Hon. Henry J. Nowak, Jr. '93 (2012)

Segment Synopsis: Henry J. Nowak of the NY Supreme Court, class of 1993. He started in the engineering program of MIT but transferred to UB in college to get a degree in biology, but decided on law school at the last minute, after applying to the UB business and medical school. He accidentally killed a rat in biology class, which traumatized him and encouraged him to leave medicine. He ended up liking law more than business as well, so he abandoned business school. His parents wanted him to go to any graduate school in Buffalo, so they didn't mind his career path. His dad, sister, and uncles were lawyers, so following a legal path was expected anyways. His father was a Congressman representing the City of Buffalo in 1974, when Henry was 6 years old. That's when you start developing your identity. His father spent 18 years doing as much as he could for Buffalo, and spent no time on national issues unless they had a Buffalo connection, like being on a commission for the Great Lakes. He tells another story of being asked to identify himself in a college psychology class, and he was the only one in his class to identify himself as a Buffalonian--this was when he realized his parents gave him a love for the city. Henry initially thought he would do environmental law because of his biology background or patent law. He thought patent law was okay, but his first job was at an environmental firm thanks to his background. He then took David Engel's Torts class, and he loved it. He wanted to do negligence work, took trial technique and thought about being a litigator, and became an environmental litigator after law school, but that torts class was really a turning point. He then describes the working conditions and job market for environmental litigators. When he took Trial Technique Judge Ditullio (D.A at the time) and Bob Murphy taught, he really liked them and decided he wanted to be in a court. He then started working in personal injury law till he moved into the judiciary in 2002. His first summer he worked for Whiteman, Austerman, and Hanna, the environmental firm. His second summer he worked at Hodgson Russ, made many great friends there, and was offered a position at their labor department, but chose to remain in environmental law. He also had a friendship with Judge Curtin in law school, who was a great mentor.

Keywords: Choice of Law; Choosing UB Law School; Classes; Curtin, John; Faculty / Professors; Family; Law Firms; Practice

Subjects: FAMILY HISTORY; UB LAW AS STUDENT

Segment Synopsis: At the time, he liked doing personal injury work, but at the time he was on a community organization board who had a housing committee they chaired. They got half million dollars a year from Buffalo to give out loans to people repairing their houses. They had a tough time finding people to use the money, and Henry was worried the money would go elsewhere, so he went advertising door to door for it. At the time, there was an opening in the court for housing court violations, and thought that if the judges directed the offenders to Henry's organization, they would repair their houses and everything would be fine. Thus, he campaigned to be appointed and his good friend Judge Amodeo got him in. He enjoyed it very much and would like to think he helped, but he's not sure, though it felt like he was. You'd have hundreds of cases and lots of dockets, but he read the history of housing court carefully and used it as a problem-solving court, not a punitive court. Over the course of eight years, he brought banks into the foreclosure process, solved vacant and drug houses, merged cases with landlords and code violations, involved neighborhood groups, and generally started a dozen programs which would address all sorts of problems. Most of his work as trial attorney was for the supreme court, so he had the idea for a while. After 8 years, despite many successes, he had a bit of frustration with how the municipalities weren't ready to carry out a lot of his ideas. Then a vacancy came in the supreme court, "threw his hat in the ring," got nominated, and was successful.

Supreme Court was very different from city courts. Right now he helps individuals settle divorces in matrimonial court, in his second year. There's a lot of mediation and negotiation, and if it doesn't work he'll transfer a case to another judge. The trials he's doing now are non-jury trials, like some of the criminal trials he worked, but they're longer and more involved and the pace is slower and they allow him to be much more careful. He gives a couple of examples, and notes you can't be as slow and deliberate in city court.

Keywords: Career / Professional Experience; Elections; Judiciary; NYS Supreme Court; Practice

Subjects: CAREER: LEGAL; LAW; PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Segment Synopsis: Henry doesn't think he'll be in the matrimonial court the way he was in the housing court, and in the future he might do some more civil trial work.He's in the second year of a fourteen year term, so he'll see how things work out. The interviewer asks how law school prepared him for his job. Henry says it was a big help--there were so many opportunities to do moot court or clinics and get real world experience outside of the library and classroom. They didn't have formal grades but just Q (quality) or H (honors), with Ds and Fs being rare. He had a few Honors, but not as many as the others. Since there were no grades, there was no class rank, so you had to distinguish yourself with other activities, which was great. He describes several of the clinics and clerkships he did and how they helped. His kids are 11, 9, and 7, so when he talks to them he says they're going to be doctors, but when he talks to his second son, who loves to argue, Henry says he'll be a great lawyer. Still, at this point he encourages them to pursue what they enjoy--since his wife is an educator they may do that.

He advises young people interested in law the same advice he was given: Try to use all the different opportunities in law school to distinguish yourself and get a broad base of experience. He's teaching Constitutional Law, had a student ask him about law school and an opportunity to go to Kenya, and he told her to go for it to get the extra experience, even if you're not paid. Developing a broad base will help you find work and the field you're best in. Now that there are actual grades there's a tendency to hunker down and just get straight As, and he discourages students from doing that--they should do activites as well.

His advice for starting lawyers would be to keep in mind what they love and don't, and they should consider taking lower pay if they like the work more. Don't get entrenched in your first job, and feel free to move around if you want. Most of his friends are on their fourth and fifth jobs. Especially in Buffalo, the legal community is so small, so the opportunities and contacts are there for the taking. Henry says a mentor is important, but for him, many different people served as mentors in different capacities. He got mentorships from friends, relatives, and plenty of people in the Law School, whom he describes. like Tom Hedrick and Dean Olson, Judge Curtin, and Tom Haggarty and Mike Brady who remain his friends.

His proudest achievement was what he accomplished in Housing Court and the problem-solving programs he started. He's still invited to speak at conferences about problem-solving with housing court, though these days he wants to focus on matrimonial court. Those types of his programs, where the court helps people making repairs, are needed in Buffalo and any urban area, so he's very proud of what he did.

He compliments the oral history project and says he looks forward to hearing what other judges and attorneys say. Henry thinks this place is a wonderful, close-knit community and he's made many friends. The interview cuts and a new one begins with a new woman.

Keywords: Accomplishments; Advice; Employment / Jobs / Wages; Greatest Achievement; Judiciary; Moot Court; UB Academic Advisors; UB Preparation

Subjects: CAREER: LEGAL; FAMILY HISTORY; LAW; PERSONAL ISSUES; PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE