suny buffalo law school spring forum 2013

SUNY BUFFALO LAW

FORUMS P R I N G 2 0 1 3

T h e M a g a z i n e o f S U N Y B u f f a l o L a w S c h o o l T h e S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w Y o r k

GLOBAL GATEWAY

The state’s public law school is perfectly positioned to teach international students New York law

2013 Forum Spring Cover 11238_. 5/20/13 10:38 PM Page 203

Message From the Dean1 We are on the ascent

Law School Report2 SUNY Buffalo Law School goes international 6 More federal judges welcoming our students to their chambers8 State’s top judge highlights our Commencement 9 Spring moot court and trial competitions

10 Exploring the practical implications of environmental justice12 New website combines function and elegance13 Pro bono requirement expands the Law School’s public interest work14 A 23-year battle by the Elder Law Clinic is settled16 Student attorneys advise consumers under siege 18 Law School conference tackles lobbying and campaign finance19 Buffalo Law Reviewhonors Terrence M. Connors ’71 and Kristin Graham Koehler ’9420 Students of Color celebrate their accomplishments21 OUTLaw back in the swing with gala awards dinner

Faculty22 Professor Braverman awarded two fellowships23 Professor Mather named a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor24 Professor Lazar’s new book demystifies the partnership tax code25 New professor Anya Bernstein has a deep interest in Taiwan and China26 New professor Luis Chiesa comes from a legal-minded family27 New professor Anjana Malhotra will establish an immigrant justice and human rights clinic

Alumni Support28 Paul R. Comeau ’73 marks a major anniversary with a major gift29 Major gift by David Franasiak ’78 strengthens a signature program30 Alumni reflect on their gains from the New York City Program

125th Alumni Anniversary Events32 Margaret W. Wong ’76 receives Jaeckle Award at gala alumni luncheon34 We took our party on the road!

As We Go to Press36 Christopher Safulko ’13 went from Amherst to Afghanistan and back

Visit us at www.law.buffalo.edu

S U N Y B U F F A L O L A W F O R U M • F A L L 2 0 1 3

SUNY BUFFALO LAW

FORU MThe Magazine of SUNY Buffalo Law SchoolThe State University of New York

New York City Program 36 Home from

Afghanistan22

25Newfaculty

Fellowships 30

conte nts

2013 Forum Spring Cover 11238_. 5/20/13 10:38 PM 04

SUNY Buffalo Law Forum Editor: Ilene R. [email protected]

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Photographers:Janet Charles, Donald Dannecker, Doug Levere, Rob McElroy, Mark Mulville and Nancy Parisi

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© Copyright 2013 by SUNY Buffalo Law School • Volume 27, Number 2. All Rights Reserved

Congratulations to our2013 Distinguished Alumni Award winners

Hon. John M. Curran ’84Supreme CourtJusticeNew York StateSupreme CourtEighth Judicial District, Buffalo

James P. Harrington ’69Partner, Harrington & Mahoney, Buffalo

Christopher L. Jacobs ’99Erie County Clerk, Buffalo

Mark G. Pearce ’78Chairman, National Labor Relations Board,Washington,D.C

Carol M. Matorin ’76Senior Vice President and General Counsel,Marc Jacobs International,New York City

Lauren D. RachlinPartner, Hodgson Russ,Buffalo

For more photos and video visit: www.law.buffalo.edu/forum/extra

For the Judiciary

For Private Practice

For Community Service

For Public Service

For Business

For OutstandingService by a Non-Alumnus

HONOREES:


Once again, it gives megreat pleasure to speakwith you at a time ofenormous activity and

vitality at SUNY Buffalo Law School.Those words cannot be used to de-scribe many law schools in the coun-try. But yet, with your generous sup-port and wise counsel, we are not onlyweathering the turbulence that has hitlegal education and the legal profes-sion, we are in fact on the ascent. My belief is that the law school of

the future must be global in orienta-tion and outreach. American legalpractice realized this fact long ago, butlaw schools have been slow to respondto globalization. We are taking steps torise to this challenge. This year, I ap-pointed Professor David Westbrook asdirector of global strategic initiatives.In this capacity, Professor Westbrookis working closely with me, the facultyand staff to elevate our internationalpresence and create synergies betweenSUNY Buffalo Law School – the Stateof New York’s public law school – anddownstate, the nation and the world.We need to claim our position as theaffordable gateway to New York law –

the global center of international fi-nance and law. We need to build onour excellent New York City Programin Finance and Law. But the game-changer for us will be

in becoming a magnet for internation-al students for both the J.D. and LL.M.cohorts. We have asked, and receivedapproval, from the ABA and the NewYork Court of Appeals to offer a two-year J.D. for international studentswho already hold a first degree in lawfrom their countries. We believe these

students will help globalize our school,create excitement among our domes-tic students and enrich our alumni.Already UB is ranked among the top15 public research universities in thenation for international students. TheLaw School can harness these syner-gies with the rest of the University tobecome a premier international centerfor excellence in legal education.

The other enterprise thatspeaks to our vitality is the tremendous success of the Campaign for

SUNY Buffalo Law School(www.law.buffalo.edu/campaign).We have just launched the publicphase of the Campaign this April afterreaching 60 percent of our total goal of$30 million. What is most impressiveis that your generosity has comethrough during the most trying peri-od economically since the Great De-pression. We are riding a great wave,including our celebration of 125 yearsof SUNY Buffalo Law School this aca-

demic year. That event in downtownBuffalo – the grandest in the history ofthe school – was attended by 1,000strong. Thank you for your commit-ment, support and belief in our worktogether.Finally, let me reiterate the growth

in junior faculty over the last five years.We have hired 17 excellent new profes-sors to cover our comprehensive cur-riculum, especially in black-letter law.We educate future lawyers with a con-science so that they can help the worldentrench a culture of justice. We aregrateful for the unstinting support ofUB President Satish Tripathi and UBProvost Charles Zukoski in our cam-paign for academic excellence. I couldnot ask for a greater alumni commu-nity. You humble me – and the entireLaw School – with your dedication.

1S U N Y B U F F A L O L A W F O R U M • S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

message from the dean

We are on the ascent

My belief is that the lawschool of the future mustbe global in orientationand outreach.

–Dean Makau W. Mutua

Law School Dean Makau W. Mutua, left, and UB President Satish K. Tripathi with cheerleaders atthe festive Campaign for SUNY Buffalo Law School kickoff event on April 26

‘‘’’

2013 Spring Forum 11238_2013 5/20/13 10:15 PM Page 1

“The Law School has long main-tained a global presence. In the com-ing years we plan to expand our foot-print significantly in the international

arena. As New York State’spublic law school we areuniquely positioned tointroduce interna-tional students toNew York law andlegal culture,which has be-come a linguafranca world-wide,” says Mutua.“New York law

is really impor-tant,” Westbrooksays. “It ispracticed

all over the world. The New York StateBar Association has an internationalsection; a huge percentage of ‘NewYork lawyers’ are not in New York.Along with that, New York City is notjust the center of financial marketsand consequently law, it’s also a placefor the lawful settlement of disputes,both in courts and through arbitra-tion, from all over the world. And, ofcourse, the United Nations is in NewYork, as is the New York branch of theFederal Reserve, which manages theworld’s primary reserve currency.Taking all this together, New York law,both in the narrow sense of transac-tional practice and the larger sense oflegal culture, is at the heart of globallaw. So New York law is an asset thatthe rest of the world has a genuine in-

terest in. All of this gives us a strategicadvantage.”

TWO YEARS AND DONE

The chief initiative, expectedto begin this fall semester, isan accelerated program forstudents who already have

earned a first law degree outside theUnited States. These highly qualifiedstudents, who will arrive with solidLSAT scores, will be given advancedstanding, meaning that they can earnthe J.D. degree in two years instead ofthe traditional three. These studentswill take the standard core coursesthat all first-years take, then pursueelective interests in their second year.The program is expected to attract in-ternational students who wish to sitfor the New York State Bar exam.The new program complements

the two master of laws programs cur-rently offered – the general LL.M. andthe LL.M. in criminal law – which arealso designed for international stu-dents. The LL.M. in criminal law willbe strengthened by the addition, inthe next academic year, of ProfessorLuis Chiesa to the faculty. Chiesa, cur-

2 cover story

“New York law is an asset that the rest of the world has areal interest in. All of this gives us a strategic advantage.”

— Professor David A. Westbrook, director of global strategic initiatives

EXTENDINGOUR GLOBALREACH

It’s a small world, after all.

Nowhere is that more true than in the legal profession. Law schools are

finding that they need to prepare future attorneys for practice in global

contexts and are trying to become more international – and SUNY Buf-

falo Law School is moving aggressively as a leader in that direction.

Under the guidance of Dean Makau W. Mutuaand Professor David A. West-

brook, the school’s newly appointed director of global strategic initiatives, the Law

School is looking to coordinate and build on existing international engagements,

and to institute some major new programs that will make SUNY Buffalo a truly in-

ternational law school.



High hopes and big dreams as SUNY Buffalo Law School goes international

rently tenured at Pace Law School, isan internationally known criminal lawscholar with extensive experience inSpain and Latin America, notably inthe training of judges.“We’re trying to create a range of

ways that different kinds of people canstudy at SUNY Buffalo Law School,”Mutua says. “There will be the two-year J.D., the traditional three-yearprogram, the master of laws programs,fellowship programs, and eventually,we hope, a Ph.D. program. As an inter-national law school at a major researchuniversity, which both represents andserves New York, we want there to be afull spectrum of ways to participate.”Says Westbrook, “All of this fits to-

gether, if you think of SUNY BuffaloLaw as accomplishing its traditionalgoals – teaching, research and service –in the interplay of the world in NewYork, and New York in the world. Thething that we have that nobody elsehas, as a marketing matter, is our rela-tionship to New York law. Even thoughwe are the law school of the State Uni-versity of New York, and New York isso important internationally, we’venever really pushed that button andrepresented ourselves that way to theworld.” The Admissions Office and Joseph

E. Schneider, director of post-profes-sional and international education, arealready gearing up recruiting effortsfor the new two-year J.D. program,and for expansion of the existingLL.M. programs. Lillie Wiley-Upshaw,

Continued on Page 4


vice dean for admissions and studentlife, is excited about this new opportu-nity and agrees with Schneider that theapplicant pool – foreign lawyers look-ing to deepen their knowledge of U.S.law – is largely the same for the currentmaster of laws programs and the newaccelerated J.D. program. Studentsshould find the chance to spend an ad-ditional year in the United States at-tractive, they believe, as the LL.M. pro-grams are a single academic year. “The LL.M. program is fast,”

Schneider says. “In the two-year pro-gram, students will have more oppor-tunity to be immersed in the LawSchool and in American culture.”In addition, he says, significantly

increasing the population of interna-tional students in O’Brian Hall “willchange the culture of the building,”adding new perspectives to class dis-cussions. English-language proficiency

should not be a barrier, Schneider says,because students worldwide take theLSAT in English. Poor speakers of Eng-lish wouldn’t achieve the high LSATscores that will be a prerequisite for ad-mission. According to Wiley-Upshaw,“We are trying to recruit a particularstudent. We want the perfect fit. It willnot be for everyone, and at the sametime we hope to continue to increaseenrollment in our LL.M. programs.” Schneider spent part of April in

Tokyo, Seoul and Djakarta, Indonesia,participating in panel discussions atcollege fairs and representingSUNY Buffalo Law School toprospective students.

A WORLD CAPITAL

The Law School’s internation-al focus also incorporates anexpected expansion of theschool’s successful New York

City Program in Finance and Law.“The New York City program has a

stunningly cool design,” Westbrook says,noting that students in the acceleratedJ.D. program will have the opportunityto participate in the program in theirsecond year. “Moving forward, I want tothink of New York as a place where wedo programs, including the one we’renow doing. I’d like to see us there duringthe entire academic year, with more stu-dents doing more kinds of things. Sowe’d like to expand the New York Citypresence in terms of numbers and interms of subject matter,” he says, citingcommercial dispute settlement andpublic international law as two likelytopics for future programs. Also underconsideration is establishing a presencein Washington, D.C., that would com-plement the New York City program.“We haven’t made study elsewhere a

normal part of getting a degree at Buffa-lo, and we would like that. We would likeit to be completely ordinary for our stu-dents to spend at least one of their se-mesters in one of the other places weteach, either in New York, or maybe inD.C., or someplace with which we havean exchange agreement, such as Glas-gow, or perhaps at a third institution, inSao Paulo or Sydney or whatever mightmake sense for that student’s education.And of course we’re looking to welcomemore exchange students to Buffalo, too.” Under its new director, Professor

Meredith Lewis, the Canada-U.S. LegalStudies Centre is being reinvigorated.The center works to take educationaladvantage of Buffalo’s location on theCanadian border, which creates cross-

4 cover story

“We are trying to recruit a particular student.

We want the perfect fit. It willnot be for everyone, and at thesame time we hope to continueto increase enrollment in our

LL.M. programs.”

— Lillie Wiley-Upshaw, vice dean for admissions and

student life

Continued from Page 3

Professor MeredithLewis, director of theCanada-U.S. LegalStudies Centre


border legal practices, such as interna-tional trade and immigration that stu-dents can explore in the real world. The school also will reinforce its re-

lationships with other universitiesworldwide and look to establish others,Westbrook says. SUNY Buffalo Law al-ready has student exchange relation-ships with law schools in Barcelona,Spain, and Glasgow, Scotland. In addi-tion,Professor David Engel takes agroup of law students to Chiang Mai,Thailand, each January during thebridge term; there they learn aboutThai legal culture and share ideas aboutU.S. legal culture with members of theChiang Mai academic community.These student exchanges are aug-

mented by a pioneer program of theNew York State Bar Association’s Inter-national Law Section, initiated by Lauren D. Rachlin,a member of the in-ternational/cross-border practicegroup at the Buffalo office of the lawfirm Hodgson Russ. The programplaces SUNY Buffalo Law students inoutbound legal internships worldwide.Last year students spent the summer inSouth America, Prague and Vienna.The internship program is expected toexpand, and the Bar Association wantsto establish a student chapter of the In-ternational Law Section at the LawSchool. “It is important to open the stu-dents’ eyes to what is out there,” saysRachlin. “They are working with civillaw and other legal structures and theymake lifetime contacts besides.” SUNY Buffalo faculty have tradi-

tionally been engaged around theworld. Westbrook hopes to build onthis tradition by encouraging juniorfaculty to speak, teach and collaborateinternationally, and perhaps by offeringshort courses. The highly successful fel-lowship program of the Baldy Centerfor Law & Social Policy brings talentedscholars, many with international expe-

rience, to the Law School to research,teach and engage in informal network-ing. In the past several years, the LawSchool has hosted visiting scholarsfrom Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil,China, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Poland,Spain, Turkey and Zimbabwe. In addi-tion, the recently established BaldyCenter Fellowships in InterdisciplinaryLegal Studies have drawn highly quali-fied young scholars, at the post-doctor-al stage, from around the world. Thecenter expects to establish more fellow-ship programs as well, and down theroad would like to establish a Ph.D.program.

