Uncrowned Community Builders

Hugh B. Scott was appointed United States Magistrate Judge on June 1, 1995. He is a 1971 graduate of Niagara University and received his law degree from The University of Buffalo Law School in 1974. Following graduation from Law School, Magistrate Judge Scott joined the Erie County Law Department as an Assistant County Attorney, and later joined the staff of the Buffalo Law Department as an Assistant Corporation Counsel. Magistrate Judge Scott then served our community as the first African-American Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of New York under District Judge Richard Arcara, then United States Attorney.

In 1979, Magistrate Judge Scott was appointed by then-New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams as Deputy Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge of Claims and Litigation of the New York State Attorney Generalââ?¬â?¢s Buffalo Office. Shortly thereafter, in 1981, he went on to become Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge of the Buffalo Regional Office of the New York State Department of Law. In this capacity, Magistrate Judge Scott was responsible for the administration of a law office that defended state agencies, as well as undertaking public advocacy litigation. He was the first African American to head the second largest regional office in the State of New York.

His career as a Judge began in 1984, when he was elected to a ten year term on the Buffalo City Court bench. In 1994, he was re-elected and commenced his second term. He resigned in June 1995, when he was appointed to be the first African-American to the Federal bench in the Western District of New York.

For twenty-six years, Magistrate Judge Scott has been a Lecturer of Trial Technique at the University at Buffalo Law School, and has also taught Advanced Trial Technique in the Criminal Law and General LLM programs.

Some of his past associations in the community have included: Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Canisius College; Vice Chair of the Board of the Buffalo Urban League; New York State Eighth Judicial District Advisory Council; The New York State Judicial Task Force on Domestic Violence; the Greater Buffalo Partnership Community Advisory Board; the Board of Managers of the Buffalo Museum of Science and Tifft Nature Preserve; the Board of Trustees of Sisters of Charity Hospital; the Board of Trustee of Canisius High School; the Board of Directors of the Erie County Bar Foundation; the Board of Directors of the Albright Knox Art Gallery; and the Chair of the Board of the National Conference for Community and Justice. Magistrate Judge Scott is a former member of the United States Magistrate Judgeââ?¬â?¢s Advisory Council, and the Budget and Finance Advisory Council to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Canisius College; Board of Trustees of the Catholic Health System; the Board of the National Federation for Just Communities; the Board of Directors of the Erie County Bar Association Aid to Indigent Prisoners Society; The Chair of the Advisory Board to the Office of Multicultural Programs of Canisius College; The Deanââ?¬â?¢s Advisory Board of Buffalo Law School; Board Member of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo; and is a member of the Second Circuit Judicial Conference Planning and Programming Committee. Magistrate Judge Scott was appointed in October, 2007 by United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to the United States Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct.

Magistrate Judge Scott has been the recipient of numerous awards for his community service. Among the most recent are the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rochester Black Bar Association; Citation Award of the National Conference for Community and Justice; One Hundred Black Men of Buffalo Community Service Award; the YMCA of Buffalo Toast of Buffalo Community Service Award; the Buffalo Law School Law Review Distinguished Service Award; Distinguished Alumnus Award from the U.B. Law Alumni Association; the Afro-American Historical Association William Wells Brown Award; Judges and Police Executives Community Service Award; the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Womenââ?¬â?¢s Clubs Man of the Year Award; Greater Buffalo Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Service Award for his tireless efforts on behalf of alternatives to incarceration of youth; the Attorney General Robert Abrams Alumnus Award; and the Caritas Metal from Niagara University.

With his wife of 34 years Trudy, Magistrate Judge Scott lives in Clarence, New York. They are the proud parents of two adult sons, Hugh Jr. and Everett who live in Rochester and Seneca Falls, New York, respectively.