Justice Hannah to provide keynote remarks at Commencement

Hon. Craig Hannah ’95, now associate justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Fourth Department, will address graduates and their families during the ceremony, to be held Sunday, May 18 at UB’s Center for the Arts on the North Campus. The event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.  

“I am thrilled to be this year’s keynote speaker,” Hannah says, “because UB Law had a profound influence on my life; I grew up here. I cannot pay back the dean, faculty and staff for the time and dedication and the wisdom they poured into me. But I can pay it forward by showing our graduates that service is more important than self, humility is over hubris, and failure is a part of life, so focus on progress, not perfection.”           

Justice Hannah is a Buffalo product through and through, having attended City Honors High School and Canisius College (now University) before attending UB Law. In his early career, he worked in private practice; served as an assistant district attorney in the Erie County District Attorney’s Office; became assistant corporation counsel for the City of Buffalo’s Department of Law; and was legal counsel to the New York State Senate.

His career on the bench began with a mayoral appointment to Buffalo City Court, a seat to which he was subsequently elected and then re-elected. Justice Hannah served as chief judge of Buffalo City Court. He also served as the supervising judge of the 11 city courts in Western New York’s Eighth Judicial District, the first person of color to assume that role. The Opioid Intervention Court, which he established in 2017, is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of participants who have completed its rigorous program.

Appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul to the state Supreme Court in 2022, Justice Hannah was elected to a full 14-year term that November. In March 2024, the governor elevated him to serve on the Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

A past president of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York, he is a member of the UB School of Law Dean’s Advisory Council and has received the UB Law Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumnus Award for the Judiciary.

Of special note at the ceremony will be the presentation of the Ken Joyce Teaching Award, to be conferred upon Hon. Michael Mohun ’80. Judge Mohun recently retired after serving county, family and surrogate’s courts in Wyoming County and as an acting New York State Supreme Court justice for the Eighth Judicial District.

Judge Mohun is also a recipient of the Law Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumnus Award for the Judiciary and serves with Justice Hannah on the Dean’s Advisory Council. As an adjunct instructor at the law school, he teaches a course in Legal Ethics and Decision Making, as well as a bridge-term course on Starting a Solo Practice.

In Warsaw, N.Y., Judge Mohun presided for many years over the Wyoming County Treatment Court, a re-entry initiative that assists defendants who require treatment or help with drug addiction or other issues. Early in his career, he maintained a private practice focused on criminal defense work before becoming a member of the bench, serving as town justice for the Town of Bennington. In retirement, in addition to his teaching, he serves as an appointed judicial hearing officer with the Office of Court Administration.

New graduates will also be greeted at the Commencement ceremony with remarks by Robert C. Brucato ’90, president of the UB Law Alumni Association.