The Advocacy Institute is dedicated to helping students cultivate the skills, discipline, and ethics necessary to become creative and principled litigators.
The Institute serves as host to the law school’s programs in Trial Advocacy, Appellate Advocacy, and Mediation. Through these programs, students train with leading judges, trial attorneys, and faculty to develop the litigation skills necessary to successfully advocate on behalf of their future clients. The Advocacy Institute is also home to the Law School's Innocence and Justice Project, which tackles the problems of over-incarceration, racial injustice in the criminal legal system, and unjust convictions, through litigation and research.
The Advocacy Institute also seeks to provide new opportunities for our students to apply their first-rate doctrinal and theoretical education to the practice of law. The Advocacy Institute’s National Advisory Board, comprised of nationally recognized practitioners and jurists, provides guidance and counsel to the Institute’s Director as to how to develop, enhance, and expand the Institute’s programs.
The Advocacy Institute depends on the generosity of alumni and friends of the University at Buffalo School of Law for its existence and growth. To become involved in our mission, please contact: law-advocacy@buffalo.edu. Thank you for your support.
The Advocacy Institute is pleased to offer a Certificate of Concentration in Advocacy to qualifying JD students.
The Advocacy Institute
For additional information on the Advocacy Institute, or to become involved in our mission, please contact law-advocacy@buffalo.edu.
Trial Advocacy
* Jennifer Scharf, Director
Appellate Advocacy
* Lucinda Finley, Director
Mediation
* Steven Sugarman, Director