New Jersey.– Victoria Pratt, a litigator who uncovered rampant corruption in Camden schools and worked for two governors, was sworn in yesterday as the first Dominican judge to sit on the Newark city bench, NJ.com reported today.

"I'm so excited about this," Pratt said, hours before being sworn in before a packed municipal council chamber. "It's definitely a homecoming."

Pratt, 37, was born in Newark and remembers working in the downtown beauty salon her mother ran, sweeping up clippings and taking rollers out of hair. Decades later she returned to Newark to serve as counsel to city council president Mildred Crump and now takes the bench as the 11th Newark municipal judge.

"I would not trade the experience I’ve had with Victoria for anything," said Crump through tears, adding that Pratt’s wisdom, discretion and compassion were among the "litany of reasons why Victoria should become a judge."