Thoughts from the Bench:
A "Fireside Chat" with Three Orthodox Judges
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
7:00 pm ET / 4:00 pm PT
Ever wonder what life and work is like on the other side of the bench? Join us for an informative discussion among three distinguished Orthodox judges at different stages of their judicial careers. Among the topics to be addressed are:
- What are some of the biggest joys and challenges of serving as a judge?
- How does one prepare to become a judge?
- How does being a person of faith affect being a judge?
- Advice for litigators from the perspective of a judge
- Advice for anyone interested in becoming a judge
Sign up below to attend the live Zoom session!
Honorable Nada Kosanovich Sizemore
Connecticut Superior Court (retired)
Judge Sizemore was a Connecticut Superior Court judge where she served as chief civil judge in one of the Connecticut state trial courts located in Meriden. She is a 1981 J.D. graduate from Pace University School of Law, White Plains, NY and she holds a B.A. in Journalism from Western CT State University in 1981. She served as a judicial law clerk in Connecticut from 1981 to 1983 and then began her career at Schatz & Schatz, Ribicoff & Kotkin as a commercial litigator. In 1984, she joined the Travelers Insurance Company litigation department, where she spent most of the next thirty (30) years of her career in the insurance industry. She served as field litigation trial counsel, managing counsel, national subrogation counsel and then as Vice President and Associate General Counsel. She was appointed to the bench in 2018 by Governor Dannel Malloy and assigned immediately to the civil courts, where she handled all types of civil jury and court side cases including hundreds of settlement and mediation cases.
Currently in retired status, she is a member of the Connecticut Bar Foundation James Cooper Fellows organization, where she provides pro bono educational support for the mock trial and annual essay scholarship programs for high school and middle school students. In addition, she currently supports the Saints Cyril & Methodius Serbian Orthodox Mission parish in Connecticut as an executive board member. Prior to this mission parish, she was a long-time veteran board member, advisor and supporter of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of Boston for over 30 years; and advisor/counselor for the Eastern Diocesan Bishop and its Diocesan Council and Diocesan Administrative boards.
Honorable Steven Counelis
Superior Court of the State of California, County of Riverside
Judge Counelis took the oath of office for the Superior Court of California, County of Riverside, on January 2, 2011. Prior to being elected to the Superior Court in 2010, he served as a Deputy District Attorney for seventeen years and prosecuted over 80 jury trials. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government, a minor in Philosophy, and with his Juris Doctor degree, from the University of San Francisco. As a college student, he served at the United States Supreme Court, in the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice.
Judge Counelis was raised in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. He has served in a number of parish leadership roles. In 2016 he was elected by the GOA Metropolis of San Francisco Assembly to serve on the Metropolis Council, and has done so to the present. Judge Counelis and his wife Stacia have served as the Conference Advisors to the Young Adult League (YAL) Conference Ministry of the Metropolis of San Francisco since its renaissance in 2018, and they continue to guide in the execution and planning of the annual Conference.
He was invested as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on October 31, 2021 and conferred with the offikion “Nomophylax – Νομοφύλαξ” or “Keeper of the Law.” He serves as Regional Commander for Southern California. From 2022-2024, he represented the AEP and the interests of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Judge Counelis has served in both Family and Criminal Court assignments. Since 2016, he has presided over 120 jury trials.
Honorable Rose Marie Karadsheh Preddy
Seventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida
Circuit Judge Rose Marie Karadsheh Preddy was appointed to the bench in Florida in 2023. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her Juris Doctorate from the James E. Beasley School of Law at Temple University. Judge Preddy was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1995 and the Florida Bar in 1997 and worked in private practice, civil law, including probate, guardianship, and will and trust contests. She maintained an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and owned the Preddy Law Firm, P.A., from 2000 to her judicial appointment in 2023. Judge Preddy presides over a Unified Family Court division in Putnam County. She is a member of St John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Her parents are immigrants from Madaba, Jordan. She is a proud wife and mother of three.