BY THE NUMBERS

All of these efforts, West-brook says, are “very muchintegrated with UB 2020,”the University’s long-range

strategic plan. (Wiley-Upshaw serveson the Law School’s Strategic PlanningCommittee.) “We are talking and lis-tening to everyone throughout the LawSchool. As we think about our futurewe are intent on considering all possi-bilities,” says Wiley-Upshaw. Says Mutua, “We are taking advan-

tage, and will take more advantage, ofbeing part of a major public researchuniversity. Making the Law Schoolmore international will make it morelike the rest of UB, which is already oneof the more international universities inthe nation.”“We have in New York the most im-

portant legal culture in the world.There is no reason why SUNY BuffaloLaw School cannot be one of the greatlaw schools in the country.”


“Significantly increasing the population of international students in O’Brian Hall willchange the culture of the building.”

— Joseph E. Schneider, director ofpost-professionaland internationaleducation

SUNY DistinguishedService ProfessorDavid Engel


Internships aplentyMore federal judges welcoming SUNY Buffalo Law students to their chambers

law school report6

This summer is shaping up tobe an extraordinary one forSUNY Buffalo Law studentswith an interest in how the

courts work. An unprecedented number of first-

and second-year students have accept-ed summer internships with judges.The placements are at all levels of thejudicial system, but especially notable isthe surge of interns in the chambers offederal judges – many of them SUNYBuffalo Law alumni themselves.While judges in the Western and

Northern Districts of New York oftenhire SUNY Buffalo students as summerlaw clerks, this year the national reachwill expand. Buffalo students will workthis summer with U.S. District JudgeJeffrey S. White ’70 in the NorthernDistrict of California; with U.S. DistrictJudge Cynthia M. Rufe ’77 in the East-ern District of Pennsylvania; with U.S.District Judge Paul L. Friedman ’68 inthe District of Columbia; and with U.S.Court of Appeals Judge Julio M.Fuentes ’75 in the Third Circuit, who

hears cases in Philadelphia. Fuentes willhave four SUNY Buffalo Law internsthis summer. He has been taking alarge number of Buffalo students formany years. “Internships in federal courts tend

to be highly visible, highly regarded op-portunities that can be profile-raisingfor students’ resumes,” says MarcDavies ’03, associate director for careerservices. “These students are landingpositions in very competitive geo-

graphic markets. Many of the studentswho are going to go into judicial clerk-ships are perhaps not interested in thecourts as a career but as a stage of edu-cation, a short period of experience thatwill help make them better attorneysand more attractive candidates to em-ployers nationwide.” This summer’s successes reflect

work by Davies and the Career ServicesOffice to help students get a foot in thedoor. “I am a connector of sorts,” hesays. “In the fall we get on the phoneand call more than 70 federal judgesthroughout the Northeast, and ask ifthey are willing to accept applicants. Atthe same time, we are gauging the levelof interest of first-year law students bymeeting with each one. We advertisethose opportunities to our students andadvise them through the applicationand interview process, and the facultyweigh in on their relative writing abili-ties.” Typically, he says, crossing the

threshold for the first time with a judgeis the hard part. “Getting the opportu-nity opened up to your student is thefirst order of business,” Davies says. “Butthen beyond that, if the judge is going tocontinue to consider applicants, thosewho come into chambers have to per-form at a high level.” The SUNY Buffalo Law connection

shared by some federal judges, he says,“may make them a little more inclinedto consider our applicants. They under-stand that you have top performers atlaw schools throughout the country,and not just the most visible lawschools. They’re giving an opportunityfor this meritocracy to take shape.” The experience that students gain is

manifold: exposure to the judicial deci-sion-making process, experience withthe different actors in the court system,the opportunity to develop mentoringrelationships, the chance to get afoothold in the geographic area wherethey want to practice. And there’s nosubstitute for the intensive research andwriting that is the substance of these in-

Last summer’s clerks for Judge Julio M. Fuentes ’75: left to right, Clay H. Kaminski,Kristen L. Richer, Megan Quattlebaum, Peter J. Anthony and SUNY Buffalo Lawstudents Kristie A. Means ’13, Ryan M. Mura ’14, Reg J. Miller ’13 and Earl K. Cantwell III ’14

U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Julio M.Fuentes ’75 advises a law student.

U.S. DistrictJudge Jeffrey S.White ’70

U.S. DistrictJudge CynthiaM. Rufe ’77

U.S. DistrictJudge Paul L.Friedman ’68


S U N Y B U F F A L O L A W F O R U M • S P R I N G 2 0 1 3 7

ternships. “In many cases,” Davies says,“they have the opportunity to test anddevelop the depth of their analytical abil-ity, to really get a sense of how legal prob-lems are thought about and resolved.” That was how it was for Joseph

Jansen ’12, who now practices corporatelaw with the international firm Fresh-fields. His internship in summer 2010with Judge Fuentes was, he says, “a phe-nomenal opportunity.”“We basically did what the clerks did,

under their guidance,” Jansen says. “Youwould research the law on whatever caseyou were assigned, and then you wouldread the briefs both sides submitted,then eventually do drafting. The judgewould make the decision on whether thecase was going to be upheld or over-turned, and we would do the initial draftof how that would look. The judgewould meet with us and go over ourwriting and what he liked and didn’t like.We would be going back and forth withthe clerks as well. It really kept you onyour toes, knowing that these incrediblysmart clerks and the judge would belooking at what you’re doing.“It was definitely intimidating,” he

admits. “You’ve gone through just a yearof law school. I didn’t even really knowhow the whole process worked, but youpick that up pretty quickly.”Davies notes that the internships typ-

ically are unpaid. “The better our stu-dents do in these jobs, the more the rep-utation of the school’s program is goingto spread throughout the chambers inthose districts,” he says. “But it does comewith a cost. There are very limited fellow-ship opportunities available. Some stu-dents are able to get course credit, so theycan get student loans for that time. Somestudents work second jobs to help sup-port themselves. … We are talking aboutmaking this a giving opportunity, ex-ploring and developing funding to sup-port fellowships for high-achieving stu-dents.” The federal district court internships

come on top of other opportunities forstudents. In past years (including last

year) federal Magistrate Judge LoisBloom ’85 has hired SUNY Buffalo Lawstudents as interns in the Eastern Districtof New York, as have State SupremeCourt Judge Joan Kenney ’85 and FirstDepartment Appellate Justice JudithGische ’80 in New York City. In the pastthree summers, more than 120 studentshave interned with judges, Davies says.

In addition, the school’s extensiveexternship program, run by LiseGelernter, sponsors placementstypically during the school year,some of them with judges.

And a large program that spans the8th Judicial District places about 20 first-and second-year students each summerwith judges and courts throughoutWestern New York – family court, cityand county courts, and State SupremeCourt. Oliver C. Young ’80, principal court

attorney for the 8th District, has coordi-

nated that program since the late 1980s.The internships started as paid positions,he says, but are now unpaid and eightweeks in length; students commit to twoseven-hour days per week, though someput in more time. Most are from SUNYBuffalo Law, though there are also in-terns from other law schools who arehome for their summer break.“I encourage the judges to give them

a task that develops their ability to do re-search and to write, because that’s so crit-ical,” Young says. “It’s something weshould all strive to improve on. Studentsrealize it’s critical as well.”The program fills quickly, Young says,

because students who have had an in-ternship talk it up. “Most of them havetalked to other students who have beenthrough it,” he says. “And the judges arevolunteers as well. They love having stu-dents in the course, love being teachers,love the work product that these stu-dents provide.”

Completing aprestigious clerkshipFor one SUNY Buffalo Law alumnus, landing a prestigious post-graduation clerkship

meant beating daunting odds.Patrick Reinikainen ’12 is now completing his one-year clerkship with Judge

Thomas P. Griesaof the federal District Court in the Southern District of New York.Reinikainen is going on to a positionwith the national white-shoe law firmDavis Polk as well as an appellate clerk-ship with Judge Julio M. Fuentes ’75 inthe Third Circuit. The Southern District is one of the

most selective districts in New York, it-self an extremely competitive arena forlanding federal judicial clerkships. Ac-cording to data from the Federal Judi-cial Center, more than 55,000 applica-tions from students and practicing at-torneys were submitted through law

schools for the 89 federal clerkship openings throughout New York State in 2011. “With an overwhelming number of highly qualified attorneys vying for these posi-

tions, many federal judges have moved to selection criteria that include graduation froma Top 10 law school plus litigation experience as a practicing attorney,” says Marc Davies,associate director for career services. “Nowhere in the state, nor throughout the countryfor that matter, is the competition for these jobs as fierce as it is in the Southern Districtof New York.”

Patrick Reinikainen ’12, left, is now completing hisone-year clerkship with Judge Thomas P. Griesa.


New York State’s highest-ranking judge presentedthe keynote Commence-ment address for the state

of New York’s only SUNY-system lawschool.SUNY Buffalo Law School’s 124th

Commencement exercises took placeMay 18 at the Center for the Arts on theUniversity’s North Campus, featuringChief Judge Jonathan Lippman. Lastyear, Judge Lippman led the nation byenacting the first pro bono service re-quirement for law students designed toprovide additional legal resources to ex-pand access to the justice system forlow-income New Yorkers. A total of 237 J.D.s graduated in

February, June and September 2013,107 of whom are female. Ten LL.M.salso graduated. Judge Lippman, who was appointed

chief judge in 2009, previously servedfor 11 years as the state’s chief adminis-trative judge. His career in the court sys-tem has spanned four decades, startingas an entry-level court attorney in theSupreme Court in Manhattan. He re-ceived his J.D. from New York Universi-ty School of Law in 1968.In proposing the pro bono initiative,

he said, “We are facing a crisis in NewYork and around the country. At a timewhen we are still adjusting to the reali-ties of shrinking state coffers and re-duced budgets, more and more peoplefind themselves turning to the courts. “The courts are the emergency

rooms of our society – the most in-tractable social problems find their wayto our doors in great and increasingnumbers. And more and more of thepeople who come into our courts eachday are forced to do so without alawyer.”The 50-hour requirement takes ef-

fect for those who seek admission toNew York practice after Jan. 1, 2015.Many SUNY Buffalo Law students al-ready have a significant record of pub-lic-service legal work through theschool’s legal clinics, summer intern-

ships and other opportunities to gainreal-world legal experience.Other 2013 Commencement high-

lights included presentation of theDean’s Medal to Hon. John T. Curtin’49, senior U.S. district judge for theWestern District of New York. TheDean’s Medal is given annually to an in-dividual who is distinguished by his orher commitment to justice and the ruleof law. Curtin, among Western NewYork’s longest-serving U.S. DistrictCourt judges, has presided over some ofthe area’s highest-profile federal casesover more than 35 years.“Judge Curtin has championed is-

sues of social justice throughout hislong and distinguished career, bringingequality and the rule of law to the Buf-falo community in multiple arenas. It iswith the greatest respect and admira-tion that I pay tribute to a man of suchstalwart principles,” said SUNY BuffaloLaw Dean Makau W. Mutua.Judge Curtin served as U.S. Attorney

for seven years before ascending to thebench in 1967. He was named chiefjudge in 1974 and served in that capaci-ty until 1989, when he assumed seniorstatus.The Ken Joyce Medal for Excellence

in Teaching and Longstanding Serviceto the Law School was presented to

Helen A. Drew ’88. The award, namedafter SUNY Distinguished TeachingProfessor Emeritus Ken Joyce, arenowned teacher and specialist in taxlaw, honors teaching excellence and ser-vice among SUNY Buffalo LawSchool’s extensive adjunct faculty.Drew is a longtime adjunct instruc-

tor at SUNY Buffalo Law School withspecial expertise in sports law. Havingtaught about issues in sports law at theschool since 1996, her courses includesports law, drug testing in professionalsports, and professional sports contractnegotiation and arbitration. A well-known booster of girls ice hockey at thehigh school level, Drew has served as as-sociate in-house counsel and corporateofficer to Buffalo’s National HockeyLeague team, the Sabres, and as an asso-ciate attorney with the Buffalo law firmCohen, Swados, Wright, Hanifin, Brad-ford & Brett, where she worked onNHL matters as well.Dean Mutua said the choice honors

an excellent teacher and points up theLaw School’s commitment to graduat-ing profession-ready lawyers in diversefields. “Helen’s teaching truly bridges the

gap between theory and practice andoffers our students outstanding skillstraining that goes well beyond the fieldof sports law,” Mutua said. “She drawsupon her vast legal experience in pro-fessional and amateur sports to teachstudents skills in negotiating, draftingand interpreting as well as in the use ofalternative methods of dispute resolu-tion – skills every attorney needs, re-gardless of specialty.” Professor Charles Patrick Ewing,

who as vice dean for academic affairsoversees the school’s adjunct faculty,said, “Helen’s courses are always ex-tremely popular with our students, andfor good reason. The broad topic –sports law – is inherently interesting tomost. But more than that, she is a giftedteacher who is dedicated to her studentsand to our Law School.”

