Judicial Administration Committee (Trial Lawyers)

Hon. Deborah H. Karalunas

District Administrative Judge
5th Judicial District

Justice Deborah H. Karalunas 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 the 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, Karalunas joined the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King where she later became a partner.

Karalunas began her judicial career in 2002 when she was elected to serve as a Supreme Court Justice in the Fifth Judicial District which includes the counties of Onondaga, Oneida, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego. She was reelected to that position in 2016. In 2007, Karalunas was appointed Presiding Justice of the inaugural Supreme Court, Commercial Division, Onondaga County, while maintaining a full docket of other civil cases. Effective July 10, 2023, the Honorable Deborah H. Karalunas was appointed Administrative Judge of the Fifth Judicial District.

District Administrative Judge Karalunas is active in many bar and judicial associations. She is a member of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the National Women Judge’s Association, the Central New York Women’s Bar Association, the Onondaga County Bar Association, the Armenian Bar Association, the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the New York State Bar Association. Among her leadership roles in these associations, Karalunas was President of the Central New York Women’s Bar Association, President of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Presiding Member of the Judicial Section of the New York State Bar Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the Onondaga County Bar Association, and a Trustee of the Onondaga County Bar Foundation.

Karalunas has taught New York Civil Practice at Syracuse University College of Law since 2013, and she has been a member of the New York State Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions since 2017. She was Editor of the NYSBA 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 NYSBA Young Lawyers Trial Academy, and lectures frequently on many substantive law and trial practice topics.
Justice Karalunas was honored to be 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, 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, and the 2024 New York State Bar Association Judicial Section’s Advancement of Diversity Award.

Karalunas lives in Jamesville, New York with her husband, George. They have three children, Sarah (Nick), Evan (Samantha) and Brian (Lauren), and three grandchildren, Julian, Alina, and Elliot.