Elizabeth Hazlitt Emerson

Elizabeth Hazlitt Emerson is a retired American judge who served on the New York Supreme Court of Suffolk County for 28 years, 21 of those years presiding in that court's Commercial Division, a specialized business court. She was instrumental in establishing the Suffolk County Commercial Division, and has played an important part in developing New York's Commercial Division statewide. She worked at prestigious New York law firms before being elected to the bench for two 14-year terms, and has been recognized and honored for her work as a judge and judicial administrator.

Judicial service In 1995, Emerson was elected to the trial level New York Supreme Court of Suffolk County for a 14-year term, and was reelected to a second term in 2009. She served as a judge from 1996 until her retirement in 2023.

Emerson served in the court's general civil part (four years) and dedicated matrimonial part (two years) from 1996 to 2002. In 2002, she assisted in establishing a Commercial Division in the Suffolk County Supreme Court. The Commercial Division is a specialized business court docket within New York's Supreme Court, with a jurisdiction limited to disputes of a business and commercial nature. Commercial Division judges preside over an assigned case from beginning to end. "The caseload of the Division is ... very demanding, requiring of the court scholarship in commercial law, experience in the management of complex cases, and a wealth of energy."

Emerson became the first Suffolk County Commercial Division judge in 2002, and remained in that position until her retirement in 2023. She also founded and co-chaired the Commercial Division Committee of the Suffolk County Bar Association.

Statewide in New York, she has been involved in crafting uniform Commercial Division rules and procedures, while serving as an appointee on the Commercial Division Advisory Council. She also was a member of the Chief Judge of New York's Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century. Nationally, Emerson served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section. She has also presented at the American College of Business Court Judges, of which she is a member, on the "Formation and Administration of Business Courts." in New York. St. Thomas Moore Award from the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Nassau (2022) Boris Kostelanetz President's Medal from the New York County Lawyers Association, as one of the authors of the Commercial Litigation in the New York State Courts treatise (2013) Suffolk County Bar Association's Distinguished Service Award (2001) Member, Chief Judge of New York's Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century Co-chair, Suffolk County Bar Association's Commercial Division Committee, of which she was also a founding member Executive committee member at large of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association