Judge Rhonda Ziomaida Tomlinson is a resident of Brooklyn, New York, where she was raised by her mother, a Panamanian immigrant. She earned her Bachelor of Science at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and her Juris Doctor at Hofstra University School of Law. Judge Tomlinson was appointed to the New York State Court of Claims in June 2021. Prior to her appointment, she served as the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the NYS Board of Parole, and managed the state-wide adjudication process. While there, Judge Tomlinson sat in the Harlem Reentry Court, a community-based reentry court to support formerly incarcerated people through the reentry process in collaboration with law enforcement, community-based service providers, and faith-based groups. She served as a principal court attorney, an administrative law judge, a defense attorney with the Legal Aid Society, and a private practitioner in criminal, family law and parole revocation defense. As an active member of the legal community, she has chaired or served on various bar association committees. Her initiatives included coordinating legal forums to address the intersection of criminal matters on the parole revocation adjudication process, support for legislation to protect the victims of sex trafficking, and the impact of parental incarceration on children. Her second passion is teaching. Judge Tomlinson taught legal courses and multiculturalism at CUNY School of Law, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and St. John’s University. Judge Tomlinson has actively served her family’s parish church, St. Gregory the Great, R.C.C., as a scout leader, school board member, and lector.