Albany Law School Welcomes New Faculty

Seven new full-time faculty members, including three alumni, are joining Albany Law School this semester.

Dan Bollana ’16, Director of Bar Success and Assistant Professor of Law

Bollana took over as Director of Bar Success in June. He previously coached and counseled students as Associate Director of the Career and Professional Development Center at Albany Law School.

He began his legal career as an associate at Milbank LLP in its Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group where he represented various clients in the financial services industry in civil and regulatory matters. He then served as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Syracuse where he defended the City in personal injury and constitutional litigation in state and federal court and advised City agencies on labor and employment law issues. Bollana was an Assistant Public Defender for the County of Franklin, New York where he represented indigent clients in local, Family, County, and Supreme Court in criminal and family matters before returning to his alma mater.

As a student, he was Associate Editor of the Albany Law Review, a finalist in the Karen C. McGovern Senior Prize Trials, and a Dean Thomas Sponsler Honors Teaching Fellow.
In addition to preparing students for the Bar Exam, he will teach Advanced Legal Analysis II in both fall and spring.

Alfred Chapleau ’78, Visiting Associate Professor of Law

Chapleau is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Law at the College of Saint Rose, where he teaches courses in criminal justice, constitutional law, criminal procedure, evidence, and mock trial.
He was an Instructor and Educational and Curriculum Consultant to the New York State Office of Court Administration’s Office of Justice Court Support from 2007-22. OJCS is responsible for the continuing judicial education (CJE) training and initial certification to assume the bench of the approximately 2,100 Town and Village Justices in New York. In 2018, the role was expanded to cover the development and delivery of mandatory court clerk certification and training (CCCE). In 2017, he was recognized by the Hon. Michael V. Coccoma, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge, for his outstanding service to the Town and Village Courts of the State. He is the author of ten judicial training articles and frequently lectures at the NYS Magistrates Association Annual State Convention. This year he will discuss, “The Trial Judge's Responsibility in Criminal Pro Se Representation Cases.”

While teaching at various times as an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, Siena College, and the University at Albany, Chapleau served 22 years in the Schenectady County District Attorney's Office, the last 18 years as the Chief Assistant District Attorney, where he specialized   in white collar crime and animal abuse prosecutions. During his tenure as Chief Assistant, he supervised over 100 Albany Law students who interned with the District Attorney's Office. He was honored in 2007 by the NYS Humane Association for his work in prosecuting abuse cases and training animal abuse investigators.

Chapleau began his legal career as a judicial law clerk to several NYS Superior Court Judges. From 1984-89 he was a NYS Assistant Attorney General, assigned to complex construction contract litigation.
He teaches Evidence and Criminal Procedure: Investigation.

Victoria Esposito, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law

Before joining Albany Law School, Esposito was the first Advocacy Director of the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY), working with staff to identify and address systemic issues affecting low-income individuals. Some representative issues included improperly withheld SSP payments; housing issues such as persistent conditions issues and improper evictions; and improperly denied public assistance applications.  She continues to represent some of the pensioners of the former St. Clare’s Hospital.

Victoria first joined LASNNY in May 2011 as a staff attorney in the Canton office and became a senior attorney in January 2014. She has handled a variety of cases, including disability, eviction, family law, and foreclosure proceedings, and has filed numerous federal appeals in disability cases. Since 2021, Victoria has co-authored the Social Security and Medicare Answer Book with Albany Law School Professor David Pratt.

Before joining LASNNY, Victoria was an Assistant District Attorney for St. Lawrence County, where she served as the appellate prosecutor in addition to prosecuting misdemeanors and felonies. She also taught aspiring law enforcement officers, and helped train Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (S.A.N.E.s) at the David Sullivan Law Enforcement Academy.
She will teach Introduction to Lawyering.

Nina Farnia, Assistant Professor of Law

Farnia joined Albany Law School as an Assistant Professor of Law on July 1. Previously, she was a lecturer in the University of California Davis School of Law.

As a civil rights litigator, Farnia was on the legal teams for two cases that reached the Supreme Court, including Dukes v. Wal-Mart and Fazaga v. FBI.

She also has an extensive scholarly record, with articles forthcoming in Stanford Law Review, St. John's Law Review, Middle East Critique, and others.

She has an A.B. in Political Science from the University of Chicago, a M.A. in Urban Planning from the UCLA School of Public Affairs and received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, and a Ph.D. in history from University of California-Davis.

Lianne Pinchuk, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law

Professor Pinchuk began her career as a litigation associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York. She worked in the products liability and mass torts practice group and the food law sub-group. She advised multiple corporate clients concerning the litigation risks associated with proposed corporate transactions.

She then worked as counsel at a small firm in Albany, where she participated in all aspects of commercial litigation. She litigated cases concerning real estate disputes, bankruptcy (creditor) claims, employment disputes, tax claims, breaches of contract and other commercial conflicts.

Following 10 years of law firm work, she was a staff attorney for the Albany County Bar Association before serving as Albany Law School’s Interim Pro Bono Coordinator.  Professor Pinchuk has also taught tort law to paralegal students and Legal Analysis Research and Communication at a law school in Minnesota. She serves as counsel to the New York State Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance.  She is a member of the New York

State Bar Association and sits on the board of the Capital District Women’s Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in New York, in the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and in the United States Circuit Court for the Ninth Circuit.
Professor Pinchuk will teach Introduction to Lawyering and Landlord-Tenant Law.

Michael Wetmore ’14, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law

Wetmore joined Albany Law School as a Visiting Assistant Professor.  He previously was an adjunct professor.  

Prior to joining Albany Law School, Professor Wetmore was an Assistant District Attorney for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, where he worked as both a trial and appellate prosecutor. He has practiced in state and local trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and the New York Court of Appeals. Wetmore regularly is a critiquing faculty for the New York Prosecutor’s Training Institute and the New York State Bar Association’s Trial Academy where he provides feedback to newly admitted attorneys learning trial skills.

While a student at Albany Law School, Wetmore was an active competitor in the Anthony V. Cardona ’70 Moot Court Program.  He won both the Donna Jo Morse Negotiations Competition and Client Counseling Competition; the latter he has assisted coaching since 2014.  Wetmore is also the current faculty advisor to the Karen C. McGovern Senior Prize Trial Competition.

He teaches Evidence, Criminal Law, and Trial Practice.  

Previous: Rosenbloom joins faculty on permanent basis

Cheryl Packwood, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law

Professor Cheryl Packwood will join the faculty in the spring. Packwood has more than 25 years of experience in international relations and negotiation of commercial deals involving government contracts. She has served as the Overseas Representative and Director of the Washington D.C. Office of the Government of Bermuda. She currently serves as Chief Visionary and Managing Partner at WE Communications, Ltd. She earned her J.S. from Harvard Law School in 1987 and a Financial Services Compliance Certificate in 2021 and an LL.M in Banking and Finance in 2022 both from Boston University School of Law.

Packwood will teach International Law courses.