The Honorable Craig J. Doran is a New York State Supreme Court Justice serving New York’s 7th Judicial District (JD) with Chambers in Monroe and Ontario Counties. He recently completed serving ten years as the region’s Administrative Judge (the Chief Supervisor of all Judges and court staff in the eight counties of the 7th Judicial District.) As the area’s top Judge, Doran is credited with initiating and championing numerous ground-breaking, innovative, and collaborative improvements in statewide and regional court operations resulting in more efficient case management, better access to the courts and a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable court system. Doran currently leads the District’s Justice for All collaborative. (See the 7th Judicial District’s “Excellence Initiative” document for more details.)
Prior to his election to the Supreme Court in 2015, Justice Doran served as an Ontario County Court Judge, having been elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2009, presiding over Criminal, Civil and Family Courts. In 2006, he was appointed Supervising Judge of Family Courts for the 7th JD. In 2011, he was appointed Administrative Judge of the 7th JD. He has also been the Founding and Presiding Judge of Area Drug Treatment Courts. Justice Doran has been a member of the NYS Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, served as Chair of the Judicial Commission on Interbranch Relations, was the Co-Chair of the NYS Juvenile Justice Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (advising the Governor on statewide juvenile justice policy) and served on the Permanent Commission on Access to Justice Working Group on Future Access to the Courts. He was a member of the Office of Court Administration Raise the Age (RTA) Task Force, the Task Force on the New York Bar Exam, and was an Executive Board Member of the New York Youth Justice Institute. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the N.Y. State Surrogate’s Court Advisory Committee on EFiling and is one of four judges serving on the NYS Unified Court System’s Litigation Coordinating Panel. The Chief Judge selected him to serve on the Judiciary Task Force on the Constitution, the Judicial Commission on Parental Representation, and the Commission to Reimagine the Future of N.Y. Courts. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he was selected by the Chief Judge to co-lead the statewide New York Courts Return to In-Person Operations where he drafted and coordinated the implementation of the protocols and Administrative Orders guiding the courts through the operational phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Most recently, he was selected to Chair the statewide Pandemic Practices Working Group (PPWG) to conduct a thorough, multi-dimensional review and evaluation of court practices and protocols implemented in New York State Courts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A lifelong resident of Ontario County, Justice Doran graduated from Canandaigua Academy in 1982, then from SUNY Albany (magna cum laude) earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Communications. In 1989, he received his Juris Doctor Degree from Albany Law School (cum laude) where he served as an editor of the Albany Law Review, authoring a published article on the effects of government regulation upon the rights of landowners. In 1994, he was elected to represent N.Y. State’s 129th Assembly District in the State Legislature, where he served until 1999.
At the University of Rochester and at Keuka College, Justice Doran served as an Adjunct Professor, teaching upper-level classes in the Legal Studies and the Adult Studies Criminal Justice bachelor and master’s degree programs respectively. He also served as an Instructor Expert for the Center for Professional Studies and International Programs at Keuka College. Justice Doran has lectured at New York University Law School and has previously taught at Finger Lakes Community College.
Justice Doran is a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, recipient of the Center for Dispute Settlement’s Honored Peacemaker Award, Seneca Waterways Council of Boy Scouts’ Distinguished Service to Youth and Silver Beaver Awards, Rochester Black Bar Association’s Champion of Diversity, Center for Youth’s Cuminale Youth Advocate Award for his work supporting LGBTQ Youth; and is a Canandaigua Academy Graduate of Distinction. In 2019, Justice Doran was awarded Jurist of the Year honors from the Monroe County Bar Association. In 2021 he received Rochester Business Journal Power 30 Law List honors and was selected by The Daily Record for their 2021 Power 50 List.
Justice Doran and his wife, Eileen, are the parents of three adult children.