Joey Moya retiring as Chief Clerk of the Supreme Court; Jennifer Scott appointed Clerk of the Court

 

SANTA FE – Jennifer Scott has been appointed Chief Clerk of the New Mexico Supreme Court, succeeding Joey Moya, who is retiring at the end of the month after serving 31 years in the Judiciary and nearly a decade as Clerk of the Court.

 

Ms. Scott assumes her new duties Sept. 1.  She becomes the seventh Clerk of the Court since statehood.

 

The Clerk’s responsibilities range from legal research and writing to overseeing the administrative functions of the Supreme Court, including case management, human resources, budget matters, building security and operations.

 

Ms. Scott has worked for the Supreme Court for 11 years. She served the past two years as Deputy Clerk and nine years in the Office of the Supreme Court Counsel, including nearly five years as Senior Counsel. Originally from Atlanta, Ms. Scott practiced as a prosecutor in Georgia before moving to New Mexico in 2006. She received her bachelor’s degree from Emory University in 1998, and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia in 2001.

Mr. Moya became Chief Clerk in December 2011. During his tenure, the Court expanded public access to appellate proceedings by live streaming its oral arguments. Mr. Moya oversaw the implementation of electronic filing and docketing of cases in the Court, and streamlined the scheduling of Court matters by establishing online calendars for oral arguments and other court functions. He developed procedures for providing email notices to members of the State Bar and the news media, as well as web site postings, when new opinions are issued by the Court.

 

Mr. Moya received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1988. After working in a private law firm, he joined the Judiciary in 1990 as an assistant staff attorney with the Court of Appeals. He served as administrative assistant to the late Chief Justice Pamela Minzner from 1999 to 2001, and was chief staff attorney and director of the Court of Appeals Prehearing Division from 2002 to 2005. He became the Supreme Court’s first Chief Counsel in 2005. In that role, he created the Office of Supreme Court Counsel and brought in-house the oversight of the Court’s rule-making activities, which had been coordinated by the New Mexico Compilation Commission.

 

The State Bar of New Mexico honored Mr. Moya in 2015 with its Public Lawyer of the Year Award for his significant contributions to the Judiciary and commitment to public service.

 

During a retirement ceremony, current and former justices lauded Mr. Moya for his tireless work on behalf of the Judiciary and the legal community of New Mexico.

 

“He never tries to take center stage. His role, in his mind, has always been to be in the background and make things work smoothly, and he did it successfully,” Chief Justice Michael Vigil said. “The judges and the people in the Court will miss you, but the Court – as an institution – will miss you.”