Mattina to Receive Jaeckle Award From UB Law School

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Erie County Surrogate's Court Judge Joseph S. Mattina will receive the 1998 Edwin F. Jaeckle Award, the highest honor given by the University at Buffalo Law School and its Law Alumni Association, at a luncheon at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 14 in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

Mattina will receive the award following the law school's 23rd annual alumni convocation.

The annual award, named for Edwin F. Jaeckle, a 1915 graduate of the UB Law School, is presented to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself and made significant contributions to the law school and the legal profession.

Mattina, a 1956 UB law graduate, was first elected to Erie County Surrogate's Court in 1982.

He has distinguished himself as one of New York's outstanding surrogates for his well-reasoned, intellectually stimulating and innovative opinions.

Active in proposing and drafting new legislation as a member of the Office of Court Administration's Legislative Advisory Committee, he was one of 16 judges nationally to be inducted in 1988 as a charter member of The National Judicial College's Hall of Honor.

More recently, The National College of Probate Judges recognized his service as surrogate by honoring him with the Treat Award for Excellence.

Mattina has lectured and written widely for trial judges on sentencing and served as a faculty member at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev.

Prior to being elected to Erie County Surrogate's Court, he served as an assistant Erie County district attorney, Buffalo City Court judge, Erie County Court judge and State Supreme Court justice.

The law school's 23rd annual alumni convocation, to be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon, will focus on current problems in trust and estate practice, including non-probate assets, pre- and post-marital agreements and lifetime trusts.

Speakers will be Peter J. Brevorka, a partner in the firm of Jaeckle, Fleischmann & Mugel; Susan J. Egloff, county attorney-referee in Erie County Surrogate's Court; Kenneth Joyce, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the UB Law School; Charles E. Milch, a partner in the firm of Gibson, McAskill & Crosby; Michael J. Ryan, a member of the Edward C. Cosgrove law firm, and John E. Spadafora, managing partner of Mutusick, Spadafora & Verrastro.

Attendance at the convocation has been approved for three continuing legal-education credits.

Underwriters for the event are Harold C. Brown & Co., Inc.; Marine Midland Bank; Buyers & Kaczor Reporting Services, Inc., and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co.

The cost of the event is $50 per person for law alumni association members and $75 per person for all others. For further information, contact Ilene Fleischmann at 645-2107.