The Hon. Jeffrey D. Lebowitz (Ret.) was a judge for the New York State Court of Claims. He was appointed to the Court of Claims by former Governor David Paterson in 2009. He retired in 2017.
Lebowitz began his judicial career as a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York in 1993. He remained on the Civil Court bench until receiving an appointment to New York City’s Criminal Court by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2004. Shortly thereafter, Lebowitz was designated as an acting justice of the Queens County Supreme Court by former Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman. As such, he presided over the Matrimonial Part, a mixed criminal/civil hybrid part, and over complex tort litigation in Queens County.
Prior to his judgeship, Lebowitz worked as a law secretary to the Hon. Phillip J. Chetta with the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Term (1976 to 1993).
He received a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He also completed a J.D. at Hofstra University, Maurice A. Deane School of Law.
Lebowitz served as a past-president of the State-Wide Designated Justices’ Association and a past-chair of the Brandeis Association. He was also appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo to serve as chair of the Judicial Screening Committee of the Appellate Division, Second Department.
His other committee memberships included the Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee and the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. In addition, he served on the board of trustees of The Reform Temple of Forest Hills and the board of managers of the Queens County Bar Association.
After his retirement from the bench, Lebowitz joined Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carone, LLP as of counsel. While there, his practice focused on matrimonial and family law, commercial litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. He also served as a mediator and arbitrator with NAM.