Southampton Town Board members appointed a new Southampton Town Justice last week to replace Andrea Schiavoni, who had been on the bench since 2008.
Westhampton Beach-based attorney Karen Sartain will finish off the remaining year in Justice Schiavoni’s four-year term, set to expire on December 31, 2020, after Ms. Schiavoni was elected to a Suffolk County Family Court seat in November.
Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said last week that he and the other Town Board members interviewed Ms. Sartain after she was recommended highly by Ms. Schiavoni herself.
With a background in criminal defense, Ms. Sartain earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the University of Miami, according to her resume.
She has worked as a public defender in both Florida and New York and served as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County.
Ms. Sartain passed the bar in Florida in 1993 and in 2013, she passed the bar in New York.
Ms. Schiavoni was first elected to the bench in 2008 and has been reelected twice since.