Reservations for the New York City Alumni Luncheon can be made through the Law Alumni Office at (716) 645-2107 or online.
One of Buffalo’s best-known trial attorneys will be honored in January with SUNY Buffalo Law School’s most prestigious award.
Francis M. Letro ’79 will receive the Edwin F. Jaeckle Award on Jan. 27. The award, the highest honor the Law School and its Law Alumni Association can bestow, will be presented at the New York City Alumni Luncheon at the Union League Club, 38 E. 37th St. (corner of Park Avenue), in Manhattan. Named for Edwin F. Jaeckle ’15, the award is given annually to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself and has made significant contributions to the Law School and to the legal profession.
Previous recipients have included Hon. Charles S. Desmond, Hon. Matthew J. Jasen, Manly Fleischmann, Jacob D. Hyman, Hon. M. Dolores Denman, William R. Greiner and the 2011 honoree, Thomas E. Black Jr. ’79.
“Fran Letro has been instrumental in the successes our school has achieved in recent years,” said Law School Dean Makau W. Mutua. “SUNY Buffalo Law School has no better friend, and I count Fran among those whose opinions and wise counsel I value most highly. I am delighted that we are able to recognize his achievements and his integrity with this Jaeckle Award.”
Letro, who limits his practice to personal injury cases, is a native of Olean and earned his undergraduate degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He has held leadership positions in many professional organizations on the national, state and local levels, and for 20 years has been a board member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. He is also an active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the Bar Associations of Erie, Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties.
He is a frequent lecturer for national, state and local bar associations, speaking to lawyers and judges about trial practice and procedure, and at continuing legal education seminars and practice skills programs across New York State. He has served as a member of several statewide and local judicial screening panels for sitting judges.
Letro was just 7 when his father, a foreman for the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, lost a leg in a railway accident. Seeing his family devastated by the tragedy, the elder Letro retained an attorney who secured a settlement. “I remember my father’s enormous respect, admiration and gratitude for the lawyer who represented him,” Francis Letro recalled. That experience inspired him to pursue a career in law, so that he could advocate for victims of similar misfortunes.
At SUNY Buffalo Law School, Letro has been a longtime member of the Dean’s Advisory Council – a panel of distinguished practitioners who provide important input into curriculum and other academic policy decisions – and now serves as the group’s vice chair. The Law School’s first-floor working courtroom is named in his honor, in recognition of a $1 million gift in 2002 from Letro and his wife, Cindy Abbott Letro, in support of the school’s mission. He is also a past recipient of the SUNY Buffalo Law Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Letro’s philanthropy and other support has also extended to such community mainstays as Erie County Medical Center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo State College, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Darwin Martin House Restoration Project, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boy Scouts.
