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Gilpatric, Dunn face off Tuesday
  
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By Susan Campriello
Voters across seven counties will elect either Kingston City Judge James Gilpatric or Albany lawyer Jill Dunn to serve on the State Supreme Court in the 3rd Judicial District.
The district includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties. Justices are elected to 14-year terms. Appellate Division Associate Justice Anthony Kane, of Sullivan County, will retire from the bench later this year.
Gilpatric said his more than 25 years representing thousands of clients in State Supreme Court best qualifies him as the newest 3rd Judicial District Justice.
Gilpatric, 57, said that experience made him aware that clients needed to know that a court with a large caseload cares about their cases.
He said he would not forget that consumers of the court were there because of “probably the biggest problems of their lives.”
“I will be treating them with the respect and interest that is necessary,” he said, to “make [court] less of an area of terror and more an area of common peaceful adjudication, of civil disputes.”
Gilpatric, who graduated from Sienna College and Albany Law School, wrote decisions during his four years working for Supreme Court Justice Vincent G. Bradley as a law secretary.
And, he has written decisions in Kingston City Court since 2007.
That court, he said, is one of the busiest city courts in the state and he keeps up with his daily caseloads as well as administrative work there. He does not expect his duties on Supreme Court to make him any busier.
He said his election will help residents in the southern portion of the district have access to the court because he will hear cases in Ulster County. Dunn would hear cases in Albany County.
“Anybody that practices law in Greene or Columbia counties knows the importance in having local judges that are able to sit in their counties at least the majority of the time,” he said.
Gilpatric said the enjoyment he got helping people influenced his decision to leave the New York State Department of Financial Control Board for the City of New York to go into private practice.
He was censured in 2005 for appearing in court while under the influence of alcohol.
In 2006, he began presiding over Ulster County’s Domestic Violence Court. He has worked with the Commission of Social Services and the Inter-Agency Domestic Violence Council to coordinate county-wide response to domestic violence including coordination of orders of protection.
Gilpatric, who is running on the Democratic, Conservative and Independence party lines is faced by Jill Dun, who is running on the Republican Party line.
Dunn, 41, said she represents a candidate of choice and will bring diversity to the court.
She said her skills, experience and intellect uniquely equip her to serve on the bench.
Dunn has worked as a litigator, as a public servant and as a court administrator and has tried matrimonial proceedings, Article 78 cases, commercial disputes and cases surrounding automobile accidents.
She administered traffic courts while with the State Department of Motor Vehicles in the cities of New York and Rochester as well as in Suffolk County.
She said the department had a backlog of 1.5 million cases when she began in 2002. The backlog was brought down to 100,000 tickets she said.
“It demonstrates that I have the administrative and managerial ability to manage a busy caseload in a seven-county district,” she said.
Dunn said a court must issue timely decisions since lawyer fees can be expensive.
She said if elected she would hire a young attorney rather than a secretary to help speed the process along.
Dunn has also written laws and regulations.
“I think it is important for a judge to have seen the law and its application from every perspective,” she said.
Dunn became a lawyer because she was interested in fairness and doing what is right.
Dunn also graduated from Sienna College and from Albany Law School, where she is an adjunct professor.
She is a member of the Government Law Center Advisory Board.
Earlier this year, she received the Honorable Judith S. Kaye Distinguished Member Award from the Women’s Bar Association of New York.
And, if elected, she would be the only woman on the bench as a trial judge in the 3rd and 4th districts, she said.
Dunn carries endorsements from the Republican party and former Assembly Minority Leader and Gubernatorial candidate John Faso of Kinderhook.
The district includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties. Justices are elected to 14-year terms. Appellate Division Associate Justice Anthony Kane, of Sullivan County, will retire from the bench later this year.
Gilpatric said his more than 25 years representing thousands of clients in State Supreme Court best qualifies him as the newest 3rd Judicial District Justice.
Gilpatric, 57, said that experience made him aware that clients needed to know that a court with a large caseload cares about their cases.
He said he would not forget that consumers of the court were there because of “probably the biggest problems of their lives.”
“I will be treating them with the respect and interest that is necessary,” he said, to “make [court] less of an area of terror and more an area of common peaceful adjudication, of civil disputes.”
Gilpatric, who graduated from Sienna College and Albany Law School, wrote decisions during his four years working for Supreme Court Justice Vincent G. Bradley as a law secretary.
And, he has written decisions in Kingston City Court since 2007.
That court, he said, is one of the busiest city courts in the state and he keeps up with his daily caseloads as well as administrative work there. He does not expect his duties on Supreme Court to make him any busier.
He said his election will help residents in the southern portion of the district have access to the court because he will hear cases in Ulster County. Dunn would hear cases in Albany County.
“Anybody that practices law in Greene or Columbia counties knows the importance in having local judges that are able to sit in their counties at least the majority of the time,” he said.
Gilpatric said the enjoyment he got helping people influenced his decision to leave the New York State Department of Financial Control Board for the City of New York to go into private practice.
He was censured in 2005 for appearing in court while under the influence of alcohol.
In 2006, he began presiding over Ulster County’s Domestic Violence Court. He has worked with the Commission of Social Services and the Inter-Agency Domestic Violence Council to coordinate county-wide response to domestic violence including coordination of orders of protection.
Gilpatric, who is running on the Democratic, Conservative and Independence party lines is faced by Jill Dun, who is running on the Republican Party line.
Dunn, 41, said she represents a candidate of choice and will bring diversity to the court.
She said her skills, experience and intellect uniquely equip her to serve on the bench.
Dunn has worked as a litigator, as a public servant and as a court administrator and has tried matrimonial proceedings, Article 78 cases, commercial disputes and cases surrounding automobile accidents.
She administered traffic courts while with the State Department of Motor Vehicles in the cities of New York and Rochester as well as in Suffolk County.
She said the department had a backlog of 1.5 million cases when she began in 2002. The backlog was brought down to 100,000 tickets she said.
“It demonstrates that I have the administrative and managerial ability to manage a busy caseload in a seven-county district,” she said.
Dunn said a court must issue timely decisions since lawyer fees can be expensive.
She said if elected she would hire a young attorney rather than a secretary to help speed the process along.
Dunn has also written laws and regulations.
“I think it is important for a judge to have seen the law and its application from every perspective,” she said.
Dunn became a lawyer because she was interested in fairness and doing what is right.
Dunn also graduated from Sienna College and from Albany Law School, where she is an adjunct professor.
She is a member of the Government Law Center Advisory Board.
Earlier this year, she received the Honorable Judith S. Kaye Distinguished Member Award from the Women’s Bar Association of New York.
And, if elected, she would be the only woman on the bench as a trial judge in the 3rd and 4th districts, she said.
Dunn carries endorsements from the Republican party and former Assembly Minority Leader and Gubernatorial candidate John Faso of Kinderhook.
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