Hon. Deborah H. Karalunas L’82

Adjunct Professor dhkaralu@syr.edu Curriculum Vitae [PDF]

The Honorable Deborah H. Karalunas L’82 obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1978 and graduated cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law in 1982. At the College of Law, Karalunas was a member of the International Law Review, Moot Court and Justinian Honor Society. Following law school, Karalunas clerked for United States District Court Judge Howard G. Munson in the Northern District of New York. In 1983, Justice Karalunas joined the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King in Syracuse where she later became a partner.

In 2002 Justice Karalunas was elected to serve as a Supreme Court Justice in the 5^th Judicial District. She presides over a panoply of civil cases including commercial, personal injury, medical malpractice, intellectual property, constitutional, and environmental. In 2007 Justice Karalunas was appointed Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court, Commercial Division, Onondaga County, and in 2017 she was appointed to the New York State Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions.

Justice Karalunas is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Central New York Women’s Bar Association, the Onondaga County Bar Association, and the Armenian Bar Association. In addition to leading various committees and sections, Justice Karalunas served on the Board of Directors of the Onondaga County Bar Association and the Central New York Women’s Bar Association. She was President of the Central New York Women’s Bar Association, Presiding Member of the Judicial Section of the New York State Bar Association, Trustee of the Onondaga County Bar Foundation, and President of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

Justice Karalunas teaches New York Civil Practice at the College of Law. She was Editor of the Judicial Dispatch and author of a chapter in the treatise Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts. Karalunas is a longstanding faculty member of the New York State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Trial Academy, and lectures frequently on many substantive law and trial practice topics.

Justice Karalunas was the 2009 recipient of the Syracuse University College of Law Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, the 2017 recipient of the Central New York Women’s Bar Association’s inaugural Karen DeCrow Award, a 2018 Public Service Honoree of the Armenian Bar Association, and the 2022 Recipient of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York’s Justice Martin J. Evans Award for Judicial Excellence and Leadership in the Judiciary.