Six attorneys have been nominated to the Superior Court, including Philip Degnan, the state comptroller who has served under two administrations, and practice group leader at Lowenstein Sandler.

Sheila Oliver, the state's lieutenant governor, filed the nominations on Sept. 13 as acting governor rather than Gov. Phil Murphy, who was in San Francisco attending the Global Climate Action Summit.

The nominees from Essex County are Bruce Buechler of West Orange, and Alvin Ricardo Little and Joshua Sanders, both of Maplewood. The Bergen nominees are Michael Antoniewicz of Edgewater and Nina Remson of Glen Rock. The Morris nominee is Degnan of Chatham.

In Essex, eight of the vicinage's 57 allotted seats are vacant; in Bergen, four of 39 seats are vacant; and in Morris, one of 24 seats are vacant, according to statistics provided by the judiciary.

Degnan has been the state comptroller since October 2015, first in an acting capacity before being confirmed by the Senate in April 2016. He was nominated to the comptroller post by then-Gov. Chris Christie.

Before becoming comptroller, Degnan spent four years as the executive director of the State Commission of Investigation. and from 2004 until 2011 was an assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the Public Protection Unit and the National Security Unit.

Degnan began his career at what is now Gibbons in Newark, where he focused on civil and criminal defense work. He is a graduate of Davidson College and Seton Hall University School of Law.

He is the son of former Attorney General John Degnan.

Buechler is a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in Roseland and is the vice chairman of the firm's bankruptcy, financial reorganization and creditors' rights practice. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Little, until recently, was the director of the Victims of Crime Compensation Office, which is part of the Department of Law and Public Safety. Before joining the VCCO, Little was with Kraft & Hughes and Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti. He also was the chief regulatory officer for the state Department of Transportation, the executive director of the state Transportation Trust Fund Authority, and a deputy attorney general in the Division of Law. He is a graduate of American University and the Catholic University School of Law.

Sanders is an assistant deputy public defender in Newark.

Antoniewicz is an administrative law judge. He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University Law School and Rutgers University.

Remson is a solo in Hackensack.

The nominations must be vetted by the Senate Judiciary Committee and approved by the full Senate. There are no Judiciary Committee hearings currently scheduled.