Law School alumni association set to honor six on May 20

For the judiciary, Hon. Eugene Fahey ’84. Fahey is a justice of the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Fourth Department. He served two six-year terms on the Buffalo Common Council and worked in private practice before ascending to the bench, first on Buffalo City Court and then on State Supreme Court. He was appointed to the Appellate Division in 2009.

For private practice, Robert Schwenkel ’82, partner of the New York City law firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and co-chair of the firm's Corporate Department. Schwenkel is also global head of its M&A and Private Equity practices. He joined Fried Frank in 1982 and became a partner in 1989. Schwenkel’s diverse transactional corporate practice is concentrated on private equity transactions and mergers and acquisitions.

For community service, Hon. Lisa Bloch Rodwin ’85, an Erie County Family Court judge since 2008. Before taking the bench, Rodwin was a prosecutor in the Erie County district attorney’s office, where she served as chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau. She helped obtain a grant for the Erie County Family Justice Center, where targets of domestic violence can obtain help from legal professionals, counselors, pastoral caregivers and medical providers in a single, secure location. 

For public service, Michael Surgalla ’82, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Human Rights & Special Prosecutions Section. Surgalla began his government career as a trial attorney in the New York District of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He joined the DOJ in 1987 after several years in private practice. His current areas of focus are border security and gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law. 

For business, William Savino ’75, senior partner at the Buffalo law firm Damon Morey and chair of the firm’s Business Litigation & Insolvency Department. His responsibilities include matters involving business litigation (including construction, corporate and partnership dissolution, accounting malpractice, and Uniform Commercial Code matters) and insolvency (both debtor and creditor) with an emphasis on reorganizations. He teaches in both the Law School and UB’s School of Management.

For outstanding service to the University and community by a non-alumnus, Hon. Robert Russell, a Buffalo City Court associate judge who has been an innovator in using the courts to address stubborn social problems. Russell created Buffalo’s Drug Treatment Court in 1995 and continues to serve as its presiding judge. In 2002 he established and began presiding over Buffalo’s Mental Health Treatment Court, which oversees cases involving individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness. And in 2008, Russell created and began presiding over the nation’s first Veterans’ Treatment Court.