New Leadership in the Pursuit of Justice

Now the next chapter in the advancement of that mission has begun, as Professor S. Todd Brown embraces his role as interim dean of the law school.  Appointed before the start of the academic year, Brown, who joined the faculty in 2009 and has served since 2016 as vice dean for academic affairs, brings to the role both deep experience at the law school and the practical wisdom of his time in high-level legal practice.  He holds a JD from Columbia Law School and a master of laws degree from Temple University.  Before entering academia, he was the managing partner of a small business and he practiced with the law firms Jones Day in Washington, D.C. and Cleveland, and WilmerHale in D.C.

A conversation with Interim Dean Brown reveals his commitment to the law school’s mission and his vision for its future.

What attracted you to serving as the law school’s interim dean?  

I’ve served as vice dean for academic affairs under two deans, so I am quite familiar with our strategic direction and the initiatives that have been put in place over the past several years.  I’ve been a part of implementing many, if not most, of them.  This position provides me with an opportunity to further our efforts to move our school forward and continue to serve our students, faculty, and staff.

What do you see as the law school’s role in promoting the pursuit of justice?

Most people think that promoting justice is about what lawyers do.  For the law school, it’s about giving our students opportunities to do that work.  UB School of Law has always worked aggressively to provide students with exposure to access to justice work and to place our new graduates in public interest positions.  

For the many students who pick a path that may not appear to “advance justice” in the traditional sense—in the corporate or private sectors—it comes back to the people again and again.  We have to provide people with pathways to bring their diverse life experiences to every area of law.  How do you get justice for a community if it’s not properly represented?  

What is the law school doing now that serves that important role?  

Our Experiential Education Program does an incredible job of collaborating with community partners to offer clinical, externship and fellowship opportunities.  And our Pro Bono Scholars Program gives students who are committed to public interest work a head start on launching their careers.   

We also remain committed to providing access to legal education and admitting students who will bring a broad range of life experience to the classroom.  Our Discover Law Undergraduate Scholars Program recently graduated its 10th cohort of rising stars, and we’ve hosted a number of youth-focused programs to expose high school students from Buffalo city schools to the law school experience.   

We also offer an outstanding Jump Start Program every August that helps incoming law students who have had limited exposure to the fundamentals of our legal system.  It’s all about doing everything we can to level the playing field and expand opportunity.

What’s your broader vision for the law school?  

Over the past several years, the law school has advanced its metrics in critical areas.  Our alumni are more active and engaged than ever, our recent bar passage numbers jumped significantly, and our faculty productivity has reached new heights.  Since 2022, our faculty have published more than 15 books and dozens of articles and book chapters.  They are frequently quoted in the media as industry experts on some of the most pressing and cutting-edge issues of our time.  We need to raise the visibility of these accomplishments and emphasize the law school’s vital role in addressing local, national, and global issues.  

What challenges do you anticipate?

Legal education continues to be in a transition period.  All law schools are adapting to rapidly changing technology and how legal services are delivered, and consequently, the way we think about the law and how it affects our lives.  As those changes rapidly accelerate, we cannot be complacent.  We have to stay ahead of them and equip our students to be responsive and agile as they enter the legal profession.  

What do you see as the law school’s greatest strengths?  

Our greatest strength is undoubtedly our community—our dedicated faculty and staff, and our alumni and the members of the practicing bar who care deeply about our school and our students and who want to help us succeed.  The support they provide, both financially and in so many other ways, is critical to our progress.  We have an outstanding relationship with the community and I’m excited to continue to build upon those partnerships. 

Effective law school leadership requires strong support, particularly in guiding the direction of the school’s academic programs.  With seven years of experience as academic dean, Interim Dean S. Todd Brown understood that well when he appointed Professor Christine Bartholomew the law school’s vice dean for academic affairs.  

Bartholomew is no stranger to the challenge of continually improving the law school’s academic offerings.  She served as the inaugural chair of the school’s Committee on Curricular Innovation and Pedagogy in 2016 and has continued to assist with leading those efforts ever since.  She helped develop a rigorous program of learning outcomes and procedures for assessing student progress and, on the university level, she represents the law school on the Institutional Assessment Council, which advises UB’s Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation.

An expert in antitrust law and civil procedure, Bartholomew is also a prolific scholar, with articles in leading law reviews published at Duke, UCLA, Fordham, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt, and her work has been cited by state and federal courts.  She serves as an assistant editor of the ABA Antitrust Law Journal and a contributing editor for Jotwell.  And her impact in the classroom has been broadly recognized with multiple honors.  She is a six-time winner of the law school’s Faculty Award, selected each year by the graduating class, and a 2021 recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, among other honors.  

“My hope is to strengthen what we already do well,” says Bartholomew.  “It is easy in academia to focus on a particular class or program.  I am working with the faculty to evaluate our curriculum holistically, thinking about how each facet of our existing strong offerings fits together to promote graduates ready to undertake the growing challenges of legal justice.”