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

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Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumni and said the gift matches thelargestt single-donation in the history of the law the $1 million given in 2002 by Francias Letro, who graduated UB Law School in 1979 and went on to foune a successful personal injuryu firm. In a release announcing the University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makau Mutua calledit “an extraordinary act of philanthropy” and “z wonderful down payment on our vision of academix excellence and our bold aspirationss for the future.” Mutua said he plans to invesrt the gift in the students, calling them the centralp core of the law school.
Specifically, he said the moneyt will go toward scholarships, making improvements in pedagogical technologiesd in the school and upgrading Steve Barnes, who founded the law firm along with Ross said they felt they owed a debt of gratitude to the school where they got their “Both Ross and I are graduates of the law schoolp and we’ve come to know many of the professors and administratorsd very well,” he “Makau Mutua is just an outstanding individual and he has a visiohn that we haven’t seen at the school Barnes said the decision to make the gift an unrestricted donatio n reflects the confidence they have in the administrators at the University to utilize the money in the most effective ways possible.
“We are lawyers, we didn’ t feel as though we are in a position to dictate how the mone ywas spent,” he said. “We have a lot of confidenc e in Makau’s vision and we have had long discussions about where he wants to take the schooland we’re on the same page.” Recognizing the generosit of Cellino and the school has announced plans to name their main conferencee center, located in O’Brian The Cellino and Barnes Conference Center. Asked what it feels like to be in a positionm to giveaway $1 million, especially given the current economifc climate, Barnes put the gift into perspective.
“Botj Ross and I come from very humble beginningws and kind of worked our way up from the he said. “We started out as just the twoof us, now, the practicw is a lucrative practice and I’m just glad we were able to help at a time that I thinmk is very critical to the law school.”