Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has appointed Queens County Supreme Court Justice Leslie G. Leach to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct for a term ending March 31, 2020.
Justice Leach is a graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York, the Columbia University School of Law and the University of Massachusetts, where he earned a master’s degree in labor studies. He previously served as a Judge of the New York City Criminal Court from 1993 to 2003, as an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court from 1995 to 2003, and as an elected Justice of the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2007, serving as the Administrative Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District, Queens County. In 2007, Justice Leach left the bench to serve as Executive Deputy Attorney General of State Counsel under then-Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. From 2011 to 2012, Justice Leach served as Appointments Secretary to Governor Cuomo, then taught as Distinguished Lecturer at Queens College. In 2015 he returned to the Supreme Court bench.
Justice Leach is one of three appointees to the Commission made by the Chief Judge, all of whom must be judges. In addition, there are four appointees of the Governor, and one each by the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the Assembly, and the President Pro Tem and the Minority Leader of the Senate.
The press release and other information about the Commission can be found on the Commission’s website: www.cjc.ny.gov.