N.J. Judge Made Secretary Do Her Son’s Homework: Ethics Panel

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — “How is the assignment going? Did you get the book?”

In almost any court office, the above questions would be as commonplace as asking what a colleague ate for lunch. But when the “assignment” involves a Superior Court judge tasking her secretary with doing her son’s homework, it crosses the line, a New Jersey state committee says.

On Monday, the New Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed a formal complaint against Superior Court Judge Deborah Gross-Quatrone, accusing her of three violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

According to the committee, Gross-Quatrone allegedly:

• Ordered her secretary to do various personal and “non-judicial” work, including doing her child’s homework
• Made a new law clerk work 60-hour weeks for no pay in the 21 days leading up to his official clerkship
• Secretly tried to record meetings with other court officials when her conduct came under scrutiny

Gross-Quatrone - a former private practice attorney – has served as a municipal court judge, Board of Education president and township attorney in Saddle Brook.

The former president of the Bergen County Bar Association has served as a judge in the Family Division of the Bergen and Passaic county vicinages. She is listed on the faculty page of the Fairleigh Dickenson University website and attended Pace University School of Law, Montclair State University and Paramus Catholic Girls Regional High School.

She currently serves as a judge in the Essex County Vicinage’s Civil Division.

‘HOW IS THE ASSIGNMENT GOING?’

According to the advisory committee’s formal complaint – which can be seen here - Gross-Quatrone is accused of three infractions that took place while she served as a Bergen County Family Division judge in 2015.

During this period, Gross-Quatrone allegedly made the secretary check on her jewelry orders, make rental car reservations and vacation itineraries, send out letters about Louis Vuitton bags and Macy’s store credit, and perform billing services for clients from her prior law practice.

In September of 2015, Gross-Quatrone allegedly made her secretary do a homework assignment and order a book for her son, a high school senior at the time.

According to the formal complaint, Gross-Quatrone then sent a follow-up email to her secretary, asking: “How is the assignment going? Did you get the book?”

“I’m working on the assignment,” her secretary allegedly responded. “I got the book online. I will have a draft done by tomorrow AM for him to look at.”

The advisory committee wrote that the alleged behavior “repeatedly misused judiciary resources” and “demonstrated an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges.”

In addition to the homework allegations, Gross-Quatrone told an unsuspecting law clerk to begin her clerkship three weeks ahead of schedule in August of 2015, the complaint states. During this assignment – which wasn’t sanctioned by the court - Gross-Quatrone had the clerk work from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.

None of the work was financially compensated, although the clerk was eventually reimbursed for her labor, the advisory committee stated.

When Gross-Quatrone was asked to attend multiple meetings with other Bergen County judges in connection with the alleged ethical violation, she tried to surreptitiously tape the conversations with a digital recorder concealed in her purse, the formal complaint states.

Read the full complaint here.

ACJC Counsel Maureen Bauman did not specify what level of discipline might be sought for Gross-Quatrone if she’s not exonerated, the New Jersey Law Journal reported.

When reached for comment Wednesday, Gross-Quatrone referred Patch to her attorney, Adolph Galluccio, who declined to comment for this article.

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