Randolph F. Treece

Randolph F. Treece is of counsel, specializing in mediations, arbitrations, civil rights, employment, and personal injury litigation.

A retired Federal Judge with a diversified and memorable law career that spans forty-five (45) years.  His career progression has included being an Assistant Public Defender, Law Firm Partner, New York Assistant Attorney General, First Deputy Capital Defender, Counsel to New York’s Comptroller’s Office, and a fourteen-year term as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York.

He was the first African-American to be appointed to the federal judiciary in the Northern District of New York and the first person of color to be appointed or elected to the judiciary at any level, state or federal, in 104 years in eastern, upstate New York.  James Campbell Matthews, an African American, was the first person of color to be elected to a judgeship in New York and served as a judge to the Recorder Court (now known as City Court) for Albany commencing in 1890.

His proven strengths include broad and proven experiences in a broad array of legal matters and an extensive personal community involvement for which numerous awards have been bestowed. He has a balanced temperament, poised, and well prepared for new challenges.

Judgeship

• Appointed on April 26, 2001, as United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York, retiring on September 25, 2015.
• Handled a vast array of civil cases including civil rights, personal injury, commercial, employment litigation. On average, managed an annual caseload of four hundred and presided over six to twelve consent cases annually.
• Coordinated criminal matters with full jurisdiction over misdemeanors and oversaw preliminary jurisdiction of felony cases.

Bar Admissions

• State of New York
• United States District Court, Northern District of New York
• United States Supreme Court

Education

• Juris Doctor, Albany Law School of Union University
• Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, Siena College
• Death Penalty College, Kentucky Public Advocacy

Experience

• Rensselaer County Public Defender – Assistant Public Defender
• Fritts Whiting and Treece – Partner
• New York Department of Law – Assistant Attorney General
• Capital Defender Office – First Deputy Capital Defender
• Office of the State Comptroller – Counsel
• Hudson Valley Community College – the adjunct professor in Accounting
• Junior College of Albany – the adjunct professor in Paralegal Program
• Albany Law School – the adjunct professor on trial tactics and techniques and Public Defender Clinic

Awards & Recognition

• Franklin H. Williams Commission on Minorities Millennium Award
• Center for Law and Justice Frederick Douglas Award
• Omega Phi Psi Citizen of the Year
• Lansingburgh High School Hall of Fame
• Lansingburgh Boys and Girl Club Hall of Fame
• Albany County Bar Association’s President’s Award
• Capital District Chapter of the Links Man of the Year
• Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Awards
• Albany Law School’s Distinguished Alumni Service
• Alumni in Government, and Legal Profession Leaderships Awards
• Urban League of Northeastern New York McNamee Award for Outstanding Board Member
• New York Chapter of American Civil Liberties Union Roland J. Smith Award
• Albany Chapter of the NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall Justice and Medgar W. Evers Awards
• Troy Chapter of the NAACP’s Outstanding Leadership and Outstanding Citizen Awards
• Capital District YMCA President Award
• Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association Distinguished Service to Attorneys of Color Award
• New York State Bar Association Root/Stimson Award
• The New York Law Journal Lifetime Achievement Award
• African American Cultural Center of Capital Region’s Leadership Award.

Professional Affiliations

• Albany Law School Board of Trustees – Trustee Emeriti
• Albany Palace Theater Board of Directors
• African American Cultural Center Advisory Board
• New York State Appellate Division Third Department Character Fitness Committee
• New York State Appellate Division Third Department Screening Committee
• Albany County Bar Association Judicial Screening Committee, Diversity Internship Program
• New York Court of Appeals Bar Review Committee
• Albany County Bar Association
• Rensselaer County Bar Association
• Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association – co-founder
• Northern District of New York Federal Bar Association

Speaking Engagements, Publications, & Conferences

• More than five hundred published opinions
• Crime on a Sesame Seed Bun – an interactive community and children’s education program
• How Far We Have Come Since Magna Carta: Jury of One’s Peer, Jury Panels, Minorities, and Third Judicial District
• Book review: Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts, third edition (Robert L. Haig, Editor-in-Chief), 76 ALB. L. REV. 253 (2013)
• Book Review: Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts, Fourth Edition (Robert L. Haig, Editor-in-Chief, 82 ALB. L. REV. 637 (2018/2019) (2019)
• Albany County Bar Association Diversity Internship Program (2001)

Practice Areas

• Mediations
• Arbitrations
• Civil Rights Litigation
• Personal Injury Litigation

To set a mediation with Randolph please email him: rtreece@joneshacker.com