Former New York State Surrogate Judge Barbara Howe Joins Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP

Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP is pleased to announce that the Honorable Barbara Howe, former New York State Surrogate Judge for Erie County, will become a Senior Counsel to the firm effective February 5, 2018.

Judge Howe served as New York State Surrogate Judge for Erie County from 2004 through 2017. She began her judicial career on the Buffalo City Court bench in 1988, and served as a New York State Supreme Court Justice from 1992 through 2003.

Judge Howe has held numerous leadership roles on statewide committees of the New York Courts. As a member of the New York State Office of Court Administration’s Legislative Advisory Group, she was instrumental in initiating and implementing legislation that made Erie County Surrogate’s Court the first Surrogate’s Court in New York State with an e-filing option. She also played an active role in shaping legislative proposals relating to estate and Surrogate’s court practice while serving on the Office of Court Administration’s Surrogate’s Court Advisory Committee, of which she remains a member.

James McElheny, Woods Oviatt’s Managing Partner, said: "It is a great honor to have a jurist of her experience and prominence join our firm.  I cannot think of anyone who is better qualified and more uniquely experienced to work with our Trusts and Estates and Mediation practice groups.

From 1974 through 1987, Judge Howe was a member of the faculty of the Sociology Department at the University at Buffalo.  In 1988, she gave up her academic tenure there to become a member of the judiciary.  While on the bench, she served as an adjunct clinical professor of law at UB, and as an adjunct associate professor of sociology.

Judge Howe received her J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law, her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut at Storrs, and she has a Masters and Ph.D degree in sociology from Cornell University.