The Hon. Lawrence K. Marks
former Chief Administrative Judge
of New York State
The Honorable Lawrence K. Marks performed a key management, policy and legal role in the state court system for many years.
In July 2015, he was appointed Chief Administrative Judge of New York State. As Chief Administrative Judge, he oversaw the day-to-day administration and operation of the statewide court system, with a budget of over $3 billion, 3,300 state and local judges and 15,000 nonjudicial employees in over 300 locations across the state. He served as Chief Administrative Judge until his retirement from the court system in 2022.
Judge Marks previously served as First Deputy Chief Administrative Judge, the second highest-ranking administrative official in the court system. He also served as Administrative Director of the Office of Court Administration, responsible for day-to-day management of that office, as Special Counsel to the Chief Administrative Judge and as OCA’s Criminal Justice Counsel. Prior to joining the court system, he was a senior supervising attorney with the Legal Aid Society in New York City, in private practice and a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Thomas C. Platt.
In 2009, he was appointed by Governor David Paterson as a Judge of the Court of Claims; he was re-appointed to that position in 2015 by Governor Andrew Cuomo. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Judge Marks heard cases in the New York Supreme Court, New York County.
Judge Marks is the editor and co-author of New York Pretrial Criminal Procedure (Volume 7 of West’s New York Practice Series), and the author of numerous government reports and several law review articles. He also has been an adjunct professor at the law school and graduate school levels. The recipient of multiple awards, he has received judicial leadership awards from the Judicial, Criminal Justice and Family Law Sections of the New York State Bar Association.
He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany (magna cum laude) and Cornell Law School (cum laude), where he was an editor of the law review.