Stamford Democrat State Rep. William Tong was awarded the chairmanship of the state Legislature’s judiciary committee last week, taking over from another Stamford Democrat, Rep. Gerald Fox III, who stepped down from the legislature to run for the city’s Probate Court judgeship, which he won unopposed.

Tong , 41, a corporate attorney at the Stamford-based law firm Finn Dixon & Herling, represents Stamford’s 147th District in North Stamford. A historically Republican district, won his fifth term in November. ‘)}