Susanna Molina Rojas has been appointed clerk of the Appellate Division, First Department, the court’s presiding justice, Luis A. Gonzalez, announced Friday. Ms. Rojas, who has been in charge of the court’s legal staff, will succeed David Spokony on Nov. 23, the day after he retires. Mr. Spokony, 61, who has been with the First Department for 32 years, elected to accept the enhanced pension benefits available this year under the court system’s early retirement program (NYLJ, Sept. 22). Mr. Spokony became the court’s deputy clerk in 1994 and was named clerk earlier this year.
In her new post Ms. Rojas’ salary will rise by $6,500 to $136,500. As chief appellate court attorney she has supervised a staff of about three dozen. As the court’s clerk she will be responsible for managing about 350 non-judicial employees. Ms. Rojas, 51, graduated from Fordham College in 1980 and earned her law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1983. In the early years of her legal career she spent about six years in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, first as a clerk for a judge and then in private practice. In the late 1980s, she stopped practicing law to raise three children.
