Mary Gibbons Whipple

The Honorable Mary Gibbons Whipple, who most recently served on the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, from 2014 until her retirement in 2024, has decades of distinguished legal experience shaped by her service as a judge, federal prosecutor, and private practitioner. During her tenure on the appellate bench, she contributed to the development of New Jersey jurisprudence through thoughtful and well-reasoned decisions on a wide range of civil and criminal matters.

Judge Whipple was appointed to the Superior Court in 2010 by Governor Jon Corzine. She initially presided in the Family Division of the Morris/Sussex Vicinage before transitioning to the Criminal Division in 2013. That same year, she was temporarily assigned to the Appellate Division, where she remained through her formal appointment and until the conclusion of her judicial service as a Presiding Judge in 2024.

Before joining the bench, Judge Whipple spent more than two decades in private practice where she handled complex civil and criminal litigation. Her earlier legal career began in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where she focused on civil litigation involving environmental, employment, and civil rights matters in both the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Her broad and balanced experience across all facets of the legal system—federal and state, trial and appellate, public and private—has earned her a reputation for fairness, integrity, and a deep commitment to justice.

• Oak Knoll School of the Holy Cross (Summit, NJ) – Served as Trustee

• Law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence Whipple, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (1981-1982)