Joy M. Watson

Credit: James Escher

Watson, 67, of Hempstead, is a registered Republican and is running on the Democratic, Republican and Conservative party lines in the general election.
She has been a Nassau County Family Court judge since her appointment in June 2022. She was elected to the position in November 2022. Watson was designated an acting Supreme Court justice by acting Chief Administrative Judge Tamiko Amaker in 2023.
Since 2009, Watson has been an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Molloy University in Rockville Centre.
She was a District Court judge from 2013 until her appointment to the Family Court. Watson was deputy comptroller for Nassau County from May 2010 to 2013. She was of counsel to Sepe & O’Mahony in Rockville Centre from 2012 to 2013.
She was principal law clerk for Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Karen Murphy from 2006 to 2010, and an assistant district attorney for Nassau County from 1986 to 2005.
Watson received her bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany in 1982, and earned her law degree in 1985 from Pepperdine University School of Law in Los Angeles. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1987.