Publish and flourish

Senior class of the Buffalo Law Review

Members and friends of the Buffalo Law Review had plenty to celebrate when they gathered for the journal's year-end dinner. "We didn't simply publish a journal this year," Editor in Chief Gabrielle C. Petersen said to those gathered at the Park Country Club on April 22. "We have been active in the community, helping others benefit themselves through our mentorship program and our outreach program."

In addition to publishing five issues of the Law Review, members also undertook a major internal study, strengthening the organization and continuing to improve the level of scholarship being published.

Introduced by Managing Editor Carrie Ann Wilkins, two UB Law School alumni, Hon. Kevin M. Dillon '76 and Dr. George M. Williams Jr.'78 were honored for their service to the school and their accomplishments in the legal profession.

The winners of several student awards were also announced. The Carlos C. Alden Award, given to the senior who has made the greatest contribution to the Law Review, went to Gabrielle C. Petersen. The Justice Philip Halpern Award, presented to a senior for excellence in writing on the Law Review, went to Keith A. Gorgos. Associate Publication Awards, presented to four associates for excellence in writing, with the promise of publication in the coming year, went to Nathaniel J. Stuhlmiller, Jeffrey T. Fiut, Joshua M. Agins and Joshua Pennel.

Dr. George M. Williams Jr. '78 was articles editor for the Buffalo Law Review and is now a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in New York City. Williams has been an active participant in the Law School's New York City Program in International Finance and Law since its inception, and has served as an adviser to group research projects for the program.

He also spoke of the formative influence of his UB Law School years. "I didn't always know what I wanted to do," Williams said, "and Buffalo is the perfect example of the role American education plays. Buffalo and the Law School made it possible for me to seriously work with good students and great professors to do something that was greatly important to me and give insight into the way lawyers think. That, for me, is the kind of deeply thinking but extemporaneous intellectual and university work that Buffalo stands for. Buffalo is a place where you can not only study law but how the profession fits together with other things."

Hon. Kevin M. Dillon '76, a justice in the 8th Judicial District of New York State Supreme Court, is one of the best-known adjunct professors at the Law School, having taught Criminal Procedure and Evidence for 17 years.

Dillon talked about his teaching career, which began when then-Dean David Filvaroff recruited him "over dinners and bottles of wine." That first week, Dillon walked into a class of 100 students – and wasn't sure where to start. "So for the first week or two I told them stories," he said, "but then I felt this obligation to try to teach them. In the third year, I found out I kind of liked it. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Law School, and I continue to enjoy it."