Court seats on ballot with incumbents, newcomers seeking judgeships

This post is one in a partnership between the Rochester Beacon and veteran reporter Gary Craig, featuring articles published on his Substack site.

Family Court Judge Tonia Ettinger and Mallorie Rulison are having similar experiences as they campaign for a Monroe County Family Court judgeship: They often have to explain just what family court does and why it’s important.

The court’s reach is more expansive than many realize, and its impact more consequential, they say.

Not only does the court handle custody and visitation issues, but it also can terminate parental rights, Ettinger says. It can pull a child from a home. It can send a youth to a secure facility after commitment of an offense.

“These are life-changing events in a child’s and family’s life,” she says.

The court can have a stigma, but at its core, Rulison says, is a daily effort to strengthen families and put children on a solid path.

“By building a stronger family, you’re building a stronger community,” says Rulison, 40.

Ettinger, 47, is now a family court judge, appointed in June by Gov. Kathy Hochul in an interim capacity.

A Democrat, she is highlighting her years that preceded her appointment. For the past 16 years she has worked solely within the county’s family court, first with the Legal Aid Society of Rochester and, since 2019, as a confidential court attorney for Family Court Judge Fatimat Reid.

“The big thing for me is really the experience,” she says. “I really just want to stress how family court serves thousands of families each year.”

Rulison, a Republican, says she brings her own experiences with the intersection of the justice system and youths.

While a law student, she worked in the juvenile prosecution office for Monroe County. Later, when returning to the county’s law office, where she worked from 2013 to 2020, she also spent time in the juvenile prosecution arena. She also has family law experience.

Rulison now is a principal law clerk for state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Nasca. She has worked in his chambers since his 2019 election.

Rulison is also endorsed by the Conservative Party and Ettinger by the Working Families Party.

Tonia Ettinger

Ettinger says her interest in the law started at an early age. She graduated from the SUNY Geneseo in 1999 where she majored in political science with a minor in legal services. While there, she did some paralegal work that “really kind of steered me to a love of the law,” she says.

Law school helped set her career path, she says. While at the University of Buffalo School of Law, from which she graduated in 2003, she worked in a domestic violence clinic in family court.

“I realized what a phenomenal impact family court has on the lives of people,” she says.

Ettinger worked in private law for six years, a time that included family court work in the mix, then joined Legal Aid.

Legal Aid assists low-income residents and represents children as law guardians in family court cases. Its family law practice also works closely with victims of domestic violence and elder abuse.

“I think that family court takes a unique judicial temperament,” says Ettinger, a Brockport resident. “You have to have the ability to understand and to listen because family court is a very emotional court and sometimes people just want to be heard.”

Her many years in family court have shown her how to work with the troubled families and children in the courts daily, Ettinger says.

“What I really want people to know is that this is a court that makes monumental decisions for families,” she says.

Ettinger once ran unsuccessfully for state Supreme Court. She became a candidate in that 2016 race late after a Democratic Party decision to place her as a candidate in an open slot. (For campaign website click here.)

Mallorie Rulison

Rulison’s taste for the law started largely overseas when, while in college, she interned with a British solicitor’s firm during studies abroad. She’d go to the court with barristers, and she began to see the law as a career path.

A graduate of St. Lawrence University, where she focused on government and psychology (the latter helps her navigate the many personalities that appear in court, she says), Rulison afterward studied law at Syracuse University. She graduated from there in 2010.

After law school, she first worked in private practice, with a focus ranging from real estate to family law, before joining Monroe County’s law office in 2013. There, after working in juvenile prosecution, she joined the litigation team.

State Supreme Court Justice Nasca, with whom she now works, at first handled matrimonial cases, then a civil docket with a range of cases. On the matrimonial side, “you’re combining litigation while working with families,” Rulison notes.

Rulison says the family court judgeship appealed to her because “I like that it’s working with people.” There are daily impacts from the courts, she adds.

She recently met a man who, when a teenager, was placed under PINS oversight by a family court judge.

