Guyanese Online

September 19, 2018 / News / Caribbean / New York local / People / Brooklyn / Guyana

Guyanese judge elated to be re-elected

Judge Ingrid Joseph

BY NELSON A. KING – Caribbean Life News NY

A Guyanese-born judge has expressed elation and fatigue about her re-election to another 10-year term on Brooklyn’s Civil Court.“I feel elated and tired,” Judge Ingrid Joseph told Caribbean Life in an exclusive interview over the weekend. “Elated at the fact that I was able to gain overwhelming support from the Brooklyn voters to re-elect me for another 10-year term.

“Tired because I worked very hard every day to meet and introduce myself to all members of the Brooklyn community at churches, civic and senior centers, community boards, block parties, street fairs, precinct council meetings, subway stations, and at community panel discussions,” she added.   

“I also participated in the vetting process by appearing before several Bar Associations and various other independent organizati­ons,” she continued.

Joseph was first elected as a Countywide judge to the Civil Court in 2008.

That Civil Court seat was slated as vacancy 18 on the ballot in the Democratic Primary Election, on Sept. 13.

There were two incumbents (current sitting judges) seeking re-election to Countywide Civil Court seats: Joseph and Loren Bailey. The contenders for those seats were Sheryl Orwell and Saul Cohen.

According to the Board of Elections’ Unofficial Election Night Results, a total of 388,119 votes were cast. Joseph received 133,372 votes; Bailey 118,520; 88,366 votes and Cohen 45,995 votes; with 1866 write-in votes.

After her first election in 2008, Joseph said she began her tenure as a judge in January 2009, serving for nine years and nine months before her re-election.

In addition to her duties as a civil court judge, Joseph said she was appointed acting justice of the Supreme Court in 2012, working for seven years in that capacity.

She was promoted to Supervising Judge of the Civil Court in January 2017.

Prior to becoming a judge, Joseph was a Principal Law Clerk, primarily for two Supreme Court Justices, Nicholas Clemente and Mark Partnow.

Judge Joseph said she has decided on the length of time she will remain on the bench, without elaborating.

“I can only say that, right now, I have a love and passion for the law, and I enjoy serving my community in the capacity of a judge,” she said.

She, however, said helping people solve problems that affect their everyday lives is “by far, the biggest positive of this job.

“One of the more pronounced challenges is finding ways to manage the inventory of open cases in light of the large amount of cases filed in Brooklyn each year,” Judge Joseph said.