2014-Winter-DU-Magazine

TRIBONE CENTER
DU Dedicates New Center for
Clinical Legal Education
By Colleen C. Derda, A’83
Duquesne and the School of Law hosted a special
ceremony in September to dedicate the new Tribone Center
for Clinical Legal Education, located on Fifth Avenue in the
heart of the Uptown neighborhood.
Through the new center, the School of Law provides
free legal services to those who need but cannot afford
legal representation, including veterans, low-income
individuals and families, and non-profit organizations.
Clients are helped with civil rights, family law,
unemployment compensation and other specific legal
matters.
“The School of Law is deeply committed to serving
the community while, at the same time, giving our
students hands-on skills training so that they can perform
at the highest level when they enter the practice of
law,” says Law Dean Ken Gormley. “Our new clinic,
just blocks from the courthouses Downtown, opens up
remarkable opportunities to help underserved clients and
families while allowing Duquesne law students to tackle
real-life legal problems that will give them unmatched
experience.”
Three years ago, as the new dean of the School of Law,
Gormley outlined plans for a freestanding clinic and the
hiring of a nationally recognized clinician to direct the
program. Alumni quickly stepped up to champion the
project with community leaders and public funders.
Alumnus Tom Tribone, a 1985 graduate of the School of
Law and a 1981 graduate of the Palumbo•Donahue School
of Business, played a key role in developing the new center
for clinical legal education that now bears his family name.
He noted Duquesne’s influence on both his family and the
family of his wife, Michele Mrozek-Tribone.
“Duquesne has had a significant impact on three
generations of our family on both sides,” says Tribone.
“My father, the first person in the family to attend college,
developed a strong respect for education at Duquesne, and
he imparted that to us.”
Tribone is chief executive officer of Franklin Park
Investments, which owns and operates energy and
infrastructure businesses globally, and is chairman
of the board of directors of a public investment fund,
Infrastructure India PLC. Throughout his career, he has
owned and managed large energy concerns in the U.S. and
35 other countries.
In making his gift, Tribone says he was impressed with
the work of Duquesne’s community-based legal initiatives
and the impact on area residents.
“The law school’s clinical program provides important
services to citizens who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get
legal help,” says Tribone.
Local firms and Duquesne law alumni are stepping
up to name individual rooms in the Tribone Center for
Clinical Legal Education. A student work room on the
first floor is now named for Dickie McCamey & Chilcote,
PC, and moot courtroom and technology lab space on the
second floor for August C. Damian, a 1960 law alumnus.
The Tribone Center also features client meeting rooms,
conference rooms for consultations with judges and
attorneys, and classrooms. The building doubles the size
of the previous clinic space in Fisher Hall and makes the
programs more accessible for clients from throughout
the region. All clinical legal education programs are now
based here, including the school’s community-focused
clinics, externship programs and site placements, pro bono
initiative and summer public interest fellowship program.
During the dedication, Gormley credited Professor
Laurie Serafino, hired by the School of Law in 2012 to
direct the expanding clinical legal education program,
Professor Tracey McCants Lewis, assistant director, and
Professor Joseph Sabino Mistick,
clinic founder, with bringing
“vision, passion and a deep
commitment to justice” to all of
the work happening inside the
Tribone Center.
“We are now delivering, in a
big way, on twin obligations: to
use the talent and resources of
the law school to serve those who
are less fortunate, and to prepare
our students for employment by
providing unmatched experience
with real-life legal issues,”
Gormley remarked.
Additional funding for the
Tribone Center for Clinical
Legal Education was provided in part through a $500,000
grant from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital
Program and a $250,000 grant from the Redevelopment
Authority of Allegheny County.
6 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE Winter ‘14