SUNY Buffalo Law School
SUNY Buffalo Law School
309 John Lord O'Brian Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260
www.law.buffalo.edu
Law School Pro Bono Programs
Contact Information
Dawn Skopinski
Assistant for Public Interest
skopinsk@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-6261
Lisa M. Patterson
Associate Dean for Career Services
lpatter@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-2056
Professor Suzanne Tomkins
Professor
tomkins@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-2056
Category Type
Formal Voluntary Pro Bono Program Characterized by Administrative Support for Student Group Program
Description of Program
Law-related pro bono service is encouraged through the Career Services Office, the Clinical Programs and student pro bono group projects. The student pro bono groups advertise their participation in pro bono legal services and call for members through events such as "table days" in the fall (where student groups sit at tables on the first floor of the Law School in a student group fair atmosphere). They also advertise through flyers and in the student newspaper. In addition, in the spring of the first year of law school, students learn about and are encouraged to provide pro bono legal services in the required Legal Profession and Ethics course. Professors in this course present or provide panel presentation about pro bono legal service, including opportunities through CSO placements and Clinical Programs.
Location of Program
Office of Career Services and Clinical Programs
Staffing/Management/Oversight
Funding
The Law School provides office space and other supports not covered by the student groups' budgets. The annual budgets of the Domestic Violence Task Force and the Prison Task Force are determined and provided through student funds by the Student Bar Association, based on the student groups' budget requests. Special functions and activities of these student groups may also be funded through grants from the Dean of the Law School.
The Law School has also provided computers and furniture that has been refurbished from faculty offices and through donations. The Law School's information technology (IT) staff has provided computer technical support, as needed, and established Ethernet connections in each of these student groups' offices. Occasional secretarial support is provided if the group is unable to obtain assistance from the Student Bar Association.
The Law School will provide administrative and secretarial assistance for faculty pro bono projects.
Student Run Pro Bono Groups/Specialized Law Education Projects
Domestic Violence Task Force - The Domestic Violence Task Force, a student-run group, provides advocacy through the Niagara County Family Court Resource Project to assist victims of domestic violence in obtaining temporary and permanent orders of protection. The Task Force also provides weekly legal services for Haven House residents and their outreach program participants in conjunction with the Bar Association of Erie County, Volunteer Lawyers Project, and the Western New York Chapter of the Women's Bar Association of New York State. See http://www.law.buffalo.edu/Student_Life_And_Services/default.asp?firstlevel=3&filename=student_organizations. Clinical Professors Suzanne Tomkins and Catherine Cerulli, who were the founders of the Family Violence Task Force in 1990 when they were students, supervise the Domestic Violence Task Force in some of its efforts. Prison Law Task Force - The Prison Law Task Force is a student-run group that travels to certain area prisons to provide legal research and writing training to inmates seeking to represent themselves in legal matters. Professor Teresa A. Miller supervises the Prison Task Force and its pro bono efforts.
Faculty and Administrative Pro Bono
There is no formal faculty pro bono policy. Faculty are involved heavily in the advisement and training of students for both the Family Violence Task Force and the Prison Task Force.
Awards/Recognition
Haywood Burns/Shanara Gilbert Award - A national award presented yearly by the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference to a law professor who has displayed exemplary activist work as a teacher, scholar, and awyer. A national award presented yearly by the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference to a law professor who has displayed exemplary activist work as a teacher, scholar, and lawyer.Faculty can designate a Faculty Award to recognize a student who has excelled outside the classroom setting, which may include pro bono service.
The Linda S. Reynolds ('83) Award is awarded by the Legal Aid Bureau to a graduating senior who, in the judgment of the faculty, has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to equal justice for the poor.
The Dale S. Margulis Award is presented to the member of the graduating class who has contributed most to the Law School and the community.
