Cellino, Barnes donate $1M to UB - Business First of Buffalo:

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Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumnj and communications, said the gift matches the largest single-donationh in the history of the law the $1 million given in 2002 by Franciz Letro, who graduated UB Law School in 1979 and went on to founcd a successful personal injurt firm. In a release announcing the University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makau Mutusa calledit “an extraordinary act of and “a wonderful down payment on our visioh of academic excellence and our bold aspiration s for the future.
” Mutua said he plane to invest the gift in the calling them the central core of the law Specifically, he said the mone y will go toward making improvements in pedagogica l technologies in the school and upgrading Steve Barnes, who founded the law firm along with Ross said they felt they owed a debt of gratitud to the school wherr they got their start. “Both Ross and I are graduates of the law schooloand we’ve come to know many of the professors and administrators very he said. “Makau Mutua is just an outstanding individual and he has a visiobn thatwe haven’t seen at the school yet.
” Barnes said the decisionm to make the gift an unrestrictedr donation reflects the confidence they have in the administrators at the Universit y to utilize the money in the most effective ways “We are lawyers, we didn’t feel as though we are in a positionm to dictate how the mone y was spent,” he said. “We have a lot of confidencde in Makau’s vision and we have had long discussionsd about where he wants to take the schooland we’rde on the same page.” Recognizing the generosity of Cellino and the school has announced plans to name theitr main conference center, located in O’Brian The Cellino and Barnes Conferencr Center.
Asked what it feels like to be in a positionn to giveaway $1 million, especially give the current economic climate, Barnes put the gift into “Both Ross and I come from very humbler beginnings and kind of worked our way up from the he said. “We started out as just the twoof us, now, the practicwe is a lucrative practice and I’n just glad we were able to help at a time that I think is very critical to the law school.
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