State’s top judge highlightsSUNY Buffalo Law SchoolCommencement ceremony

Helen A. Drew’88

Hon. John T.Curtin ’49

8 law school report

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman


Herbert Wechsler National CriminalLaw Moot Court CompetitionMarch 23• Advanced to quarterfinals: MatthewHoffman ’13 and Shea Kolar ’13• Third best oralist: Hoffman

National Ethics Trial Competition March 15-17• Best Overall Advocate: Nicholas A.Romano ’13 • Advanced to semifinals: Nicholas A.Romano ’13, Erin A. Kulesus ’13,Stephen C. Earnhart ’14 and ChristineO’Connell ’14

ABA National Appellate AdvocacyRegional Competition March 7-9• Best Overall Oral Advocate: CaitlinHiggins ’13• Fourth Best Overall Oral Advocate:Corey Forster ’13• Second Best Brief: Higgins andKinsey O’Brien ’13• Regional finalists: Forster, AdamDurst ’13 and Phil Modrzynski ’13 • Regional semifinalists: Higgins andO’Brien

Florida State University College of Law National Mock Trial CompetitionMarch 7-9• Best Direct: Carrie Anne Zimbardi’14

Albert R. Mugel National Tax MootCourt CompetitionFeb. 28-March 2• Advanced to semifinals and secondplace for appellate brief: Kevin Dwyer’13 and Kevin Campbell ’13 • Fifth-place award for oral argument:Dwyer

Niagara International Moot CourtCompetitionFeb. 28-March 2• First place: Carey Beyer ’14 andMatthew Hoffman ’13• Second Best Respondent Argument:Jennifer Bryant ’14 and Andrew Dean ’14• Third Best Advocate: Bryant

National Trial Competition New YorkState RegionalsFeb. 7-10• Best Advocate: Cathleen M. Roemer ’13

Philip C. Jessup International MootCourt Midwest RegionalCompetitionJan. 31-Feb. 3• Advanced to semifinals: Michael S.Das ’13, Jonathan Dominik ’13, JohnLand ’12, Jessica Noto ’12 and HenryZomerfeld ’12

Frederick Douglass Moot CourtNortheast Regional CompetitionJan. 23-27• Advanced to national competition:Franz M. Wright ’14 and Adam M.Faeth ’14 • Advanced to quarterfinals: KimberlyA. Rowles ’13 and Ian A. Bigelow ’14• Best Petitioner Brief Award: ShaynaD. Eichen ’14 and Sarah E.Tanbakuchi ’14


Spring moot court andtrial competitionsAt home and across the nation, SUNY Buffalo Law students have excelled inmoot court and trial competitions this spring. Among the best performers:

Niagara International Moot Court CompetitionLeft to right: Jennifer Bryant ’14, Carey Beyer ’14,Melissa Overbeck ’11, Matthew Hoffman ’13,Angelyn Delgato ’12, Erin Ross ’13, Andrew Dean ’14and Adam Barth ’13

At left, 40th Annual Albert R.Mugel National Tax MootCourt Competition

Left to right: Stephen C. Earnhart ’14,Nicholas A. Romano ’13, ChristineO’Connell ’14, Erin A. Kulesus ’13

For more photos visit: www.law.buffalo.edu/forum/extra


10 law school report

The practical implications ofenvironmental justice –fighting for the rights ofpoor and minority persons

in neighborhoods unfairly burdened bytoxic wastes – got a thorough airing at aforum co-sponsored by SUNY BuffaloLaw School. The “Environmental Justice Forum

for Buffalo Homes and Neighbor-hoods” took place on April 26 – ArborDay, as one speaker pointed out. Itbrought together about 50 students,academics, law enforcers and activists toshare ideas and strategies on such issuesas air and water quality, healthful and af-fordable housing, zoning and land use,and neighborhood contamination. Theforum dovetailed with the Law School’sHealthy Homes practicum, whose lawstudents provide legal support to theNational Green and Healthy HomesInitiative.Speakers acknowledged the pres-

ence, especially in the City of Buffalo, ofan aging and deteriorating housingstock and environmentally unhealthyconditions in many neighborhoods.The first speaker, Erin Heaney, exec-

utive director of the Clean Air Coalitionof Western New York, gave a brief histo-ry of the environmental justice move-ment. “Who reaps the benefits and whois carrying the burden of the adverseimpact of a modern industrial society?”she said. “Environmental justice comesdown to who is winning and who is los-ing.”Heaney described the work of her

coalition in addressing the problems intwo local communities: Buffalo’s WestSide, where heavy car and truck trafficcrossing the Peace Bridge has led to highrates of cancer and miscarriage, amongother ill effects; and the Town ofTonawanda, where a heavily industrialsection produces the highest levels ofairborne benzene in the state, and whereTonawanda Coke was recently foundguilty of violating the federal Clean AirAct and its environmental control offi-cer was convicted of obstructing justice. William J. Hochul Jr. ’84, U.S. Attor-

ney for the Western District of NewYork, talked about that case and sevenother pollution-specific cases prosecut-ed by his office. “Not only are there is-sues related to exposure to carcinogens,”he said, “but it’s also critical that we getto the root of it so that we can stop theprocess, remediate if possible, but sim-ply get corporations and employees todo the right thing. We simply want busi-nesses to play by the rules.”

He detailed as well a caseagainst an asbestos reme-diation contractor inRochester whose workers– many of whom spoke

no English – were exposed to high levelsof the carcinogenic material. “It was sothick that it was falling like snow,”Hochul said. “The workers repeatedlyasked the company, Are we workingwith any hazardous material?, and they

were told no.” A trial in federal court re-sulted in conviction and “hundreds ofthousands of dollars in fines.” Two speakers joined the forum by

teleconference from the EnvironmentalProtection Agency’s new Office of Envi-ronmental Justice: Matthew Tejada, itsdirector, and Suzi Ruhl, a senior attor-ney with the office.“Everybody in the agency is talking

about environmental justice and hasmade it their own,” Tejada said. “Theamount of work and the level of successthat has been achieved here over the lastfew years is just tremendous.” He enu-merated the principles underlying thiswork at the federal level: sound science,the rule of law, and meaningful engage-ment with the local communities grap-pling with environmental problems.Ruhl cited President Obama’s Exec-

utive Order 12898, which stipulatedthat “each federal agency shall make

Healthy thinkingExploring practical implications of environmental justice

“We simply want businesses to play by the rules.”

— William J. Hochul Jr. ’84, U.S. Attorney,

Western District of New York


achieving environmental justice partof its mission,” and noted: “We don’thave an environmental justice law, butwe have a whole suite of federal envi-ronmental laws.”Forum attendees broke into work-

ing groups to tackle issues of particularinterest to them, then reported back tothe full group before the final speaker:Jane Cameron, an assistant attorneygeneral for the Environmental Protec-tion Bureau, part of the state attorneygeneral’s office.

Cameron spoke about the bureau’srole in initiating litigation, noting that“ours is the only state attorney general’soffice to have a staff scientist.” The of-fice, she said, by charter represents stateagencies, but has the latitude to sue toprotect the public’s health and safety,and to petition for the redress of inter-ference with a “right common to all” –such as clean air and water, and free-dom from excessive noise.“We need to think through how to

truly do partnerships and how to work

together. We need more advocacy, moretraining, new laws, resources and con-tinued overall engagement. I’m veryhopeful. I think this is the first step inbringing it together in this new con-text,” said Law Professor Kim DianaConnolly, lead organizer of the forum.In addition to the Law School and

University, the event was co-sponsoredby Neighborhood Legal Services Inc.and the Community Foundation forGreater Buffalo.


Jane Cameron, assistant attorneygeneral with the EnvironmentalProtection Bureau

Left to right, Cara Matteliano, CommunityFoundation for Greater Buffalo; Laura Mangan,coordinator for UB Civic Engagement and PublicPolicy; and Law Professor Kim Diana Connolly,vice dean for legal skills

Kerisha Hawthorne ’14, law student in theHealthy Homes Practicum

Participantsdiscuss impactson homes andcommunities.


law school report12

After an 18-month journeyof listening, rethinking andremaking, the Law School’swebsite – its virtual “front

door” to the world – has been reinvent-ed for a new generation of users.Under the guidance of webmaster

Kristina Lively, the site hasan elegant new look. Moreimportantly, perhaps, itscontent has been stream-lined and reorganized sothat vital information is eas-ier to find and the site re-flects the dynamism ofeveryday life in O’BrianHall.“A great website is criti-

cal to our future,” says IleneR. Fleischmann, who as vicedean for alumni, public re-lations and communica-tions has responsibility forthe Law School’s external relations.“When the University decided to installa new content management system, itbecame important for the Law Schoolto participate and leverage the Universi-ty’s and the Law School’s resources.”

The content management systemenables University departments, in-cluding the Law School, to easily sharephotos, stories and videos, and creates aframework for timely updates to thewebsite. But the Law School’s site(www.law.buffalo.edu) is unique to its

special position in legaleducation.“This is a strategic

website to help us primar-ily with external audi-ences – to recruit stu-dents, recruit faculty, andinform donors and alum-ni of what’s going on,”Fleischmann says. “It alsoenables our faculty topublicize their work andhelps to enhance our rep-utation.” Work on the new site

came after a series of fo-cus-group interviews with key stake-holders in the school, who contributedtheir ideas about what the site shouldaccomplish and how it should work.Lively worked with other web expertsin UB’s Office of University Communi-

cations to create a design consistentwith the Law School’s other marketingcommunications.“The website is the mother ship,”

Lively says. “It’s the most complete,most up-to-date, most thorough infor-mation we can provide.” And so, shesays, all the other ways the Law Schoolcommunicates – SUNY Buffalo Law Forum, the online newsletter SUNY Buffalo Law Links, the school’s Twitterfeed and Facebook presence, itsLinkedIn and Flickr accounts, and itsprinted mailings – will link back to thewebsite. When they get there, web surfers

will find an attractive site heavy on pho-tographs and video. Set against an im-age of the school seal, the page-top ban-ner showcases feature stories aboutpeople and events at the Law School. Aclickable “carousel” of photographsleads to other feature stories. Beneath the banner are three major

sections:• Rankings and Accolades reports

on positive mentions of the Law Schoolby ranking organizations. “Law SchoolExperience” helps prospective studentsimagine what their experience wouldbe like at SUNY Buffalo Law, with sto-ries about happenings that involve stu-dents.

• The Law School News sectionpoints to the most recent news and up-coming events.

• Press Mentions and Law SchoolEventscompiles media appearances byLaw School faculty and a school eventlisting. Farther down the page are links to

the Law School’s Twitter feed and a fea-tured video, which will become an in-creasingly important part of the web-site. “Prospective students are very curi-ous about what life in law school is like,and videos are very good at portrayingthat,” Fleischmann says. “Audience navigation” buttons

across the top allow for easy access tomajor areas of interest – an “about” but-ton with general information, and but-tons for academics, educational oppor-tunities beyond the classroom, facultyand research, and news and events.There are also buttons that point to“key tasks” that visitors might be seek-ing: apply for admission, give to theLaw School, post a job and contact theschool. A user favorite, “Did We Miss Some-

thing?” is an interactive dialogue boxthat enables users to make suggestions.

A site to seeLaw School’s new website combines function and elegance

Kristina Lively,SUNY Buffalo LawSchool webmaster

Ilene R. Fleischmann, vice dean for alumni,public relations andcommunications



Starting next summer, law stu-dents who want to be admittedto the New York bar will face anew requirement: completion

of 50 hours of pro bono legal work. Fordecades, well over half of the studentswho graduated from the SUNY system’sonly law school have already done suchwork and more. Now, plans are in placeto help all SUNY Buffalo Law Schoolstudents meet this new condition.This new mandate, issued by Chief

Judge Jonathan Lippman on Law Day2012, has two purposes: providing fu-ture attorneys solid experience, while si-multaneously giving underresourcedclients access to legal advice. Accordingto Vice Dean for Student Affairs MelindaSaran, “Students are eager to apply theirlaw school learning through pro bonowork, such as working with veterans inGenesee County and assisting refugeesapplying for asylum.”Dean Makau W. Mutua was the only

law school dean to serve on the statewideadvisory committee convened by thechief judge to issue recommendationsfor practicable implementation. “I washonored to serve on Judge Lippman’scommittee,” Mutua says. “I thought itsaid a lot about the value that he placeson SUNY Buffalo Law School as thestate’s public law school. “The committee was open and re-

ceptive to the concerns and ideas of lawschools in implementing the pro bonorule. I want to commend Judge Lipp-man for being forward-thinking andcreating an opportunity for us to incul-cate in law students the spirit and sub-stance of public service for the under-served. I hope New York’s becomes themodel for other states.”The requirement will affect the Class

of 2014 first, and current second-yearstudents may start accruing pro bono

hours now. “This is a requirement forbar applicants, not a mandate on theLaw School,” says Connolly. “But manystudents enroll in our institution hopingto sit for the New York State bar exam, sowe have indirect responsibility for assist-ing in compliance. Fortunately, we havea history of supporting students in com-pleting similar work, so it was easy to rollout a plan to assist all students.”

To ensure adequate opportu-nities for all its students tomeet the pro bono require-ment, SUNY Buffalo LawSchool has:

• Created a “community partners ad-visory committee” to work directly withtraditional civil legal service providers,such as Neighborhood Legal Services,Legal Aid, Volunteer Lawyers Project, Le-gal Services for the Elderly, and others.

• Assessed the school’s roster of ser-vice learning coursework, such as clinics,planning to make more opportunitiesavailable for students.

• Added practicum courses thatcount toward the requirement, includ-ing a Criminal Law Practicum, the newHealthy Homes Legal Practicum, andcoming this fall, a practicum dealingwith post-incarceration “re-entry” issuesof released prisoners.

• Established a tracking system tohelp students find places to volunteerduring the semester and over the sum-

mer and partnered with the ComputerAssisted Legal Instruction organizationto implement innovative approaches.

• Arranged with providers of legal re-search services to continue students’ ac-cess to Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw andBloomberg materials post graduation,while they’re working to fulfill the probono requirement.Multiple options in the regulations

will support various pro bono options.For example, Connolly explains that astudent working at a law firm over thesummer can get pro bono credit for as-signed work if the firm is not billing forthe time. Students’ work for judges andthe district attorney also counts towardthe requirement. The basic overall un-derstanding, she says, is that the workmust be both legal in nature (buildinghouses for Habitat for Humanitywouldn’t count, but drafting a legal doc-ument for that non-profit would), andsupervised by licensed attorneys or lawfaculty.And Saran points out the mandate

also opens up for practicing lawyers, in-cluding Law School alumni, opportuni-ties to get support for their pro bono ef-forts by working with students. The LawSchool stands ready to connect practi-tioners with students eager to meet therequirement. For information, visit theLaw School’s pro bono page at www.law.buffalo.edu/current/pro-bono.html.

Doing even more goodPro bono requirementwill reinforce and expand Law School’spublic interest work

Above, DianaProske ’03, right,discussesNeighborhoodLegal Services at arecent job fair.


law school report: clinic14

Everyone connected to Conrad v. Perales has a warstory, and most of themmention the SUNY Buffalo

Law professor who was there from thebeginning to the end two decades later.The stories about Professor Antho-

ny Szczygiel revolve around the LawSchool clinic he founded and the workit did during a 23-year legal battle thatended with an $11 million settlementfrom New York State.

Jorien Brock ’03 was part of theclinic in 2001 when word came that thestate had finally agreed to hand overdocuments Szczygiel considered im-portant to his lawsuit on behalf of16,000 nursing home residents. Thedocuments were buried in a truckloadof boxes being deposited in the base-ment of the old federal courthouse. Sheand Szczygiel would spend hours inthat basement going through the boxes.“It was truly a needle-in-a-haystackprocess,” says Brock, now director of thePride Center of Western New York.“Tony and I would go down there andspend hours sifting through those box-es looking for relevant documents. Andwe found some.”Forty to 50 Law School students

worked with Szczygiel over the years ashe pursued his 1991 complaint accus-ing New York State of cheating old, sickand poor nursing home residents. Theclass-action suit charged the state withdouble-billing nursing home residentswho received both Medicaid andMedicare. Not only was the federal gov-ernment billed twice for the same ser-vices, residents were forced to pay twicefor their so-called “client share” of nurs-ing home costs billed to the two pro-grams.

