Joseph M. Hanna, partner in Goldberg Segalla’s Buffalo office, was presented with the “One to Watch” Diversity Trailblazer Award by the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Mr. Hanna was selected for the honor for his efforts to advance equal participation of minorities in the legal profession. He was presented with the award during the Ninth Annual Celebrating Diversity in the Bar Reception, which took place on January 23.

Mr. Hanna serves as Chair of Goldberg Segalla’s diversity task force and has been recognized for his diversity- and community-related accomplishments by several associations and organizations including the American Bar Association, the University at Buffalo Students of Color, the Buffalo Niagara Human Resource Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Minority Bar Association of Western New York (MBAWNY), and the Defense Research Institute.

He is the immediate past president of the MBAWNY where he established a diversity-focused internship program for MBAWNY in partnership with the University at Buffalo Law School, his alma mater. Since its inception, the program has placed more than 25 students in clerkships with judges and law firms throughout Western New York

In 2008, he created Success in the City, an annual networking event that promotes diversity and facilitates recruiting opportunities in law and business. Last year, the event drew nearly 500 political and business leaders, legal professionals, and students.

Mr. Hanna is also the Founder and President of Bunkers in Baghdad, a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting and supplying new and used golf equipment to U.S. soldiers in combat zones abroad and in wounded warriors programs across the country to aid in recreation and rehabilitation from injuries. In just over three years, Bunkers in Baghdad has collected over 2.8 million golf balls and 58,000 golf clubs for troops and veterans.