After 20 Years, Cahill Ready To Pass the Gavel

East Hampton Town Justice Catherine A. Cahill confirmed this week that she will not seek re-election to the position she has held for 20 years.

"It was a very, very difficult decision," Cahill said, adding she is ready for a change. Though she will keep up legal training, she isn't planning on returning to the justice court as a defense attorney, she said. ""Let's just say I tripled the size of my vegetable garden," she said. She is also looking forward to spending more time in Manhattan, where her youngest son is moving following his college graduation next week.

The senior judge will turn over the reigns to Justice Lisa R. Rana, who was re-elected on the Republican ticket in 2011. Cahill's decision leaves the Democrats with a decision to make. They have screened several candidates, including Steven Tekulsky, who ran against Rana several years ago, and Joseph Giannini, another local defense attorney. The Republicans endorsed Carl Irace last month.

Cahill was the first female justice elected in the Town of East Hampton. When she was first elected, she said it wasn't unusual for a male defense attorney awaiting for his client's arrival to mistake her for a clerk as she ran around doing paperwork in the old courthouse. "He never for a moment entertained the possibility I could be the judge," she said. "Those days are gone."

A former assistant district attorney, she worked all around the East End for five years before running for justice. A Bronx native, she lived in Manhattan, working in the Division of Real Property until she met her late husband Marvin, who was already living in East Hampton.

Cahill is one of the longest seated judges in the town, though she wasn't sure if she held the record. After unseating Justice Edward Horn, she worked with Justices Jim Ketchum, Roger Walker, and then Rana.

"Twenty years ago, it was a totally different place," she said. Aside from the physical location — a new courthouse was built in 2007 behind Town Hall — the volume of cases has drastically changed, and East Hampton Town Justice Court has become one of the busiest justice courts in the state.

Cahill is supposed to be on the bench for two weeks, and then off for two weeks, while Rana is presiding. However, the work load often keeps her in the office most of the time, she said.

"I'm certainly leaving the court in competent hands and that's exactly what Judge Ketchum said to me before he ran out on me," she said, adding that she and Justice Rana get along well and have worked well together. "I do feel good leaving the court in her hands," she said.

"What has not changed in the last 20 years is that no one comes into the justice court because they want to be there. In 20 years, I can count on one hand the number of times we've had to get someone in uniform to remove someone who was giving us a hard time. I think that's a tribute to the type of professionalism on the part of the people who work there," she said, speaking specifically of the clerks.