Leonard B. Austin is a retired American judge in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

state, who served in both the trial level Supreme Court and in the Supreme Court Appellate Division.

Judicial service

In 1998, Austin was elected as a judge to the Tenth Judicial District of the trial level

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

. In 1999, he served in the Dedicated Matrimonial Part in the Suffolk County Supreme Court. In October 2000, he was assigned to the Nassau County Supreme Court's Commercial Division, a specialized

business court Business courts, sometimes referred to as commercial courts, are specialized courts for legal cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. In the US, they are trial courts that primarily or ...

, where he served until 2009. In 2009, Governor

David A. Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer, who resigned, and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to D ...

appointed Austin to be an Associate Justice in New York's intermediate appellate court, the

New York Supreme Court Appellate Division The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York is the intermediate appellate court in New York State. The state is geographically divided into four judicial departments of the Appellate Division. The full title of each is, u ...

, Second Department. He was reelected in 2012. Austin retired from the Appellate Division in 2022. Austin handled approximately 1,000 cases in the Appellate Division during his tenure. As a Commercial Division judge, "he heard and resolved well over 2,000 cases addressing a wide variety of commercial matters, including corporate (limited liability company and partnership dissolutions; shareholder derivative claims), employment issues (including restrictive covenants), and construction contract claims." As a trial court judge, he decided approximately 500 cases per year, "of which more than nearly 100 were published annually."

Legal practice

Austin was in the private practice of law from 1978 to 1998. After his retirement from the Appellate Division, Austin has provided alternative dispute resolution services, and has been recognized as a top 10 arbitrator in

New York Law Journal The ''New York Law Journal'', founded in 1888, is a legal periodical covering the legal profession in New York, United States. Background The newspaper, published Monday through Friday, provides daily coverage of civil and criminal cases from ...

surveys.

Education

Austin received his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 1974, and his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Hofstra University School of Law The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University – also known as Hofstra Law School and colloquially as Hofstra Law – is a law school located in Hempstead, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is affiliated with Hofstra U ...

in 1977. He attended the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Summer of 1973. He has been an adjunct professor at Hofstra University School of Law since 2002.

Awards and positions

Austin received the 2022 Stanley B. Fuld Award from the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the

New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice ...

. The award is given to "honor leaders in law for their outstanding contributions to the development of commercial law and jurisprudence in New York state." Since August 2022, Austin is a member of the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, becoming its permanent Vice Chair in 2023. In 2003, while still a Supreme Court justice, he served as Chairman of the Commercial Division Rules Committee and was involved in authoring the Uniform Commercial Division Rules which were implemented in early 2006 (and which have been modified over the years). In 2014, even after moving to the Appellate Division, he was selected to serve as a member of the Chief Judge's Commercial Division Advisory Council. He has also served on the Pattern Jury Instruction Committee. Austin is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges. He served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Leonard B. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) New York Supreme Court justices New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division justices 21st-century American judges New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department justices