New faculty behind the lectern

In addition to the faculty members you’ll meet below, the law school also welcomes Dr. Theophilus Edwin Coleman, who’ll join us in January as a visiting assistant professor from the University of Johannesburg.

With a doctoral degree in anthropology and history in addition to his JD, Dr. Joshua Coene offers a broad perspective to the undergraduate classroom. He’ll teach a survey course in Common Law and a seminar on Law, Politics and Mass Incarceration, examining how societies punish and rehabilitate offenders.

David Coombs brings unique skills from a 21-year career in the Army JAG Corps, where he worked initially as a prosecutor before becoming a defense attorney and handling several high-profile assignments. He’ll draw on that experience as he teaches Evidence in the JD program, and Military Justice as well as Criminal Procedure Investigation to both undergraduates and law students.

Civic leader Orlando Dickson joins the faculty of the law school’s growing BA in Law program, teaching Legal Reasoning and Introduction to Criminal Law. He’ll continue his advocacy work in the community, serving on the Buffalo School Board’s Ethics Committee, and the Erie County Corrections Specialist Advisory Board.

Former editor in chief of the Buffalo Law Review, UB Law graduate, Emily Dinsmore, has returned to O’Brian Hall as a member of the LAWR faculty. With several years of practice in the areas of bond offerings and structured lending, she is ready to relay the essential skills of lawyering to the next generation of law school graduates.

John Harland Giammatteo's early work with detained immigrants and former detainees encouraged him to study the ways legal statuses shape the lives of the most vulnerable. He brings that lens to the law school where he teaches Civil Procedure, and will pursue his interest in the intersection of clinics and doctrinal teaching.

Clayton Masterman’s background in economics offers a unique perspective on how our legal system functions. In his first-year Torts class, he looks at how law and economics shapes what it means to be negligent. He also brings the practical wisdom of two year-long clerkships for federal Court of Appeals judges, as well as experience in private practice.

Carina Schoenberger, who joined the LAWR faculty this fall, has made the move to academia after a dozen years as an Assistant United States Attorney. With vast trial experience in matters ranging from financial and health care fraud to immigration and drug crimes, she also represented the United States in both criminal and civil appellate cases.

Global scholar, Dr. Mihreteab Tsighe Taye, came to UB through the university’s Scholars at Risk fellowship program.  Born in Ethiopia, he teaches courses on international commercial arbitration and comparative regional human rights systems, and will continue his research into the workings of international courts.