John W. Sweeny, Jr. is retired Associate Justice of the New York

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, or simply the First Department, is one of the four geographical components of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, the intermediate appellate c ...

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Early life and education

He is a 1971 graduate of

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

. He received his JD from

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...

in 1974.

Legal career

Prior to joining the bench, he was worked in private practice. He also served as Law Secretary to State Supreme Court Justices John P. Donohoe and Fred A. Dickinson. He was also an Administrative Assistant District Attorney for Putnam County. He subsequently served as a County Court Judge, acting Supreme Court Justice, and

New York Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

, from 1987 to 2004. He was designated a Justice for the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department in 2004 by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...

and served until his retirement in December 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeny, John Living people New York (state) lawyers 1949 births New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department justices