Right before the holiday season, the United States Senate confirmed two judges to the NDNY bench – United States District Judge Elizabeth C. Coombe, in Syracuse, and United States District Judge Anthony J. Brindisi, in Utica. Additionally, past FCBA Trustee Paul J. Evangelista started as a United States Magistrate Judge on January 3, 2025.
United States District Judge Elizabeth C. Coombe
Elizabeth C. Coombe served as the First Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of New York from 2018 until her confirmation to the bench. She joined the NDNY USAO in 2003 and previously served as Chief of its Criminal Division from 2014 to 2018. Earlier in her career, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2003; a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch from 1996 to 1997; and a staff attorney in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division from 1994 to 1996. She served as a law clerk for Judge Diana E. Murphy on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota from 1992 to 1994.
United States District Judge Anthony J. Brindisi
Prior to his confirmation to the federal bench, Anthony J. Brindisi had been a judge on the New York State Court of Claims in Utica, starting in 2022. In addition, Judge Brindisi had been serving as an Acting Supreme Court Justice in Oneida County, since the beginning of 2024. Prior to joining the state bench, Judge Brindisi was a partner at Brindisi, Murad & Brindisi Pearlman, LLP in Utica, from 2021 to 2022. From 2019 to 2021, Judge Brindisi served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Before that, he represented District 119, which includes the Utica and Rome region, in the New York State Assembly from 2011 to 2019. While a member of the New York State Assembly, Judge Brindisi also practiced law at Brindisi, Murad & Brindisi Pearlman, LLP. He joined the law firm as an associate in 2004, was named a partner in 2008, and served as of counsel from 2014 until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018.
United States Magistrate Judge Paul J. Evangelista
Prior to starting as a Magistrate Judge this month, Paul J. Evangelista served as First Assistant Federal Public Defender in the NDNY, where he represented defendants in over 1,800 criminal cases. Previously, he was a partner with Ackerman Wachs and Finton, P.C. in Albany. Judge Evangelista replaces Christian F. Hummel, who retired this month after 12 years as a Magistrate Judge.