After serving as an appointed Acting Supreme Court Justice in Kings County (Brooklyn), Guyanese-American Justice Claudia Daniels-DePeyster is seeking election to the same position.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio as a judge 10 years ago and was elevated to Acting Supreme Court Justice three years ago based on her work performance in Kings County Criminal Court.
“I decided to run for office to become an elected official because I wanted the community to know the work that I am doing on their behalf,” Justice Daniels-DePeyster told Caribbean Life after speaking briefly, during Worship Service, at Fenimore Street United Methodist Church, at the corner of Fenimore Street and Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn, on Oct. 5.
“I thought it was important to get out in the community, visit churches of different denominations, visit senior centers, and let the public put a face to the name, as they vote for judges in Brooklyn,” she added.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster, who is “proud” of her Guyanese-Caribbean heritage, said “there is accountability to the community” as an elected Supreme Court Justice.
“In addition, if I were to seek an
appellate judge position in the future, I could only do so as an elected judge, not an appointed one,” she said.
As an elected judge, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she gets a 14-year term and either a secretary or a junior court attorney to work alongside her.
“This will assist me in doing my job, writing decisions, and being as productive as possible on the bench,” she said, stating that appointed judges fill the terms of judges who either retired or moved up.
“They do the same work as elected judges in civil or criminal court,” added Justice Daniels-DePeyster, disclosing that she had a two-year term, then received a full 10-year term as an appointed judge.
“You can serve from six months to 10 years,” she continued. “The problem is: appointed judges can’t move up. They don’t get a secretary or an additional junior court attorney as elected judges do.
“Also, elected judges get a 14-year term,” Justice Daniels-DePeyster said. “Appointed judges can also be removed without notice or a hearing.”
In sentencing individuals, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she usually writes them a letter.
“It encourages them, and I have received feedback from defendants, attorneys, and family that my words are inspirational,” she said, disclosing that the letter has also “sparked the Office of Court Administration to host a therapeutic jurisprudence conference at Brooklyn Law School in November 2025, where she will be one of the panelists.
“It is my belief that all courts can be a place for treatment and therapy,” added Justice Daniels-DePeyster, stating that she has “seen the law from all sides.”
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she was born and raised in Brooklyn to “two proud Guyanese parents.”
She said she graduated from Midwood High School, earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo, and received her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
As a testament to her diverse and comprehensive legal background, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said Mayor De Blasio appointed her to serve as a Criminal Court Judge in April 2015.
She said she sat in Kings County Criminal Court until early February 2022, presiding over the Youth Part for many years and helping young adults, ages 17-24, complete diversion programs and receive dismissals of their criminal cases.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she also presided over a Trial Part in Kings County Criminal Court during the pandemic.
In April 2022, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she was appointed Acting Supreme Court Justice in Kings County Supreme Court-Criminal Term, where she presides over a Felony Part and a Gun Part.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she engages in extensive work with Brooklyn’s Youth, “steering them on the tight path” whenever possible.
She said she regularly talks to kids in high schools about the law and how it affects them.
In addition, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she provides the youth with tours of her courthouse, educating them on the court system and what the courts do, as well as knowledge of the law, career advice, and encouragement for the future.
She said she introduces young adults to defense attorneys and prosecutors, who inform them on what to do in street encounters, and other life decisions involving potential criminal activities and consequences.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said the young adults are also provided with a handbook outlining the responsibilities of each court and court staff.
When adjudicating civil and legal disputes, she said she understands that “our youth will aspire to great heights when we provide them with the knowledge and tools necessary to see and build a better future.”
Earlier in her career, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she was a solo practitioner who addressed real estate, housing, landlord/tenant matters, criminal defense, surrogate law, and guardianships.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said “standing up for others” as a litigator equipped her with “the crucial insight that can only be gained by seeing the law from both sides of the bench, from defending tenants facing eviction, to defending people accused of crimes,” to immersing herself in family law work.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she learned “the tremendous gravity often connected to most cases heard by our courts early in her career.”
From 2001 through 2015, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she worked in several capacities for the New York Police Department (NYPD)
As an agency attorney, she said she was responsible for prosecuting officers and detectives within the agency, and often met with the police commissioner on matters relating to police misconduct.
As a team supervisor, managing attorney, and assistant deputy commissioner, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she was able to expand her depth of perspective and insight into the workings of the courts and court processes early on.
She said she spent five years as an advocate and 10 years as an Administrative Law Judge at the NYPD, which provided her “the invaluable experience of seeing the law from behind the bench.” There, she presided over and decided cases, wrote decisions, and “came to know the awesome responsibility that accompanies rendering decisions and the tremendous ramifications they can have on peoples’ lives.”
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she is an active member of the St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East New York,
Brooklyn, where she serves as a prayer intercessor and member of the New Life Ministry.
She is also an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
As a member of the sorority’s Brooklyn Alumnae Chapter, Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she serves on both the Membership Committee, where she participates in member initiatives for the chapter, and the Scholarship Committee, where she mentors the youth through four years of college, providing advice on classes, exams, and life as a whole.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she is currently a board member of the Judicial Friends Association, where she co-chairs the Community Service Committee.
She is also a board member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and a member of the National Bar Association-Judicial Council, where she chairs the
Community Outreach Committee.
Her other affiliations include memberships in the National Association of Women Judges and the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) Women Judges Committee.
Justice Daniels-DePeyster said she has been married to Christopher DePeyster for over 30 years and has two daughters: Sulema, a community historian,and Sohaula, a licensed therapist.
