Law School Report
Mitchell Lectures
The James McCormick Mitchell Lecture, first given in 1951, is funded by an endowment by Lavinia A. Mitchell in memory of her husband, an 1897 graduate of the Law School who later served as chairman of the UB Council.
Challenging 'The Politics of Fear' - Amnesty International leader says war on terror should not negate human rights
A prominent international advocate for human rights brought her message to UB Law School in October, capping an extended period of teaching and discussion with a keynote address that explored the uneasy tension between homeland security and the rule of law. [more...]
'Quo Vadis Habeas Corpus?' - Distinguished jurist examines the state of the 'Great Writ'
One of UB Law School's longest-standing traditions, the annual Mitchell Lecture, had a historical tenor of its own when Hon. James Robertson, U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, delivered the 2007 address on March 21. [more...]
UB 2020
Building up, reaching out - The Law School will play a major role in the University's civic engagement and public policy initiative
The Law School is an integral element of UB 2020, the University at Buffalo's far-reaching plan to expand, improve academically, and achieve national prominence. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the segment of the strategic plan focused on civic engagement and public policy. [more...]
Regional Institute - Building a better Buffalo Niagara
One of the signature ways the Law School engages with the Buffalo Niagara community, and exerts its influence to improve the region, is in the Regional Institute. With its mission of "providing regional understanding and promoting regional progress," the institute is a major source of unbiased information for policymakers, as well as a sponsor of scholarly study, conferences and projects that benefit the binational Buffalo Niagara region. [more...]
Clinics: Impacting the Community
The Clinics and their clients - UB Law's Clinical Legal Education Program achieves real-world results
As the University at Buffalo rallies around President John B. Simpson's call for greater community involvement and assistance, the Clinics of UB Law School continue their quiet mission of education and service – a mission that they have pursued for more than 40 years.Visits with representative clients of each of the school's 10 clinics reveal a program that is meeting real needs where help is needed most. (Two clinics, the Immigration Law Clinic and the Securities Law Clinic, keep the identities of their clients confidential, for reasons of privacy.) [more...]
Sharing ideas at the fourth annual Affordable Housing Conference
The innovative visions of Arshile Gorky, Clyfford Still and Sam Francis mingled with the life-changing ideals of decent, low-cost housing at the fourth annual Upstate Affordable Housing Conference, held Sept. 25 in Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Co-sponsored by UB Law School as part of its celebration of Affordable Housing Month, the conference drew about 325 attendees – from attorneys to financiers, developers to government regulators. [more...]
Painting the town green - Bold ideas on affordable housing and the environment
A roundtable, titled "Affordable Housing and the Environment," was held Aug. 15 under the sponsorship of UB Law School's Affordable Housing Clinic. The forum, which attracted about 40 people, was held in downtown Buffalo. It was presented in conjunction with the Law School's celebration of Affordable Housing Month. [more...]
Building for the future - Affordable Housing Clinic launches endowment
One of UB Law School's signature clinics is building on the momentum of its 20th anniversary celebration to launch an ambitious endowment campaign. The Affordable Housing Clinic, established in September 1987, marked the anniversary with a series of events. They included the fourth annual Upstate Affordable Housing Conference, which attracted about 330 people to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; an economic justice conference called The High Road Runs Through the City; a roundtable on affordable housing and the environment; and a symposium on supportive and senior housing, held at UB's Center for Tomorrow. In recognition of the anniversary, the University also recognized September as Affordable Housing Month. [more...]
Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy
Seeking economic justice - Author McKibben sees climate change as an opportunity for transformation
An acknowledged prophet of the environmental movement gave a stirring call to action in delivering the keynote address of a UB Law-sponsored economic justice forum on Sept. 28. [more...]
A controversy in context - Baldy conference explores many sides of the abortion debate
Cut short in 2006 by the freak October snowstorm, a Baldy Center conference on a perennially contentious issue, "Abortion Controversy in Context: Protest & Policy," came together a year later with sunny skies and a diversity of viewpoints. [more...]
Going Global
Legal Thais - Professor Engel teaches in Thailand and UB Law students were there
"The trip of a lifetime" is how some students are characterizing an unprecedented venture for the Law School: a January bridge course in northern Thailand led by a UB Law professor. The Law School has a long-established relationship with Chiang Mai University (CMU), located more than 400 miles north of Bangkok. Director of International Programs and SUNY Distinguished Service Professor David M. Engel, who served in the Peace Corps in Thailand and speaks Thai, has for many years taught CMU students such courses as torts and research methods during UB Law's bridge term. Other UB faculty have done the same, teaching through Thai interpreters. [more...]
Building bridges to activists - Training global lawyers to fight domestic violence
Members of UB Law School's Women, Children, and Social Justice Clinic continue to build bridges to activists against domestic violence worldwide. The world has come to UB Law in the person of a prosecutor from Brazil, Eduardo Muchado, and a young activist from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Maia Jaliashvili. They are learning all they can, with the expectation that the conversation will continue after they return to their home countries to try to make the world safer for women and children. [more...]
Law Interns in Africa - Human rights interns tell of a rewarding summer's work
For two third-year UB Law students who traveled abroad on international human rights internships, summer 2006 was one of high emotion and culture shock – and one when they learned firsthand how badly human rights work is needed. Nicole Parshall and Aminda Byrd, members of the Class of 2007, lived together in Nairobi, Kenya, as they pursued separate internships in Africa – Byrd working for Urgent Action Fund – Africa, which dispenses targeted grants to women's human rights organizations on the continent, and Parshall with the Kenya Human Rights Commission. [more...]
