Jennifer C. Critchley was sworn in a as Superior Court judge in Essex County on Thursday, July 14.
Critchley is one of two Verona residents that state legislators approved for the Superior Court bench in June. She is a partner with Roseland-based Connell Foley, LLP. She is an experienced commercial litigator who works with companies, particularly emerging businesses, as an outside general counsel, advising them on a range of legal issues from contracts to intellectual property disputes.
In addition to her corporate work, Critchley chairs Connell Foley’s Pro Bono Committee and is part of its group of lawyers who help parents with special education law. She is a volunteer at Lawyers for Justice and a member of the District of New Jersey Pro Bono Panel.
Amy K. DePaul, the other resident to rise to the Superior Court, was sworn in earlier this month. She has been the trial court administrator for Essex Vicinage, as the Essex County court district is known, since 2013, managing court operations for the state’s largest court with some 50 judges, 850 staff and over 100,000 annual court filings.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Villanova University and a law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. Upon graduation, DePaul clerked for the Honorable Patricia K. Costello, presiding judge of the Superior Court’s Family Division. DePaul then became an associate at Chasan Leyner & Lamparello in Secaucus. She returned to the Essex Vicinage in 2006 as an assistant civil division manager. She was appointed director of Newark Municipal Court in 2009 and Essex family division manager in 2011.
