2025 LAWR Newsletter

• New York Bail Guide (Carolina Academic Press) (co-authored with Sean Rheinheimer) (Dec. 2025) 
• Standardizing Exoneration Compensation Statutes, 17 Drexel L. Rev. 343 (Feb. 2025)

• “What Your Law Clerks Know About AI in Legal Research and Writing,” CLE organized by UB School of Law’s Career Services Office (May 2025)
• “Generative AI in Legal Research and Writing,” Presented to Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo (July 2025)

• “Becoming a Lawyer: Explaining High Standards Through a Professional Identity Lens,” Central States Legal Writing Conference (September 2025)

• “Brave Counsel: Teaching Courage as a Lawyering Skill,” Western Regional Legal Writing Conference (September 2025) 

• “Building Skills, Building Confidence: The Place of the Performance Test in the 1L Legal Writing Curriculum,” Legal Writing Institute Virtual One-Day Workshop (May 2025)
• “Writing a Persuasive Statement of Facts: How Far is Too Far?” Capital Area Legal Writing Conference (May 2025)
• “Walking a Tightrope: Balancing Your Role as the Director of Legal Writing With Other Law School Leadership Roles,” Discussion Group, Association of Legal Writing Directors Biennial Conference (July 2025)
• “What to Expect When You’re Expecting . . . a Law Student Clerk,” CLE organized by UB School of Law’s Career Services Office (December 2025)

• "Tips for Understanding Badly Written Contracts,” presented to a group of entrepreneurs and digital nomads in Dharamkot, India (summer 2025)

• Quoted in “Amazon, Other Retailers Test Tax Whistleblower Claims in N.Y.,” Bloomberg Law (March 19, 2025)
• “The Editing Process: A Career-Long Gift” Legal Writing Institute Virtual One-Day Workshop (May 2025)

In January, we hosted our inaugural Amazing Race, in which our 1L students competed to showcase their LAWR skills. Read more about the Amazing Race.

All 147 students in the first-year class participated in 1L oral arguments in April 2025. These arguments spanned two nights and were judged entirely by local practitioners. This is a tradition we’ve revived over the last several years.

Students gathered in the Francis M. Letro Courtroom for a watch party, LAWR-style. Party goers viewed the oral argument from Flanders v. Goodfellow. Students stayed for a post-party discussion of the implications of the Court's decision (in a surprising decision, the Court overturned 20 years’ worth of New York precedent related to dog bite cases). It was a fun time and great to see the students so engaged with a legal topic that they dug deeply into during their spring semester. 

Farina Barth continues to serve as a board member of the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc. Board. Read more about her election and commitment to public service.

Angie McDuff serves as a Member of LWI’s Professional Status Committee – Advocacy. She also serves as Co-Faculty Advisor for UB Law’s newly formed Women in Law & Allies (WILA) and Leaders for Philanthropy (LFP) student organizations. Read more about the LFP.

Pamela Newell is a member of LWI’s Academic Support & Bar Prep Committee, AALS’s LWRR Outreach Committee, and ALWD’s Teaching Grants Committee. She serves as Faculty Advisor for UB Law’s Black Law Students Association. And she served as Managing Editor for the Spring 2025 Edition of The Second Draft. 

Kate Rowan joined the editorial board of the new SUNY-wide Innovations in Learning journal.

Carina Schoenberger was elected a member of the 2025-2026 Board of Directors of Neighborhood Legal Services.