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Law360 (March 24, 2020, 7:37 PM EDT ) Two Garden State judges will be temporarily elevated to the state's Appellate Division, but their assignments will not begin for several months in light of the coronavirus pandemic, state judiciary officials said Tuesday.
While such temporary positions usually start in the spring, the assignments of Superior Court Judges Katie A. Gummer and Morris G. Smith will take effect Sept. 1 due to the "ongoing health emergency," according to statements from the state judiciary.
The Appellate Division — which hears matters from trial courts, the state's Tax Court and state administrative agencies — generally rules on 6,000 to 6,600 appeals and roughly 9,500 motions each year, judiciary officials said.
Judges Gummer and Smith, who were appointed to the Superior Court by then-Gov. Chris Christie in 2013 and 2014, respectively, currently preside over cases at opposite sides of the state, officials said.
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Yale Law School, Judge Gummer has been the presiding judge of the general equity part of the chancery division in the Monmouth vicinage since 2018, officials said. She previously served in the vicinage's civil division.
Judge Gummer was in private practice before joining the bench, and she also is a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts, officials said. She received tenure earlier this year.
"It has been my great privilege to serve my community as a Superior Court judge for the past seven years," Judge Gummer said in a statement. "I am honored to continue that service in the Appellate Division and am grateful to Chief Justice [Stuart] Rabner for this opportunity."
Judge Smith, who graduated from Washington University School of Law (St. Louis), was a general counsel with the Philadelphia Board of Education and a solicitor for Camden, New Jersey, officials said. He then went into private practice, where he focused on economic development, land use and real estate matters, officials said.
Judge Smith sits in the civil division of the Camden vicinage after having served in the vicinage's family and criminal divisions. He is eligible for tenure next year.
Judge Smith also is a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, or DICE; chair of Statewide Committee of Vicinage DICE Chairs; and chair of Vicinage IV Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement Committee, officials said.
Previously, he served on the Vicinage IV Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative Statewide Pilot Program Committee and the Supreme Court Working Group on the Indiscriminate Shackling of Juveniles in Court, officials said.
"It has been a great privilege to work with the talented judges and staff of the Camden Vicinage," Judge Smith said in a statement about his assignment.
"I am excited to take on this new challenge in the Appellate Division and I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Chief Justice Rabner for his confidence in my ability to continue to serve the citizens of this state in this role," the judge added.
--Editing by Haylee Pearl.
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