The Honorable Patricia K. Costello to Join Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC (CSG) today announced that the Honorable Patricia K. Costello will become Of Counsel to the firm, effective October 1, 2015. Judge Costello joins CSG after serving for more than 25 years as a New Jersey Superior Court Judge, including the last decade as the Assignment Judge in Essex County.
During her tenure as Assignment Judge, Judge Costello had judicial responsibility for all trial courts in the county, handling more than 100,000 filings per year and was in charge of the county’s municipal courts as well. Judge Costello supervised approximately 1,000 employees and managed a $55 million annual budget for the state’s busiest courthouses.
Appointed to the bench in 1989 by then Governor Thomas Kean, Judge Costello spent the first 15 years of her judicial career in Hudson County, serving first in the Criminal Division where she became Presiding Judge, then in the Civil Division where she directly supervised the Special Civil Part, and also in the Family Division where she again became Presiding Judge. Judge Costello served on and has been chair of numerous Supreme Court committees and was vice chair of the Judicial Education Committee.
“Few lawyers in New Jersey have an understanding of the State’s court system equal to that of Judge Costello,” said Frank Giantomasi, one of CSG’s name Members. “I have known the Judge for over a dozen years and I am thoroughly impressed with her knowledge of the law, her professional insights and the way she handles extremely complex legal and business matters,” Giantomasi added.
Prior to her judicial service, Judge Costello was in private practice as a partner in the law firm of McAlevy & Costello where she attained certified criminal trial attorney status in 1986. Judge Costello graduated from Seton Hall University in 1974 and received her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law in 1978.
“Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi represents a new breed of law firms in New Jersey,” said Judge Costello. “For a long time, CSG has been a firm with great depth, including some of the most experienced and well regarded legal and business minds in the state. I admire how CSG is now transitioning under the leadership of a second-generation of high profile professionals, and I look forward to being part of a firm that is aggressively and tirelessly putting in place a diverse array of resources designed to meet the needs of current and future clients,” Judge Costello added.
