One of the most beautiful spaces in the building that the School of Law calls home was named the Cellino & Barnes Conference Center in recognition of a $1 million gift from two of the school's best-known alumni.

The gift from Ross M. Cellino Jr. '82 and Stephen E. Barnes '83, shareholders in the Buffalo-based firm Cellino & Barnes, P. C., is one of the largest cash gifts the School of Law has received. The School of Law has invested it in student scholarships, teaching technologies and improved student services.

The UB Council, describing the donors as "highly accomplished, successful, civic-minded attorneys" who have "long been good friends and dedicated alumni" of the School of Law, approved the renaming of the conference center on the fifth floor of O'Brian Hall. One of the most elegant and widely used facilities in the law school, it hosts a wide variety of academic and legal conferences, seminars and continuing legal education courses.

Dean Makau Mutua said the gift "comes at a time of renaissance and renewed optimism in the fortunes and the future of the School of Law. This amazing act of philanthropy by Ross and Steve reflects a belief by two accomplished alumni that the law school is heading in the right direction, "Mutua said. “It is a wonderful down payment on our vision of academic excellence and our bold aspirations for the future. "

In their new offices overlooking Buffalo's waterfront, the two alumni reflected on the course of their legal careers and the start that the law school gave them.

"I consider myself pretty lucky," said Cellino, whose wife, Anna Marie Cellino '81, and father, Ross Cellino Sr. '56, also are UB School of Law graduates. "I have six children, and my career has helped support my family. It was easier to be loyal to the school because it was loyal to me. We are in a position to be able to help out the school, so why not?"

As well, he said, they were impressed with Dean Mutua's plans for the School of Law: "We made this gift unrestricted because we thought he could build the school to a new and higher level."

Cellino noted that this gift fits into the firm's larger corporate giving, which has totaled about $600,000 in scholarship awards to college students and, during football season, $2, 500 weekly awards to classrooms in Western New York for supplemental materials.

They have come a long way from Cellino's first days as a solo practitioner, when he paid his father $175 a month in rent and did his own typing on an IBM Selectric. "I made more money working at UPS part time in my senior year of law school than I did in my first year of practice," he said.

But his law school training was foundational for his career - especially, he said, Jack Frizzell's trial technique course. "I was deeply affected by that class, "Cellino said. “He had a way of teaching by example, how you go about cross-examining a witness, examining on direct, how to open and close your case. That had a major effect on me. He taught me that if you are sincere and credible and just a normal human being, you can be a great trial lawyer."

Steve Barnes said they decided to make this gift "primarily because we are so impressed with the administration there, especially the dean. He has a real vision for the school and the wherewithal to make it happen. The thing that drove our final decision was his vision to propel the School of Law into a different category. The school has great potential that hasn't been realized. There are so many good professors, and I'd really like to see the school be able to attract excellent students."

Barnes took an unconventional path into the profession - after graduation, he joined the Marines, practicing law first in Okinawa and then at Camp Pendleton in California. As a reservist, he was called to duty in the first Gulf War.

But the lessons of the School of Law have stayed with him, he said, and it's that foundation that inspired their generosity. "We thought about it, and we both realized that we owe our careers to the law school," Barnes said. "It's so important, not only to us but to our community."