On Friday, December 8, 2017, Senior Judge C. Quay Polloi tendered his resignation to President Remengesau with an effective date of Wednesday, February 28, 2018. Senior Judge Polloi took his oath of office on September 7, 2007 and has served for just over 10 years.
[restrict] In that time period he has disposed of about 1,500 land cases and also sat as a pro tempore justice in the Appellate Division on many appeal cases. He also spearheaded the Judiciary’s mediation program and mediated many cases filed in the Supreme Court Trial Division. For his efforts in spearheading the new mediation program and for his high success rate in resolving difficult cases at mediation, he received the Chief Justice Mamoru Nakamura Achievement Award launched in 2016.
Senior Judge Polloi has actually been with the Judiciary since the early 1990’s. He served as a summer intern throughout college and also as law clerk during law school. During these summer stints, he did legal research and writing and was also instrumental in the publication of the first pictorial history of the Judiciary entitled “Quest for Harmony”.
Senior Judge Polloi attended the University of Scranton where he double-majored in Political Science and History and graduated cum laude in 1997. A year later, he received his Master’s in History from the same university. He moved on to attend Widener Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and after graduating in 2001, he returned to Palau and worked as an Assistant Attorney General until 2005 when he moved on to become legal counsel to the Palau Public Lands Authority. When the position of Senior Judge of the Land Court became vacant, he was encouraged to apply. Of the seven short-listed candidates sent by the Judicial Nominating Commission to President Remengesau, Senior Judge Polloi was chosen. On September 7, 2007, he was sworn into office at age 32 becoming the youngest judge to assume the bench to date.
It has been over 20 years that Senior Judge Polloi has been associated with the Judiciary. He will be going into private practice and also wants to take on projects that have been placed on hold during his tenure on the bench. The Judiciary will miss a good judge but the people will be gaining a good attorney. [/restrict]