Albany Law’s Bonventre, Connors Named Distinguished Professors; Lynch Appointed Kate Stoneman Chair

Albany Law School recently announced that three professors have been named to endowed and distinguished professorships.

Prof. Vincent M. Bonventre is the newly appointed Justice Robert H. Jackson Distinguished Professor of Law.

Prof. Bonventre is an expert on the judicial process, the U.S. Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals, criminal law and civil liberties, and legal ethics, and serves as a regular commentator and lecturer on these topics. He is the founder and editor of State Constitutional Commentary, founder and director of the Center for Judicial Process, author of STREAMS OF TENDENCY ON THE NEW YORK COURT: IDEOLOGICAL AND JURISPRUDENTIAL PATTERNS IN THE JUDGES' VOTING AND OPINIONS, and founding editor-in-chief of the Government, Law, & Policy Journal (New York State Bar Association). His blog, "New York Court Watcher," is devoted to commentary on developments at the Supreme Court, the New York Court of Appeals, and other state supreme courts nationwide.

Prior to joining Albany Law School in 1990, he clerked for Judges Matthew J. Jasen and Stewart F. Hancock Jr. of the New York Court of Appeals, was a U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Fellow, and served in U.S. Army Military Intelligence and the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Prof. Bonventre holds a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and has taught as a visiting professor at Syracuse University College of Law and the Maxwell School of Public Affairs.

The Distinguished Professorship was named for Justice Robert H. Jackson, Class of 1912, who served as U.S. Attorney General, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. 

Prof. Patrick M. Connors is the newly appointed Albert and Angela Farone Distinguished Professor in New York Civil Practice.

Prof. Connors is a leading authority on New York civil practice and a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education seminars across the state. He authors the well-known and heavily cited treatise Siegel’s New York Practice as well as McKinney’s Practice Commentaries for CPLR Article 22, Stay, Motions, Orders and Mandates; CPLR Article 23, Subpoenas, CPLR Oaths and Affirmations; CPLR Article 30, Remedies and Pleadings; and CPLR Article 31: Disclosure. He also writes the New York Practice column in the New York Law Journal and the publication’s annual Court of Appeals Roundup on New York Civil Practice.

He is a member of the Office of Court Administration’s Advisory Committee on Civil Practice and the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics. He also chairs the Racing Fan Advisory Council to the New York State Gaming Commission. From 1992 through 2003, he was a reporter for the Committee on New York Pattern Jury Instructions. Prof. Connors received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and his J.D. from St. John’s Law School, where he was an editor of the law review and research assistant to Professor David D. Siegel.

The Distinguished Professorship was named for Angela Farone and her husband Albert Farone, Class of 1925, a former member of the Albany Law School Board of Trustees and a recipient of the Trustee Gold Medal.

Prof. Mary A. Lynch is the newly appointed Kate Stoneman Chair in Law and Democracy.

Prof. Lynch (B.A., New York University, J.D., Harvard Law School) is a nationally recognized expert and author on issues related to legal education and violence against women. She is the director of the Center for Excellence in Law Teaching, editor of the award-winning blog “Best Practices for Legal Education,” and serves on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Experiential Learning. She is a former co-president of the national Clinical Legal Education Association and has served as an executive member of the Association of American Law Schools’ Clinical Legal Education Section. She served as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession and chaired its Educating and Training New Lawyers subcommittee. She is a past recipient of Albany Law School’s Excellence in Teaching award and the Kate Stoneman Special Recognition award for her contributions to the advancement of women in the legal profession. She has also been honored by the local chapter of N.O.W. and Irish America Magazine.

Prior to joining the Albany Law faculty in 1989, Prof. Lynch worked as an appellate and trial attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s office. In 1996, while serving as director of the school's Domestic Violence Law Project, Prof. Lynch and seven Albany Law students won clemency for a woman who was incarcerated for killing her abuser. Currently, as director of Albany Law School’s Domestic Violence Prosecution Hybrid Clinic, she supervises students working in Special Victims Units and domestic violence courts throughout the Capital Region.

The Chair in Law and Democracy was named for Katherine "Kate" Stoneman, who in 1898 became the first woman to graduate from Albany Law School and was the first woman admitted to practice law in New York state.

“Professors Bonventre, Connors, and Lynch are leading experts in their respective fields of law,” said Albany Law School President & Dean Alicia Ouellette. “They engage in critical scholarship, contribute to the national conversation, and impact our students in positive ways through teaching, influence, and leadership. These professors epitomize the exceptional qualities of our faculty.”