Robert A. Lifson is a former Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. He was elected to the Supreme Court in November 1994. He was the Supervising Justice of the Matrimonial Part for four years and was also assigned to the trial part for four years. In addition to his trial responsibilities, he presided over tax certiorari and condemnation matters and handled mental hygiene matters for the court. In 2003 he was appointed to the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court by the Chief Administrative Justice of the State of New York, Jonathan Lippman (now Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals). In 2004 Judge Lifson was appointed by Governor George Pataki as an Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, and was appointed as a Constitutional Justice of that court in 2008.
Immediately prior to his election to the Bench, Judge Lifson served as Counsel to New York State Senator Norman Levy (Senate Chairman of the Transportation Committee) and Senator Caesar Trunzo on the Commission for Water Resource Needs of Long Island. From 1989 to1994, he was elected Chairman of the Republican Committee of the Town of Huntington. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Lifson served as Confidential Law Secretary to the Hon. Paul J. Baisley Sr. for over ten years.
Judge Lifson is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany (1971). He received his Juris Doctorate from Fordham University School of Law in 1974. He also earned a Masters in Public Affairs from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1981.