Hon. Joseph J. Maltese (Ret.)

Joseph J. Maltese served as an associate justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department. His remarkable judicial career includes 7 years spent on the appellate court where he heard and decided appeals of judgments and orders on civil, commercial, construction, criminal, employment, family law matters, real estate, trusts and estates and special proceedings from the Supreme Court and other trial courts, as well as New York State administrative agencies.

As a trial judge in the New York Supreme Court of Richmond and Kings counties, from 1996 to 2014, he presided over a wide variety of commercial and civil matters that included medical malpractice, products liability, mass torts, negligence, employment, real estate, and matrimonial disputes. During his tenure on the Supreme Court, he consistently utilized mediation techniques to resolve contested issues and as a mass torts judge resolved thousands of pharmaceutical cases short of trial.

While serving on the Supreme Court, he was appointed to serve concurrently as an Associate Justice on the New York Litigation Coordinating Panel which consolidates complex commercial litigation and mass torts that are pending in more than one county of New York. In 2015, he was appointed as the Presiding Justice of the Panel where he served until December 2020.

Justice Maltese began his judicial career in 1992 when he was elected as a Judge to serve in the New York City Civil Court where he presided over commercial, negligence, real estate, and landlord-tenant matters. He also served in the New York City Criminal Courts handling misdemeanors and special felonies.

Prior to his judicial career, Justice Maltese spent 15 years as a private practitioner where he concentrated in civil and criminal litigation in the state and federal courts of New York, New Jersey, Florida and the U.S. District Courts. During that time, he handled personal injury matters for both plaintiffs and defendants, commercial matters, construction disputes, real estate litigation, represented a large cooperative apartment building and condominium and 1983 Civil Rights matters. In addition, he also handled matrimonial cases and estate matters in the Surrogates Court including 17A guardianships for the families of persons with mental disabilities, pro bono. Further he served as an arbitrator in the New York Civil Court mediating and arbitrating cases. Prior to entering private practice, he was a law clerk to Judge John Kelly.

According to the New York Judge Reviews, attorneys that have appeared before Judge Maltese have described him as being “very quick on the law and could juxtapose law and fact almost instantaneously”; “He is reasonable. He is judicious. He is very fair and hears everybody out.”; “He is capable of skillfully handling complex cases and medical malpractice lawsuits.”; “He has a great deal of experience as a practicing attorney before he became a judge. He knows the law and applies it.”; “He works at settling cases and has helped facilitate settlements.”; “Proactive in an attempt to settle cases”; “Conscientious and thoughtful and is an all-around good judge.”

In addition to a law degree, Justice Maltese has a Doctor of Philosophy, a Master of Judicial Studies, as well as a Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School where he teaches an interdisciplinary course on mass torts covering complex litigation, product liability, and scientific evidence. He also teaches courses on scientific evidence to judges at the National Judicial College and at the New York State Judicial Institute. Additionally, he taught forensic examiners, physicians and health care providers at Touro College.

After completing a 3-year federally funded program of study, Justice Maltese was selected as a Fellow by the Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Judge Program (ASTAR) now known as the National Courts and Sciences Institute, where he served as a Resource Judge to other judges handling scientific and technical matters. He is a frequent lecturer to attorneys at continuing legal education seminars for the New York State Bar Association, New York State Trial Lawyers Association, the New York City Bar, the Practising Law Institute, the Richmond County Bar Association, the Brooklyn Bar Association, the Columbian Lawyers Association and St. John’s University School of Law.

Justice Maltese is available to arbitrate and mediate cases throughout New York, New Jersey, and Florida.