New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner has announced that Superior Court Judge M. Susan Sheppard will lead the Atlantic/Cape May Vicinage, effective April 1.
Sheppard succeeds Assignment Judge Michael Blee, who was appointed acting director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
“Judge Sheppard brings a wide range of experience, as well as dedication and enthusiasm, to her new role as assignment judge. We are confident that the Atlantic/Cape May Vicinage will build on its legacy of excellence under her leadership,” Rabner said.
On the bench for nearly eight years, Sheppard has served as the vicinage’s presiding judge of general equity since 2022. She also has served in the family and criminal divisions, and was acting assignment judge for the vicinage.
She began her judicial career in the family division in Cape May County. A year later she was assigned to the criminal division in the county, where she served as a recovery court judge and later as presiding judge of the family division.
Sheppard serves as statewide chair of the Conference of General Equity Presiding Judges and has served on various judicial committees, including the Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Education, the General Equity Visitation Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee’s Self-Represented Court Users Subcommittee. She was appointed to the bench in 2017 by Gov. Chris Christie and reappointed in 2024 by Gov. Phil Murphy.
Before beginning her judicial career, Sheppard held three elected offices in Cape May County. She served on the Ocean City Council from 2008 to 2010, as Cape May County freeholder from 2010 to 2012, and as the Cape May County surrogate from 2013 to 2017, during which time she was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Judiciary-Surrogate Liaison Committee.
She began her 26-year legal career as an associate at Blank Rome Comisky and McCauley, spent 10 years as an attorney with McCabe Weisberg and Conway, and opened a solo practice in 2008, where she specialized in real estate and general litigation.
A graduate of Villanova University, Sheppard earned her law degree from Widener University School of Law and was research editor for the law review.
