Deborah Kooperstein

Judge Kooperstein was elected the first female Town Justice in Southampton’s history in November of 1993, and completed her 7th term in December of 2021.

During that time she instituted a law student intern program; installed a Spanish Interpreter in the courtroom and authored a grant proposal to hire advocates for victims of domestic violence. From 1997 until 2000, the U.S. Department of Justice funded this grant through the Office of Violence Against Women (VAWA) which paid the salary of an advocate on site every day and an administrative assistant. When the grant expired in 2000, the Town of Southampton hired two advocates to carry on the advocacy program which continues to this day at the Southampton Town Justice Court in Hampton Bays.

Judge Kooperstein was appointed the Certified Drug Treatment Court Judge for the five East End Towns in Suffolk County in 2002. The East End Regional Treatment Court (EERIC) celebrates its 19tth year of operation this year. She was a representative of the Town and Village Courts on the State Judicial Conference, by appointment of the Honorable A. Gail Prudenti. From 2005 to 2009, the Town Board appointed her the Administrative Judge of the Town Court. In 2007, she was invited to Washington by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy to testify before a Congressional Committee seeking information on the subject of Alternative Courts and Juvenile Justice.

Judge Kooperstein is a graduate of New York University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. She is a past President of the Suffolk County Magistrate’s Association, a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, a life-time member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons. She is of counsel to the law firm Messina, Perillo & Hill LLP. She resides in Bridgehampton and has served on the Board of Directors of the Hamptons Doc Fest since 2008.