Rosemary Gambardella

Hon. Rosemary J. Gambardella was sworn in as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge on May 3, 1985, in the District of New Jersey in Newark, becoming the first woman to serve on its bankruptcy court. From 1980-85, she was senior staff counsel to Hugh M. Leonard, then U.S. Trustee for the Districts of New Jersey and Delaware. Judge Gambardella served as Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey from Aug. 12, 1998, to Aug. 11, 2005. She is a member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, a member and former president of the New Jersey Bankruptcy Inn of Court, and a member of the Bankruptcy Committee of the Third Circuit Task Force on Equal Treatment in the Courts - Gender Commission. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Women Judges, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, ABI and the Turnaround Management Association, and is a former member of the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Judge Gambardella was the bankruptcy judge representative to the Judicial Conference of the United States (2009-11) and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She received the Rutgers School of Law – Newark Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012, the New York Institute of Credit Women’s Division Judge Cecelia H. Goetz Award, the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award in 2013 and the Conrad B. Duberstein Memorial Award in 2015. Judge Gambardella earned her B.A. in history in 1976 from Rutgers University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After receiving her J.D. from Rutgers Law School-Newark in 1979, Judge Gambardella served as law clerk to the late Chief Bankruptcy Judge Vincent J. Commisa from 1979-80.