Hon. Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor is a judge for the Vicinage 9 Superior Court in Monmouth County in New Jersey. She was appointed to the bench in 2018.
During her judicial tenure, Torregrossa-O’Connor has held assignments in the Criminal Division (2018 to 2019) and Family Division (2019 and 2021 to present) in Monmouth County. In 2021, she was named presiding judge of the Family Division.
Prior to joining the bench, Torregrossa-O’Connor was general counsel in the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., a position to which she was named in 2017. As such, she served as the firm’s key advisor in matters regarding the law governing attorneys, governance issues, risk management, and policy implementation. Before that, Torregrossa-O’Connor, who joined the firm in 1990, was a litigator on the firm’s Criminal Law team. In that role, she was tasked with representing individuals and corporate clients in all facets of criminal law, white-collar litigation, licensing, and regulatory matters.
She received a B.A. from Rutgers University in 1987. Torregrossa-O’Connor went on to complete a J.D. at Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Law in 1990
She is a recipient of the Professional Lawyer of the Year Award from the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law in 2017.
Her memberships have included the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association (Board of Trustees), the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (former vice president), the New Jersey Association for Justice (Board of Governors), and the Monmouth Bar Association (trustee).
In addition, Torregrossa-O’Connor sat as a member of the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association Public Policy Committee (co-chair), the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey Legislative Committee (chair), the New Jersey Association for Justice Criminal Law Section (co-chair), the Monmouth Bar Association Criminal Practice Committee (co-chair), the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Jury Selection, the District IX Attorney Ethics Committee, and the New Jersey State Bar Association Professional Responsibility Committee.