“He said, ‘I was going down a bad path when I was young and my dad filed a PINS against me,’” Rulison recalls. “He said, ‘It changed my life.’” Now he is gainfully employed after military service, Rulison says.

(PINS stands for “persons in need of supervision” and a family court judge, using PINS, can direct resources and supervision, or even placement in a facility, for youth. Families and schools can file a PINS petition for children.)

Rulison, a Pittsford resident, says she sees growing resources for courts. On the campaign trail she is constantly grabbing brochures and seeking information about the programs that could help local families.

“It’s just a question of how can we get the court system to use the resources that are available,” she says. (For campaign website click here.)

Judicial ratings

Only the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys, or GRAWA, is rating judges this year.

Ettinger received a “well qualified” rating from GRAWA, the second-highest rating from the nonprofit organization. Rulison received no rating because she declined to participate.

Some Republicans and Conservative candidates have bypassed ratings through the years, claiming they are not always fair. Rulison says she also was concerned about the confidentiality of some information because she is a court employee.

7th Judicial District

New York’s 7th Judicial District is a sprawling swath of land—urban and rural, white-collar and blue-collar, agricultural and technical.

It also has been a district where, for years, there was a preconception with a solid historical basis: Democrats rarely can be elected as judges in the 7th.

That has been changing, as Monroe County, the most populous county in the district, has become more blue and more independent with voters. Still, Democrats seeking judgeships fare better in the district in years with heavier turnouts—presidential election years, for example—so 2025 stands as more of a mystery than most.

What we do know is this: When the votes are counted, there will be at least one person new to the bench and two new to state Supreme Court.

Only one incumbent judge, Ontario County Court Judge Kristina “Kitty” Karle, is among the four seeking election to the 7th Judicial District. She also has been serving as an acting state Supreme Court justice.

“God willing, if I win on Nov. 4, I just show up and keep doing my job,” says Karle, a Republican.

Also seeking the judgeship are Republican Joe Dinolfo, an attorney for the state’s Mental Hygiene Legal Services, or MHLS; Democrat Darius Lind, a court attorney referee; and Democrat David Siguenza, the first assistant in Monroe County’s Conflict Defender’s Office.

The 7th Judicial District covers eight counties: Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates. Judges serve a 14-year term. The court handles civil and criminal matters.

Kristina “Kitty” Karle

If elected, Karle, 54, will make history: She will be the first woman outside of Monroe County to be elected to the 7th Judicial District bench. A former prosecutor, Karle already was the first woman to be elected county court judge in Ontario County.

Karle says she loved being a trial attorney, and an advocate for victims, and that experience served her well when she was elected to the bench. “I have a compassion for vulnerable victims,” she says.

A Honeoye native who now lives in Bristol, Karle says she always wanted to return to practice locally. She received her bachelor’s at Seattle Pacific University and returned for law school at the University of Buffalo.

She worked in the Erie County district attorney’s office before joining the Monroe County DA’s office in 2002.

There she rose through the ranks as a prosecutor with child abuse and sexual abuse cases. She was a bureau chief overseeing child abuse cases when she left the office in 2012.

During her time in Monroe County, Karle was admonished by appellate judges for overstepping legal bounds in a closing argument. The conviction was not reversed, but the judges said she had previous instances of prosecutorial misconduct.

Karle says she was passionate when fighting for victims, but learned from the court’s decision. “It was instrumental for me, but also painful,” she says. However, she adds, it was a lesson for her on the bench, where she is more a referee than advocate.

After leaving the Monroe County DA’s office, Karle was in private practice before her 2018 election in Ontario County.

“I’ve had experience on both sides,” Karle says. “Who are our best referees or commentators? They were people who were on the field.”

In private practice, she worked with Rochester-based lawyer Joan O’Byrne, a trailblazing lawyer who began practicing in the 1960s and smashed many glass ceilings for women.

Karle ran for Ontario County district attorney in 2017 but lost in a GOP primary. Republicans then encouraged her to seek the county court judgeship.

The Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys, or GRAWA, rated Karle as “well qualified,” the second-highest rating and the highest among the four candidates. (Click here for campaign website.)

