Research

The Baldy Center advances interdisciplinary research on law, legal institutions, and social policy. We award research grants to faculty members and support conferences and workshops focused on critical issues. Our Baldy Center postdoctoral fellows and senior fellows intensively engage in their research during funded residencies at The Baldy Center. Our international network of scholars and globally accessible working paper series keep us connected as we catalyze new work in the complex mosaic of law and social policy research.

We award research fellowships in interdisciplinary legal studies

We welcome your comments.

The Baldy Center Grants
11/14/24
The Baldy Center fosters and supports scholars and UB faculty whose work bridges disciplines and contributes to the great and growing mosaic of law and society scholarship. Topics include human rights, courts, environmental governance, legal geography, international trade, intellectual property, social inequality, administrative regulation, state and urban government, the legal profession, family, religion, and cultural understandings of law.
Grant Recipients
5/16/24
The Baldy Center proudly supports conferences, workshops and research projects that advance our understanding of law, legal institutions, and social policy. This page provides a listing of recent grant awards, as well as those awarded since 2006.
Fellowship Recipients
7/13/23
Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper Series
8/23/24
The Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper Series publishes research in progress addressing important issues of law and social policy, and provides an international, interdisciplinary audience for the faculty and visiting scholars. Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper Series goes back to 2004.
Global Research Network
11/14/24
The Baldy Center is just one node in an international network of organizations that advance interdisciplinary research on law, legal institutions and social policy. This page contains a list of links (subject to change) to the websites maintained by members of the global network.
Publication Spotlight
8/30/24
This page shows a list of selected publications by our faculty authors. The representative listing is updated occasionally as forthcoming books and articles are published.
Socio-Legal Blogs
8/30/24
Blog forums provide important insights and opportunities for discussion regarding socio-legal research. On this page is a short list of forums and resources of interest to the extended Baldy Center community.

THE BALDY CENTER PODCAST

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Paul Linden-Retek discusses postnational constitutionalism
5/24/24
In Episode 42 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Paul Linden-Retek discusses his book, Postnational Constitutionalism: Europe and the Time of Law (OUP: 2023). He shares insight on why he wrote the book, and addresses questions concerning global justice, the open-ended nature of identity, and the humanistic qualities of law, leading to a reconsideration of the grounds of an international legal order. Linden-Retek frames refugee law and policy within the EU as humanitarian issues at the center of his research.
Mihreteab Taye discusses the institutional design of Africa's court systems
1/30/24
In Episode 38 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Mihreteab Taye provides insight into the nuanced dynamics of state behavior in Africa's courts. He finds that the African human rights system does not automatically grant individuals the right to bring cases before the African courts unless states make a declaration allowing direct individual access to the court. Whereas in the East African Court of Justice, individuals have direct access to the Court. What matters in each court is the institutional design, which can either facilitate or inhibit the withdrawal of individual access to the courts by African states.
Rebecca R. French and Mark A. Nathan discuss Buddhism and Law
2/19/24
In Episode 39 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Rebecca R. French and Mark A. Nathan discuss Buddhism and Law in the context of past, present, and future plans for collaborative research among international scholars. Cultivated over decades, this research is seen in the depth and scope of related publications, and, in the remarkable trajectory of the scholarly journal, Buddhism, Law & Society, founded at UB School of Law, and continuing at Rutgers University.
Nellie Drew and 3L students discuss model laws and initiatives to safeguard athletes
12/7/23
In Episode 36 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Helen “Nellie” Drew, Professor of Sports Law, and her 3L students: Maddie Drechsel, Matt Pickard and Juliette Miranda discuss the importance of having pre-established action plans for professional sports injuries, as well as the need for education on how to prevent injuries in youth sports. From model laws to collaborative projects, we discuss the ins and outs of sports injury law and practice.
Kate Nelischer, “Privately-directed participatory planning: Examining Toronto’s Quayside smart city”
5/29/24
In Episode 43 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Kate Nelischer talks about her paper, “Privately-directed participatory planning: Examining Toronto’s Quayside smart city”. This paper discusses a past “smart city” urban development project, the importance of public participation in urban planning policy, and the implications it may have on local legislation.
Athena Mutua discusses the Critical (Legal) Collective
11/14/23
In Episode 35 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Professor of Law Athena Mutua discusses the importance of protecting critical thinking inside, and outside of, the university setting. She describes its intersection with social justice issues surrounding race, sex, gender, class, and more. Professor Mutua talks about the Critical (Legal) Collective and how the diverse group of scholars has come together to work towards generating real social change.
Theophilus Coleman discusses Ghana's proposed legislation and its impact on human rights
4/30/24
Theophilus Edwin Coleman discusses Ghana’s proposed anti-LGBTQ+ Bill and its effect on academic freedom. Coleman outlines the basic structure of the bill, the relationship between church and state within Ghana, and the possible future implications for this bill, if it were to be passed.
Greta LaFleur discusses “‘How Sex Became Good…”
1/9/24
In Episode 37 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Greta LaFleur discusses the draft monograph, “‘How Sex Became Good: The Feminist Movements and Racial Politics that Made Modern Sexuality.” LaFleur, recipient of The Baldy Center Podcast Mid-Career Fellowship (2023-24), is associate professor of American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University.
Melissa Crouch discusses how Myanmar's military acts as a constitutional actor
3/25/24
In Episode 40 of The Baldy Center Podcast, Melissa Crouch, The Baldy Center Fellow 2024, discusses the role of courts in military regimes and the challenges of studying the military as a constitutional actor. She recently published the paper, “Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar.”

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THE BALDY CENTER BLOG

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Matthew Dimick: Predistribution or Redistribution?
1/19/24
Although it’s been fifteen years since the Great Recession, the social, political, and economic problems it revealed are still very much with us. Historically astronomical levels of income inequality are fracturing the American polity. Matthew Dimick's forthcoming book, The Law and Economics of Income Inequality, enters into debates about how to address these problems.
CLC: The Right to Learn, The Right to Teach, The Right to Thrive
11/6/23
On November 10-12, 2023, the Critical (Legal) Collective (CLC) will host its inaugural conference, “Organizing for Democracy and Liberation: The Right to Learn, The Right to Teach and The Right to Thrive,” at Duke University Law School. Hosted by Duke’s Center on Law, Race & Policy, CLC was formed in August 2021 by a group of scholars and activists affiliated with various strands of critical legal theory. Read The Baldy Center Blog.
Deja Graham: Free Speech — A Sword That Needs A Shield
3/15/24
Free speech is a foundational principle of our democracy and something we have often failed to fully appreciate. We have lived in a very politically charged space for what seems like an eternity, which was only exacerbated by the last presidency. In recent years, there has been a reluctance to exercise free speech due to fear of retaliation through doxing, loss of job, and overall alienation from peers. My participation in the Critical (Legal) Collective Inaugural Convening, and, the Celebration of Free Speech on UB’s North Campus has given me a deep-rooted appreciation for free speech and a framework to continue to take steps to protect it.
Alan W. Clarke: Prosecuting Putin for the Crime of Aggressive War
11/6/23
Not since Admiral Dönitz’s prosecution at Nuremberg in 1945 has an international court prosecuted a head of state for a criminal war of aggression. While sitting heads of state have faced prosecution for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, none have confronted charges involving “the greatest menace of our times - aggressive war.” It alone focuses solely on a nation’s leadership, and only it encompasses all other international atrocity crimes within its moral arc. Any prosecution of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked, brutal and illegal attack on Ukraine navigates unknown terrain. Read The Baldy Center Blog.