SUNY BUFFALO LAW PHILANTHROPY - SUNY Buffalo Law School

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WINTER 201113A growing connection“It would have been virtuallyimpossible for me to go tolaw school if I wasn’t able togo to SUNY Buffalo with thetuition it had. I got anincredible education there.”– Barbara Klippert ’75The resume of Barbara Klippert,a member of the LawSchool’s Class of 1975, listsa Seven Sisters collegewhere she did some of her undergraduatework and a well-known Manhattanuniversity where she earned amasters of tax law degree. But neitherof those institutions, she says, holdsthe same kind of emotional attachmentfor her that SUNY Buffalo LawSchool does.She says her continuing involvementwith the school – she has servedon the Dean’s Advisory Council since2004 and teaches a class in the school’sNew York City Program in Financeand Law – has grown that sense of attachment.“Themore involved I’ve become,”shesays,“the more connected Ifeel to what’s going on in the school.”That involvement has extended togenerous financial support, recentlyincluding a gift of $145,000 – partmultiyear donation, part bequest – tobe used in large part to support scholarshipaid for deserving students andthe New York City Program.Klippert practices ERISA law in theNew York office of the Boston-basedlaw firm Bingham McCutchen LLP.“It would have been virtually impossiblefor me to go to law school if Iwasn’t able to go to SUNY Buffalowith the tuition it had,”she says.“Inaddition, I got an incredible educationthere. I didn’t have any idea whatI wanted to do after law school, andthen I discovered tax in Lou Del Cotto’sclass. It was so engaging to me thatI decided to become a tax lawyer. I reallyowe the success I’ve achieved inlife to my ability to go to UB and theeducation I received. It is very importantto me to give back to the LawSchool and to try to help studentswho are in the same position that Iwas.”Klippert’s class was one of the firstto use the newly constructed O’BrianHall, moving from the Law School’sprevious location in downtown Buffalo.“Itwas not what we expected, butit was what happened,”she says of thatmove to what was then the onlybuilding on the new Amherst campus.But, she says, it was a small class,and “the people were very close.”Shealso served as case and comment editorof the Buffalo Law Review.And in another accident of timing,Congress passed the Employee RetirementIncome Security Act – whatwould become Klippert’s area of specialization– in the fall of 1974, justmonths before her Law School graduation.Similar to tax law, she says,ERISA is “like doing a puzzle.Youhave to be comfortable with codesand very abstract analysis, becausethere are no answers.You have to beable to live in gray.”As she thought about making asignificant gift to the Law School,Klippert says, she was able to structurethe gift to make it feasible financially.“You try to give as much as you feelcomfortable giving on a current basis,”shesays.“It would be a normalthing for me to think in terms of a bequest,which doesn’t immediatelycome out of my pocket. But you alsoneed to be willing to commit certainfunds on an ongoing basis, eventhough in some years it may be moreof a stretch than others. It’s muchmore helpful to the Law School tohave that money now.”Her work with the Dean’s AdvisoryCouncil, she says, has shown herthat she’s not alone in her enthusiasmfor the Law School’s prospects.“These are people who are very committedto the Law School, continuingits legacy, increasing its reputationand making things good for its studentsand graduates,”she says.“Theyfeel pretty passionately about theschool. I am pleased to be part ofthat.”
14SUNY BUFFALO LAW PHILANTHROPYLeadership GivingConference center namedfor Cellino & BarnesTwo well-known alumni returned to O’Brian Hall on May 26 as the school’s elegant fifth-floorconference center was officially named in their honor. The Cellino & Barnes Conference Center wasdedicated to recognize a major gift to the school by Ross M. Cellino Jr. ’82 and Stephen E. Barnes ’83. They are shareholdersin the personal injury law firm Cellino & Barnes, with 42 attorneys in six offices across New York State.From left to right,Stephen E. Barnes’83, UB PresidentSatish K. Tripathi,Dean Makau Mutuaand Ross M. CellinoJr. ’82.Below, from left toright, Stephen E.Barnes ’83, UB PresidentSatish K.Tripathi and Ross M.Cellino Jr. ’82Left to right, SUNY Distinguished ServiceProfessor Charles Patrick Ewing, JeannaCellino ’12 and Ross M. Cellino Jr. ’82Left to right,Ross M. CellinoJr. ’82, andparents JeanetteCellino andRoss M. CellinoSr. ’56Vice DeanAlan S.Carrel ’67.Left to right,Annmarie Cellino ’14,Anna MarieCellino ’81, Ross M. Cellino Jr. ’82, Jeanna Cellino ’12and Brigitte CellinoStephen E.Barnes ’83, center,with parentsJohn “Jack”andMarian BarnesFar right,Stephen E.Barnes ’83and Ellen B.Sturm ’01Vice Dean Ilene R. Fleischmann,UB President Satish K. Tripathiand Kamlish Tripathi
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SUNY BUFFALO LAW PHILANTHROPY - SUNY Buffalo Law School

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