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SPRING 2006 CONTENTS

Class Action, Your UB Law Network
UB Law wins first place in first national ethics trial competition
Auction raises $22K for students to take public interest summer positions
Baldy Center hears UCLA law scholar on torture
Phillips Lytle LLP honored by Law School for diversity scholarships
Panelists discuss executive clemency in capital cases
Professor Miller says policies to detain and incarcerate illegal immigrants are similar to 1980s 'tough on drug' policies
Professor Mutua advises Kenyan graft buster in billion dollar scandal
Professor Ewing and Joseph McCann '94 examine the 20 most psychologically intriguing legal cases in their new book
Dual degree student Steve Trynosky, JD '05, MPH '06, wins a spot in Presidential Management Fellows program
Terrance P. Flynn '88 sworn in as US Attorney for the Western District of NY
New York City alumni luncheon builds a bridge between cities and hears Judge Rosenblatt
Rochester alumni hold CLE and cocktail reception for new admittees

Upcoming events:
Buffalo Law Review Dinner; "Crimmigration" conference; Distinguished Alumni Dinner; Reunions

CLASS ACTION, YOUR UB LAW NETWORK

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FORMER CLASSMATES, PROFESSORS AND FRIENDS:

Send us your personal and professional news, including marriages, births and deaths.

LAW SCHOOL REPORT

UB LAW WINS FIRST PLACE IN FIRST ETHICS TRIAL COMPETITION: UB Law's national trial team of Sara Wesley, John Menna, Janine Sprague and David Hoffman, coached by alumni Diane Lavallee '83 and Michael Daumen '74, took first place in the first annual National Ethics Trial Competition hosted by Pacific/McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, Calif. on March 16-19, 2006. Sara Wesley received top honors as best overall advocate. Fourteen teams competed. UB defeated Fordham, U. Conn, and S. Texas before winning a unanimous decision against Pacific McGeorge (the host team) in the finals.

AUCTION RAISES $22K FOR STUDENTS TO TAKE PUBLIC INTEREST SUMMER POSITIONS: The Buffalo Public Interest Law Program (BPILP) hosted its 11th annual auction Thursday February 23, 2006 at the Statler Towers in downtown Buffalo. The event is the primary fundraiser to provide scholarships allowing students to accept unpaid public interest positions. Last year BPILP provided 18 summer fellowships. "Public interest" encompasses many areas of the law, including domestic violence, child advocacy, human rights, poverty law, elder law, and environmental law. While many organizations are in need of legal assistance that law students can offer, they often cannot afford to provide a paycheck.

BALDY CENTER RETREAT HEARS FROM UCLA LAW SCHOLAR ON TORTURE: The difficult and politically explosive issue of torture took center stage for the 12th annual Baldy Center Retreat, an annual celebration of the work of UB Law School's interdisciplinary studies center. Continuing a tradition of seeking out the best in challenging new scholarship, the center invited as its keynote speaker Richard L. Abel of UCLA Law School. Currently on sabbatical in New York City, working in the Center for Constitutional Rights, Abel was a founding editor of the journal Law & Policy, published by the Baldy Center. At UCLA, he also is faculty coordinator for the Public Interest Law Program.

PHILLIPS LYTLE LLP HONORED BY LAW SCHOOL FOR DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS: The Buffalo-based law firm with deep roots in the community was honored at the Law School on Feb. 28 for a scholarship program designed to foster the academic and legal careers of minority students - and encourage those new lawyers to remain in Western New York. The Phillips Lytle Scholarship program is 15 years old. Recipients of the scholarship are noted on a plaque in the Charles B. Sears Law Library. But there is nothing static about the program - recipients consistently report that this scholarship money can make all the difference in their ability to pay the costs of attending UB Law School. UB Law Dean Nils Olsen and Morgan G. Graham, managing partner of the 170-year-old firm, made brief comments at a reception in O'Brian Hall.

PANELISTS DISCUSS EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY IN CAPITAL CASES: Attorneys from three high profile capital cases in 2005 participated in a lively panel discussion on executive clemency in capital cases before an audience of law students, professors, and attorneys on March 27. Presented by UB Law's Capital Advocacy Project (CAP), the panelists included Jonathan Harris, lawyer for Stanley "Tookie" Williams; Sarah Nagy, who won clemency for Arthur Baird II, a severely mentally ill inmate in Indiana; Harry Weller, who prosecuted Michael Ross in Connecticut; and Professor John Blume of Cornell University, who just last month argued Holmes v. South Carolina, before the U.S. Supreme Court. (Holmes involves the extent to which defendants can present evidence of third party guilt). Professor Teresa A. Miller moderated the discussion.

FACULTY

PROFESSOR MILLER SAYS POLICIES TO DETAIN AND INCARCERATE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE SIMILAR TO THE 1980'S 'TOUGH ON DRUGS' POLICIES: The growing prevalence of detention as a policy within the U.S. immigration system is strikingly similar to policies of criminal sanctions and mass incarceration used to fight the "war on drugs" according to University at Buffalo Law School Professor Teresa A. Miller, who studies the U.S. prison system and teaches immigration law. "The result of these policies in the 1980s and 90s was the wholesale over-incarceration of African American males, resulting in the 'browning' of American prisons," Miller says.

PROFESSOR MUTUA ADVISES KENYAN GRAFT BUSTER IN BILLION DOLLAR SCANDAL: In the quiet of his office in the Law School, Professor Makau Mutua contemplates his role in exposing an elaborate scheme of government fraud in his native Kenya, where high-ranking officials have resigned in recent weeks, rocking the country's ruling government headed by President Mwai Kibaki. "I always tell my students that the purpose for practicing law should always be to work at the intersection of power and powerlessness, to make sure we hold accountable those who are powerful and reduce the deprivation of those who are powerless," says Mutua, who teachers international law and directs the UB Law School's Center for Human Rights. "We must always use law for the social and political good."

