Judge McCarthy attended Canisius High School and Canisius College, then went to UB for accounting. It was always his intent to go to law school. He applied to UB primarily because of its location; all the students were local. In 1957-58, there were five women in the class. They were on the Eagle Street campus and there was a high attrition rate. With its Socratic teaching method, law school was a challenge compared to college: “They kept you on edge. Your hands shook when you got your grades.”

McCoy was raised in Queens, N.Y., as an only child. His mother taught nursing at Bellevue Hospital, and his father worked at Pan Am in in-flight catering at JFK Airport. The first lawyer in the family, McCoy went to the University of Notre Dame. He initially wanted to be an English professor. He had no role model for being a lawyer, although he liked to argue and debate. After college, he took the LSAT and applied to the Faculty of Law and Jurisprudence, as UB Law was then called, but decided to take a year off to sell insurance.

Justice Mikoll began to practice law in 1954. Dean Lawless, her former UB Law professor, hired her to work for him in the corporation counsel’s office. Doing trial work increased her visibility with Mayor Steven Pankow, who at the time was looking for a Democratic woman to appoint to the City Court bench. In 1957, he named her a Buffalo City Court judge at 27, just three years out of law school—a rare accomplishment that “struck like lightning.”

Dean Aviva Abramovsky highlighted Miller’s leadership and commitment.

Born in Buffalo, Joseph Mintz was the oldest of three children and was a 1951 graduate of Bennett High School. He earned his undergraduate degree and his J.D. degree in five years at UB. The law school was then located at 77 W. Eagle St. He was a member of the Buffalo Law Review.

Judge Mohun has overseen everything from murders to medical malpractice to child custody issues in Wyoming County, N.Y. But he is most proud of overseeing the county’s Treatment Court since 2014. Under his leadership, the court and the wider legal community assist defendants who suffer from alcohol, drug addiction or mental health issues in securing housing and employment. He also has expanded educational opportunities and medication-assisted therapy programs for county jail inmates.

Tasha Moore grew up in a diligent, supportive Christian family in Chicago. Her grandmother was a union representative who inspired Moore’s career. During her undergraduate college years in Florida, she worked as an accountant. Her husband had an opportunity to move to Buffalo. She had a child before she began UB law school.

Professor Mugel was born in Buffalo on Oct. 10, 1917. His mother insisted on a religious education, and he went to Holy Angels, St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, Canisius College and UB. A delivery boy’s accidental death in the elevator of the Stuyvesant Hotel, where his father worked, led Mugel to consider a legal career.

Professor Mutua was born in Kenya to a civil servant father and a homemaker mother, the second of seven children. A scholarship brought him to the United States, where he graduated from an American high school in 1975. He attended the University of Nairobi until his involvement in student activism during Kenya’s repressive one-party state led to arrest and exile. He left Nairobi and enrolled at the University of Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, where he graduated in 1983 and 1984 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law. 

John Nesper’s mother, a librarian, went to UB. Nesper, an only child, went to Amherst High School. UB was an affordable choice for college, and his girlfriend, now wife, suggested law school. He worked most of the time, attending the Eagle Street campus beginning in 1952. Dean Jacob Hyman taught Constitutional Law, which he struggled to pass. Professor Albert Mugel was humorous. Professor Clyde Summers was an excellent teacher. Nesper did not believe that academic success guaranteed professional success. “Law school challenges prepare one for practice,” he said.

During his tenure as dean, Wade Newhouse was an early adopter of computer technology, which he used to review the law school’s administrative structure. He forged stronger ties between the law school and its alumni by overseeing the school’s 100th-anniversary celebration, and helped organize a clinic to help Buffalo public school students claim their due process rights when suspended or expelled from school. The design of John Lord O’Brian Hall, home of the law school, in large part reflects his influence.

Karen L. Nicolson has been CEO of the Center for Elder Law and Justice for 18 years. Under her leadership, the organization has seen its staff grow from 12 to 49, and its income rise from less than half a million dollars to over $4 million annually.

Justice Henry J. Nowak’s path to the bench included a detour from MIT’s engineering program to the University at Buffalo for a biology degree. A traumatic experience with a rat in biology class shifted his focus from medicine, leading him to law school after initially considering business.

The eldest of six children in a working-class Cheektowaga family, O’Donnell attended parochial schools and was the first in her family to go to college. She chose Canisius College. Hers was Canisius’ first graduating class to include women. After graduation, she became a social worker “to make the world a better place,” and earned an MSW degree. She supported her husband while he was in law school, then decided to apply herself. She was a non-traditional student with two young children, and the other mothers in law school became her friends and support system.

Hon. E. Jeannette Ogden ’83 received the 2025 Edwin F. Jaeckle Award in recognition of his contributions to the law and his public service in local, state and federal government. The Jaeckle Award is the highest honor UB School of Law and the Law Alumni Association can bestow.

Oliverio was born in a diverse, blue-collar Niagara Falls, N.Y., neighborhood in the 1960s. His father was a bricklayer who hadn’t graduated high school. Both parents were voracious readers and prioritized education. His two much older brothers and Oliverio all went to college. Growing up in Niagara Falls taught him to compete and instilled in him a strong work ethic.

The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy’s need for a state-of-the-art conference center was the driving force behind the renovation of the faculty lounge on the fifth floor of O’Brian Hall, Olsen said. The interdisciplinary Baldy Center contributed some funding, along with generous alumni. The new spaces included a seminar room and a space where alumni can hold receptions.

Mark Pearce was born and raised in Brooklyn. He went to Erasmus Hall High School and Cornell University. His parents were Jamaican and had no high school or college education, but they valued education and pushed their kids to achieve. He majored in political science at Cornell, although he liked fine arts. In his senior year, he took courses in Constitutional law, civil rights and Supreme Court decisions such as Gideon and the Scottsboro Boys. He went to law school wanting to defend victims of imbalance in the criminal justice system.

David Pfalzgraf grew up in Buffalo with a sister, Robin, and a brother, Brendan. Brendan passed away 20 years ago at Fordham University in a traffic accident. This tragedy brought David back to Buffalo, where his father practiced law. He attended Elmwood Franklin and Nichols schools, then entered the Navy on a ROTC scholarship after graduating from Miami University. He served in the Navy for four years in New Orleans, Pensacola, Fla., and San Diego, before resigning his commission. He decided to practice law in Buffalo with his father and applied to UB School of Law in 1994.

James Philippone began law school at St. John’s in New York City. At the end of his first year, his mother became ill and asked him to return home to Buffalo. UB had accepted him, and while he was initially hesitant, he transferred to UB, where he was warmly welcomed. At that time, UB Law was in a small building on Eagle Street, and it felt more like a private club to the students. After class, the school lounge was a popular convening spot. He met with all the faculty, and although there was a difference in courses from St. John’s, he adjusted well. The school gave him a part-time job, and he was impressed by his peers and professors. His criminal law professor had a substantial influence on his academic career. His experience at Buffalo was great. The school’s proximity to the courts made it exciting for him.