New York Law Journal to Honor Justice Sam Green

Judge Green.

Samuel L. Green, the retired senior associate justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, is receiving yet another honor in his long and historic legal career that began after his graduation from UB Law School in 1967.

The distinguished Buffalo jurist is among 16 lawyers chosen to receive the New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award for their impact on the law and New York’s legal community.

“This is really an honor being from Western New York and to be recognized by the leading legal newspaper in the country,” said Justice Green.  “For them to reach this far is really quite pleasing and unexpected.”

Many of the honorees are from the New York City area.

Justice Green said he learned of his selection for the award from his daughter, Beth, who is a practicing lawyer in Manhattan.

“She sent me a text, saying ‘Wow! Gov. Cuomo, Kaye, Morgenthau. You are in some great company,’”

Veteran Buffalo defense attorney Joel Daniels said of Justice Green:  “He was an outstanding judge and a credit to his profession.  The [Law Journal] award is well deserved.  He was a good friend to lawyers and is sorely missed now that he has left the bench.”

Justice Green, who retired from the Appellate Division in December of 2011, was honored with the dedication of the Samuel L. Green Courtroom in Rochester shortly after leaving the bench.

Attorney Joseph Hanna, a former president of the Minority Bar Association of WNY, said at the time of the courtroom dedication in January of 2012 that “Judge Green has been a mentor and a leader in the Western New York legal community, especially for minorities.”

Justice Green was the longest serving justice in the 115-year history of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, serving as a member of the court for 28 years and 10 months.

Justice Green was the first African-American justice appointed to the Appellate Division and the first African-American outside of New York City to be elected to the Supreme Court.

During his time on the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, which covers most of central and western New York, Justice Green served as the acting presiding justice and was designated to serve on the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.  

Justice Green practiced law in Buffalo after his graduation from UB Law School until his appointment as a Buffalo City Court judge in 1973.  He was elected to the State Supreme Court in 1978.

He is a much-honored jurist who in 1995 received the Outstanding Award from the Erie County Bar Association and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law.  

The New York Law Journal will feature the accomplishments of the lawyers who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in an Oct. 30 anniversary issue devoted to the newspaper’s 125-year history.

Justice Green and his wife, Ernestine, will attend a celebration dinner for the honorees in New York City on Nov. 4. 

While Justice Green has retired from the bench, he still does some mediation work and he and his wife live on Buffalo’s waterfront.