New York judge agrees to retire after being charged with dozens of undisclosed conflicts

A Rockland County judge has agreed to retire and never return to the bench after being charged with failing to disclose personal relationships and conflicts with attorneys who appeared before her.

Sherri L. Eisenpress, a justice of the Supreme Court, Ninth Judicial District, will retire effective April 28, 2026, following charges filed by the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The commission served Eisenpress with formal disciplinary charges in August 2025, alleging she presided over dozens of cases involving attorneys with whom she had personal connections while failing to disclose those relationships or step aside from the proceedings.

According to the charges, Eisenpress presided over at least 55 cases from 2019 to 2024 involving attorneys with whom she maintained close personal and social relationships. She did not disclose those relationships or recuse herself from the cases.

The charges also allege that from 2016 to 2025, Eisenpress presided over at least 41 cases involving the law firm of her principal law clerk’s spouse. She failed to disclose the relationship and did not prevent her law clerk from involvement in those cases.

In a 2022 matrimonial case, Eisenpress presided over a matter in which the attorney for one party was co-hosting a fundraiser for her judicial campaign. She issued a temporary custody order in favor of that attorney’s client and only recused herself after the opposing attorney sought her disqualification.

In 2024, Eisenpress presided over a matter in which a party was represented by her law clerk’s husband. She denied a request to disqualify herself and later stepped aside for unrelated reasons.

Eisenpress has served as a justice of the Supreme Court, Ninth Judicial District, Rockland County, since 2023. She previously served as a judge of the Family Court from 2012 to 2022 and as an acting Supreme Court justice in Rockland County from 2014 to 2022. Her current term would have expired on Dec. 31, 2036.

See the Advance Local Guide to Disclosing Use of AI. Generative AI was used to draft this story, based on data provided by the Commission on Judicial Conduct. It was reviewed and edited by Advance Local.