Woman in a courtroom standing at a podium.

The Advocacy Institute

Launched in 2014, the Advocacy Institute is dedicated to helping students cultivate the skills, discipline, and ethics necessary to become creative and principled advocates for their future clients.

The Institute serves as host to the law school’s Innocence and Justice Project as well as its programs in Trial Advocacy, Appellate Advocacy, and Alternative Dispute Resolution. These programs provide students with training from leading judges, trial attorneys, and faculty, with the goal of helping our students become superior advocates; enabling our students to excel and pass the bar; and serving as a pathway for employment in the careers of their choice.

We also offer a Certificate of Concentration in Advocacy that is nationally unique in exposing students to a diverse set of experiences essential to the development of skilled litigators.

The Advocacy Institute also seeks to provide new opportunities for our students to apply their first-rate doctrinal and theoretical education to the practice of law. The Advocacy Institute’s National Advisory Board, comprised of nationally recognized practitioners and jurists, provides guidance and counsel to the Institute’s Director as to how to develop, enhance, and expand the Institute’s programs.

The Advocacy Institute depends on the generosity of alumni and friends of the University at Buffalo School of Law for its existence and growth. To become involved in our mission, please contact: law-advocacy@buffalo.edu. Thank you for your support.

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The Advocacy Institute

For additional information on the Advocacy Institute, or to become involved in our mission, please contact law-advocacy@buffalo.edu.

Trial Advocacy
* Jennifer Scharf, Director

Appellate Advocacy
* Lucinda Finley, Director

Mediation
* Steven Sugarman, Director

Innocence and Justice Project
* Alexandra Harrington, Director