University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: November 2, 2006

By ILENE FLEISCHMANN
Reporter Contributor

The Hon. Michael A. Telesca, whose career on the bench has encompassed county, state and federal judgeships, will receive the 2006 Edwin F. Jaeckle Award from the UB Law School and the UB Law Alumni Association at a luncheon to be held on Nov. 18 in the Buffalo Hyatt Regency.

TELESCA

The award, which is named for UB Law alumnus Edwin F. Jaeckle, class of 1915, is the highest honor the Law School and the Law Alumni Association can bestow. It is given annually to an individual who has distinguished herself or himself and has made significant contributions to the Law School and to the legal profession.

Telesca is a 1955 graduate of the UB Law School.

Prior Jaeckle Award winners include the Hon. Charles S. Desmond, Frank G. Raichle Jr., M. Robert Koren, Manly Fleischmann, the Hon. M. Dolores Denman and former UB president William R. Greiner.

The luncheon and award presentation will follow the morning-long UB Law Alumni Convocation, an annual continuing legal educational program that will focus on "Technology and the Practice of Law (Plus Singing, Pasta Making and 3 CLE Credits!)." Experts will discuss new federal rules for electronic discovery, how to advance a legal practice utilizing new media and new state regulations for advertising.

The convocation will begin at 8:30 a.m. and be followed by the luncheon at 12:30 p.m.

Nils Olsen, professor and dean of the UB Law School, noted that Telesca's public service is exemplary.

"Mike's immense ability and integrity as a judge, coupled with his enormous compassion, has vastly improved the lives of others over the course of his long and distinguished career. He is an exceptionally worthy recipient of the Jaeckle Award," Olsen said.

Telesca has served since 1982 as a U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of New York, and was chief justice of that court from 1989-96. He continues as a District Court judge, based in Rochester, and in 1996 was appointed to the federal Alien Terrorist Removal Court.

Telesca has served on the board of directors of the Federal Judicial Center, a training school for federal judges in Washington, D.C.; the Second Circuit Judicial Council; and the Editorial Advisory Board of the State-Federal Judicial Observer.

Born and raised in Rochester, Telesca graduated from the University of Rochester in 1952. He served as a staff legal officer in the U.S. Marine Corps after his years at UB Law. He then entered private practice, eventually becoming a partner with the Rochester firm Lamb, Webster, Walz & Telesca. He was elected a Monroe County Surrogate Court judge in 1972, and was a designated justice of the New York State Supreme Court for nearly 10 years.

At UB, Telesca was honored in 1986 with a Distinguished Alumnus Award for his judicial work, and in 2001 with a Buffalo Law Review award recognizing his service to the UB Law School and the Western New York community.

He has served on numerous boards of directors and advisory boards, including those for the Association for Mentally Retarded Persons, the National Kidney Foundation, the Genesee Hospital Foundation and the ARC of Monroe County, an advocacy group for mentally disabled persons. He also has been active with the Rochester chapter of the UB Law Alumni Association and serves as an emeritus member of the Dean's Advisory Council at the Law School.

The Acappellants, a singing group composed of the Hon. Erin Peradotto and Buffalo attorneys Jack Freedenberg, Will Schoellkopf and Ellen Simpson, will provide additional entertainment for the program. Paul J. Suozzi, a partner at Hurwitz & Fine P.C., and his wife Karen L. Spencer, archives and special collections librarian in the Law School's Charles B. Sears Law Library, will demonstrate original pasta recipes, including egg pasta, pasta verde and lasagna a la Mama Suozzi.

The program is sponsored by Forge Consulting LLC, Bar Association of Erie County, The Daily Record, CCH Inc. and LexisNexis.