Christopher Porrino, a partner and chair of the litigation department at Lowenstein Sandler, has been named by Gov. Phil Murphy to succeed former Chief Justice Deborah Poritz as chair of the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission.

Porrino formerly served as the state’s attorney general and chief counsel to Gov. Chris Christie. Poritz has chaired the commission since 2018. Senate President Nicholas P. Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin jointly designated Porrino as chair of the commission, which was created by statute in 2009 to examine racial and ethnic disparities in the state’s criminal justice system.