It took decades, but Szczygiel andhis army of volunteers at the Williamand Mary Foster Elder Law Clinic, aswell as lawyers from Legal Services forthe Elderly, would eventually win. “Atsome point, it became something of acause, to right a wrong,” Szczygiel saysof the state’s actions. “To me, it was justan egregious breach of their obliga-tions.”

Nan Haynes ’92 remembers think-ing that her early work on the lawsuitmarked the start of something impor-tant. She saw the lawsuit as correcting awrong, a way to use the court system tofix an injustice. It also provided her an

invaluable opportunity to help researchand write the original complaint.“It was a thrill to be on the ground

floor of such an important case,” saysHaynes, now a lecturer at the LawSchool. “I also remember very clearlymy reaction to what the state was do-ing. I was appalled by what was goingon.”The 16,000 nursing home resi-

dents who took part in the lawsuitwere, by all accounts, the sickest peo-ple in their nursing homes. They alsowere poor and either elderly or dis-abled. Even now, years after winninghis case, Szczygiel finds it hard toimagine why the state targeted them

Long road to justiceSettlement for nursing home residents followed a 23-year battle by the William and Mary Foster Elder Law Clinic



as part of a scheme to cheat the Med-icaid and Medicare systems.Szczygiel uncovered the scheme

while working on a routine Medicaidappeal – one of dozens of administra-tive actions the clinic has handled overthe past 30 years – for a clinic client.Early on, the state expressed a will-

ingness to correct its mistake and re-fund money to the plaintiffs. Over thenext several years, the two sides workedtogether to list those who would receiverefunds, only to see that effort collapse.“Initially the state said, ‘We can get thisdone,’ ” Szczygiel says. “And then theydidn’t get it done.”

What followed was a protracted le-gal battle over what defendants shouldbe part of the case and whether thecourts should certify the victims as aclass.Frustrated by the slow pace of the

suit,U.S. District Judge John T. Curtin’49encouraged the two sides to movethe case along. Both plaintiffs and de-fendants filed motions for summaryjudgment. Curtin denied both mo-tions, and the case entered litigation.With a trial looming, Szczygiel real-

ized he needed the help of an experi-enced trial attorney and a law firm witha litigation fund big enough to handlethe costs of preparing for a major trial.That’s when Henry W. Killeen III ’75, aBuffalo lawyer with a reputation for ag-gressive tactics, and Peter Dellinger, anexperienced litigator at the Empire Jus-tice Center in Rochester, joined thecase.“It was extremely frustrating and

very disheartening,” Szczygiel says ofthe state’s legal strategy. “I was perhapstoo naïve to think we might succeedearly on.” When the time came to again talk

settlement, the plaintiffs were suddenlytalking from a point of strength, notweakness. The plaintiffs, who hadsought $30 million, settled in 2006 for$11 million.By that time, all of the original

plaintiffs had died, one of the sad con-sequences of the protracted legal fight.None of them had lived to hear abouttheir court victory or spend their settle-ment checks. The money would insteadgo to their children or grandchildren.“They didn’t have much, and theycould have had more,” Szczygiel says ofhis clients. “It was disappointing theydidn’t get their money back.” The next five years were spent track-

ing down heirs, an effort that officially

ended in October when Curtin finallyclosed the case.For Szczygiel, Conrad v. Perales

became the commitment of a lifetime.He spent more than two-thirds of his33 years as a lawyer working on this one case. “It was qualitatively different than

any other work we’ve done,” he says ofhow the suit compares to the routineMedicaid and Medicare appeals nor-mally handled by the clinic. “This onecertainly mushroomed well beyondthat, and it was satisfying to see it to theend.”“For me, he’s an inspiration,” says

Haynes. “When there are roadblocksthat pop up unnecessarily, the tendencyis to throw up your hands and sayenough is enough. Not Tony.”

“For me, he’s an inspiration. When there are roadblocks that popup unnecessarily, the tendency is tothrow up your hands and sayenough is enough. Not Tony.”

— Nan Haynes ’92

“At some point, itbecame something of

a cause, to right awrong,. To me, it was

just an egregiousbreach of theirobligations.”

— Professor AnthonySzczygiel, talkingabout the state’s

actions

Photo: Buffalo News


Counsel in time of crisisStudent attorneys advise consumers under siege from creditors

law school report: clinic16

Students in the Law School’snewest clinic are learning andserving the public in an areawhere they’re sorely needed:

the world of consumer debt judgments.Associate Clinical Professor Lauren

Breen,who began the Consumer Fi-nancial Advocacy Clinic last spring, saysthe need arises primarily from the high-volume debt buyer industry. Typically,she says, debt buyer companies pur-chase unsatisfied debts from originalcreditors who have written the debt off,for pennies on the dollar. The debt buy-ers most often obtain default judg-ments, then freeze bank accounts or gar-nish the wages of consumers to collecton the money judgments. Many ofthese consumer are not properly servedwith the summons and complaint, onlyto discover they have a default judgmentagainst them when their bank account isfrozen, wages are garnished or they aredenied a job based on information in acredit report.Surprisingly, says Breen, the debt may

not even be theirs: “The judgment mayor may not be from a lawsuit that hasbeen conducted in a fair and equitablemanner. … Many consumer debt law-suits are not served properly, and debtbuyers often do not purchase any of the

underlying documents to prove a debt isowed. Even debt discharged in bank-ruptcy is purchased by debt buyers.”Hence the clinic, in which student

attorneys, working with legal servicesand volunteer attorneys, help staff theBuffalo Civil Legal Advice and ResourceOffice, or CLARO. A project of theWestern New York Law Center, CLAROworks with client “visitors” on Tuesdayafternoons and Friday mornings. Theproject is modeled on one created atFordham University Law School’s Feer-ick Center for Social Justice in New YorkCity. When CLARO visitors arrive, Breen

says, they go through an intake inter-view, receive guidance about their rightsas consumers, and work closely with anattorney to prepare legal documents toaddress the consumer problem. “Being able to talk through a con-

sumer issue with an attorney or a stu-dent attorney is valuable to the visitorsin both legal and non-legal ways,” shesays. “It’s dramatic when a consumerdebtor tells his or her story to the attor-neys. We can see the relief on their faceswhen they leave. … We get all kinds oflife situations. We see people who are ondisability who strive to repay their debts.We also see people who at one timewere making six-figure salaries who, dueto a medical crisis or losing a job, fallfrom economic grace and are terrifiedwhen they receive a summons and com-plaint. They don’t have the money tohire an attorney, but they know theyprobably should have an attorney. Wegenerally do not see people who ran upcredit cards with a lot of luxury items.We see people with a history of workingwho have faced medical and economichardship that negatively impacts theirability to pay bills.” The student attorneys, she says,

many of whom are facing the prospectof repaying their education loans, canrelate to the visitors’ situations. “I wasstruck by the natural respect and empa-thy they have for the visitors,” Breen says. The educational component, she

says, ranges widely. “Student attorneysgenerally learn New York State civilpractice law and procedure rules,” Breensays. “The mentoring that goes on withthe students is really important. We arelucky to leverage the legal experience ofmany experienced attorneys from theWestern New York Law Center andfrom private practice.”CFA Clinic student attorneys talk

about clinic experiences such as dealingwith a visitor who has just lost a job op-portunity because of a credit report er-ror, another with a mental impairment,or one who brings a relative who is notthrilled with the idea that they’re meet-ing with a student attorney. “We can’tpredict who’s going to come in the door,so talking about what worked and whatwe could do better next time is really ef-fective for the student attorney,” Breensays. “They’re learning all sorts of thingscritical to practice that I may not evencatch every week.”

CFA student attorneys alsowrite a weekly reflection pa-per, and Breen says she cansee their attitudes towardpeople in financial trouble

change as they do the work. They mightcome into the clinic thinking that “peo-ple were irresponsible, bought too manyluxury items, things they didn’t need,and weren’t being careful. But the stu-dents say, I met somebody and here’show this person got into financial trou-ble – they got cancer, they couldn’t workfull time for a year, they charged $10,000on their credit card just to get by. So thestudents are very much learning to havean open mind about how people cometo need legal assistance. “The overwhelming number of

CLARO visitors have been enormouslygrateful and so generous in terms of al-lowing student attorneys to observe andrepresent,” Breen says. “They under-stand it’s a teaching clinic. These are verypersonal situations, and it’s been such agift from these visitors to create thislearning opportunity.”

Associate ClinicalProfessor Lauren Breen

confers with FrankEwing ’12, an associateattorney at Hodgson

Russ.



From both sides of the desk

Students in the Consumer andFinancial Advocacy Clinic, andthose they have helped, reflecton the experience:

“I’m really surprised by some of thecases,” says third-year SUNY BuffaloLaw student attorney Tyson Prince. “Ijust had a woman who had a lawsuitbrought against her for $18,000 for acredit card she never had. They neverperformed service on her and she never

was aware of the suit,so she didn’t showup for the court date.This is a mother offive who works as anurse’s aide. Shecame to us and wewere able to get thedefault judgment va-cated and her bankaccount unfrozen.

We also counterclaimed to try to recov-er her bank fees. That makes me feelgood.“In law school you spend a lot of

time in the classroom getting theoreti-cal information. But being able to actu-ally go out there and to interact withvisitors, hearing their legal problemsand figuring out the answers, and hav-ing it be a service to the community, ithits all the angles.”His classmate Christopher Grover

says the work “personifies the legal sys-tem. It puts a face on someone. Before Istarted consumer law work, you’d justthink someone didn’t pay their creditcard. There’s not really the perspectiveuntil you sit with people who face thesejudgments and are praying they haveenough gas to get home.“Client interaction is something you

can’t just pick up right away,” Groversays. “We’re taking the legalese out of it,explaining to people the real-life situa-

tion they’re in and helping to calmthem down. Those are skills you can’tlearn in the classroom.”CLARO visitors say they found

good advice and financial relief at thedrop-in clinic. A visitor named Lisa tellsher story: “I applied for a job that wasabsolutely perfect for me. After the sec-ond interview they told me they neededto do a credit check because I would bedoing finances. Once they did the creditreport, I never heard from them again.That hurt. I’m a single mother; I takecare of two kids. I do have to be able tosupport my kids and I do have to beable to get off welfare so the other partof the world can stop paying for me tolive. I should be able to support myselfand my family. [The CLARO staff]made it very easy for me. They did allthey could to make sure it was takencare of, and that means a lot to me.”Another visitor, a man named Pat,

has a similar story: “I was recently ap-plying for a position for which Ithought I was qualified. I was contactedfor an interview and I consented to abackground check and a credit report. I

was unaware that a bank had filed asmall judgment against me for a delin-quent credit card. I did not receive asummons and complaint; they weretherefore able to enter a default judg-ment against me. That informationwound up on a copy of the TransUnioncredit report. Unfortunately, that infor-mation on my credit report took meout of the running for the position. “I sought out CLARO’s help be-

cause I needed to get that situation re-solved. I’ve been unemployed for sometime now and I’m concerned that thelength of time is working against me insecuring new employment, as well asthese issues with my credit report.CLARO was able to assist me in devis-ing a strategy to petition the creditorthat had filed the judgment and havingthat vacated, which with the help ofCLARO I was successful in doing.”

Law student attorneys, left to right: Laura M. Esposito ’13, Christopher J. Grover ’13,Adil Ahsanuddin ’13 and Ian P. McAvoy ’13

Tyson Prince ’13


SUNY Buffalo Law School wasthe site of the nation’s first-everconference on the intersectionbetween lobbying and cam-

paign finance. The conference, called“Under the Influence? Interest Groups,Lobbying, and Campaign Finance,” wasorganized by Associate ProfessorMichael Halberstamand Daniel Tokajiof Moritz College of Law. Tokaji is co-editor of the Election Law Journal,which expects to publish ar-ticles that arise from theMarch 8-9 conference.Topics included the in-

fluence of outside moneyon state and local electioncontests and legislatures; theimpact of the SupremeCourt’s recent First Amend-ment decisions on state au-thority to regulate state andlocal campaign spendingand lobbying activity; theincentives provided by thetax code for corporate polit-ical spending; the possibilityof public funding for lobby-ing efforts; and the promiseand limits of disclosure.Six panel discussions

over the two days, withcomments by respondentsand spirited discussion bythose in attendance, madeup the formal work of theconference. A sampling of the ideas pre-sented:

Richard Briffault, professor at Co-lumbia Law School: “You do have a lineof cases in the 19th century which ac-knowledge the legitimacy of legal pro-fessional services in aiding people inpresenting their claims but are verytroubled by the elements of personalsolicitation and influence more gener-ally. … Both campaign finance and lob-bying were reframed around the FirstAmendment model, beginning in the1950s.”

Zephyr Teachout, associate profes-sor at Fordham University Law School:

“I think one of the reasons we avoid theissue of lobbyists is that lobbying takesmoney and launders it into powerthrough information and reason. Wereally value information and reason,and we don’t want to say that anythingthat comes out looking like informa-tion and reason is bad.”

Frank R. Baumgartner, professor ofpolitical science at the University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill: “If we

want to improvedemocracy, the is-sue is not who’s go-ing to win or canyou purchase anoutcome in Con-gress. I think youcan, unfortunately,when it’s a micro-issue. But in thesample we studied,when it’s these bigpublic policychanges, we don’tsee it.”

Craig Holman,government affairslobbyist for PublicCitizen: “I left NYUin 2002 and be-came a lobbyist forPublic Citizen.What I learnedquickly was that Iwasn’t able to get a

whole lot done. Lobbying was really, atthat time, done by K Street lobbyists us-ing the type of tools of influence ped-dling that weren’t available to PublicCitizen – the money-in-politics kind ofissues, not only campaign fundraisingand bundling, but revolving door activ-ities, giving gifts, providing free travel.These were the tools of influence ped-dling that really dominated back then.It was tremendously frustrating, and Irecognized that is not how it was sup-posed to be. Lobbying is supposed to beabout providing information in orderto help lawmakers make wiser deci-sions.”

Lee Drutman, senior fellow at theSunlight Foundation: “We studied reg-istered lobbying. There are people whodon’t register and try to structure theirtime in a way that doesn’t require themto register under the [Lobbying Disclo-sure Act]. That’s a hard thing to know.”

Heather Gerken, professor at YaleLaw School: “Both campaign financeregulations and lobbying regulationsare designed to deal with the problemof political influence, and both requireus to regulate a shape-shifter. In politics,we’re rarely regulating stable legal enti-ties. Instead we’re oftentimes regulatinga loose collection of interests that cantake different forms as circumstancesdictate. So each time a court or legisla-ture tries to regulate a particular kind ofpolitical institution, political adversariesfind a new outlet to channel their ener-gies.”