The Distinguished Service Professorship is conferred upon faculty having achieved a distinguished reputation for service not only to the campus and the University, but also to the community, the State of New York or even the nation, by sustained effort in the application of intellectual skills drawing from the candidate's scholarly and research interests to issues of public concern. It is bestowed on faculty in any of the disciplines or fields of study.
Community Service
Annual community service activities include: a minority high school law experience day hosted by the Black Law Students Association and the Admissions Office; the Bar Association of Erie County's "Have-a-Heart" food drive; and collections for community agencies such as Haven House (battered women's shelter for which toiletries and toys were collected).
Law School Public Interest Programs
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Contact Information
Lise Gelernter
Teaching Faculty and Director, Externship Program
gelernt@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-5540
Dawn Skopinski
Assistant for Career Services and Administrator, Externship Programs
skopinsk@buffalo.edu
(716)645-6261
Career Services Office
Kim Diana Connolly
Vice Dean for Legal Skills
kimconno@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-2092
Lisa M. Patterson
Associate Dean for Career Services
lpatter@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-2056
Career Services Office
Certificate/Curriculum Programs
Among its concentrations, UB Law School has curricular concentration programs in Affordable Housing and Community Economic Development Law and Law and Social Justice. Certificate programs in State and Local Government and Education Law may focus on public interest emphasis based on the student's interests. These concentrations and the certificate program, as well other concentrations not specifically designed as public interest (e.g. concentration in Family Law), provide opportunities for students to develop skills in areas of law amenable to public interest practice.
Public Interest Centers
Buffalo Human Rights Center - The Center fosters the study and practice of international human rights law. The Center organizes student internships with leading human rights organizations in this country and abroad and organizes conferences and symposia on human rights law. For more information contact Professor Makau wa Mutua, Director, 716/645-2311 or mutua@buffalo.edu. http://www.law.buffalo.edu/Academic_Programs_And_Research/default.asp?firstlevel=5&secondlevel=1&filename=buffalo_human_rights_centerThe Buffalo Criminal Law Center - The Buffalo Criminal Law Center pursues three objectives, one legislative, one scholarly, and one pedagogic:
- to provide state and federal legislatures with in-depth analyses of criminal justice issues to encourage the development of long-term approaches to the problem of crime and punishment,
- to serve as a forum for innovative research on criminal law to reinvigorate the study of criminal law in the United States, and
- to permit students at the State University of New York Buffalo School of Law to conduct advanced research on criminal law under close faculty supervision.
The Christopher Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy- The Center is an internationally recognized institute that supports the interdisciplinary study of law and legal institutions. Research activities of the Baldy Center are organized within five programs: Children, Families and the Law; Community and Identity; Gender, Law and Social Policy; International and Comparative Legal Studies; and Regulation and Public Policy. The Center maintains cooperative ties to other interdisciplinary research centers at UB and co-sponsors a regional network of sociolegal scholars in New York and Canada. For more information, contact Laura S. Mangan, Associate Director, 716/645- 2102 or lmangan@acsu.buffalo.edu. http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/
Edwin F. Jaeckle Center for State and Local Government Law - The Center provides a forum for expanded inquiry into wide ranges of topics concerning intergovernmental relations and finance, activity oriented and quasi-governmental involvement in providing services, and financial support and the direct delivery of services to the populace. For more information, contact Professor Robert Reis, Director, 716/645- 2354 or reis@acsu.buffalo.edu. http://www.law.buffalo.edu/research/centers/Government_Law.html.
Public Interest Clinics
Affordable Housing Clinic - The Affordable Housing Clinic was one of the first nationally to train students in the full range of skills needed to plan, fund, construct, and manage decent, affordable low-income housing.
- In nine years, the Affordable Housing Clinic has obtained financing of more than $24 million for the construction of 350 units of affordable housing in Western New York.
- The Clinic is a regional leader in developing tax-credit financing arrangements.
- The Clinic's clients include Catholic Charities of Buffalo, The Blind Association, The Polish Community Center, and the Town of Hamburg.
