Jamie D. Happas

Judge Happas served as a Superior Court Judge for 20 years handling Family, Mass Tort and Civil matters. She was the Presiding Judge of the Civil Division for eleven years. Prior to her appointment to the bench she was a trial attorney handling all facets of civil litigation. During her judicial tenure she handled every case type filed in the Civil Division and settled thousands of cases.

Judge Happas has been a member of several Supreme Court Committees including the Civil Practice Committee, Evidence Committee, the Arbitration Advisory Committee, and the Information Technology Advisory Committee. Judge Happas was also the past Chair of the Conference of Civil Presiding Judges.

Judge Happas is a member of the New Jersey State and Middlesex County Bar Associations and the Middlesex County Trial Lawyers Association.  She is a past Trustee of the Middlesex County Bar Association and a former President of the Middlesex County Trial Lawyers Association.

Both prior to and after her appointment to the Bench, the Judge taught numerous courses for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the New Jersey Association of Justice and the Middlesex County and New Jersey State Bar Associations. She lectured on a variety of topics for the New Jersey Judicial College and was involved with developing and teaching the Comprehensive Judicial Orientation Program (CJOP) to Judges new to the Civil Division.

Judge Happas received her B.A. with Honors from Rutgers College (and is member of Phi Beta Kappa), M.A. from Rutgers University-Eagleton Institute of Politics and her J.D. from Seton Hall Law School.