Bernadette Gargano

Bernadette Gargano received her J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School in 1999. After graduation, Professor Gargano served for two years as a Confidential Law Clerk to the Hon. William M. Skretny in the Western District of New York (WDNY). In private practice, Professor Gargano represented local, national, and global businesses, entrepreneurs, law firms and attorneys, and private universities. In 2019, Professor Gargano was sworn in as a mediator for the WDNY.  Professor Gargano is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, various federal courts, and all New York State courts.

During her teaching career, Professor Gargano has developed curriculum for a variety of courses on all levels, including first-year and advanced legal methods courses, doctrinal courses, seminars, and clinics. Professor Gargano was awarded the “Faculty Award,” UB Law’s only teaching award, in 2016.  In 2018, she received the Jacob D. Hyman Award from the Students of Color Committee for her “significant contributions to promoting excellence among students of color.”

Professor Gargano was a member of the founding committee for the Federal Pro Se Assistance Program (PSAP) for the WDNY, which created embedded clinics in the Buffalo and Rochester Divisions to provide pro bono legal services to underrepresented communities. In 2015, Professor Gargano’s course, the Pro Se Civil Litigation Practicum, won the Bar Association of Erie County’s Justice Award. In the same year, Professor Gargano was named “Lawyer of the Year” by the Women Lawyers of Western New York. In 2019, the University at Buffalo School of Law was awarded the Robert H. Jackson Distinguished Service Award for Professor Gargano’s work with the embedded clinics.

In service to undergraduate education at the University at Buffalo, Professor Gargano developed and taught “Lawyers as Agents of Social Change: Justice Jackson, Nuremberg, and International Humanitarian Law” as an off-campus experience. This course was the pilot for the “Extended Learning Experiences” program for the entire University. This program was housed at the Chautauqua Institution and took place in collaboration with the Robert H. Jackson Center. In conjunction with this program, Professor Gargano taught “Lawyers as Agents of Social Change: The Civil Rights Era,” a limited enrollment “Discovery Seminar.”