Judge Martin Shulman Judge Martin Shulman.

Martin Shulman will take over as the presiding justice of the appellate term of the Supreme Court, First Department, replacing Douglas McKeon who was appointed a month ago.

McKeon “declined to take the position over the holidays after further conversations with his family,” said Lucian Chalfen, public information director for the New York state Unified Court System.

Shulman, who has been on the court since 2009, said in an interview that he doesn't think any major changes are necessary.

“The appellate term is doing very well. As I understand it we have no backlog. We have a great staff and great judges. I'm a big fan of my court,” he said.

Shulman was appointed by then-Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman in 1999 as an acting Supreme Court justice for New York County and served in that position until 2005. In 2006, he was elected to the Supreme Court in New York County, a term that goes until 2019.

He was a judge in the Civil Court of the city of New York from 1995 to 2014 and was named the supervising justice from 2000-09.

He was an associate at Shaw & Binder from 1987 to 1992 and a partner from 1993 to 1994. Before that, he was a supervising and staff attorney in the New York state Division of Homes and Community Renewal.

He received his degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1981.

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