A Rockland County Supreme Court justice agreed to retire early and never return to the bench after presiding over dozens of cases involving attorneys she frequently traveled, texted and gossiped with over the course of nearly a decade.
Justice Sherri Eisenpress took multiple trips to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jersey City and Atlantic City with five attorneys who appeared before her and three court staff members — including her principal law clerk, Dara Warren, whose husband owns a law firm that appeared before her in over 41 cases, the Commission on Judicial Conduct charges. The misconduct allegations were made public along with Eisenpress’s resignation on Monday.
Eisenpress, the attorneys and court staffers planned their trips and other social plans in group text chats with names like “Punta Cana Partiers,” “Bougie B*tches,” and “Queen Dara & her loyal subjects.” The group also used the chats to discuss gossip, memes, off-color jokes and sexually graphic images, according to the misconduct charges.
Eisenpress never disclosed her relationships or conflicts of interest to the parties involved in cases before her.
She presided over at least 55 cases between 2019 and 2024 involving attorneys in those text chains, which included Amy Eisenberg of Eisenberg Yellen LLP; Ilene Graff of the Law Offices of Eric Ole Thorsen; Siobhan T. O’Grady of Miller Zeiderman LLP; Ashley Kersting of Miller Zeiderman LLP; and E. Christine K. Wienberg, a solo practitioner.
The former justice also frequently joined those attorneys in birthday celebrations, political discussions, meals, drinks and personal, family milestone and social events, sometimes at their homes.
The group had plans to take another trip to Mexico in November 2024, but canceled it after Eisenpress learned the commission was investigating her conduct.
Robert Tembeckjian, the administrator of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, called the allegations against Eisenpress “serious” and her permanent departure from office “appropriate.”
“For the public to have confidence in the courts, judges must be and appear to be impartial,” Tembeckjian said. “That means stepping aside from cases where they have clear conflicts, and disclosing arguably disqualifying conflicts so the parties have an opportunity to ask that the judge step aside.”
Eisenpress’s current term on the Supreme Court would have expired on Dec. 31, 2036. She was elected to that bench in 2023, after serving as a family court judge from 2012 to 2022, and an acting Supreme Court justice in Rockland County from 2014 to 2022.
Her campaign for the state Supreme Court also involved misconduct, according to charging documents: While serving on the family court bench, she issued a child temporary custody order in favor of a client represented by Kersting and her law partner, Lisa Zeiderman — who was co-hosting a fundraiser for her 2022 Supreme Court campaign.
Eisenpress recused herself from the matter only after the other party’s attorney sought her disqualification due to the relationship.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct has accepted 161 similar permanent resignation stipulations since the procedure allowing those resignations was instituted in 2003.
