Judge John R. Higgitt: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

The Hon. John R. Higgitt is an Acting Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court, Civil Term in the Twelfth Judicial District of New York. Justice Higgitt was elevated to the Supreme Court bench in 2018 by the Hon. Lawrence K. Marks, Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York after initially being appointed to the New York State Court of Claims by Governor Andrew Cuomo that same year.

He is a registered Democrat.

Justice Higgitt graduated with his B.A. in sociology from the State University of New York College at Cortland in 1998. He went on to earn his J.D. from Albany Law School in 2001.

Prior to joining the bench, Higgitt spent his entire legal career employed by the New York State Unified Court System. He first joined the courts in 2002, where he served for one year as an appellate court attorney for the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department. The following year, he became a principal law clerk to the Hon. Joan B. Carey, a Justice of the New York County Supreme Court and Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the courts of New York City.

In 2005, Higgitt returned to the Appellate Division, this time as the principal law clerk to the Hon. James M. McGuire, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, First Judicial Department. He served in that capacity until becoming a chief court attorney for the same court in 2009. His time in that position was brief, as Higgitt left the Appellate Division the following year to serve as a court attorney referee to the Hon. Douglas E. McKeon, a Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court. He remained in that capacity for five years until then becoming a chief court attorney for the same court in 2015. Higgitt held that position until his appointment to the Court of Claims bench.

He also taught as an adjunct professor of law at Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law from 2007 to 2010.

Higgitt’s committee memberships have included the New York State Supreme Court E-Filing Advisory Committee to the Chief Administrative Judge and the Advisory Committee on Civil Practice to the Chief Administrative Judge. He has also served as a reporter to the Association of Supreme Court Justices’ New York State Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions (Civil) and a reporter to its New York State Bench Book Committee.

In 2008, Higgit received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the State University of New York Cortland Alumni Association.

He was born and raised in Troy, New York.