BIOGRAPHY
Recently retired Justice of the Nassau County Supreme Court, Judge Julianne T. Capetola has joined us at Capetola & Divins, P.C.. Judge Capetola attended St. John’s University School of Law, graduating in 1980. She began her legal career in private practice concentrating in the field of immigration and criminal law, later expanding to general litigation.
In 1984, Julianne Capetola joined the Law Department of the Nassau County District Court. After a four year tenure as a Law Assistant, she served with distinction as Law Secretary in Supreme Court for three outstanding Jurists, Justice Joseph Colby, Justice Edward Hart, and Justice Jack Kingston. In addition to her duties as a Law Secretary, she was an Adjunct Professor at Nassau Community College teaching Business Law. She also served as the coordinator in Nassau County for the P.E.A.C.E program, an educational program for divorcing parents. After serving as matrimonial Referee in Supreme Court, Justice Capetola was elected and reelected to the Family Court of Nassau County where she proudly served for eighteen years. In 2003 Judge Capetola was presented the Fidelis Juri Award from the Uniformed Court Officers Fraternal Order of Court Officers.
Judge Capetola was an Acting Supreme Court Justice from 2007 through her election to Supreme Court in 2015, and added post-judgment matrimonial matters to her Family Court case load in 2014. In early 2015 Judge Capetola made the physical move to Nassau County Supreme Court where she carried a full civil litigation calendar including jury and non-jury trials. She served as Chair of the Nassau County Judicial Committee of Women in the Courts.
During her tenure in Nassau County Supreme Court, in addition to her civil calendar, Judge Capetola handled a specialized foreclosure and real property part including reverse mortgage foreclosures, tax and condominium lien foreclosures, and escalated residential foreclosure matters involving allegations of bad faith negotiations by banking institutions. Judge Capetola also presided over an Article 81 guardianship part before and during the Covid-19 pandemic and conducted some of the first virtual hearings in these matters.