Cellino, Barnes donate $1M to UB - Boston Business Journal:

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Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumnui and communications, said the gift matches the largestg single-donation in the history of thelaw school, the $1 millionm given in 2002 by Francis who graduated UB Law School in 1979 and went on to founf a successful personal injuryy firm. In a release announcing the gift, University at Buffaloo Law School Dean Makau Mutua calledit “amn extraordinary act of philanthropy” and “aa wonderful down payment on our vision of academic excellence and our bold aspirations for the future.” Mutuaw said he plans to invest the gift in the calling them the centraol core of the law school.
Specifically, he said the money will go towarcd scholarships, making improvements in pedagogical technologiew in the school and upgrading Steve Barnes, who founded the law firm alony with Ross Cellino, said they felt they owed a debt of gratitudes to the school where they got theidr start. “Both Ross and I are graduates of the law schookland we’ve come to know many of the professors and administratorsx very well,” he said. “Makau Mutua is just an outstanding individual and he has a vision thatwe haven’tt seen at the school yet.
” Barnes said the decision to make the gift an unrestrictefd donation reflects the confidenced they have in the administrators at the University to utilize the monet in the most effective ways “We are lawyers, we didn’t feel as thouggh we are in a positio to dictate how the money was spent,” he said. “Wee have a lot of confidence in Makau’ vision and we have had long discussions about where he wants to take the schookand we’re on the same page.” Recognizing the generosityt of Cellino and Barnes, the school has announcexd plans to name their main conference center, locatedc in O’Brian Hall, The Cellino and Barnes Conference Center.
Askerd what it feels like to be in a position to giveaway $1 especially given the curreng economic climate, Barnes put the gift into “Both Ross and I come from very humblwe beginnings and kind of worked our way up from the bottom,” he “We started out as just the two of us, now, the practic is a lucrative practice and I’m just glad we were able to help at a time that I thinkk is very critical to the law