PROFESSOR EWING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST DR. JOSEPH MCCANN '94 EXAMINE THE 20 MOST PSYCHOLOGICALLY INTRIGUING LEGAL CASES OF THE PAST 50 YEARS IN THEIR NEW BOOK: From investigations into Lee Harvey Oswald's troubled adolescence to courtroom debates over Mike Tyson's violent tantrums, Minds on Trial: Great Cases in Law and Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2006) examines the sometimes bizarre and often intriguing workings of the human mind, as exposed by the legal system and by the psychologists who worked on the cases. And they document examples of how the practice of psychology, and the use of psychologists as expert witnesses, can aid the search for truth or can be misused, sometimes with controversial results.

UB LAW ALUMNI

TRYNOSKY WINS A SPOT IN PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT FELLOWS PROGRAM: Stephen K. Trynosky, who in May will complete his dual degrees in law and public health, is one of 550 people chosen to become Presidential Management Fellows for 2006. About 3,500 hopefuls from 167 graduate institutions applied for the program that seeks to attract top candidates into government service.

TERRANCE P. FLYNN '88 SWORN IN AS US ATTORNEY FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT: Terrance P. Flynn began work as U.S. Attorney for Western New York Wednesday, March 22. The U.S. Justice Department said the Buffalo lawyer was sworn in as U.S. Attorney after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. President Bush nominated Flynn for the job last December, after Michael A. Battle accepted a Washington position as Justice Department liaison with its U.S. attorneys nationwide. Before his appointment, he was a Buffalo trial attorney specializing in medical malpractice, products liability and other civil matters at Gibson, McAskill & Crosby, in Buffalo.

NEW YORK CITY ALUMNI LUNCHEON HEARS JUDGE ROSENBLATT, BUILDS A BRIDGE BETWEEN CITIES : New York's upstate-downstate divide melted away in good food and good feelings as UB Law graduates in New York City gathered for their annual alumni luncheon on Jan. 27. The luncheon, subsidized by the UB Law Alumni Association, has become a January tradition. This year it featured a non-alumnus - Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt of the New York State Court of Appeals - whose affection for Buffalo, both historically and in the present, was evident.

ROCHESTER CLE AND RECEPTION FOR NEW ADMITTEES: The UB Law Alumni Association held a Continuing Legal Education program on legal ethics followed by a cocktail reception in Rochester on Thursday, March 9, at The Crowne Plaza Hotel.

UPCOMING EVENTS

THE BUFFALO LAW REVIEW TO HONOR DENISE O'DONNELL '81 AND ROBERT SCHWENKEL '82: Denise E. O'Donnell '82, a partner in the Buffalo-based law firm Hodgson Russ LLP, and Robert C. Schwenkel '82, a partner in the New York City-based law firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Jacobson, will be honored at the 17th annual Buffalo Law Review Dinner on Thursday, April 27, at The Buffalo Club at 6 p.m. Both honorees are Buffalo Law Review alumni and have excelled in the legal profession. They remain active in the UB Law School community, with Ms. O'Donnell serving as a recent past president of the Law School's Alumni Association and Mr. Schwenkel mentoring hundreds of law students, helping to guide them through the New York City law firm recruitment season.

IMMIGRATION AND CRIME CONTROL FOCUS OF BALDY CENTER CONFERENCE APRIL 28-29: With the recent debates and protests over U.S.immigration policy as a backdrop, the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy will present the conference "Merging Immigration and Crime Control," featuring commentary and analysis from leading international experts on the social and economic impact of immigration. To be held from 3-5 p.m. on April 28 and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 29 in 12 O'Brian Hall on the UB North (Amherst) Campus, it will be free and open to the public. Space is limited so registration is recommended. Please email your name and affiliation to Ellen Kausner at ekausner@buffalo.edu or call (716) 645-2102. Five Continuing Legal Education Credits (CLE) may be earned at the conference. For those seeking CLE credits, registration is required; the conference fee is $100 for both days or $40 Friday and $60 Saturday. For more information, go to http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/immigration06.htm

UB LAW ALUMNI TO HONOR FIVE AT DINNER MAY 10: The 44th annual UB Law Alumni Association meeting and dinner will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 10th, in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. The dinner will also mark the end of the Law Alumni Association's membership drive for 2006 to 2007. Alumni who have not renewed or joined the Association for this year are requested to send in their $50 dues to the Alumni Office, 312 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260. Awards will be presented to: Hon. John P. Lane '53, Justice of the New York State Supreme Court; Garry M. Graber '78, partner in Hodgson Russ LLP; Hon. Elena Cacavas-Schietinger '85, Administrative Law Judge New York State Public Employment Relations Board; Christopher T. Greene '74, Managing Partner, Damon & Morey LLP; Robert P. Fine '68, Managing Partner, Hurwitz & Fine P.C. For more information on the dinner please contact the UB Law Alumni Office at (716) 645-2107 or e-mail law-alumni@buffalo.edu.

REUNIONS REKINDLE BONDS TO LAW SCHOOL: The Reunion Program has been established so that our graduates may renew old friendships, relive special memories, and rekindle bonds to the Law School. Each year, we take great pride in welcoming our alumni to brunch in O'Brian Hall during Reunion Weekends, so that graduates may learn about the numerous changes taking place in the curriculum as well as to our physical space. This year the Classes of 2001, 1996, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1961 and 1956 will gather together to celebrate. For details on registration, contact Amy Hayes Atkinson at (716) 645-6224 or aatkins@buffalo.edu.