How I spent my summer - Students' public-interest internships range far and wide
From Buffalo to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, more than two dozen UB Law students spent the summer exploring the byways of public-interest legal work. All benefited from cash grants made by the student-run Buffalo Public Interest Law Program, which raises money to make it possible for students to take unpaid or low-paying internships in public service. UB Law Forum conversed with a handful of students about the lessons of the summer, and found that the richness of the experience was greater than any paycheck. [more...]
Commencement 2007
Deepening our ties - 118th commencement honors continuing connections
The Law School's 2007 Commencement ceremonies, held May 19 in the Center for the Arts, were all about relationships – the friendships that the students formed during their three years in O'Brian Hall, their continuing connection with the school as alumni, and the promise of relationships to come as these new lawyers pursue justice in all its human dimensions. [more...]
Buffalo Law Review
Looking up, reaching out - Law Review Dinner marks community initiatives and scholarly work
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. [more...]
The Art of the Essay - Annual Buffalo Law Review issue draws national attention
The Buffalo Law Review is distinguishing itself among its peers – and taking a chance – by publishing an annual issue almost unique among American law journals: the essay issue. [more...]
A teacher's tribute - Law Review special issue remembers Lou Del Cotto, 1923-2005
Vol. 55, No. 1, of the Buffalo Law Review featured a special tribute to the late UB Law Professor Louis A. Del Cotto. The journal featured tributes from colleagues and former students of the much-loved tax specialist, who died in 2005, and it evoked memories ranging from the most arcane points of tax law to Del Cotto's love for jazz, sailing and classical guitar. [more...]
Public Interest Law Program funds 22 projects
The 12th Annual Buffalo Public Interest Law Program Auction held last year raised nearly $26,000 to be used toward providing UB Law School students the opportunity to accept unpaid public-service summer positions. Through the combined dedication and support of Dean Nils Olsen, the UB Law Alumni Association, our generous public interest-minded alumni donors, the Student Bar Association, and the members and leadership of BPILP and co-sponsoring student groups, 22 projects in total received funding for the summer. In addition, six students were awarded national fellowships. [more...]
JD/MSW: Dual degree with clout and heart
Sara Meerse (JD/MSW '96) developed "a sense of outrage" in law school, where she learned how to fight back and how to persuade. In her social work program, she broadened her perspective as she further explored critical issues in child welfare. [more...]
Conscience of the company - Author argues that corporate America is a force for good
A high-profile book author and Fortune magazine writer came to the University at Buffalo to make a provocative argument: that corporate America is changing for the better, and making a better world in the process. [more...]
Growing into the job - Placement statistics find UB Law grads ranging far and wide
How to improve on success? That has been the challenge facing UB Law School's Career Services Office, which for two years has seen more than 97 percent of graduates either find work in the legal field or go on to further graduate education. [more...]
The Class of 2010 - Hearing some of the 246 unique stories
Statistics tell a lot about UB Law School's new first-year class, but behind the numbers lie 246 individual stories of students who bring a wealth of diversity, talent and experience to O'Brian Hall. [more...]
Trial run - Moot court competitions get future litigators on their feet
One of the Law School's best tools for teaching litigation skills is its extensive moot court program. From competitions in Buffalo to contests nationally and even internationally, UB Law students are putting heart and soul into briefs and oral advocacy that are the next-best thing to actual litigation. [more...]
Outside chances - Expanded externship program provides practical experience
In UB Law's growing externship program, the work is genuine; the pay is in academic credit, not dollars; and the experience is priceless. Twenty-five to 30 students each semester take advantage of the opportunity to work in externship placements, said Lise Gelernter, a member of the teaching faculty and director of the program. Students can take only one externship in their Law School careers. Placements involve eight hours of work each week on site and regular reports to a faculty supervisor. [more...]
Inside the walls - For opponents of the death penalty, deeply personal perspectives
A lively discussion on the American system of justice – its strengths, its limitations and how it might be improved – was the result of a provocative O'Brian Hall forum on capital punishment.
The April 19 event, "Inside the Walls: Three Perspectives on Life in Prison and the Death Penalty," was hosted by UB Law School's Capital Advocacy Project. Co-sponsors were the Prison Task Force, Witness to Innocence, and New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. [more...]
Troubling trends - Ethics scholar tackles increasing privatization of the U.S. prison system
An Israeli scholar and professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University came to UB Law School on March 28 to address what he sees as a troubling trend: the increasing privatization of the U.S. prison system and other non-governmental sanctions, such as shaming penalties. [more...]
Banking on change - Author Jonathan Knee dissects a changed world of investment banking
The Accidental Investment Banker was an accidental best seller for author Jonathan Knee, and he regaled a Center for the Arts audience on Oct. 25 with the story of the book, how it came to be published, and the anything-goes atmosphere of modern investment banking about which he wrote. [more...]
Mentoring program a win-win
The first-year mentoring program provides law students with a personal introduction to the legal community. It's a win-win for everyone: For students, mentors provide invaluable guidance, advice and feedback on everything from interview etiquette to law office politics. Law students are able to ask their mentors questions and obtain information that they could not elsewhere or would be afraid to ask. [more...]
Standing on principle - Federalist Society event examines driver's licenses for illegal aliens
One of the most vocal critics of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's controversial plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens found an audience both receptive and perceptive as he spoke about the issue Nov. 13 in an O'Brian Hall lecture room. [more...]
Rising stars - Students of Color Dinner looks to a bright future
In keeping with the theme "Lifting as We Climb," the Law School's annual Students of Color Dinner brought together graduating students, continuing students, faculty and a wide variety of friends to celebrate achievement and call for a commitment to serve others as only lawyers can. [more...]