Nicholas W. Allard,dean of Brook-lyn Law School: “Whatever is done canalways be undone. That probably wasthe most important lesson I learnedworking on Capitol Hill. That is a greatsafeguard that’s in the system. Even ifthere’s a quick fix or money has somekind of an impact, it’s a dialogue thatgoes on forever. The only basis for sus-tained results is the natural preferenceand leg up that the status quo has, andalso that there be a legitimate publicpolicy basis for the decision or the out-come. You may disagree with the policyor the outcome, but if there isn’t a credi-ble legitimate public policy basis for theresult, it’s going to be undermined a lotmore easily.”Also participating in the conference

were SUNY Buffalo Law ProfessorsJames A. Gardnerand Martha T. Mc-Cluskey,and Associate ProfessorsMatthew Dimickand Stuart Lazar.

18 law school report

A matter of influenceLaw School conference tackles lobbying and campaign finance


Associate Professor MichaelHalberstam organized theconference.



The power of ideas

Members and friends ofthe Law School’s pre-mier scholarly publica-tion shared hard-won

wisdom and a sense of satisfaction asthey gathered for the 24th annual dinnerof the Buffalo Law Review. The April 18 event, at the Buffalo

Club, brought together the student edi-tors, faculty, staff and two dozen Law Reviewalumni to look back at whatCaitlin M. Higgins ’13, the outgoing edi-tor in chief, called “a wonderful year. Weare absolutely proud of what we pub-lished this year,” Higgins said. The journal’s five issues included

publication of the 2012 James Mc-Cormick Mitchell Lecture essays, com-menting on the future of elder care in theUnited States, and a piece by Clifford J.Rosky of the University of Utah on thehistory and evolution of same-sex mar-riage. At the dinner, the Law Reviewcon-

ferred awards of recognition on TerrenceM. Connors ’71 andKristin GrahamKoehler ’94.Koehler, a partner in the Washington,

D.C., office of Sidley Austin, representsclients in white-collar criminal and civil litigation. In accepting the award, she said

her experience on Law Reviewwas “in-strumental in the success I have had inmy career and in my life,” along with thepersonal milestone of meeting her hus-band, fellow Law Reviewmember DavidKoehler ’94.The honoree left the current Law Re-

viewmembers, 19 of whom graduated inMay, with three pieces of advice. “The lawcan be extremely rewarding, but it canalso be extremely demanding,” she said.“You need to think about what do youlove, what are you passionate about, whatare you good at? And then you need todo it. And each and every day try to dosomething that scares you, somethingthat’s hard. If you don’t do that, you’renot going to grow as a person or as alawyer.”In outlook, she advised, “Be self-

aware. Don’t ever forget where you camefrom; don’t ever take yourself too seri-ously; don’t ever become too full of your-self. There are so many lawyers out therewho fit that mold. Don’t be one of them.”And finally, “Enjoy your life. ” In his remarks, Connors noted that

the lead article in the very first issue ofthe Buffalo Law Reviewwas by an earlymentor of his, Charles S. Desmond ’20,a longtime member of New York’s

Court of Appeals. “I had the office next to him at Da-

mon & Morey [after he retired from thebench], and I had the good fortune topick his brain day after day,” said Con-nors, a well-known Buffalo litigator. “Itwas a learning experience like I had neverhad, and it was terrific. ” When he solicited Desmond’s opin-

ion on whether he should leave the firmand enter solo practice, Connors saidDesmond opposed the idea at first. “Butthe next morning he called me in, he satme down on a chair, looked at me andsaid, ‘I think you should do it. Because ifyou don’t do it, you’ll never know howgood you could be, and you’ll regret it forthe rest of your life.’ So I did it, and it’sbeen a great run for us.“Our vocation is about taking a risk.

It’s about doing what you know in yourheart is right.” Associate Publication Awards were

presented to Andrew M. Dean ’14, JacobS. Sonner ’14, Jessica L. Noto ’14 andAshley F. Watkins ’14. The Justice PhilipHalpern Award, presented to a senior forexcellence in writing, went to Joshua M.Tallent ’13, executive editor of the jour-nal. And the Carlos C. Alden Award, pre-sented to the senior making the greatestcontribution to the Law Review, was pre-sented to Adam L. Hayes ’13.The incoming editor in chief of the

Buffalo Law Review is Emily A. Dinsmore’14.

Terrence M. Connors ’71 and Kristin Graham Koehler ’94

Buffalo Law Review honors Terrence M.Connors ’71, Kristin Graham Koehler ’94


Abillion-dollar lawyer. An at-torney to the stars. A stateSupreme Court justice. There were plenty of ac-

complishments to impress and emulatefrom among the prominent alumnilauded at the 2013 Students of ColorDinner, held April 11 at the BuffaloMarriott.About 150 people attended the af-

fair, primarily to wish well the membersof the Black, Latin American and AsianPacific American law student associa-tions who would be graduating thenext month and perhaps looking forsome inspiration for their legal careersahead.This is where Paul Korniczky ’86,

Anthony J.M. Jones ’84 andHon. JaniceA. Taylor ’78 come in. The three werehonored that evening as DistinguishedAlumni, and with good reason.Korniczky ’86 is a shareholder and

registered patent attorney with Chica-go’s Leydig, Voit & Mayer, one of theoldest and largest patent law firms inthe country. He has served as trial coun-sel in patent infringement and intellec-tual property litigation in U.S. federalcourts and in international patent dis-putes in Europe and the Far East. In anotable career highlight, Korniczky

won a $1.2 billion lawsuit on appeal.It has been a 27-year career that was

put in motion when Korniczky wasstudying mechanical engineering andsaw his academic adviser prepare to be-come an expert witness in a patent law-suit. “That’s when I got the idea to go to

law school,” Korniczky said. “I choseBuffalo because they have more pro-grams for students of color.”Joe Korniczky, joining Paul for the

evening, said that his brother’s accom-plishments are even more impressivewhen one considers that he graduatedfrom college at 19, got a master’s degreeat 21 and finished law school by 24.Jones ’04, in the relatively short time

since he graduated, has establishedhimself nationally as an expert in thetransactional aspects of entertainment,sports and media law. His vision of international justice

was behind his involvement as adviserto the United Nations for the 2008 In-ternational Day of Remembrance ofthe Victims of the Transatlantic SlaveTrade. Further, he recently launchedthe Global Social Ventures Initiative tohelp empower the world’s poorthrough education, microfinance andentrepreneurial programs. Anotheravocation is encouraging youth

through music and sports.Taylor ’78 is a SUNY Buffalo Law

standout, not just because she sits onthe state Supreme Court in QueensCounty, but also because she was thefirst female African-American to do sowhen she was elected in 1997. She wona second 14-year term to the court in2011.Her path to the bench began in

transportation, as an attorney for theNew York City Transit Authority and assecretary of the Staten Island RapidTransit Operating Authority, specializ-ing in labor, employment and contractslaw. She held those positions from theyear she graduated until 1986. She nextmoved into private practice, where shespecialized in labor, civil rights, family,estates and entertainment law. Adding inspiration to the evening

was keynote speaker David EdmundsJr., deputy commissioner of the stateLiquor Authority. He offered a 10-pointlist of practical advice drawn from hisown law career that included privatepractice and public appointments andelection as the first and only African-American president of the Bar Associa-tion of Erie County.Additionally, students honored two

professors for their contributions to thelaw and teaching. Both said they werehumbled by the recognition.

Remla Parthasarathy ’94was se-lected for the Trailblazer Award for herwork in intimate partner violence pre-vention. Today, as a clinical instructorfor the Women, Children, and SocialJustice Clinic, she teaches students howto maximize interaction with victims,while avoiding burnout that can comewith the demands of the field.The Jacob D. Hyman Professor

Award was given to Associate ProfessorAnthony O’Rourke, a specialist in crim-inal law and procedure, legislation andconstitutional law, who is new to theLaw School. He tries different ap-proaches to the material he teaches andputs special effort into getting to knowhis students –a gesture that studentsappreciate, yet is a small investment oftime, he said. “I’m deeply moved and humbled

because I’ve only been teaching for ayear,” O’Rourke said. “It’s less of a recog-nition of what I’ve done and more of avote of confidence.”

Looking toward the future

law school report20

Students of Color celebrate their accomplishments


The candlelight ceremony has become afavorite tradition to mark the students’progress through their law studies.



Showing their prideOUTLaw back in the swing with gala awards dinner

The Law School’s advocacyorganization for gay and les-bian students has regroupedafter a fallow period, and it

came back strong with a festive andwell-attended year-end dinner andaward ceremony.OUTLaw says its main goal is to “ed-

ucate our colleagues about the legal is-sues surrounding sexual orientationand gender identity.” More than 100people turned out for the awards din-ner, held April 5 at the historic Chef’sRestaurant in downtown Buffalo. “We’re living history right now, and

every little event counts,” said thegroup’s president, Daniel DeVoe ’14, inwelcoming the attendees – LGBTQ stu-dents, faculty and staff and their hetero-sexual allies. The evening’s keynote speaker, As-

sociate Professor Michael Boucai, is re-searching legal cases concerning same-sex marriage, especially in the early1970s – “those heady years afterStonewall when it seems the ’60s reallyhappened,” he joked. He shared withthe attendees some observations aboutthose early legal forays into what hasbecome, of course, a highly visible issuewith two marriage equality cases cur-rently under consideration by the U.S.Supreme Court. There has been, for example, “bitter

debate about whether to pursue same-sex marriage at all,” Boucai said. Typicalof the time, that debate was generallycouched in the language of oppressionand liberation; Boucai quoted onescholar as lamenting, “Since when ismarriage the path to liberation?”And marriage itself, he said, was not

really the point of these early cases thatpressed the issue. “When same-sex cou-ples today apply for a marriage license,they do so primarily in order to be mar-ried,” Boucai said. “But marriage itselfwas not a realistic goal for litigation inthe 1970s.” Instead, he said, a casewould be said to have succeeded if theattendant publicity opened the public’seyes to the idea that same-sex couplesshould have their relationships ac-

knowledged and honored. One litigant,he said, put it this way: “We accom-plished our goal. We got the wholeworld talking.”

OUTLaw also recognizedtwo honorees for theircontributions to LGBTQcauses. The honoreeswere Jorien Brock ’03, se-

nior director of the Pride Center ofWestern New York, and AssemblymanSean Ryan. “My adult life has been focused on

pursuing social justice and socialchange,” Brock said. She talked abouther work with the Pride Center, a one-stop resource for LGBTQ people inBuffalo, saying that the city’s poverty,racial segregation and violent crimecomplicate the task of advocating forgay and lesbian persons.“The things that have touched me,”

she said, “are those one-on-one mo-ments,” such as seeing a severely dis-abled young man come out of his shellduring an Afro-Brazilian drummingprogram, or hearing a 65-year-oldwoman say that she “finally felt shecould be true to herself and find hernew community” after her parentspassed away.

Ryan, who was elected to the As-sembly in late 2011, co-sponsored theGender Employment Non-Discrimi-nation Act to protect the rights of trans-gender persons and also has advocatedfor anti-bullying legislation.“We know times are changing,”

Ryan said. “We have groundbreakingrules in New York State which allowmarriage equality, after a long, longfight. Whether the Supreme Courtgrants marriage equality almost doesn’t make a difference, because weknow the future. Whether it happenslegislatively or judicially, the tide ofprogress is never held back.” His hope, he says, is that widespread

adoption of same-sex marriage “sets astandard for normalcy. We hope thatkids who come out in the future willnot be treated as poorly, that their jour-ney is made easier because they arecoming into something that’s acceptedby society.” And Ryan challenged the lawyers-

to-be in the audience to consider theirrole in society. “It’s for you to decidewhat you are,” he said. “Are you a gayAmerican or an American person whois gay? You decide what comes first.”

New York State Assemblyman Sean Ryan, Daniel DeVoe ’14 and Jorien Brock ’03



With prestigious fel-lowship support, Associate ProfessorIrus Bravermanwill

embark on her next project while inresidence at Cornell University duringthe 2013-14 academic year.Braverman has been chosen to re-

ceive two major fellowships: a Societyfor the Humanities fellowship at Cor-nell, co-sponsored by that university’sAtkinson Center for a Sustainable Future; and a Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship, a prestigious

award of the Ameri-can Council forLearned Societiesthat is funded by theAndrew W. MellonFoundation.Braverman says

she is particularlyexcited about work-ing with two seniorscholars from theUniversity of Cali-fornia, Berkeley,who will be at Cor-nell in the fall: politi-cal scientist WendyBrown and culturalstudies scholar Ju-dith Butler.The Society for

the Humanities fel-lowship is structuredaround the focaltheme of “Occupa-tion,” and Braver-man’s proposaldraws on an ethno-graphic study of sev-

eral important conservation institu-tions to explore how legal regimes fa-cilitate the schism between captive(occupied) and wild (unoccupied)management. During her time at Cornell,

Braverman will be thinking and writ-ing about the genealogy and signifi-cance of the in situ/ex situ dichotomyin nature conservation. Latin for “in”and “out” of place (“situ”), this di-chotomy often stands for the dichoto-my between nature and captivity. Onone end, in situ is defined as on-site,natural conservation; on the otherend, ex situ is off-site, or captive con-servation. Working from interviewswith leading conservationists, Braver-man intends to look at how thoseterms have been understood and howthis division has shaped the practices,models and regulation of the animalconservation movement. Further-more, Braverman plans to question

the simplistic division between wildnature and civilized culture by illumi-nating their interdependency. Morebroadly, she is considering the possi-bility of conservation without nature. Braverman says her research will

focus on a few conservation organiza-tions that take different sides on the insitu/ex situ question: the ConservationBreeding Specialist Group of the In-ternational Union for Conservationof Nature; the World Association ofZoos and Aquariums; and the Am-phibian Ark. She expects to spendpart of the year doing fieldwork invarious locations, including Europeand the United States.

The project began last sum-mer, Braverman says, dur-ing the process of writingher book Zooland (Stan-ford University Press,

2012). That book recently received abronze medal, recognizing it as an out-standing book on current events, fromthe Independent Publisher BookAwards. It describes the world of theAmerican Association of Zoos andAquariums. Braverman shows how inthe past 50 years, accredited zoos havecome to redefine their mission fromprimarily one of entertainment to oneof care and stewardship. She also de-scribes how these zoos work coopera-tively to manage their animals. The Ryskamp fellowship will pro-

vide additional financial support forBraverman’s work during the comingacademic year. According to its spon-sor, the fellowship “recognizes thosewhose scholarly contributions haveadvanced their fields and who havewell-designed and carefully developedplans for new research.”Braverman’s work is interdiscipli-

nary in nature and draws on her inter-ests in law, geography, anthropology,and science and technology studies. Inaddition to her Law School appoint-ment, she serves as an adjunct profes-sor of geography at UB.