Community Economic Development Clinic - The Community Economic Development Clinic helps community groups who are seeking not-for-profit status, and entrepreneurs who are working to create viable businesses in the inner city and other economically depressed areas.
- The Clinic has made affordable day care a program priority. It has assisted a community-based project that is providing high quality day care to single mothers, and devised strategies to make it more feasible for the private sector to provide affordable child care for low-income families.
Environment and Development Clinic - The Environment and Development Clinic focus on the problem of re-developing "brownfields" sites Ñ polluted urban properties that have not been fully cleaned up.
- Clinic students have authored a comprehensive report on the legal status of brownfields sites for a joint New York State Legislative Commission, assisted local municipalities in implementing pilot projects, and developed model legislation. http://www.law.buffalo.edu/research/Clinical_Public_Service/clinic.html
- The Clinic has assisted local police departments in implementing pro-arrest policies for dealing with family violence.
- The Clinic researched and published a resource manual for agencies helping victims of family violence in Niagara County. The manual is being expanded for statewide distribution. http://www.law.buffalo.edu/research/Clinical_Public_Service/clinic.html
Special Education Law Clinic - The Education Law Clinic has assisted thousands of disabled children seeking to enforce their legal rights to an effective and appropriate education.
- Clinic staff and students have worked closely with the parents of disabled children to train lay advocates. They have also advised school districts on issues of policy affecting the disabled.
William and Mary Foster Elder Law Clinic - The William and Mary Foster Elder Law Clinic develops strategies to maximize government benefits and private insurance coverage to meet the long-term health care needs of the elderly.
- The Clinic's efforts ensure that elderly persons receive all of the benefits they are entitled to under the federal Medicare program have saved state and local taxpayers millions of dollars in locally funded Medicaid benefits, and have expanded the resources available for the disabled elderly.
- The Clinic organized and administers the Coalition of Medicaid Advocates (COMA), a statewide professional group dedicated to continuing education of lawyers and others who represent the elderly. The Clinic and its director have also advised the Governor and the State legislature on health care law and policy.
Externships/Internships
SUNY Buffalo Law School offers its second and third-year students for-credit judicial clerkships and externships at governmental, not-for-profit legal offices and courts in Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls and surrounding communities. The possible placements are listed in each semester’s registration materials so that students can apply for placements that best meet their professional and academic aspirations and experience.
Student judicial clerks work at all court levels and jurisdictions, including federal appeals court, federal district court, state intermediate appeals court, and state, county and city trial level courts. Externs work in a wide variety of over 25 city, county and state legal offices, as well as not-for-profit offices, including the offices of the U.S. Attorney, Legal Aid, the state Attorney General, the Empire Justice Center, the Erie County District Attorney, the University Counsel for the State University of New York, the National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Monroe County Public Defender and the Buffalo Corporation Counsel, just to name a few.
Externships and judicial clerkships are great opportunities for SUNY Buffalo law students to learn by working with good lawyers and to give back to their community by helping to provide legal services to the public and to those in need. More information on the program can be found at:
http://law.buffalo.edu/Academic_Programs_And_Research/default.asp?firstlevel=7&filename=externships
Classes with a Public Service Component
A Critical Look at Theraputic Drug Courts: Drug Treatment, Domestic Violence, Mental Health and Gambling Courts - Explores in depth, a radical change in the criminal justice system with a practical analysis drug treatment, domestic violence, mental heath and gambling courts situated in Western New York. Includes dialogue with the presiding judges and courtroom clinical experience. Students will analyze and interact with sessions of the Amherst Drug Treatment court at the Letro Courtroom in the UB Law School and at the Amherst Town Court.Advanced Mediation Practice - This course allows students to hone their mediation skills to an advanced level by mediating real conflict situations, including family law, small business or other disputes referred by local courts and/or other community mediation resources.
Child Welfare Law II - Students complete field work at the Children's Legal Center assisting in law guardian work. For information, contact Professor Susan Vivian Mangold, 716/645-2428 or svm@acsu.buffalo.edu.
