A longtime New York City judge accused of threatening staffers who complained about his “rude” and “unprofessional” behavior with criminal complaints was allowed to quietly resign — and has already landed a cushy job at a top corporate law firm, The Post has learned.
Former Justice Louis Nock, who has served on benches in Manhattan and Brooklyn since 2015, was also being probed for “impermissibly” practicing law serving as a $250,000-a-year state supreme court judge, according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
“The underlying complaints against Judge Nock were serious, and the complaints alleging retaliation were especially troubling,” said Robert H. Tembeckjian, who heads the commission. “His permanent departure from the bench is an appropriate resolution to these matters.”
In addition to his resignation, Nock has agreed to “neither seek nor accept judicial office at any time in the future,” according to the commission.
A trio of complaints starting in 2024 claimed that Nock “often acted in a rude, demeaning and otherwise unprofessional manner toward court staff,” the commission found.
Nock then threatened to file formal grievance complaints against commission staffers unless charges were dropped — and even threatened a witness with a criminal complaint.
The commission was also investigating Nock over complaints that he was providing out-of-state legal services — expressly prohibited for full-time judges — and that he used the “prestige of a judicial office to advance his private interests” by using a personal email address titled “justicelounock.”
Nock also recently drew the ire of a fellow civil court judge, who wrote that Nock “inexplicably declined” to order a psychiatric evaluation for a notorious “woke” crusader after she was arrested on stalking and harassment charges after she threatened to murder a dog belonging to the manager of a bar from which she was banned.
Nock denied the charges, but in lieu of further proceedings, he agreed to resign after Labor Day.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life,” Nock wrote in his resignation letter. “I am looking forward to devoting more substantial time with my wife, three children, and eight grandchildren.”
But Nock is not quite ready to become a full-time grandpa.
On Monday, corporate firm Anderson Kill announced that the former justice has joined as a shareholder and member of its corporate and commercial litigation group.
Nock’s attorney, Malcolm S. Taub, said the former judge served “with honor and integrity,” and that Nock believed there was “no basis” for the complaints.
“Judge Nock was seeking to segue into private practice long before any issues were raised before the commission,” Taub told The Post.
“There was no purpose in moving forward before the commission given the fact that as a result of his longstanding efforts he received a position with a significant law firm. He is now moving forward with a new chapter in what has been a very meaningful legal and unblemished legal career.”
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