Published: November 14, 2008 11:29 pm      

PEOPLE PROFILE: Roemer to be top court officer

Mike Roemer had been looking forward to the view.

As Chief U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara’s law clerk, he and the judge would be ensconced in a suite of offices on the ninth floor of the new federal courthouse being built in downtown Buffalo.

Now though, the Lewiston native will have to adjust his sights from a little bit lower level. His office as the newly appointed Clerk of Court for the United States District Courts in Western New York will be on the second floor.

“I asked (the construction manager) can you get (his office) up on the ninth floor,” Roemer said the other day after a tour of the courthouse construction site.

Maybe he’ll successful in his proposed design change. In his new job, he’ll be the point man for the courts on the multi-million dollar construction project.

“That is one of the attractions of this (Clerk of Court) job at this point,” Roemer said.

Roemer is well-suited to both the law and construction. A U.S. Military Academy grad, he spent five years in the Army Corps of Engineers before heading off to law school.

“I was with a combat engineering unit in the 24h Infantry, stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga.,” Roemer said. “We seemed to spend a lot of time training in the (California deserts) though.”

He wrapped up his military career in Western New York with the Corps of Engineers unit in Buffalo.

“I did a lot of work on flood control,” Roemer said. “I even spent time showing people how to fill (and place) sandbags. I was the district sandbagger. That was what I did.”

Roemer grew up in Lewiston, the oldest of seven siblings. His dad was a teacher in the Lew-Port school district and his mom’s family were the long time owner’s of Schneider’s Restaurant on Center Street.

He lives in the town today with his wife Jean and his daughters Kristen, 17, and Amy, 15.

“I had always liked the military, but I had always been interested in the law,” Roemer said in explaining his departure from sandbagging. “And I was married and starting a family and my wife and I decided we didn’t want to keep on moving around.”

After a trip through Cornell Law School, where he was an honors graduate, Roemer headed to Buffalo and begin a two-year stint as a law clerk to Arcara. He left the judge because he had agreed to clerking for two years and then joining the power broker Cleveland based law firm of Jones, Day.

“I liked that, it was a cutting edge law firm,” Roemer said. “It was also a lot of hours and traveling.”

So Roemer remembered what Arcara had told him when he left to join Jones, Day.

“The judge said, ‘If you ever decide you want to come back and do this full time, just call me,’ ” Roemer said. “So I called him up and he was gracious enough to allow me to come back.”

Fourteen years later, with Arcara’s support Roemer is about to take on the top administrative job in the federal courts in upstate New York.

“Mike was the unanimous choice among the judges to take over the job as Clerk of Court,” Arcara said. “He brings with him a wealth of experience in the federal court system.”

Roemer is replacing current Clerk of Court Rodney Early, who is retiring.

“I’m sorry to lose him as my confidential law clerk,” the chief judge said. “He will make a great chief executive officer for our court.”

His new job, which begins in February, will put him in charge of 40 employees. He will also oversee the processing of thousands of criminal and civil cases in the federal court district here which stretches over 17 counties.

Roemer said he’ll remember working on criminal cases involving Laborers Locals 91 and 210 during his time with Arcara.

“I loved the job. It was something different all the time,” he said. “(Arcara) loves to try cases, and he loves to give lawyers their day in court. It made my job fun and exciting.”

As for his new job, well, Roemer is looking forward to it.

“I’ll miss a lot of the legal stuff and the excitement of the courtroom,” he said. “But I’m very excited and if I could start (the new job) tomorrow, I would. I think it will be challenging.”

Contact reporter Rick Pfeiffer

at 282-2311, ext. 2252.