Robert T Russell Jr

The Honorable Robert T. Russell, Jr. is an Associate Judge of the Buffalo City Court, where he has served since 1992, and a full-time acting Erie County Court Judge. He has been one of the national leaders in treatment courts, starting a Drug Treatment Court in 1995, the first Mental Health Treatment Court in the Eighth Judicial District in 2003, and a Veterans’ Treatment Court in Buffalo in 2008, the first in the nation. His work on the Veterans’ Treatment Court has received national and international recognition. Before assuming the City Court bench, Judge Russell worked in the offices of the Ohio Attorney General, the Erie County District Attorney and the New York State Attorney General. He has served in faculty positions for national institutes and organizations, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and the Department of Veteran Affairs, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, as well as at the State University at Buffalo School of Law. Judge Russell graduated from Morris Brown College in 1976 and his received his law degree from Howard University in 1979.