Suzanne E. Tomkins

Suzanne Tomkins served as co-director of the Family Law Program and co-founded the Women, Children, and Social Justice Clinic.

Tomkins was interested in the creation, implementation and evaluation of multidisciplinary responses to violence between intimates. When at UB, she developed countywide protocols throughout the region and assisted in creating a similar response in Ushgarod, Ukraine, under the auspices of Project Harmony, a program funded by the U.S. Department of State. She also engaged in similar projects in Russia and recently presented the keynote address at the International Domestic Violence Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Tomkins served as faculty adviser to the Domestic Violence Task Force, a volunteer law student group that promotes awareness of domestic violence through presentations and training, provides lay advocacy in family court for victims of domestic violence, and offers a legal clinic for battered women in collaboration with Haven House, a local shelter, and the Volunteer Lawyers Project.

She has served on numerous state and local committees including the New York State Integrated Domestic Violence Court Advisory Committee and the New York State Office of Court Administration Family Court Rules and Advisory Committee, and served on the board of the Erie County Family Justice Center and Gay and Lesbian Youth Services.