Law School Report
Buffalo Law Review
Looking up, reaching out
Law Review Dinner marks community initiatives and scholarly work
 Barbara D.Klippert ’75 was an honoree.
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A year of accomplishment and outreach for the staff of the Buffalo Law Review was celebrated at the journal's 18th annual year-end dinner. Managing editor Leah R. Mervine emceed the event, held in the elegant Buffalo Club on April 17.
Anshu S.K. Pasricha, editor in chief, noted that five issues of the Law Review were published in 2006-07. The Class of '07, he noted, was the first to publish 10 issues of the journal over two years. Pasricha also said that the Buffalo Law Review has improved its rankings among the nation's law reviews, and that upcoming issues will include a tribute to the late UB Law Professor Lou Del Cotto and the text of the 2008 Mitchell Lecture, a scholarly examination of the writ of habeas corpus, by U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson.
In keeping with UB President John Simpson's initiative to make the University a greater force for good in the Western New York community, Law Review staffers formed a partnership with the law magnet program at Buffalo's Bennett High School, conducting workshops for the students, teaching them about legal research and writing, and giving them a taste of what they might expect in law school.
As it has in the past, the Law Review staff honored UB Law alumni who honed their craft while working on the legal journal. This year's honorees were Barbara D. Klippert '75, a partner in the New York City law firm McKee Nelson, and Dennis R. McCoy '77, a partner in the firm Hiscock & Barclay, in Buffalo.
Klippert, reflecting on her life at UB, remembered coming to the North Campus in its earliest stages, when the Law School was the first department to move into its building. "Nothing was there but mud," she said, "and the wind was horrible. We had just moved to Amherst from downtown. The Law Review office was the only place we could sit down outside the classroom."
A former case and comment editor of the Law Review and currently a member of the Dean's Advisory Council, Klippert has worked with UB Law students to help them find that crucial first job in the field. "It has been very important to me to do my best to help students at UB Law School to get jobs," she said. "It has been an incredible honor for me, and a pleasure, to interact with the students. You are incredible, each and every one of you."
Further, she said, UB Law training serves its graduates well because "we appreciate things, and know what it is to work hard," Klippert said. "You will ask questions, you will think about what you are doing, you will put in that extra effort, and not just go in to work and put in your hours and ignore everything around you. You value thinking, and being a person, and being a part of something much larger than you."
McCoy, a former case and comment editor of the Law Review and 2006-07 president of the UB Law Alumni Association, said, "As an alumnus, it makes me proud to see folks like you who are continuing and enhancing a tradition I was a part of. You certainly have made our Law School a much better place, and one with a better reputation, because of your presence there."
Noting that Dean Nils Olsen has announced his intention to step down at the end of the calendar year, McCoy said that this time of transition at the Law School brings with it opportunities to strengthen the school's ties with its graduates. "We want to bring the Law School closer to the alumni," he said. "Your role does not end at graduation.
"All of you in the Law Review have been leaders," McCoy said. "The Law Review is the premier publication of the Law School. Our challenge is not only to take the Law Review in a good direction, but the Law School as well."
Three student awards were presented to Law Review staff members. The Carlos C. Alden Award, presented to the senior making the greatest contribution to the publication, went to Jeffrey A. Davis. The Justice Philip Halpern Award, which goes to a senior for excellence in writing on the Law Review, was given to Michelle A. Daubert. And four Associate Publication Awards, for excellence in writing, went to Andrea B. Ott, Jeffrey P. Gleason, John T. Lynch and Regina L. Readling.
New this year, the staff members presented the Bennett Casenote Award, to a Bennett High School student demonstrating excellence in writing. The recipient was Justin Szewczyk.
The incoming editor in chief of the Buffalo Law Review is Amy C. Frisch '08.