New Line-Up on the Burlco Bench
Two new judges will be signed on to the Burlington County bench next month, and another will be sent up to an appeals court, making for a new line-up
New Line-Up on the Burlco Bench
Jan Hefler
This summer will bring a new line-up of judges on the Burlco Bench. Two new recruits will be sworn in this month to shake up the Superior Court in Mount Holly. The following month, a heavy-hitter will be elevated to an appeals court.
The score: 15 judges in the current line-up, plus two, minus one, for a new team of 16. Assignment Judge Ronald Bookbinder says two more will give the county what it needs to keep cases moving along at a clip.
Paula Dow, once New Jersey's attorney general, will join the bench in a couple of weeks. Dow recently asked Gov. Christie for the assignment after Essex County senators blocked her appointment there, invoking the unwritten rule of senatorial courtesy.
She graduated in 1977 from Franklin & Marshall College with a B.A. and received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1980. Dow also served as a federal prosecutor and served as the Essex County prosecutor for five years. She recently became a resident of Willingboro. Christopher Garrenger, of Lambertville, will also join the bench this month. He has served with the Office of the Public Defender since 2000. He graduated from Seton Hall Law School and received his undergraduate degree from Lafayette College. Garrenger also served as a law clerk to Middlesex Criminal Presiding Judge Barnett E. Hoffman.
Superior Court Judge Michael J. Haas will be sent up to the Appellate Division effective August 1.
After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers College, he received his law degree from Rutgers School of Law-Camden, in 1979. He served as a law clerk to Appellate Division Judge John W. Fritz.
good luck to all and many prayers for just decisions— hannigan- A local resident, Michael Haas is a quality, hard-working jurist whose well-deserved elevation to the Appellate Division nevertheless represents a real loss to the Burlington County bench. Paula Dow and Christopher Garrenger are inexperienced patronage appointments from North Jersey. Disappointing.— leatherstocking
