New Leadership for a Foundational Curriculum
The Gift of a Lifetime and a Lifetime of Commitment
When Angie McDuf ’12 pivoted her career to become an instructor in the law school’s Legal Analysis, Writing and Research (LAWR) program, she was looking for a deeper sense of meaning in her work. She had taught as an adjunct professor at the law school, and her experience in coaching the law school’s Jessup International Law Moot Court teams persuaded her that shaping the next generation of legal minds was exactly the deeper meaning she was looking for.
Now, just a few years later, McDuff has been named director of the LAWR program, whose instructors teach the three-semester sequence that gets every student up to speed in those fundamental skills of lawyers through small classes and intensive one-on-one coaching.
McDuff, who also earned a master of laws degree from UB Law, brings to her new role both a deep familiarity with the program through her teaching, and also wide experience in legal practice. Before entering academia, she worked in immigration law and corporate regulatory analysis and compliance.
“In teaching LAWR, I draw on the skills I’ve learned from almost every job I’ve ever had,” she says. “Immigration law helped me better understand trauma-informed lawyering, while compliance helped me hone my analytical skills. However, I also carry into the classroom lessons I learned from my time waiting tables in college and nearly 10 years of working retail. And that’s something I try to help my students understand: they all have transferable skills. It’s a matter of figuring out what those skills are and how they relate to their future careers.”
Four experienced practitioners join LAWR program
As the School of Law continues to build students’ competencies in the essential skills of lawyering, new hiring over the past two years in the Legal Analysis, Writing and Research (LAWR) program has deepened the roster of faculty and brought a new range of skill sets to this critical effort.
The new instructors—including two UB Law alumni—have honed their teaching skills alongside their work in private practice, corporate and government settings. They bring to the task a real commitment to helping students succeed in law school and in practice.
As a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Bureau of Bufalo for more than three years, doing criminal defense work in Buffalo City Court, Farina Barth ’17 handled over 300 cases a year. Now, as a lecturer in the LAWR program, she guides about two dozen first-year students through two semesters of building the fundamental skills of lawyering. Barth brings teaching experience from the State University of New York at Brockport, where she taught undergraduates criminal law and adjudication.
A former editor in chief of the Buffalo Law Review, Emily Dinsmore ’14 has returned to O’Brian Hall as a member of the LAWR faculty. After several years of practice in the areas of bond offerings and structured lending, she comes back to her alma mater with extensive teaching experience, including a post-college stint with Teach for America, working with underserved high schoolers in Arizona. She’s also presented multiple Continuing Legal Education seminars to her law firm colleagues and has coached many new associates, all preparing her for her new role in the classroom.
Pamela Newell’s wide professional experience provides plenty of opportunities to expose her LAWR students to the breadth of legal practice. She has worked in private practice, taught at the university and community college levels, worked as an appellate court clerk and in worker’s compensation, and investigated EEO complaints. Newell holds a master of laws degree and a master’s degree in forensic psychology. She is the author of Understanding Criminal Procedure (Great River Learning, 2022), a digital textbook designed for students majoring in criminal justice.
Carina Schoenberger has made the move to academia after a dozen years as an Assistant United States Attorney. With extensive trial experience in matters ranging from financial and health care fraud to immigration and drug crimes, she represented the United States in both criminal and civil appellate cases. She also brings to the classroom the context of three years of litigation practice with a St. Louis firm, where she handled cases involving intellectual property, class and derivative actions, and commercial litigation.