22 faculty

Managing the wild

Two fellowships will supportBraverman’s inquiry into conservation management

AssociateProfessor IrusBraverman getsa kiss from anadmirer.



Leading scholar

Lynn Mather, a professor oflaw and political science atthe University at Buffalo, isone of 16 faculty members

from across the State University ofNew York’s system to receive the titleof SUNY Distinguished Service Pro-fessor this academic year.According to SUNY, promotion to

this rank requires a demonstrationthat the professor has achieved a “dis-tinguished reputation for service notonly to the campus and the Universi-ty, but also to the community, theState of New York or even the nation,by sustained effort in the applicationof intellectual skills drawing from thecandidate’s scholarly and research in-terests to uses of public concern.” According to Law School Dean

Makau W. Mutua, “Lynn has sur-passed this standard in every way. Herrecord of scholarship, public serviceand teaching is exceptional. Lynn hasdone pioneering work at the cross-roads of political science, law and an-thropology. Her service to a widerange of institutions, including theLaw & Society Association, the BaldyCenter for Law & Social Policy, theAmerican Association of Law Schoolsand the American Political ScienceAssociation, is equally impressive.”A leading scholar in the field of law

and society, Mather has published ex-tensively on lawyers, legal profession-alism, women in the legal profession,and trial courts. Her most recentbook, Lawyers in Practice: Ethical De-cision Making in Context (Universityof Chicago Press, 2012), co-editedwith Leslie Levin, is required readingin Legal Ethics courses around thecountry. Her earlier books includePrivate Lawyers and the Public Interest:The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the

Legal Profession (Oxford UniversityPress, 2009), co-edited with RobertGranfield, Divorce Lawyers at Work:Varieties of Professionalism in Practice(co-authored; Oxford UniversityPress, 2001), Empirical Theories AboutCourts (1983) and Plea Bargaining orTrial? The Process of Criminal-CaseDisposition (1979). Mather was director of the Baldy

Center from 2002 to 2008. Beforejoining SUNY Buffalo Law School in2002, she held the Nelson A. Rocke-feller Chair in Government at Dart-mouth College.

Professor Lynn Mather has been named aSUNY Distinguished Service Professor

Mather joins otherLaw School members of theSUNY DistinguishedAcademy

Guyora BinderSUNY Distinguished Professor; Vice Dean for Research and FacultyDevelopment

David M. EngelSUNY Distinguished ServiceProfessor

Charles P. EwingSUNY Distinguished ServiceProfessor; Vice Dean for AcademicAffairs

James A. GardnerSUNY Distinguished Professor;Joseph W. Belluck and Laura A.Aswad Professor of Civil Justice

Makau W. Mutua, DeanSUNY Distinguished ProfessorFloyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst FacultyScholar

SUNY Distinguished ServiceProfessor Lynn Mather


24 faculty

Sub-chapterandverse

As the Internal RevenueCode goes, Subchapter Kis not verbose. Its 36 sec-tions deal with the law

governing the taxation of partner-ships, in which two or more personsare in business together. Even so, says Associate Professor

Stuart Lazar, partnership tax is “prob-ably one of the harder areas of tax lawto actually master. It is actually not thestatute that is so tough to decipher butthe guidance that has come out, theregulations that the IRS has publishedare so complicated and confusing.” Lazar’s first book, just published

by Carolina Academic Press, bringssome clarity to that morass of statuteand regulations. Mastering Partner-ship Taxation takes readers throughthe life cycle of a partnership – begin-ning with partnership formations,covering how earnings and distribu-tions to the partners are taxed, andending with the tax implications ofpartnership liquidations and mergers.Under U.S. law, partnerships don’t

pay taxes on their income. Instead, theowners of the partnership are taxedon their “distributive share” of thepartnership’s income. The owners ofthe partnership decide how the in-come will be allocated among them,but by law this allocation must reflectthe economic reality of the business

arrangement, as tested undercomplicated rules.Lazar, a tax specialist who

teaches a course in partnershiptaxation, says of the 364-pagebook: “It’s not a casebook and it’snot really a textbook. The book is atool designed to help students easilyand efficiently master the substanceand content of material found in a lawschool partnership tax course. It is de-signed for students who are takingpartnership tax and maybe also forpractitioners who are getting into thefield or want to get a basic familiaritywith the field.”

The book contains a num-ber of pedagogical featuresdesigned to improve learn-ing and retention. Eachchapter of the book, which

is part of Carolina Academic Press’“Mastering” series, starts with a“Roadmap” setting out what thechapter will cover, and ends with a“Checkpoint” for effective study re-

view. “It’s a really goodseries of books,” Lazarsays, “and I had a lot offun writing this one.”Most of the students

in his course on partner-ship taxation are third-years, Lazar says – stu-dents who have taken atleast a basic tax courseand have an interest intax law, whether as apractice specialty or asan aspect of corporatelaw practice.Tax is an interest that

Lazar formed at theUniversity of Michigan,first as an undergradu-ate and then at Michi-gan Law School andNew York UniversitySchool of Law, where heearned a master of lawsdegree in taxation. “Ijust found the intrica-cies of the law fasci-nating,” he says. “Tome, the complexitiesof the statute are likesolving a puzzle. “Some people

think tax is justabout numbers,

about filling out a tax return. It’s alot more than that. Obviously there isthat part to it, but there are plenty oftax lawyers who never look at tax re-turns. I practiced as a tax lawyer for along time, but I never looked at a taxreturn in practice. “So much of tax law is policy and

thinking about, how do you use thetax law to shape policy? And so muchof it is ‘what do the words mean?’ Tome, it’s all very interesting.”And it’s a subject that continues to

change as the IRS issues new regula-tions surrounding Subchapter K.“Even though there are changes, a lotof the basic foundational stuff is set-tled law,” Lazar says. “But I alreadyhave some ideas for how to improvethe book and move things around forthe second edition.”

Professor Lazar’s new book demystifies the partnership tax code



As a sophomore studying re-ligion at Columbia College,and needing to fulfill a dis-tribution requirement,

Anya Bernstein wandered into a class inChinese philosophy and, she says, “gotwrapped up in it.”She went on to pursue a certificate

program in China at the Johns Hop-kins-Nanjing University Center, thenearned a Ph.D. in anthropology at theUniversity of Chicago, with a disserta-tion on political participation in Taipei,Taiwan. But, Bernstein says, “I came tofeel like anthropology wasn’t really get-ting me at the questions I wanted to getat. I’m interested in how the state is or-ganized and how people within thestate operate, questions that I think areessential to help understand govern-ment and law in general. I thoughtstudying law might help me get there.”Bernstein received her J.D. from Yale

Law School in 2010. After a year spentclerking for Judge Guido Calabresi inthe federal Court of Appeals, SecondCircuit, in Connecticut, she taught legalresearch and writing and Topics in Chi-nese Law as a Bigelow Fellow at theUniversity of Chicago Law School. Now Bernstein is joining the faculty

at SUNY Buffalo Law School, and shesays she’s delighted to be in a placewhere scholars bring social science dis-ciplines to bear on questions of law. “Inmost places a Ph.D. in economics orpolitical science is pretty standard,” shesays. “What I think is remarkable aboutBuffalo is the diversity of the intellectualtraining that people have had – includ-ing anthropology, sociology, philoso-phy, even literature. These disciplinesgive you a really interesting and differ-ent way to approach the law. ” Born in Russia, Bernstein was 5

when her family moved to the UnitedStates and settled in western Massachu-setts. She learned to speak English inkindergarten, but kept on with otherlanguages, and now she is proficient inMandarin Chinese, can converse in

Russian, and has some facility withGerman and Taiwanese/Southern Minas well.

She hopes to use her languageskills in January bridge-termcourses involving travel toChina and Taiwan, much asProfessor David Engel takes a

group of students to Thailand each Jan-uary. “I’m pretty confident I’ll be able todo some interesting comparative workthis way,” she says, “so students can seethe way these different systems function– that even though it’s a democracy, itdoesn’t work the way the U.S. systemworks. … The shock of confrontingsomething that doesn’t make any senseto you, and then working through untilit does make sense to you, is really pow-erful. Then, when you turn it back onyour own country, it helps you see con-nections and fissures that you wouldn’t

see otherwise.”Having just completed a major arti-

cle on “predictive government databas-es,” Bernstein is looking next to a pro-ject of reading case law about theboundaries of government. As govern-ment functions are increasingly beingoutsourced to private contractors, shesays, the Supreme Court has struggledto draw the line between what is gov-ernment and what is private industry. Bernstein comes to Buffalo with two

children – Isaiah, 4, and Mila, almost 1– and her husband, Nicholas Day, awriter of narrative non-fiction who hasjust published his first book, Baby MeetsWorld: Suck, Smile, Touch, Toddle (St.Martin’s Press). Their downtime, shesays, tends to be spent at zoos and chil-dren’s museums, but, she says, “we’rereally looking forward to exploring up-state New York. ”

Looking to the EastNew professor Anya Bernstein has a deep interest in Taiwan and China

“What I think is remarkable about Buffalo is the diversity ofthe intellectual trainingthat people have had –including anthropology,sociology, philosophy,even literature.”

— Professor Anya Bernstein


Luis Chiesa, who joins theSUNY Buffalo Law facultythis summer, comes from alegal-minded family. His fa-

ther is a law professor in Chiesa’s nativePuerto Rico, and his mother is a prac-ticing attorney. But, he says, it wasn’t al-ways certain that he would end up inacademia. Chiesa studied business and ac-

counting as an undergraduate at theUniversity of Puerto Rico, and passedthe exam to become a certified publicaccountant. But, he says, a love of thelaw ran deep inside him, and as he con-sidered career paths, “my sense was thatlegal academia was a really cool lifestylechoice. As a law professor you work a lotbut you also have a lot of flexibility. Youcan choose what you want to read andresearch; you can be passionate aboutsomething and follow that; you’re giventhe time to do your research well andpublish and workshop your papers andyour ideas. I just found that to be veryattractive. I knew I wanted to teach asopposed to go to a big law firm.” He followed that passion to the Uni-

versity of Puerto Rico Law School,where he graduated first in his class, andto Columbia University, where heearned master’s and doctoral degrees inlaw. Since 2007, he has been at PaceUniversity Law School in White Plains,N.Y., where he has taught in his special-ty, criminal law, as well as criminal pro-cedure, torts and jurisprudence. He alsohas had visiting professorships in Bo-gotá, Seattle, Buenos Aires, Puerto Ricoand Ottawa.“I had always been attracted to Buf-

falo because of its criminal law pro-gram,” Chiesa says. “I decided that nowwas the time to move and go to a facultywhere I would be surrounded by peo-ple who do what I do.” What he does is substantive crimi-

nal law, which studies the elements ofcrime – describing, naming and under-standing the conduct that is prohibitedby criminal law. He brings the perspec-tive of comparative law to the task,looking at the ways the criminal law

codes of other countries can inform anunderstanding of our own laws. “You can learn a lot about your sys-

tem by looking at other systems,”Chiesa says. “The way I explain it to mystudents is, in the legal world you canfocus on the executive branch (the dis-trict attorney or attorney general), thelegislative branch (Congress and statelegislatures) or the judicial branch (ajudge or clerk). Comparative law maybe relevant in all three spheres. For ex-ample, the Supreme Court is looking athow harshly other countries are pun-ishing their criminals as a way of in-forming their understanding of theEighth Amendment. In legislatures, ifyou want to change your criminal laws,it also makes sense to look at what otherstates and other countries are doing tosee if they are coming up with new ap-proaches to deal with old problems. Ifothers are doing the same thing thatyou are, it probably means you are onthe right track. If other countries havecompletely different views, that shouldraise a red flag.”Chiesa also has published in the area

of animal law, including an article titled“Why Is It a Crime to Stomp on a Gold-fish?” that examines five ways to answerthat question, concluding that the ani-

mal itself can have “coherent moralclaims against being harmed.” Thequestion, he says, is: “What sort ofmorally relevant features does an entityneed in order to impose moral claimson people? Ultimately what matters issentience, the capacity to feel pain.”

At SUNY Buffalo, Chiesa willteach criminal law and pro-cedure, as well as othercourses. He also will directthe Buffalo Criminal Law

Center, organizing symposiums, invit-ing scholars to Buffalo and contributingto the school’s master of laws programin criminal law. He’s also planning abook on comparative criminal law, andhe hopes to use Spanish, his first lan-guage, in working with the Latin Amer-ican Law Students Association and to“reach out to people in the SUNY Buf-falo community generally, as well asscholars in different faculties.” Chiesa and his wife, Karla, do a lot of

skiing in winter and a lot of hiking insummer. He says they have skied allalong the East Coast as well as out West,and have hiked trails in New York’sCatskills and the White Mountains ofNew Hampshire.

26 new faculty

A passion for criminal lawLuis Chiesa comes from a legal-minded family

“I had always been attracted to

Buffalo becauseof its criminallaw program.”

— ProfessorLuis Chiesa

In addition to teaching, Chiesa also willdirect the Buffalo Criminal Law Center.


It was during her undergraduateyears at Duke University that An-jana Malhotra had her mindopened to a whole different way

of looking at the world.Malhotra, who grew up in Hyde

Park, N.Y., says that at Duke “I wasbroadened significantly in terms of myintellectual and politicalinterests and analyticalcapacity. I also becamevery interested in civilrights issues and racialjustice.” Malhotra alsobecame involved with anorganization that pro-moted diversity on cam-pus, and was recruited toparticipate in institution-al efforts to address racialconflict and promoteequality at a universitylevel. Then, a year before

graduation, she wentwith a Duke delegationto Beijing and a hugeNGO Forum onWomen. The experiencechanged her. She beganstudying critical ap-proaches to economictheory, and after gradua-tion worked for local andnational organizations inunion organizing, strate-gy and research. “In working on these

organizing campaignsthroughout the country,I really came to see howpeople were leaving theirrights at the door,” Malhotra says. “Peo-ple could get fired for merely exercisingtheir federal rights, with devastatingconsequences to them and their fami-lies. To understand the issues at stake ateach workplace where workers request-ed my assistance with their organizingefforts, I had to learn the federal andstate labor laws and standards that were

in place to assess each employer’s com-pliance and challenges in workers’ exer-cising their rights. Seeing the systematicdiscrepancies between the law and thereality of employer practices that floutthat law in workplace after workplacemotivated me to go to law school andmake the law real in people’s lives.”

