By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Hon. Paula Feroleto was named Administrative Judge of the Eighth Judicial District, replacing Judge Sharon Townsend, who was appointed vice dean for family and matrimonial law of the New York State Judicial Institute.

Feroleto, who has served on the Supreme Court in the Eighth Judicial District since being elected in 2004, is the current president of the Supreme Court Judges Association in the Eighth Judicial District.

Feroleto is a former partner in the Buffalo law firm Brown & Kelly LLP and the wife of local attorney John Feroleto. In announcing the nomination, Chief Administrative Judge Hon. Ann Pfau called Feroleto an outstanding candidate for the job who is "eminently qualified to handle the critical challenges of her new position." Asked what she perceived some of those challenges to be, Feroleto pointed to the strain an ever-growing case load is putting on the Eighth Judicial District as something on her immediate radar.

"The one thing I see is the budget and the growing use of the courts," she said. "That is certainly an issue, in terms of balancing the two."

Feroleto said given the number of well-qualified candidates, she didn't hold great hopes of being chosen to lead the district when she applied for the job. Having gotten the call, she hopes to make an immediate impact in her new role.

"I am excited because I have some new ideas I'd like to implement and it's such a big job," she said, "but I'm looking forward to working with all of the wonderful people in the Eighth Judicial District."

Asked to elaborate on what some of those new ideas might be, Feroleto said it is too early to talk about, but she did say building on her work with area youth, including the recently-completed summer internship program she developed with her husband, she looks forward to the opportunity to "do some projects that would involve the youth in our district."

She also anticipates being busy in the months ahead as she learns the ropes of her new job.

"I plan on keeping a trial calendar," she said. "Right now I have 311 cases and I am planning on keeping all of them, but what I will do is ask them not to reassign me any new cases until I'm at a level where I feel I am comfortable with the cases I'm handling and my responsibilities as an administrator."

Feroleto will have some help adjusting to her new role in the court. Townsend said she has already met with Feroleto and plans to work with her over the next few weeks to get her comfortable in her administrative role.

"There is a lot to the job and I want to make sure I bring her up to speed as quickly as I can with all of the various aspects of the job," Townsend said. "I know she is going to do an excellent job."

Townsend agreed that the budget is a major challenge any administrative judge will face and she also pointed to the size and diversity of the district as something that is unique to the position.

"You're dealing with eight counties that have very different needs. You've got the rural areas and you have the city of Buffalo that is the third-highest poverty in the country," she said. "You're dealing with that, and the volume of cases you have in the various courts leave you to make sure the needs of the judges, the litigants and the lawyers are taken care of."

David Brock is a partner with Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel LLP. His history with Feroleto dates back to her work as a partner with Brown & Kelly and he sees her as an excellent choice to fill the vacancy left by Townsend's appointment.

"I have appeared before her, but more significantly, I have known her and worked with her in the past as a litigation partner," Brock said. "I think she has established herself as a really practical, involved, concerned judge." Brock said he views Feroleto's appointment as a win for the Eighth Judicial District.

"She's a wonderful addition," he said. "Certainly she has equipped herself very well in the short time she has been on the bench and developed a very solid reputation as a practical trial judge."