The Hon. JaHarr S. Pridgen is a judge for the Buffalo City Court in the Eighth Judicial District of New York. She was appointed to the bench by Mayor Byron Brown on January 2, 2015, filling a vacancy created by the election of the Hon. E. Jeanette Ogden to the Supreme Court of New York.
Pridgen earned a B.S. in political science from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2002. She then completed a J.D. from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2006.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Pridgen served as an assistant district attorney in the Office of the District Attorney of Erie County. During her tenure there, she handled misdemeanor and felony cases. Before that, Pridgen was a legislative assistant to Bonnie E. Russell, a University District Common Councilmember.
Her memberships have included the Minority Bar Association of Western New York, the Bar Association of Erie County, the Western New York Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, the New York State Bar Association, the National Association of Women Judges, and the New York State Association of City Court Judges.
Pridgen was raised in Buffalo, New York, where she attended Buffalo Public School #68 and Holy Angels Academy. Her husband, Elder Craig D. Pridgen, is the pastor of True Bethel Baptist Church of Niagara Falls.