BAEC Summer 2020 Bulletin

BAEC Bulletin | Summer 2020 | 7
Oliver Young Assumes Presidency
of the Bar Association of Erie
County
Oliver C. Young is the Bar Association of Erie County’s 114 th President. He was officially
sworn in as President at the Board of Directors meeting on June 30, 2020. He succeeds Bridget
O’Connell.
Oliver C. Young is a 1980 graduate of the SUNY at Buffalo Law School. In addition to a law
degree, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters Degree in Economics from SUNY at Buffalo. Until October
2018, Mr. Young was employed as a Principal Court Attorney for the NYS Supreme Court, 8th
Judicial District, having retired on October 31st after more than 38 years of service. Mr. Young is
now Of Counsel to Barclay Damon, LLP, with a focus on general commercial litigation.
He is also a member of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York, a member of the New York State Bar
Association House of Delegates, and a member of the American Bar Association. Among other affiliations, he is the former
President of the Board of Directors of the Western New York Law Center.
Upon assuming the Presidency, Mr. Young stated, “As we move towards what Chief Judge Janet DiFiore calls the ‘new
normal,’ we in the legal profession reaffirm our commitment to the rule of law, to civility, and to seeking justice for
all. Given the current social climate, I call upon all of us to reimagine the role we can play in rooting out all vestiges of
institutional racism, in facilitating diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our civil society, and in bending the arc of history
towards justice.”
Here is a glimpse of President Young’s swearing-in ceremony, officiated by the Honorable Eugene Fahey. Despite our
need to maintain social distancing during the ongoing health pandemic, the event was a success, being conducted via web
conferencing technology.