Domestic Violence Advocacy - Students are responsible for administering outreach legal advocacy program for female clients of a local battered women's shelter. For more information, contact Clinical Professor Suzanne Tomkins, 716/645-2103 or tomkins@buffalo.edu.
Labor Law Practice, Living Wage Law - Students worked with the Citizen's Living Wage Commission in the City of Buffalo and the non-profit Coalition for Economic Justice, inc. To analyze potentially covered contracts, monitor worksites, interview workers and consult with Commission members and other government officials regarding procedures for implementation of the new Buffalo living wage law in its formative stages.
NY Criminal Appeals : Practice & Procedure - Combines discussion of New York appellate procedure with the practice of law in the Appellate Division. Students review the mechanics of appeal, the scope of judicial review and problems endemic to appellate practice. At the same time, students work on appeals assigned to the Legal Aid Bureau and research and draft the briefs and prepare appendices.
Public Interest Journals
ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law (housed at UB Law School) http://www.abanet.org/forums/affordable/writing/home.shtmlBuffalo Environmental Law Journal http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/belj/
Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal http://wings.buffalo.edu/law /bpilj/
Buffalo Human Rights Law Journal http://wings.buffalo.edu/law /bhrlc/
Buffalo Women's Law Journal http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bwlj/
Public Interest Career Assistance
The Law School's Career Services Office has a Graduate Assistant for Public Interest and an Administrative Assistant for Resources and Public Practice (Dawn Skopinski). In concert with the Career Services office, these individuals coordinate public interest career panels and provide individual counseling and assistance to students interested in public interest careers. The Career Services Office, faculty, local and specialty bar associations (e.g. WNY Chapter of the Women Bar Association of the State of NY (WBASNY) and WNY Chapter of the Minority Bar Associations) and student groups sponsor job fairs, and career panels. Summer public interest fellows also make panel presentations.
Public Interest/Public Sector Legal Career Symposium
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAP)
Post-Graduate Fellowships/Awards
Law School Funded:
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
The School's graduates have received:
Skadden Arps Fellowship, (one in 1996), $35,000.
Equal Justice Works Fellowships, one each year, $28,000.
Soros Foundation Fellowship, (one in 1999), $32,500.
Term Time Fellowships/Scholarships
Law School Funded:
The Law School funds one year-long Graduate Assistantship for Public Interest that includes a tuition waiver and stipend ($10,000).
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
Summer Fellowships
Law School Funded:
The Dean's Office sponsors four fellows per year at $3,000-3,500.
The Buffalo Public Interest Law Program (BPILP) awards 10-15 fellowships ($3,000-3,500 each). BPILP also collaborates with student groups to fund "Co-op" fellowships for students working in particular practice areas. Past co-op fellowships include: The Domestic Violence Task Force, the Human Rights Law Review, the Prosecutors Club, the Environmental Law Society, the Progressive Law Society/OUTLAW.
Graduate Student Funded:
Other Funding Sources:
In addition, the Human Rights Law Committee sponsors several students per summer to engage in international human rights work through the Buffalo Human Rights Law Center.
Three Kaplan & Reynolds Summer Public Interest Law Fellowships are awarded each year. These are $3000-3500 each.
Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Programs
The Career Services Office, faculty, local and specialty bar associations (e.g. WNY Chapter of the Women Bar Association of the State of NY (WBASNY) and WNY Chapter of the Minority Bar Associations) and student groups sponsor lectures, brown bag lunches, job fairs, and career panels. Summer public interest fellows also make panel presentations. Occasionally symposiums and conferences sponsored by faculty focus on public interest practice and areas of law practiced primarily in public interest settings.
Student Public Interest Groups
Asian American Law Students AssociationBlack Law Students Association
Buffalo Public Interest Law Program
Latin American Law Students Association
Native American Law Students Association
Outlaw
Progressive Law Society
