Judge Prudenti is the Dean at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and Executive Director of the Center for Children, Families and the Law at Hofstra. From December 2011 to July 2015, Judge Prudenti served as the Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York State, where she supervised the administration and operation of the statewide court system. From 2002 until December 2011, Judge Prudenti served as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department in New York State. Judge Prudenti served as Associate Justice, Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department from 2001 to 2002, and as Administrative Judge for the Tenth Judicial District (Suffolk County) from 1999 to 2001.
Prior to her appointment as Administrative Judge, Judge Prudenti served as Surrogate of Suffolk County from 1995 to 2000. Judge Prudenti’s judicial career began in 1991 when she was elected to the New York State Supreme Court, where she served until 1995. In 1996, during her tenure as Surrogate, Judge Prudenti was also designated as an Acting Supreme Court Justice and received the additional responsibilities of presiding over a dedicated Guardianship Part. After six years as the Surrogate, Judge Prudenti was reelected to the Supreme Court bench. Judge Prudenti earned her law degree from the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, which also awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Laws in 2004 and an honorary appointment as Professor in the School of Law.
Judge Prudenti earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Marymount College of Fordham University and an Honorary Doctorate from Hofstra University in 2016. She is a member of the Advisory Panel of Judges of the New York State Lawyer Assistance Trust Program, a member of the Council of Chief Judges of the National Center for State Courts, a former chairperson of the Office of Court Administration’s Mental Health Curriculum Committee for Trial Judges, co-chair of the Chief Judge’s Task Force on Delay in the Courts, a member of the Chief Judge’s Commission on Public Access to Court Records, a former member of the Chief Administrative Judge’s Judicial Legislative Group and a member of the NYS Office of Court Administration’s Gender Bias and Anti-Discrimination Panel.
In addition, the judge is a member of the Judicial Section of the American Bar Association, the former Presiding Member of the Judicial Section of the New York State Bar Association, a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the New York State Women’s Bar Association, a former co-chair of the Surrogate’s Court Committee of the Suffolk County Bar Association, a member of the Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Suffolk County Columbian Lawyers Association.