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Hon. Randolph Treece ’76 Honored for Lifetime Achievement

Hon. Randolph F. Treece ’76

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The Hon. Randolph F. Treece ’76, pioneering former United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York, was recently feted as one of the New York Law Journal’s 2017 Lifetime Achievement honorees.

Judge Treece, now of counsel to the law firm E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy, LLP, was honored October 17 at the NYLJ’s Professional Excellence Awards ceremony in New York City. Each year the publication celebrates individuals who have displayed a lifetime of achievement, met the highest ethical standards, and whose professional lives have inspired respect throughout the legal profession. Former New York Court of Appeals Judge Victoria Graffeo ’77 was among the honorees last year.

Judge Treece was the first African American appointed to the federal judiciary in the Northern District of New York, where he served from 2001 until his retirement in 2015. He was also the first person of color to be appointed or elected to the judiciary at any level, state or federal, in eastern upstate New York since 1898. Prior to joining the federal bench, Judge Treece served as Assistant Public Defender for Rensselaer County, Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York, First Deputy Capital Defender, and Counsel to the Office of the New York State Comptroller. 

“By any measure of accomplishment, character, ability, example and humility, he is a giant in our profession,” James E. Hacker ’84, managing partner of E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy and Chair of Albany Law School’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement.

Judge Treece is co-founder and was president of the Capital District Black Bar Association, now the Capital District Black & Hispanic Bar Association. He has been involved with a number of other community and professional organizations, including the Urban League of Northeastern N.Y. (vice chair and acting chair), New York Bar Foundation (treasurer), New York State Bar House of Delegates, Albany County Bar Association and its Minority and Hiring Project & Diversity Internship Fellowship Program, and the Capital District YMCA.  He has served the area’s local educational institutions, teaching as an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, Hudson Valley Community College, and Junior College of Albany, and sitting on the boards of Albany Law School, Siena College, and Hudson Valley Community College.

In a special section of the New York Law Journal, U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino described Judge Treece as “a man of keen intellect, common sense aplenty and humble spirituality.”

“Either as a lawyer or a judge, his unwavering humanity draws him to the aid of the least amongst us,” she wrote. “Judge Treece’s life has been one of service to his family, the community and the bar. He has received far too many civic awards to list here. He believes that to whom much has been given, much is required.”

He has received several awards from Albany Law School, including the Distinguished Service Award in 1999, the Distinguished Alumni in Government Award in 2004, and the Legal Profession Leaders Award in 2015.

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