A new judge is coming to the bench in the Albany County City of Watervliet.
Democratic Mayor Charles Patricelli has appointed Jasmine Norman to replace Peter Torncello as City Court Judge. Torncello, who has occupied the bench for the last three years, is retiring at the end of the month.
"Peter was appointed to a six-year term, but, you know, he decided that he's going to retire at the end of August," said Patricelli. "And so, you know, I needed to fill that vacancy. I had, we had a couple of people in mind. But Jasmine was a person that I met a few years ago. She's been active in the community. Very active in working with me, on a few different projects. I first met her when she was on the police review board and, you know, was saying, geez, she was right in our backyard, and I never knew it. And I was very impressed with the, you know, what her, you know her, her knowledge and her abilities. I said if time ever came, she'd make an excellent candidate. And here we are."
Norman is the first minority woman to serve as a city judge. The 2014 University at Buffalo School of Law graduate currently works as a Deputy General Counsel Litigator for the New York State Office of Cannabis Management. She moved to Watervliet from Schenectady in 2018 and previously lived in Albany's Center Square neighborhood. During the pandemic, Norman responded to a Watervliet call for panelists after then-Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a mandate that every city had to have a police policy reform board.
"I joined that board, and that's when I was first introduced to Mayor Patricelli, and he was surprised that he had an attorney such as myself living in Watervliet," Norman said. "And so we grew to know one another. And not so long after that, I joined the Watervliet Ethics Committee. He asked me to join another committee in Watervliet, and so I volunteered on both committees. And then at some point this year, he put the bug in my ear that, you know, it might be good for me to represent Watervliet as a city court judge. And I didn't think anything of it, you know, I didn't know when that would happen. I don't know if it was just talk. And then I was coming out of maternity leave, and he told me that that opportunity might come sooner than later, because the presiding judge would be retiring. And so next thing you know, you know, I have a conversation with him, the other judges. We talked about my background, my interests, and the appointment was announced not too long after that."
Originally from Queens, Norman says her passion was for the arts but fate led her to pursue law.
"I grew up doing a lot of dance, a lot of theater, and so that's where I thought I was headed. But people in my life, family, friends, kept just reaffirming me and telling me that they saw me as an attorney. They saw me in the law so I started taking classes. I started joining debate teams, mock trial teams, things that put me in the position to want to apply to law school. I did a lot of volunteer work, even on my college campus, working for a law firm. I took classes on family law, where it would sit in on the courtroom and just observe. I was in Northampton, Massachusetts. And so the more I engulfed myself in the legal field, the more I found myself wanting to apply to law school. Right after graduating undergrad, I was a paralegal for a year at a midtown Manhattan law firm, and I thought to myself, you know, 'I can do this.' So I studied for the LSAT. I took it and I applied to law school. And, you know, the rest is history," said Norman.
Patricelli says Norman is the judge the city needs.
"I think she's going to be an excellent judge for the city. I think it's going to make a big difference here in the city too. I just like the fact that she's young, she's, you know, I think she'll just bring us a new approach to things too. So I'm looking forward to her coming on board," said Patricelli.
Norman begins a six-year term at the end of August, joining Judge Thomas Lamb on the bench. Lamb has served more than three decades as a Family Court judge.
