List of Chief Judges of the New York Court of Appeals
Name Took office Left office Appointed by Notes
Lawrence H. Cooke January 23 , 1979 December 31 , 1984 Hugh Carey First Chief Judge appointed by the Governor under constitutional amendment of 1977 ; age-limited
Sol Wachtler January 2 , 1985 November 11 , 1992 Mario Cuomo Resigned
Richard D. Simons ( acting ) November 17 , 1992 March 22 , 1993 n/a Acted until the appointment of a successor
Judith S. Kaye March 23 , 1993 December 31 , 2008 Mario Cuomo Reached mandatory retirement age ; Chief Judge with the longest tenure ( more than 15 years ) , only Chief Judge to complete a 14-year term
Jonathan Lippman February 11 , 2009 December 31 , 2015 David Paterson
Eugene F. Pigott Jr. ( acting ) January 1 , 2016 January 21 , 2016 n/a
Janet DiFiore January 21 , 2016 incumbent Andrew Cuomo
Chief Judges since 1974
After 1974 , judges of the New York Court of Appeals were no longer elected , following reforms to the New York Constitution . Instead , an appointment process was created . [ 4 ]
Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals refers to the position of chief judge on the New York Court of Appeals. They are also known as the Chief Judge of New York. The chief judge supervises the seven-judge Court of Appeals. In addition, the chief judge oversees the work of the state's Unified Court system, which as of 2009, had a $2.5 billion annual budget and more than 16,000 employees. The chief judge is also a member of the Judicial Conference of the State of New York.