Candidate for
Justice; New York Supreme Court; District 10

Adams...A Justice for All

Justice Thomas A. Adams is a Long Island native, having been born in Mineola and reared in Hempstead. After graduation from Uniondale High School, Tom spent a year at Canaan College and then transferred to Elizabethtown College where he received his B.A. in 1970. From Elizabethtown, Justice Adams entered New England School of Law and graduated from there with his J.D. in 1973.

Returning to Long Island, Tom and his wife, Joann, settled in Rockville Centre, and he began work as an Assistant District Attorney. In 1981, he became Law Secretary to the Hon. Marvin I. Goodman, a judge for whom Tom has had the deepest respect and who has influenced his career ever since. By 1987, Tom had decided to seek election as a Nassau County District Court Judge, a position which he attained and held through 1992 when he was elected as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, 10th Judicial District. Tom remained a Justice of the Supreme Court until 2001 when he was elevated to the Appellate Division of that Court. It is that position, Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, 2nd Department, of the New York State Supreme Court, that Tom holds currently.

When Tom attended Elizabethtown, the college motto was, "Educate for Service." It is that service ethic that has permeated his entire career. Tom is viewed as a people-person, hardworking, and dedicated to fairness. His honest, even tempered, common-sense approach to legal matters has earned him high praise and great respect from all who know him or have dealt with him.

Of his thirty-three years in the court system, nineteen have been as a judge. Tom has said of his career, "I know I am a fair, common sense, caring judge, and the 'justice for all' words in my slogan are not just idle ones. They are what I live by on the bench."

Although he has received many awards throughout his career, the two he is most proud of are from his alma maters. In 1995, he was an honoree at the Dean's Reception, New England School of Law, and in 1997, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Elizabethtown College.

Tom and his wife, Joann, have been married for thirty-six years and have two children, Suzanne and Joseph. Joann and the children are graduates of Hosftra Law School and are practicing atorneys.