and will go a long way toward protecting the due process rights of all who appear in the affected courts.

Given the foregoing, the City Bar supports this Bill and urges its enactment into law.

Council on Judicial Administration
Fran Hoffinger, Chair

Criminal Courts Committee
Carola Beeney, Co- Chair
Anna Cominsky, Co-Chair

March 2025