Bruce Blakeman appoints Rockville Centre resident as Nassau County attorney

Nassau County Executive-elect Bruce Blakeman has selected State Supreme Court Justice and Rockville Centre resident Thomas Adams to serve as Nassau County attorney.

Adams, 72, is a former Nassau County administrative judge who oversaw more than 100 judges and 1,200 court employees.

“Not only does Judge Adams have an excellent command of the law, he also has extremely good administrative skills,” Blakeman said. “Having served as an associate justice of the appellate division, where you have to make determinations about issues concerning whether or not there was accordance with the law, Judge Adams has the experience necessary to run the law firm for the county.”

The County Attorney’s office defends Nassau against lawsuits, including civil rights cases against police officers and property assessment challenges.

Adams thanked Blakeman for entrusting him with the role, and said he was excited to take the position.

“I look forward to helping the county executive-elect deliver on his pledges to move Nassau forward while protecting residents’ wallets,” he said.

Adams has been in the legal field for more than four decades, starting as assistant district attorney in the Nassau County District Attorney’s office from 1973 to 1980, and then moving onto getting elected to District Court and state Supreme Court. In 2001, Republican Gov. George Pataki appointed Adams as an associate justice of the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department.

As administrative judge, he is responsible for the day-to-day supervision and oversight of nearly 100 judges and justices and more than 1,200 non-judicial employees assigned to Supreme Court, Court of Claims, Surrogate’s Court, County Court, Family Court, and District Court, plus judges and non-judicial employees of the courts in the villages and cities of Nassau County.

During the past 42 years, Adams has received numerous awards and honors from professional and community organizations. His memberships have included: Nassau County Bar Association; Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; Association of Court of Claims’ Judges; District Court Judges’ Association; and plenty of others.

Adams is a life-long Nassau County resident. He was raised in the Village of Hempstead and graduated from the Uniondale Public Schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania in 1970 and graduated from New England Law in Boston in 1973. He and his wife, Joann, have lived in Rockville Centre since 1973, and Joann is a practicing attorney in the village. They raised two children in the village, and they both graduated from Oceanside High School. Their daughter, Suzanne, is an attorney, living and practicing in Manhattan, and their son, Joseph, is also an attorney, living and practicing in Valley Falls, N.Y.