Malhotra gradu-ated in 2002, cumlaude, from New YorkUniversity School ofLaw, where sheworked as a studentadvocate in theschool’s ImmigrantRights Clinic for twoyears, representingimmigrants at risk fordeportation or whofaced workplace vio-lations. Following lawschool she had a fel-lowship with theAmerican Civil Liber-ties Union’s Immi-grants’ Rights Project;worked on immigra-tion and securitiescases with the NewYork City firmWilmer, Cutler, Pick-ering, Hale and Dorr;and handled laborlaw class-action caseswith Gladstein, Reif &Meginniss, also inNew York. In August2011, she joined theSeattle UniversitySchool of Law, whereshe launched and co-

taught the school’s Civil Rights Amicusand Impact Litigation Clinic.Now Malhotra is joining the SUNY

Buffalo Law School faculty, where shewill teach a seminar on theories of so-cial justice lawyering and, in spring2014, establish a new immigrant justiceand human rights clinic. “It’s exciting for me to be back in my

home state and teaching and supervis-ing students to address civil and humanrights issues I have long cared about inthe region and more broadly,” Malho-tra says. Of the new clinical offering shesays, “It’s really important to me thatthe new clinic is responsive to commu-nity needs. Every community has a dif-ferent set of issues, and clinics can be alaboratory for change for both studentsand the community. They engage stu-dents in really interesting live-clientwork and allow them to learn how touse the law to make a difference in theirclients’ lives.”

If the clinic she has run at SeattleUniversity School of Law is anyindication, work on major immi-gration civil lawsuits is anotherpossibility. Under her supervi-

sion, students in the Seattle clinic areleading the appeal challenging the con-stitutionality of an Arizona law banningethnic studies in primary and sec-ondary schools. The state selectively en-forced the law, says Malhotra, who is ofIndian-American heritage, to eliminatethe Mexican-American studies pro-gram in the Tucson Unified School Dis-trict. In April, Malhotra and her stu-dents filed an appeal in the U.S. Courtof Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on be-half of Tucson students challenging thelaw. While at SUNY Buffalo, she willcontinue in her role as lead appellatelitigator in the case and incorporatethe case into the immigrant justiceclinic.Having worked in a variety of legal

settings – public-interest law, privatepractice, a clerkship in the Ninth Cir-cuit federal court of appeals – Malhotrasays she has learned that teachingmakes the best use of her gifts and herinterests. “I’ve always been interested inclinical work,” she says, “and I decidedthat I love teaching, I love cultivatingknowledge and engaging with studentson their work, understanding of the lawand hearing their legal theories.”


An opportunity for changeAnjana Malhotra will establish an immigrant justice and human rights clinic

“It’s exciting for me tobe back in my homestate and teachingand supervising students to addresscivil and humanrights issues I havelong cared about.”— Professor AnjanaMalhotra


28 Alumni Support

As he left his small highschool in Northern NewYork,Paul R. Comeau ’73remembers, the guidance

on career options was limited. “Therewere about four choices,” he recalls.“If you were good at public speaking,they said you should be a lawyer.” He was, and the die was cast.

Comeau worked his way throughUniversity at Buffalo as an undergrad-uate sociology major and had his ap-petite for the law whetted by a pre-lawcourse taught by Professor Bill Grein-er. At the Law School, where he servedas articles editor of the Buffalo LawReview, he stumbled onto what wouldbecome his life’s work when he tookProfessor Lou Del Cotto’s introducto-ry tax course.“It seemed to baffle a lot of people,

but to me it was perfectly logical,”Comeau says. “He talked aboutstatutes, regulations and cases, butalso explained policy and social engi-neering: the broader reasons why thelaw was what it was and how it got tobe that way. I ended up taking everycourse offered by Professor Del Cotto,and some from Ken Joyce as well.”He also found a summer legal job

with the Buffalo firm Hodgson Russ,one that opened the door to what isnow a four-decade association withthe firm. As a partner and formerchairman of the firm, Comeau hasbuilt a nationally recognized practicein tax planning and multistate tax is-sues, focusing on businesses and high-net-worth clients. He practices in thefirm’s Buffalo, New York City andPalm Beach, Fla., offices, has authorednumerous books and articles, has giv-en nearly 1,000 speeches, taught Cor-porate Tax at UB during a Del Cottosabbatical, and currently serves on the

New York Tax Commissioners Advi-sory Group, the NYSBA Tax SectionExecutive Committee, the NYS Busi-ness Council Board and other boardsand committees.

Now, as his class preparesfor its 40-year reunion,and the school celebratesits 125th anniversary,Comeau and his wife,

Victoria D’Angelo, are making a ma-jor commitment to the Law Schoolwith a six-figure gift.“After 40 years of gratitude and

more modest contributions to theLaw School, I thought it was time,”Comeau says, “and maybe my class-mates might want to consider similargifts. My gift has been motivated bymany things – the timing of the 40thanniversary of my Law School class, acareer that has been quite satisfyingfor me, appreciating the quality of UBstudents hired by Hodgson over theyears, and feeling that it’s about time Ido something more significant thanmy annual giving.”He says meetings with UB Presi-

dent Satish K. Tripathi and Law

School Dean Makau W. Mutua ce-mented his feeling that “the Universityas a whole is heading in a good direc-tion under Satish’s leadership, and theLaw School is in excellent hands withDean Mutua and his commitment.”He also notes that Hodgson Russ is

“an excellent firm, with phenomenalclients and wonderful attorneys.”Hodgson has been generous in itssupport for the Law School, as well asproviding mentors for Comeau andothers. Early mentors included peo-ple like Richard Heath and DonaldLubick, who both taught at the LawSchool at one time while working atHodgson. They helped Comeau learnthe intricacies of tax, business and es-tate law.He says the analytical skills he de-

veloped in Del Cotto’s and Joyce’sclasses have served him well, especiallythe ability to interpret the tax codeagainst a broader backdrop of socialand economic policy.

Through the yearsPaul R. Comeau ’73 marks an anniversary with a major gift

“My gift has been motivated bymany things – the timing of the40th anniversary of my LawSchool class, a career that hasbeen quite satisfying for me, appreciating the quality of UBstudents hired by Hodgson overthe years and feeling that it’sabout time I do something more significant than my annual giving.”

— Paul R. Comeau ’73



It’s a little like real estate,” saysDavid Franasiak ’78, referring tothe Law School’s New York CityProgram in Finance and Law, of

which he has been a principal sup-porter in both time and resources.“Location, location, location. NewYork City is part of New York State,and we are the only public law schoolin the entire SUNY system, so it’s im-portant for SUNY Buffalo Law Schoolto be there.” And the results are clear: In the

nine years since the program was es-tablished, “I’ve been told that the qual-ity of students applying to the schoolhas increased because of this program,and placements are up because of thisprogram. I think it is an importantprogram for the school and an impor-tant program for the students, boththose considering applying and thosewho find work because of it. DeanMutua’s vision is that the programwould become self-sustaining, andthere is good reason to do that downthe road.”Toward that end, Franasiak and his

wife, Mary Pat, who holds a master’sdegree in business administrationfrom UB, have committed $200,000 innew giving in support of the New YorkCity program. Combined with theirprevious annual giving, they have ear-marked a total of $340,000 in support.Franasiak, senior partner on the

Executive Committee of the Washing-ton, D.C., law firm Williams & Jensen,works on public policy issues forclients including corporations, not-for-profit organizations, accountingfirms, broker dealers, hedge funds, fi-

nancial institutions and associations.Previously he worked on similar issueswith Ernst & Young, and before thatheld positions with British Petroleum,the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, amajor chemical company, congres-sional staff and local governments.

Through those varied re-sponsibilities, he says, thelessons of SUNY BuffaloLaw have remained. “I didlearn to think like a lawyer,”

he says, “which is particularly helpfulin a highly regulated industry likechemicals, but in business generally,too. It certainly works in government,because after all, the governmentwrites the laws. “When I get a client, I try to under-

stand every detail of their business.Once I understand their business and Iunderstand the problem, then I makesure I understand every aspect of theapplicable law. Legal training gives youanother way of analyzing issues, prob-lems, and of identifying solutions.“What I do is like the game of golf:

You just play it as it lies. I’m in Wash-ington, so I know what’s going on po-litically. It’s not always going to be ex-actly perfect, so you have to find waysto navigate around both sides of theaisle.” And of his support for the New

York City program, for which he alsoteaches a seminar each year, Franasiaksays: “It is important to step up, be-cause the dean has recognized the im-portance of this program and maybeeven the possibility of expanding it be-yond financial services. New York Cityis the center of the financial servicesindustry. That is what it is known for.If I applied to the University of Cali-fornia, I probably would want a pro-gram related to entertainment, film orSilicon Valley, because that is whatthey are known for. “We are in New York State, and this

is what we are known for – financialservices.”

New support for New York Major gift by David Franasiak ’78 strengthens a signature program

“ “It is important to step up, because the dean has recognizedthe importance of the New YorkCity program and maybe eventhe possibility of expanding it beyond financial services.”

— David Franasiak ’78


30 Alumni Support

Reflecting a new conscious-ness of the necessity of con-sumer protection, the LawSchool’s New York City Pro-

gram in Finance and Law this yearadded a weeklong learning series onconsumer financial protection issues.Organized by Associate Clinical

Professor Lauren E. Breen, the week’sinstruction included speakers and pre-senters from government agencies,public interest groups and the financialservices industry. Speakers includedJames Kim, an enforcement attorneyfor the federal government’s newly es-tablished Consumer Financial Protec-tion Bureau.The New York City program is an

immersive experience in which a selectgroup of students spend a semester oftheir second or third Law School year inManhattan, learning from their profes-sors and from cutting-edge practition-

ers in the high-stakes world of law andfinance. Professor Philip Halpern, who di-

rects the program, notes that as the legaljob market has contracted, the NewYork City program – now in its ninthyear – was an early response to thatchallenge. “Law schools are facing sig-nificant challenges, as shown by the de-clining opportunities for law gradu-ates,” Halpern says. “Law schools haveresponded by innovating with newprograms that emphasize specializedpractice areas and clinical opportuni-ties.”Especially through their work on

small-group projects under the super-vision of experienced practitioners,Halpern says, students experience “veryspecialized areas of the law such as fi-nancial derivatives that they would nottypically encounter in any detail in LawSchool. Working with these practition-ers emphasizes the importance of tradi-tional legal skills, such as critical analy-sis, problem solving and careful struc-turing of arguments, so that the idea oflearning to think like a lawyer that oneassociates with traditional legal educa-

tion is not passé but is very much pre-sent. “The students see that lawyers need

to know in great detail about pieces ofthe world that are non-legal and then,armed with this knowledge, take theanalytical approach they learned in theLaw School to solve problems. The ap-proaches can be legal, business-orient-ed or political, but frequently they in-volve all three.” In addition to the focus on con-

sumer financial protections, Halpernsays, the most recent iteration of theprogram has included special instruc-tion on options trading, including pre-senters from the Options ClearingCorp. in Chicago and from the NewYork Stock Exchange, and a special pre-sentation on taking a company privatethrough equity investment. There’s alsoa continuing emphasis, Halpern says,on issues resulting from the implemen-tation of financial regulatory reformunder the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Re-form and Consumer Protection Act.The learning is intensive, and often,

even years later, alumni of the New YorkCity program say the experience hasstayed with them, whatever role theyfind themselves in after law school.Conversations with a handful of suc-cessful graduates reveal that this firsttaste of high finance is not easily forgot-ten. Indeed, some alumni of the pro-gram say the connections they madehave been the key to their new careers.For Daniel Kelly ’12, the program

helped transform him from “an averagepublic speaker whowasn’t very comfort-able in front of an au-dience” into a confi-dent and assured pre-senter. “That was ulti-mately the biggestthing for me. The

program gave me the chance to presentin front of an audience and speak infront of my peers and professionals on

Paying dividendsAlumni reflect on their gains from the New York City program

ProfessorPhillipHalpern,

director of theNew York CityProgram inFinance and

Law


31

a regularbasis,” says Kelly, who

now practices tax law as an associatewith the law firm Hodgson Russ. Hecredits the program’s emphasis onpreparation – “being ready to discuss in-tricate topics with attorneys at some ofthe best law firms in New York” – as wellas the final oral presentation of the stu-dents’ semester-long small-group pro-jects. The material covered, he says, also

has been invaluable. “The program of-fered a diverse curriculum that was ap-plicable in law school courses and also inmy practice,” says Kelly, who regularly as-sists clients with state and local tax mat-ters. “The program covers a lot of rele-vant ground, including transactionalwork, regulatory requirements, the Uni-form Commercial Code, and litigation,particularly concerning the Securitiesand Exchange Commission Division ofEnforcement. Having knowledge inthese and other areas covered by the pro-gram has been, and will continue to be,useful.”

Ryan Seher ’11 returned to New Yorkfollowing his Law School graduation.There he works with the investment

bank Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch, negoti-ating InternationalSwaps and DerivativesAssociation agree-ments that govern de-rivatives trading be-tween the bank and

hedge funds. “Every day there’s some-thing new that comes up that I need towork with,” he says. “It’s really exciting,and I do have fun with it.“Our group does a lot of work with

Dodd-Frank,” Seher says, “and it’s really

nice that I canput to use all the work

we did on Dodd-Frank in the pro-gram.” His small group, Seher says,looked at what were then proposals fornew regulations and how they would af-fect over-the-counter derivatives: “Weread a lot about Dodd-Frank and Title 7.Learning the language of finance helpeda lot. Once you get the language down,it’s easier to read about and understandit.”As well, he says, “I got to meet a ton of

people. The program opens you up to somany alumni in law firms, banks and fi-nancial agencies who do this work everyday. I credit my project sponsor withhelping me to get the job I have now.”

Karen Oddo ’12, who practices as anassociate in the litigation department of

the Boston-based lawfirm Ropes & Gray,says the program hasproved its utility inpractice. “I think thatthe most valuable typeof legal educationwould be one that re-

quires students to frequently (1) observepractitioners in action, and/or (2) workon actual case work or case simulationsconducted by practitioners,” Oddosays. “The New York City program waseasily the most valuable part of my legaleducation because it afforded me the op-portunity to do exactly this. “I was able to learn from global lead-

ers in corporate law and finance,through interactive discussions abouttheir real-world experience. The practi-tioners always injected strategic consid-erations into our discussions, includinghow a particular situation could havebeen handled better (or how a particularcontract could have been written better,etc.).“Particularly helpful was the pro-

gram’s focus on allowing students fre-quent contact with documents regularlyhandled by corporate lawyers and teach-ing us how to review them efficiently. Asa first-year associate, familiarity with

these documents and their key provi-sions (or at least, the knowledge abouthow to determine which provisions arekey) has been invaluable.”

