State Court of Appeals Judges to Attend UB Alumni Awards Dinner

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The chief judge and the six associate judges of the New York State Court of Appeals will be the honored guests of the University at Buffalo Law Alumni Association at its 43rd Annual Meeting and Dinner to be held at 6 p.m. April 14 in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

The UB Law Alumni Association also will present Distinguished Alumni Awards to David R. Pfalzgraf and Diane F. Bosse, and will recognize Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, who will receive a special tribute for "outstanding service to the university and community."

The dinner will be part of an historic visit by the State Court of Appeals judges, who will convene for the first time in Buffalo at the invitation of the UB Law Alumni Association. The judges will hold court from 1-4 p.m. on April 14 in the Ceremonial Courtroom, 92 Franklin St., Buffalo.

Kaye will make a special presentation of the Justice M. Dolores Denman scholarship award to a UB law student. The scholarship, funded primarily by the Western New York chapter of the Women's Bar Association, commemorates the late Justice Denman, presiding justice of the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division, Fourth Dept., the first woman to be named to the position. Denman graduated as class valedictorian from the UB Law School in 1965 while a single parent.

Seated on the dais at the dinner with Kaye will be the associate judges: Hon. George Bundy Smith, Hon. Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, Hon. Albert M. Rosenblatt, Hon. Victoria A. Graffeo, Hon. Susan Phillips Read and Hon. Robert S. Smith.

Pfalzgraf will be honored "for his many contributions to the betterment of our community." He is counsel to the firm of Pfalzgraf Beinhauer & Menzies LLP, where he focuses his practice on elder law. He is highly regarded and widely respected for helping to educate the legal profession about alcoholism, chemical dependency, stress, depression and other mental-health problems. Through his leadership in organizations at the local, state and national levels, he has assisted numerous bar associations and lawyer assistance programs in developing and maintaining methods of providing effective solutions for recovery.

Bosse will be honored "for her commitment to public service." She is chair of the five-member New York State Board of Law Examiners, which is responsible for the preparation, administration and grading of the New York State Bar Examination and for the determination of related policy and administrative issues. Bosse also is currently secretary of the National Conference of Bar Examiners. A partner in the Buffalo firm of Volgenau & Bosse, she is engaged principally in the defense of personal injury claims with particular emphasis on product liability and toxic tort claims for self-insured and insurance company clients.

Kaye was appointed chief judge of the State of New York by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo in 1993. She is the first woman to occupy the state judiciary's highest office. She became the first woman to serve on New York State's highest court when Cuomo appointed her associate judge of the Court of Appeals in 1983. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law.

For more information about the dinner, or to make reservations, call the UB Law Alumni office at 645-2107 or email law-alumni@buffalo.edu.