SUNY Buffalo Law Alumni will honor Lt. Governor Hochul and six distinguished practitioners

The Lt. Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, a non-alumnus, and six law alumni who have gone on to succeed in widely varied types of practice, will be honored as SUNY Buffalo Law School confers Distinguished Alumni Awards at its annual Law Alumni Association Dinner on May 11.

The 54th annual dinner will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Buffalo.  Registration is available online.

This year’s Distinguished Alumni Award honorees include:

Hon. Ralph A. Boniello III ’69, justice of the New York State Supreme Court, 8^th Judicial District, in Niagara Falls. Elected in 2001, Boniello was previously an attorney in private practice, agency counsel for the Niagara County Industrial Development Authority and Niagara County attorney.

For Public Service: Trini E. Ross ’92, Senior Litigation Counsel for the US Attorney’s Office, WDNY, also supervises the Human Trafficking Task Force and the Mortgage Fraud Task Force. She has taught at SUNY Buffalo Law School as an adjunct professor.

For Private Practice: Neil A. Goldberg ’73 and Thomas F. Segalla ’72, founding partners of the Buffalo-based law firm Goldberg Segalla. The firm employs about 285 lawyers in 19 offices in the U.S. and the U.K.

For Community Service: Marilyn Tebor Shaw ’79, of TeborShaw Law in Ithaca, N.Y. and Associate Judicial Administrator in Cornell University. Shaw works in the field of estate planning for the elderly, with the Tompkins/Tioga County Neighborhood Legal Services, and serves pro bono on Ithaca’s Board of Zoning Appeals. She has served as legal counsel for successful non-profit corporations including the Nomadic Kenyan Children's Educational Fund.

For Business: Mason P. Ashe ’89, founder and CEO of Ashe Sports & Entertainment Consulting in Bethesda, Md. Ashe, a veteran sports and entertainment attorney, talent manager and educator, previously was a partner in a large labor and employment law firm.

For Contributions by a Non-Alumnus: Hon. Kathy C. Hochul, New York State lieutenant governor. Hochul previously served in Congress, representing New York’s 26th Congressional District, and as Erie County clerk.