Joe Dinolfo

Dinolfo, 60, has been highlighting his more than 30 years as a litigator on the campaign trail. He is currently employed by the New York State Appellate Division, 4th Department, where he works as an attorney for MHLS.

He has worked there since 2011, often representing people with disabilities in civil matters who are institutionalized.

That job has given him firsthand experience with the needs of those before the courts as well as the operations of courts throughout the region, he says.

“My jurisdiction is from Buffalo to Utica,” Dinolfo says.

MHLS is the oldest legal watchdog program in the country to help those who are institutionalized with mental disabilities.

Dinolfo received an undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo and his law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law. He has been a volunteer firefighter for more than 20 years.

A Fairport resident, Dinolfo began his legal career in private practice, handling criminal and civil matters. He also served as a legal counsel for the United Auto Workers.

Dinolfo says his job has shown him the needs of those combatting mental health issues who end up in courtrooms. He has experience with the resources available throughout the region and would bring that knowledge to the bench, he says.

Dinolfo lost in a race for a Monroe County judgeship last year. He also is endorsed by the Conservative Party.

He did not participate in the GRAWA evaluations, so did not receive a rating.

Dinolfo’s name may be recognizable because his cousin, Vincent Dinolfo, has long served on the bench locally. (Click here for campaign website.)

Darius Lind

Lind, 43, now serves as a court referee presiding over family court issues, such as custody and domestic violence matters, within the judicial district.

“I love this job,” he says. “It’s a great job and I think family courts are our most important court.”

Referees handle some of the same tasks as a judge, and often make recommendations that become the final decisions with cases. The job has shown that he can tackle a full docket of cases and issue decisions in emotionally fraught cases, Lind says.

“We have the most success as attorneys and as jurists when we make sure that people are heard,” he says.

Lind is a graduate of Marist University and Vermont Law and Graduate School. A communications major at Marist, he first considered a media job, then moved toward the law. With a college background in theater and debating, the fit was natural, he says.

“I knew that going into law gives you a lot of options,” Lind says.

He has worked as a supervising attorney for Legal Assistance of Western New York and as a public defender in Monroe County. He also has worked in private practice, handling civil and criminal matters.

“I can do a whole interview on why our public defender’s office is so important,” Lind says.

His jobs have taken him across the region and given him experience across much of the sweeping legal terrain handled by the state’s supreme court, he says. “I do think I have a wide breadth of experience with supreme court matters.”

Lind received a “qualified” rating from GRAWA. He also will appear on the ballot on the Judicial Integrity line. (Click here for campaign website.)

David Siguenza

Siguenza, 40, also has ample experience on different sides of the courtroom.

He has served as a prosecutor in the Monroe County DA’s office and is now the county’s first assistant in the Conflict Defender’s Office, which represents indigent criminal defendants who, because of conflicts, can’t be represented by public defenders.

“I really think everyone should do some kind of defense work, whether it’s criminal defense or family court,” Siguenza says.

Similarly, he notes, the job of prosecutor also provides a valuable perspective. A mentor in law school once told him that the prosecutorial role is to ensure justice, not tally convictions on a score sheet, he says.

“You’ve got to be a prosecutor or a judge to give someone a fair shake,” Siguenza says.

Siguenza received his bachelor’s from Fordham University and his law degree from the Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center.

He has worked in the city of Rochester’s law office, as a family court magistrate, and in private practice. Siguenza says he has a “Swiss Army knife” history with the law.

Working with indigent defendants is a reminder of the need of fair courts for all, Siguenza says.

“We’ve got a lot of clients that have been through the system a number of times and you have to develop a level of trust right away,” he says.

Siguenza, whose brother is also a lawyer, came to the United States from Cuenca, Ecuador, when he was 4. His parents instilled a work ethic and a patriotism for their new home, he says.

Siguenza was rated “qualified” by GRAWA and is also on the Judicial Integrity line. (Click here for campaign website.)

Gary Craig is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. A retired Democrat and Chronicle reporter, he now writes on Substack.

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