Gov. Phil Murphy has announced a package of 15 judicial nominations that would give the state judiciary its first Bangladeshi-American judge and its first hijab-wearing Muslim woman judge. The nominations include five judges bound for Mercer County, three for Hudson County and two for Middlesex County. Atlantic, Burlington, Camden and Passaic counties and the Workers' Compensation Court are in line for one judge each. The nominees, if they win Senate confirmation, will join a judiciary that is plagued by judicial vacancies. Superior Court, including the Appellate Division, has 68 vacancies, and that number is expected to rise to 70 by March 6, said judiciary spokeswoman MaryAnn Spoto. The total number of authorized judgeships is 463. The nominees for Mercer County include Rahat Babar, a Bangladeshi-American who is an aide to Murphy, serving as special counsel for litigation since 2019. In that capacity, he oversees all aspects of high-profile litigation, according to his LinkedIn profile. Babar previously held various positions with the Attorney General's Office from 2007 to 2012 and 2014 to 2019. From 2012 to 2014 he was with Bayne Law in Princeton. Babar has also served as chair of the civil rights committee for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Nadia Kahf, the Passaic County nominee, has a solo immigration and family law practice in Haledon. She is also the chair of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group. Kahf is also the legal adviser to Wafa House Inc., a nonprofit domestic violence agency located in Passaic County. Michelle Perry Thompson, the Atlantic County nominee, is a deputy attorney general overseeing attorneys in Atlantic and Cape May counties who handle child protective service and guardianship caseloads. She also serves as the attorney general's designee on the New Jersey Children in Court Improvement Committee, and worked as staff attorney for the state's Study Commission on Violence. James Fattorini, the Burlington County nominee, is a solo practitioner in Moorestown who handles criminal defense and traffic violation cases. He has also served as a municipal prosecutor in multiple municipalities. James Bucci, the Camden County nominee, handles labor and employment litigation and complex commercial litigation in the Camden office of Genova Burns. He represents companies in the defense of noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements and trade secrets litigation, as well as unfair competition claims. Stevie Chambers, a Hudson County nominee, serves in the Jersey City corporation counsel's office, where he oversees litigation against the municipality. Gary Potters, also nominated for Hudson County, is with Potters & Della Pietra in Fairfield. His practice focuses on commercial, business and banking litigation; insurance and reinsurance matters, including Fidelity & Surety, E&O and D&O claims. He also handles employment, product liability and negligence matters as well as toxic torts, such as asbestos, lead, carbon monoxide, silica and chemical exposure. Potters also handles construction-defect and municipal litigation. Jose Vilarino, who is slated for the Hudson County bench, is with Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas, Arnold & Mangan in Scotch Plains, where he represents plaintiffs in auto injury cases, slip-and-fall suits, construction accidents, dog bites, wrongful death, product liability and workers' compensation cases. He previously represented defendants in personal injury cases at Connell Foley and Chasan, Leyner & Lamparello. Aravind Aithal, who is bound for the bench in Middlesex County, is with the Piscataway law firm of state Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex. He is the attorney for the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment for New Brunswick, and is a part-time municipal prosecutor in several Middlesex County towns. He also appears before planning and zoning boards statewide as a land use attorney. Gregg Rubenstein, also nominated for Middlesex County, is the head of a two-lawyer family law practice in East Brunswick. Supti Bhattacharya, a Mercer County nominee, is head of the family law practice at Hill Wallack in Princeton. She worked at the firm now known as Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, in Trenton, from 2002 to 2006, and worked as a solo and in various small firms until joining her present firm in 2016. Bhattacharya is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Family Law Section Executive Committee and the association's Bylaws Committee. Previously, she was a trustee of the bar association, chair of its Minorities in the Profession Section, its Diversity Committee and Bylaws Committee. Sherry Wilson, also bound for the Mercer County bench, is deputy director of the state Ethics Commission. She is vice president of the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey. Wilson was a deputy attorney general, prosecuting multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud and conspiracy cases, and she won an award in 2008 for her work prosecuting "Operation PharmScam," where pharmacists bought prescriptions, including HIV/AIDS drugs, from indigent patients so Medicaid could be billed for medications that were never dispensed.

Jodi Bouer, another Mercer nominee, has a solo practice in Princeton focusing on health insurance advocacy and litigation. Earlier in her career she practiced insurance coverage law at Sills Cummis & Gross and at the defunct Budd Larner and Morgan Melhuish Abrutyn, and she also had stints at CNA Insurance and at Princeton's Freeman Carolla Reisman & Gran. Bouer is also counsel to the Mercer County Republican Committee and that group's former vice chair. Russell Wojtenko, also a Mercer County nominee, is chief judge of compensation for the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development Division of Workers' Compensation. He was previously a partner at Wojtenko & Wojtenko. Tanya Phillips, who is nominated as a judge of Workers' Compensation Court, is a partner at Gaylord and Popp in Trenton. She concentrates on workers' compensation claims, Social Security disability claims and personal injury matters. Phillips is treasurer and chair of the events committee at the Mercer County Bar Association.