• Affordable Housing Clinic
• Consumer and Financial Advocacy Clinic
• Environmental Policy Clinic
• Law and Social Work Clinic
• Mediation Clinic
• William and Mary Foster Elder Law Clinic
• Women, Children and Social Justice Clinic
• Practicums

This clinic works with developers to create high-quality housing for low-income families, the elderly, targets of domestic violence and persons with disabilities. In the 19 years since it was launched, the clinic has leveraged nearly $165 million in public and private funds to create close to 2,000 units of affordable housing in Western New York.

Contacts:

• George M. Hezel, Director
• Thomas F. Disare

The Environmental Policy Clinic works with non-profit environmental groups to protect the environmental and ecological resources of the Great Lakes basin. Clinic students gain practical legal experience in environmental advocacy, client representation and community-based conservation.

• Nils Olsen, Director
• Kim Diana Connolly, Of Counsel

Through this clinic, students in SUNY Buffalo Law School’s dual program in Law and Social Work gain experience in legal service agencies, social service agencies, prosecutor offices, or therapeutic courts such as drug and domestic violence courts.

Contact:

• Melinda R. Saran, Director

The increasingly vital craft of conflict resolution is the focus of the Law School’s Mediation Clinic. Working on cases referred by local courts or other mediation agencies, students help resolve disputes in family law, small claims and the community.

Contact:

• Steven Sugarman, Director

Focusing on the problems of access to and payment for long-term medical care, students in this clinic handle individual cases, including client counseling, negotiations, administrative hearings and litigation. The clinic also has developed educational programs for consumers, health care providers and agency personnel.

Contact:

• Anthony H. Szczygiel, Director

Practicums are designed to give students an opportunity to study a substantive area and combine it with service learning.

Healthy Homes Legal Practicum. Students advocate for safer living conditions in the City of Buffalo. Their work ranges from research to drafting proposed ordinances to working on Housing Court cases, on behalf of citizens at risk from such dangers as lead, asbestos and mold, typically in rented apartments. The practicum also provides legal support to the National Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, which has chosen Buffalo as one of 17 pilot cities for its work in promoting safer housing.

Criminal Law Practicum. Students will spend about 10 hours a week observing and assisting practitioners who represent indigent defendants as assigned counsel in county, state and federal courts. Course requirements include assigned reading, weekly journaling to reflect on the students’ experiences in practice, and an end-of-semester white paper on a legal topic that grows from their work. These papers are published on the Law School’s Web site, making them available to practicing attorneys and scholars worldwide, and also demonstrating the students’ analytical and legal writing skills.