The state Commission on Judicial Nomination recommended seven candidates to Governor David A. Paterson Monday as possible successors to Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, including two current members of the Court of Appeals and three private practitioners with no prior judicial experience.

In a surprise, the commission did not nominate Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, an associate judge on the Court of Appeals since 1993 and, next to Chief Judge Kaye, the most senior member of the Court. Judge Ciparick was reappointed last year by then-Governor Eliot Spitzer and her term on the Court will run out at the end of 2012, when she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Court of Appeals Judges Theodore T. Jones Jr. and Eugene F. Pigott Jr. were on the commission’s list as was Jonathan Lippman, the former chief state administrative judge who is now presiding justice of the Appellate Division, First Department.

Justice Steven W. Fisher of the Appellate Division, Second Department, also made the final list.

Private practitioners George F. Carpinello of Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Albany; Evan A. Davis of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Peter L. Zimroth of Arnold & Porter were the other nominees to succeed Chief Judge Kaye once she concludes her record 15-plus years as chief judge due to state mandatory requirement rules on Dec. 31.

Mr. Paterson, a first-year Democratic governor, must make his selection from the commission’s list between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15. His choice then goes for confirmation to the state Senate, which has never balked at approving a gubernatorial nominee to the Court of Appeals since the current appointive system was adopted in 1977.

By law, the commission must give the governor seven nominees for the chief judge’s opening. It sorts through the applications it receives in secret, interviews candidates behind closed doors and does not explain why candidates are included in the final list or left off.

In a brief letter to Mr. Paterson, commission Chairman John F. O’Mara wrote that the seven candidates are “well-qualified” due to “their character, temperament, professional aptitude, experience, qualifications and fitness for office, to discharge the duties of that high office” as spelled out by the commission’s rules.

Mr. Mara, a partner at Davidson & O’Mara in Elmira, is an appointee of former Republican Governor George Pataki. Mr. Paterson had one appointee to the judicial nominating committee, Long Island lawyer Frederick K. Brewington.

The other 10 members of the commission were appointed by Mr. Pataki, Chief Judge Kaye and the majority and minority leaders of the Legislature. By statute, four of the commission’s 12 members are not attorneys.

Stephen P. Younger, partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, is counsel to the commission.

Mr. Paterson’s office had no immediate comment.

All four judges on the list have court administrative experience, led by Justice Lippman, the longest-serving chief state administrative judge from 1996-2007 before his appointment to the First Department bench last year.

Judge Pigott was presiding justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department for four years before being appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2006 by Mr. Pataki.

Judge Jones, a 2007 selection to the Court of Appeals by Mr. Spitzer, was chief administrator for Brooklyn state Supreme Court, civil term, in 2006 and 2007. Justice Fisher was administrative judge for Supreme Court in Queens from 1998-2004. He was selected by Mr. Pataki to the Second Department in 2004.

Justice Fisher previously made commission lists for associate judgeship openings on the Court in 2000, 2002, 2003 and twice in 2006.

Mr. Carpinello, the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Civil Practice since 1985, also made previous lists in 2006 and twice in 2007.

Mr. Davis, a one-time counsel to Governor Mario Cuomo, and Mr. Zimroth, corporation counsel in New York City from 1987-89, both made commission lists for the Court of Appeals for the first time. Mr. Zimroth has been director of the Capital Defender Office since 2000.

Source: New York Law Journal