BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown announced two appointments to the City Court bench on Friday.
The first appointment went to Samuel P. Davis, a private attorney who has a law practice focused on criminal, family and personal injury law. He is a Chicago native and attended Western Illinois University and moved to New York City as a full-time substitute teacher before moving to Buffalo in 1999 to go to UB’s law school and has been in Buffalo since.
Davis fills the vacancy created by the appointment of Judge JaHarr S. Pridgen as Chief Judge of the City Court.
The second was to Gary A. Wilson, a native of Buffalo. He was the principle law clerk to Judge John B. Licata of the state Supreme Court. Wilson graduated from Nichols School and also went to UB’s law school after attending Cornell for undergrad. Wilson, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, has also served as the Erie County Commissioner of Labor Relations and was also the county’s Deputy Labor Relations Commissioner.
Before that, he was a labor relations specialist for UB and assistant legal counsel for the Buffalo Public School System.
He replaces the spot previously held by Judge Betty Calvo Torres, who was appointed to the New York State Court of Claims by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“I am honored to make these appointments to the Buffalo City Court,” Mayor Brown said. “They are not only accomplished attorneys, they also bring diverse educational and life experiences to the bench which will make Buffalo City Court even more representative of the residents of our city.”
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.