By Jessica Dye
NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters) - John Kase, the supervising
judge of the criminal courts in Nassau County, will step down at
the end of the year and rejoin the Long Island law firm he
co-founded in 1978.
Kase said in an interview Friday that he is leaving because
he has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.
After his departure, effective Dec. 31, he will return to
private practice at Kase & Druker, a boutique law firm where he
was a senior partner for 26 years before being elected to the
court in 2004. Kase co-founded the firm with Jim Druker in 1978
and specialized in criminal and administrative matters.
Kase's daughter, Elizabeth Kase, is also a partner at the
firm.
Kase said he has mixed feelings about leaving the bench but
is looking forward to rejoining his firm.
"When your daughter asks you to come and practice with her,
you have to be very flattered," Kase said.
Kase was elected to the Nassau County Criminal Court in 2005
and appointed supervising judge in January by Chief
Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti. His judicial term does
not expire until 2014, but Kase said that, unlike justices in
the state's Supreme Courts who can be certified for additional
years of service, county court judges must step down when they
reach the mandatory retirement age.
No decision has been made yet as to who will take over his
job as supervising judge, Kase said.
A graduate of New York University and St. John's School of
Law, Kase started his legal career as an assistant district
attorney in the Bronx in 1967.
He went on to serve as a special attorney on an organized
crime and racketeering strike force for the U.S. Justice
Department, an assistant attorney general for the New York State
Organized Crime Task Force and an assistant district attorney in
Nassau County, where he was appointed chief of the rackets,
narcotics and district court trial bureau.
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