Justice Walter Timpone '79 Retires as Pre-Legal Proram Alum Fabiana Pierre-Louis Becomes First African American Woman to Serve

Published 2020-08-28

The first Seton Hall Law appointee to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court is retiring. Associate Justice Walter F. Timpone ’79 was sworn-in by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner on June 2, 2016 at Seton Hall Law School, and has served the Court and the citizens of New Jersey with honor and dignity. In November, Justice Timpone will reach the mandatory retirement age. The New Jersey State Senate yesterday afternoon unanimously confirmed Governor Phil Murphy’s nomination for Fabiana Pierre-Louis to succeed Justice Timpone. Pierre-Louis is a graduate of Seton Hall Law School’s Summer Institute for Pre-Legal Studies (Pre-Legal Program) and is the first African American woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Timpone is expected to retire early to allow her to join the Court’s next session beginning in early September. It is only fitting that as he leaves the Court as the first Seton Hall Law alum to serve, he is linked with another first for the Seton Hall Law community and for New Jersey.

“The appointments of Justice Timpone and Justice Pierre-Louis speak directly to Seton Hall Law’s ability to prepare not only quality legal advocates for justice, but bold leaders who are prepared to assume positions within the highest profiles of the profession and society,” says Dean Kathleen Boozang.

Prior to his appointment on the Supreme Court, Justice Timpone served as a Partner in the law firm of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter and as the first Federal Election Monitor in Passaic County. He was a Commissioner on the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission and spent 10 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark serving as Chief of Special Prosecutions.

Pierre-Louis most recently was a Partner in Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads’ White Collar and Government Investigations practice group. She too served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was the first woman of color to serve as the Attorney-in-Charge of the Camden and Trenton branch offices. Read the full Press Release here >>.