Justice Lawrence J. Bracken was born on June 12, 1931 in Hempstead, NY. He graduated from Roslyn High School in 1948 and St. John’s University in 1952. From 1952 to 1954, Bracken served in the U.S. Army. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1957 and was admitted to the Bar on March 26, 1958. He received a Master of Laws in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984.
Bracken worked as a law clerk to Edward P. Bracken Jr in 1957. He was engaged in the private practice of law at the firm of Bracken & Sutter from 1960 to1964, and at Bracken & Jacoppi from 1969 to1973. In 1964 he became the Suffolk County District Attorney, and in this capacity served as Chief of the Appeals Bureau from 1965 to1968 and Chief of the Rackets Squad from 1968 to1969.
Bracken joined the bench in 1974 when he was appointed Supreme Court Justice for the Tenth Judicial District. On May 12, 1981, he was designated an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, and on March 15, 2001, was designated Presiding Justice of that Court. He retired on December 31, 2001.
In addition to his work on the bench, Bracken has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center of Touro College since 1989. He was an instructor at the Suffolk County Police Academy from 1965 to 1969 and Executive Director of the Suffolk County Crime Control Council from 1969 to 1973. Bracken was also a member of the New York State and Suffolk County Bar Associations, the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the Board of Fire Commissioners for the Setauket Fire District, the Setauket Fire Department, Suffolk County Council, and served as a board member for Boy Scouts of America and St. Charles Hospital.
He is married to Mary F. Bracken and has six children.
Sources
“Bracken, Lawrence J.” Biographical information sheets. Appellate Division, Second Department Library, Brooklyn.