The Honorable Paula T. Dow

Hon. Paula T. Dow is a judge for the Vicinage 3 Superior Court in Burlington County in New Jersey. She was appointed to the bench by former Governor Chris Christie in 2011 and reappointed for tenure in 2019.

During her time on the bench, Dow has held assignments in the Family Division (2012 to 2015) and General Equity Division (2015 to present) in Burlington County. She has also served as the presiding judge of the General Equity Division since 2015.

Prior to her appointment, Dow was serving on an interim basis as the first deputy general counsel for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She held the temporary position while her judicial nomination was pending approval by the New Jersey Senate (2011 to 2012).

Before that, Dow was the fifty-eighth Attorney General of New Jersey, a position to which she was appointed by then-Governor Christie on December 15, 2009 (2010 to 2012). As one of the Governor’s first Cabinet appointments, she held the distinction of being the first African-American woman to hold the position in state history.

Dow was working as the Essex County Prosecutor at the time of her appointment to the state’s principal legal officer. She assumed the position in 2003. Under her supervision, the Prosecutor’s Office was credited with apprehending and obtaining indictments against individuals involved in the Newark schoolyard killings in 2007.

Dow received a B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College in 1977. She went on to complete a J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 1980. While a law student, Dow worked as a summer associate at the Camden law firm of Tomar, Parks, Seliger, Simonoff & Adourian (1978).

Then, after graduating from law school, she began her legal career as an attorney for Exxon Company, U.S.A. in Texas, New Jersey, and New York (1980 to 1987). During her seven-year tenure there, she handled exploration and production, environmental and labor matters, and regulatory compliance issues.

Upon her departure in 1987, Dow joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she worked as a federal prosecutor in the Civil Division for seven years (1987 to 1994). She then moved to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, serving as counsel to then-United States Attorney Chris Christie (1994 to 2003). In addition, Dow held assignments in the Special Prosecutions and Criminal Divisions. During that time, she was tasked with leading the corruption case against former Irvington Mayor Sara B. Bost, as well as overseeing the Weed and Seed program, which combined policing and social initiatives in urban areas. Dow remained in her position there until her appointment to the Essex County Prosecutor by former Governor Jim McGreevey in 2003.

She was admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York, Texas, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the United States District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas.

Dow has held memberships with the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Essex County Bar Association, the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, and the Golden State Bar Association.

She received the Essex County Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, the Hispanic Law Enforcement Officers & Firefighters Association of Essex County Law Enforcement Award, the Clinton Hill Weed and Seed Outstanding Achievement Award, the Christian Love Baptist Church Community Service Award, the New Jersey State Law Enforcement Officers Association Outstanding Police Work Award, the Miller Street Academy Award for Service to Youths, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (New Jersey Chapter) Achievement Award, the NAACP (Newark Branch) Leadership in Community Advocacy Award, and the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Award for Excellence in Judicial Administration.

Growing up in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, her father was a postal worker and her mother worked as a counselor and gym teacher.

Dow is registered as a Democrat.