Karimu F. Hill-Harvey is a mediator and arbitrator with 35+ years of legal experience. After her tenure on the bench, Hill-Harvey became a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil and Family Mediator, a Parenting Coordinator, and a United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Florida Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediator.
Judge Hill-Harvey has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work and advocacy including the YMCA of Essex & West Hudson “Women of Influence Award”, The Seton Hall University “Distinguished Alumni Award for Law Politics & Justice” and The National Association of Negro Business & Professional Women’s Club, Inc. “Woman of Distinction Award”. Of exceptional note is the fact that Judge-Hill Harvey was the first African American woman listed in the “Top 20 Verdicts and Settlements” of the New Jersey Law Journal, by obtaining a $3.25 million settlement in Grant v. La Resca in 1995.
Hill-Harvey served as a Municipal Court Judge from 2000-2014 and sat on the bench in East Orange, Irvington, and Newark, New Jersey until her retirement. During her tenure on the bench, she continued to operate the private practice that she founded in 1988 and served as Adjunct Professor for Rutgers Business School and Essex County College. Earlier in her career, Judge Hill-Harvey was Assistant Counsel to the Newark Board of Education Legal Department, Municipal Court Administrator for the City of East Orange, and Acting General Counsel for the Housing Authority of the City of Newark.
Judge Hill-Harvey received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Seton Hall University in 1979; a Juris Doctorate at Seton Hall School of Law in 1983 and a L.LM. Masters in Trial Advocacy at Temple University, Beasley School of Law in 2000. She has been admitted to the Bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and New Jersey.
She has been acknowledged for various case laws, publications and has numerous industry membership affiliations such as the FINRA, Sarasota County Bar Association, George Edgecombe Bar Association, Fred G. Minnis, Sr. Bar Association and Association of Retired Attorneys of Sarasota.