By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

University at Buffalo Law School alumni Ross Cellino Jr. and Steven Barnes, shareholders in the personal-injury firm Cellino & Barnes PC, have given a $1 million unrestricted gift to their alma mater.

Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumni and communications, said the gift matches the largest single donation in the history of the law school, the $1 million given in 2002 by Francis Letro, who graduated from UB Law in 1979 and went on to found a Buffalo personal-injury firm.

In a release announcing the gift, University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makau Mutua called it "an extraordinary act of philanthropy" and "a wonderful down payment on our vision of academic excellence and our bold aspirations for the future."

Mutua said he plans to invest the funds in UB Law's students. He said the money will go toward scholarships, making improvements in instructional technologies and upgrading services.

Barnes, who co-founded Cellino & Barnes with Cellino, said the two felt they owed a debt of gratitude to the school where they got their start.

"Both Ross and I are graduates of the law school, and we've come to know many of the professors and administrators very well," he said. "Makau Matua is just an outstanding individual, and he has a vision that we haven't seen at the school yet."

Barnes said the decision to make the gift an unrestricted donation reflects the confidence they have in the administrators at the university to utilize the money effectively.

"We didn't feel as though we are in a position to dictate how the money was spent," he said. "We have a lot of confidence in Makau's vision and we have had long discussions about where he wants to take the school, and we're on the same page."

The school has announced plans to name its main conference center, located in O'Brian Hall, The Cellino and Barnes Conference Center. It named an on-campus courtroom after Letro following his million-dollar gift in 2002.

"Both Ross and I come from very humble beginnings and kind of worked our way up from the bottom," Barnes said. "We started out as just the two of us. Now the practice is a lucrative practice, and I'm just glad we were able to help at a time that I think is very critical to the law school."

Cellino serves on the UB Law Alumni Association's board of directors. He is a 1982 graduate of the law school, and Barnes graduated the following year.