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Christine P. Bartholomew
Professor of Law
University at Buffalo School of Law
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
Class actions, antitrust law, consumer protection, clergy abuse, clergy privilege
Christine P. Bartholomew is an expert on class actions, evidence and antitrust law.
She can speak to the media about these and related topics, including price-fixing, monopolies, unfair competition, civil procedure and consumer protection issues. Prior to joining UB, she practiced in antitrust and consumer protection law, serving as executive or lead counsel in national, multimillion-dollar suits.
Bartholomew is also an expert on clergy privilege (which gives confidentiality to communications with priests and other clergy members), and the role that this privilege has played in sexual abuse in Catholic and other churches.
In a review of hundreds of state-level cases on clergy privilege, Bartholomew found that both courts and clergy have lost faith in the privilege. Her analysis also found that while priests frequently divulged information about serious crimes such as robberies or homicides, they invoked clergy privilege to protect information about sexual abuse accusations against fellow priests.
CONTACT:
Christine P. Bartholomew, JD
Professor of Law
University at Buffalo School of Law