Edward D. Carni graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1982 with a BA in Political Science. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Whittier College School of Law in 1985 and began his law career that same year in the legal division of the Onondaga County Department of Social Services. In 1986 and for the next 15 years he was in the private practice of law. From 1990 to 1995 he served as a member of the Syracuse Common Council. In 1995, he was appointed to the position of Syracuse City Court Judge and was elected to continue in that capacity later that same year. He was a Syracuse City Court Judge until July of 2001 when Governor Pataki appointed him to the New York State Supreme Court. In November of 2001, he was elected to serve a full term as a Supreme Court Justice. Justice Carni has served as chairman of the Judicial Hearing Officer Selection Advisory Committee – Fourth Department and liaison for the Fifth Judicial District Article 81 Committee. He is a member of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York and the New York Trial Lawyers Association and is a judicial fellow for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. On December 22, 2006, Governor Pataki designated him as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department where he served until his current designation by Governor Patterson as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department in January 2009. He and his family reside in Syracuse, New York.