Longtime Brooklyn judge hanging up the robe after 35 years on bench | amNewYork

"Everyone's got to work together. Everyone's got to know their assigned task and try to have a little bit of understanding of what the next one's task is, Knipel said. And you get there were so many histories of so many other bureaucracies, other counties, where there's infighting and in defining and backstabbing among staff. We never had that in Brooklyn, never my experience. Everybody relied on everybody else."

"And at the end of the week, he's hanging up his robe for good. At his retirement party, held on Oct. 22 at Giando on the Water, Knipel showed off his other area of expertise. He picked up a guitar and jammed with Justice Matthew D'Emic, the administrative judge for criminal matters for Brooklyn Supreme Court, and the two jurists led the crowd in a sing-along of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land."

Lawrence Knipel retired after more than 35 years on the bench, including 12 years as Brooklyn Supreme Court's administrative judge for civil matters. Friends, family and colleagues honored him at a retirement party on Oct. 22 at Giando on the Water in Williamsburg. Knipel performed at the event, picking up a guitar and leading a sing-along of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land with Justice Matthew D'Emic. Knipel praised courthouse staff, emphasizing cooperation, clear assignment of tasks and the absence of infighting in Brooklyn's court bureaucracy. Knipel plans to leave the civil courthouse at 360 Adams St. and enter private practice.

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