Jason Lee ’07, who practices as an as-sociate with the New York City law firm

Cahill Gordon & Rein-del, says the program“allows you to get abroad overview of var-ious practices that hap-pen in the financialcapital of the world.There are a lot of dif-

ferent things happening, and you proba-bly won’t ever learn everything that goeson in the financial markets and the legalmarkets supporting the financial servicesindustry here. Too many times you startout a job and you get put into a practicegroup and all your life you’re doing thisone niche thing, and you never really seethe big picture. To get that early on inyour career is really valuable.” Lee has returned to the program as

an instructor, sharing his professionalknowledge of corporate finance law. AtCahill, he typically works with lendersand represents the underwriters in a se-curities offering. About his current work he says,

“There are certain aspects of the practicethat are stressful, and plenty of week-ends, plenty of all-nighters when you’vegot to get it done, plenty of canceled din-ner plans. But the satisfaction I get is, Ienjoy working with highly intelligent,highly motivated colleagues and clients. Ilike negotiating; I like drafting legal doc-uments. Once you start to get the hangof it, a lot of these documents are like apuzzle to be solved. When you get thedocument and have a clear understand-ing of what needs to happen, you getinto the zone. It’s challenging work. I’venever really been bored in this job.”

S U N Y B U F F A L O L A W F O R U M • S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

Left to right: Melle Xu ’13,Lauren Opsahl ’12,Professor Philip Halpern,Daisy Tomaselli ’13 andDan Fabian ’13


An accomplished alumnawho emigrated to theUnited States and hashelped countless others to

become American citizens has beenaccorded SUNY Buffalo Law School’shighest honor.

Margaret W. Wong ’76,born inHong Kong and now a nationallyrenowned immigration lawyer basedin Cleveland, received the Edwin F.Jaeckle Award at the New York CityAlumni Luncheon on Jan. 25. The award recognizes Wong’s “sig-

nificant contributions to her Universi-ty, her Law School and the legal pro-fession. … As a longtime member ofthe Dean’s Advisory Council, she hashelped to enhance the quality andreputation of the Law School. Herselfa Law School scholarship recipient,she has endowed a substantial schol-arship program and a full professor-ship, gifts that place her among themost generous alumni in the LawSchool’s 125-year history.”Wong came to the United States

on a student visa along with heryounger sister, Cecilia. Between themthey had four suitcases and $200. Sheworked her way through college inIowa and then Illinois as a waitressand spent summers doing hotel workin New York’s Catskills resorts. Aftercompleting her SUNY Buffalo LawSchool on a full scholarship, shestruck out on her own in Cleveland,handing out her business card on bus-es to develop a client base. Now Mar-garet Wong & Associates has offices inCleveland, Chicago, New York City,Columbus, Atlanta and Detroit, serv-ing both individual and corporateclients.

At the awards lunch, master of cer-emonies Francis M. Letro ’79 (winnerof last year’s Jaeckle Award) and LawAlumni Association President BrianM. Melber ’96 welcomed those in at-tendance, including much of Wong’sextended family. Dean Makau W. Mu-tua gave a brief update on develop-ments at the Law School, including itsparticipation in the UB 2020 Univer-sity-wide planning process and thehiring of three promising young fac-ulty members. He noted that of the 20professors hired during his five-yeartenure as dean, “we have hired in areasof black-letter law.”

Letro shared some words of con-gratulation from UB President SatishK. Tripathi, and Kenneth Forrest ’76,Wong’s Law School classmate andhimself a Jaeckle Award honoree, said,“There is no member of the Class of1976 who has achieved more thanMargaret Wong. There is no better ad-vertisement for SUNY Buffalo LawSchool than Margaret.”In conveying the award, Dean Mu-

tua said, “Margaret is a force of na-ture. She is irrepressible, she is simplyindomitable, she is smart, she is hard-working, but most importantly she isvery selfless. She gives and then gives

32 125th Anniversary Alumni Events

Margaret W. Wong ’76receives Jaeckle Awardat gala alumniluncheon

“I could never be who I am if I did not come to SUNY Buffalo Law School.” — Margaret W. Wong ’76

For more photos and video visit: www.law.buffalo.edu/forum/extra


and then gives some more.”The dean noted that Wong is typi-

cally at work by 5 a.m. and works intothe evening, but also makes time tocontribute her service to numerouscommunity organizations. “I thinkshe must sleep very little, to do allthese things,” he said. He also notedher deep commitment to family, in-cluding the pull-out-all-the-stopsWednesday night dinners that she andher husband, pharmacist Kam Chan,have hosted for many years for theirlarge extended family. (Their daugh-ter Allison Chan ’11 now works forher mother’s law firm.)

It was with her family that Wongbegan her remarks, thanking them fortheir support – including her 93-year-old mother, who was in the audience,and her aunt and uncle, new immi-grants themselves at the time, whosupported her through her collegeand Law School years. Of her alma mater, Wong said: “I

could never be who I am if I did notcome to SUNY Buffalo Law School.Somehow, somewhere, they foundme a scholarship. I didn’t have moneyto get a good haircut, I didn’t havemoney to buy beautiful glasses, butUB treated me like an equal. I never

walked out thinking I’m a second-class citizen. We took the bar, wepassed it and we became lawyers. Andwe walked with our heads high.” The New York City Luncheon

planning committee included Letro aschair; Melber; Rebecca Monck Ri-cigliano ’99, chair of the New YorkCity chapter of the Law Alumni Asso-ciation; and from the Law School,Vice Dean Ilene R. Fleischmann andAssistant Dean Lisa M. Mueller ’93,executive director and assistant direc-tor, respectively, of the Law AlumniAssociation.


Left to right, first row: Dean Makau W. Mutua and Margaret W. Wong’76; Second row: Rose Wong, Francis M. Letro ’79, Cecilia Wong andGeorge Hwang

Dean Mutua presents the 2013 Edwin J. Jaeckle Awardto Margaret W. Wong ’76.

Margaret Wong ’76 with classmates Jeffrey L. Tanenbaum ’76, left,and Kenneth B. Forrest ’76

Margaret W. Wong ’76 with her mother, Alice Kuan


34 125th Anniversary Alumni Events

Development OfficerJeffrey J. Piscitelli andRobert M. Kornreich ’67

Allan D. Mantel ’

76, Dean Makau W

.

Mutua and Vikki

L. Pryor ’78

Hon. Michael L. Hanuszczak ’84 and Patricia C. Campbell ’95

Sarah Haque ’14,

Amanda S. Cicco

ne

’14 and Katherine

E.

Bagley ’14

Jessica Ortiz ’05, Michael D. Mann’06, NYC Alumni Chapter ChairRebecca A. Ricigliano ’99 andJason J. Almonte ’07

We took our partyon the road!

It all began in Buffalo at the HotelLafayette with a party of nearly 1,000gathering to kick off the 125th an-niversary of the Law School.But that

was just the beginning!Since then, the party has continued on

with satellite celebrations in Rochester, NewYork City, Syracuse and Albany attended byalumni and friends across the state.And it’s not over yet! Watch for photos of

our upcoming celebration in Washington,D.C., in the next issue of the Forum. Party on!

ROCHESTERThe Inn on BroadwayFeb. 27

NEW YORK CITYThe New York Athletic ClubMarch 5

SYRACUSEPrime SteakhouseMarch 13

ALBANYJack’s Oyster HouseMarch 14

Melanie J. Bailey ’12,

Rachel A. Krone ’10 and

Robert W. Clark ’10


Denis R. HurleyJr. ’88, TimothyC. Hannigan’11 and AnneM. Hurley ’88

Helen K. Root’11 andAnthony R.Scalia ’12


Right, AlbanyChapter Chair

Kevin M. Grossman’04 and Melanie

Finkel Grossman ’05

Nicole E. Haimson’12, AssociateDirector forCareer ServicesMarc R. Davies’03, and Nicole J.Ettlinger

Above, John J.Privitera ’77and Lewis F.Steele ’80

Brian M. Melber ’96, Paul S. Groschadl ’75, Laura A. Groschadl ’12

and Franz M. Wright ’14

Lorisa D. LaRocca ’02, Wende J. Knapp

’10, Victoria A. Gleason ’09, Johanna V.

Bartlett ’92, Penny A. Dentinger ’04,Rochester Chapter Chair Jennifer K.Meldrum ’10

Associate DeanKaren R.Kaczmarski ’89,Hon. Gerald J.Whalen ’83, ViceDean Kim DianaConnolly andHon. Rose H.Sconiers ’73

Central New York AlumniChapter Chair SamuelTamburo welcomes guests.

Vice Dean Alan S. Carrel ’67 andDouglas G. Roberts ’73

James S. Kraus ’8

1 and

Margaret (Peggy)

M. Fabic ’81 Richard P. James ’89, Nancy L. Caple

’81 and Kristin B. Greeley ’98


Ryan K. Micklus’06 and AssistantDirector forDevelopment LucyA. Dadd ’04


One of the first things thatnew law students learn isthe importance of the ruleof law – the ancient ideal

that everyone in a society should be gov-erned by the same laws and the same ap-plication of those laws.It’s a lesson with special resonance for

Christopher Safulko, who graduated thisyear from SUNY Buffalo Law School.Safulko entered the Law School imme-diately on the heels of a career as an ac-tive-duty Army officer, with extensiveexperience as part of Operation Endur-ing Freedom in Afghanistan.As a result of that experience, he says,

“I have a different perspective thanmany people, because I see what’s atstake. I spent time in a place where thestate of nature is in play. Where I was inAfghanistan, there was no rule of law. Isaw how people behaved and what hap-pens when you don’t have confidence inyour ability to petition the government.

That bolsters or validates my decision togo into the practice of law, because I un-derstand how important the integrity ofthe system is.” The story of Safulko’s service in

Afghanistan is one of several interlock-ing narratives in a best-selling bookfrom last year, The Outpost: An UntoldStory of American Valorby Jake Tapper,now a CNN anchor. The book tells ofthe battles to defend Combat OutpostKeating in Afghanistan’s Nuristanprovince from attacks by Taliban insur-gents. Safulko served as an executive offi-cer and scout platoon leader there, andwas wounded by shrapnel (which he stillcarries in his leg) when a recoilless rifleround struck a Humvee and explodedon the ground near him and other sol-diers. For his service, Safulko was award-ed the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.Tapper called him in 2010 and subse-

quently conducted multiple interviews,followed by a two-year process of fact-checking to get the story right. “I’m hap-py with what he did,” Safulko says. “Heincluded the human side. We talk a lotabout the cost of the war in dollars andcents, but what it costs in human termsis less told. I feel lucky that my story wasincorporated and was told. Everybodywho was out there over those three tofour years is fortunate in that respect.” He still has a soldier’s reticence to tell

his own story, but has made an exceptionwhen speaking out about veterans issuessuch as post-traumatic stress disorderand the high suicide rate among militarymembers. “It’s a difficult experience torehash these things over and over again,”Safulko says. “But if I’m educating thepublic by telling my story again, I’ll do it.It’s important to know what kinds ofconditions existed out there. … Less than1 percent of the U.S. population at anyone time in the past decade has served inIraq or Afghanistan. The rift betweencivilian and soldier is so wide now. Mostof the people who have fought in Iraqand Afghanistan are strangers to most ofthe American public.” One debility he wants the public to

understand is moral injury – essentiallyan emotional wound caused when a sol-dier is forced to do something that vio-lates his or her moral, religious or ethicalbelief system, typically in combat. Sa-

fulko says it may manifest as depressionor “survivor’s guilt.”In his own adjustment to civilian life,

Safulko says what was hardest for himwas slowing down. His final day of activeduty was followed straightaway by thefirst day of SUNY Buffalo Law Schoolorientation. “I was used to being very,very active all the time,” he says. “Thesedentary lifestyle of sitting in class andstudying so many hours a day was hard.I had more time to think about every-thing that had happened in the past fewyears.”

The decision to enroll inSUNY Buffalo Law, says Sa-fulko, who grew up inAmherst, was in one way aneffort to find a new way to

serve. “When I came back, in 2009, Iknew I was ready to do something else,”he says. “Everything I had joined theArmy to do, I had done. And I decidedthis wasn’t for me anymore. I still wantto serve the public, still want to serve mycommunity, but there are other ways todo it.” A law degree, he recognized,would give him the freedom to live any-where he wants, the skills to earn a living,and the latitude to do whatever probono work seems to him most helpful.About half of his Law School costs

have been paid through the GI Bill, hesays, and by graduating with substantial-ly less debt than he might have at a pri-vate law school, he has the freedom topursue his professional interests. At SUNY Buffalo Law, he has been

part of the Trial Technique team andMoot Court Board. He also has served asa summer law clerk with the U.S. Attor-ney’s office, had an externship as a lawclerk with the Erie County district attor-ney’s office, and most recently heworked as a law clerk at the Buffalo lawfirm HoganWillig, where among othermatters he worked on wrongful-incar-ceration cases.To stay in shape, Safulko does a lot of

running. It fits with the pace of his life. “Ifeel,” he says, “like I haven’t stoppedmoving in seven years.”

36 As We Go to Press

A soldier’s story

Christopher Safulko ’13 went fromAmherst to Afghanistan and back

Scout platoon leader ChristopherS. Safulko ’13, left, with his seniorscout, Staff Sgt. Samuel Alter


SUNY Buffalo Law School

John Lord O’Brian Hall

Buffalo, NY 14260-1100

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Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

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Permit No. 311

SAVE THE DATE FOR YOUR CLASS REUNION!

Plan on coming to Buffalo Oct. 4 & 5, 2013

Classes of 1973, 1983, 1988, 1993 and 2003The plans are set, but we need you to make the party complete!

Here is some of what you can expect:

Friday, Oct. 4• Back to School –Opportunity to audit a class. • Network the Nation – Small groups mentoring our students led by alumnivolunteers.• Reunion Class Cocktail Party with the dean and professors –At theMansion on Delaware (the former Victor Hugo Mansion) with cocktails andhors d’oeuvres

Saturday, Oct. 5• CLE with the New York State Trial Academy of Lawyers• Light fare and tours of the Law School –Led by our student ambassadors• Afternoon on your own or class-specific activities –Call some classmatesor just take the afternoon to explore some of Buffalo’s hot spots.• Class parties –Reunion weekend concludes Saturday evening with the all-time favorite alumni event, the individual class parties.

More information will be posted in the coming months atwww.law.buffalo.edu/ClassReunions. Make sure we have your emailaddress! Late-breaking developments and class information will beshared via email – don’t be left out.

Class of 1963’s 50th ReunionMay 17 & 18Commencement Weekend

Class of 1953’s 60th ReunionWednesday, July 17

With comments or questions, contact Amy Hayes Atkinson,director of special events and reunions, [email protected] or(716) 645-6224.


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