NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Gov. Andrew Cuomo's screening panel has cleared at least six Supreme Court justices for appointment to the Appellate Division, First Department, Reuters has learned from court insiders.

The 11-member screening panel found four Manhattan justices, one from Westchester County and one from the Bronx eligible for appointment to one of the three vacancies on the intermediate appeals court. Those rated as "highly qualified" to join the 20-member court, the sources said, are Manhattan Justices Eileen Bransten, Paul G. Feinman, Judith S. Gische and Barbara Kapnick; Justice Alan D. Scheinkman, who sits in Westchester; and Bronx Justice Robert E. Torres.

The committee has completed its interviewing for two of the vacancies, and it is likely that Cuomo will announce his choices within the next 30 days for those vacancies, a source said. The two vacancies that are likely to be filled soon are those arising from the departures of former Presiding Justice John T. Buckley and Justice Eugene Nardelli, both of whom left the bench at the end of last year.

The third vacancy, which is linked to the departure in May of Justice James M. McGuire, who joined Dechert as a partner, is not likely to be filled soon, according to the source, because the committee has yet to decide which applicants it will interview.

In any event, first-hand sources said, the court is keeping abreast of its caseload even though it has been operating with only 17 judges since last November, when McGuire announced he would be leaving. The court has been without the services of Buckley since November 2009, when he was assigned to a position at the the court's in-house continuing legal education center in White Plains.

'RUMORS ARE FLYING'

Meanwhile, other sources report that the governor's panel for the 10-county Appellate Division, Second Department, is nearing the completion of its interviewing for one of two existing vacancies on that court. That vacancy arose at the end of last year when Justice Fred T. Santucci left the bench because he had turned 70.

The governor's office has yet to post a notice soliciting candidates to apply for the seat that opened up in September, when Justice Joseph Covello resigned to become a name partner at the firm now known as Lynn Gartner Dunne & Covello, in Mineola. In addition, the governor's office will advertise for applicants to fill the vacancy that will be created when the Second Department's presiding justice, A. Gail Prudenti, assumes her new duties as the court system's chief administrative judge on Dec. 1.

One source with ties to the Second Department said "rumors are flying" that Justice Scheinkman, who has been the administrative judge of a five-county Supreme Court district in the mid-Hudson Valley, will likely be in the running to succeed Justice Prudenti.

Prior to his election to the Supreme Court in 2007, Scheinckman was Westchester County Attorney for two years and a partner for five years at two firms, Epstein Green & Becker in midtown Manhattan and at DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten, Tartaglia, Wise & Wiederkehr in White Plains. He also clerked for former New York Court of Appeals Judge Matthew J. Jasen.

Others suggested that Cuomo might tap Justice Peter Skelos, the brother of Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos, and mentioned Second Department Justice Cheryl Chambers as a strong candidate. Once Justice Prudenti leaves, Justice William F. Mastro, the court's senior justice, will become acting presiding justice.

QUEENS JUSTICE LIKELY TO REPLACE SANTUCCI

It is likely that Justice Santucci's replacement will be a justice who was elected in Queens, a court handicapper said. Queens lost a seat on the bench in 2009, when then-Gov. David A. Paterson appointed Brooklyn Justice Robert J. Miller to succeed Justice Steven W. Fisher, who died last December. Seven of 20 justices currently sitting in the Second Department were elected in Brooklyn and only two in Queens. Only Supreme Court justices are eligible to serve in the Appellate Division.

Two of the six justices cleared for appointment in the First Department are assigned to the Commercial Division in Manhattan: Justice Bransten, who started her legal career as a Queens prosecutor, had a solo practice for seven years and briefly clerked for was now-retired Justice Jacqueline W. Silbermann when she was in charge of the New York City Civil Court before being elected to the Civil Court in 1993; and Justice Kapnick, who clerked for former Justices Michael J. Dontzin and Ethel B. Danzig prior to her election to the Civil Court in 1991.

Justice Gische, who presided over former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's contentious divorce while he was in office, worked as a senior attorney in a midtown litigation boutique and was a Housing Court judge for four years prior to her election to the Civil Court in 1993.

TWO JUDGES FOUND NOT QUALIFIED FOR PROMOTION

Justice Torres, who became a lawyer through an apprenticeship rather than law school, clerked for 11 years for former Bronx Justice Elbert C. Hinkson before his appointment to the Criminal Court in 1996. In 2010, Torres was appointed to the Appellate Term in Manhattan, which hears appeals from the Civil and Criminal courts in Manhattan and the Bronx. According to The New York Times, Torres twice had to withdraw from Brooklyn Law School for academic reasons.

According to two sources, the governor's screening committee found two judges not qualified for promotion to the First Department: Justice John A. Barone, who worked in private practice and clerked for Bronx Justice Harold Silverman for six years prior to being elected to Civil Court in 1991; and Justice David Friedlander, who had been president of the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal for 14 years before his election to Supreme Court in 2003.

Justices Bransten and Kapnick declined to comment for this article. All other judges did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Attempts to reach Justice Friedlander were unsuccessful.

(Reporting by Dan Wise)

Follow us on Twitter: @ReutersLegal