S. Todd Brown named interim law school dean

UB law professor S. Todd Brown has been named interim dean of the School of Law.

The announcement, made Friday by A. Scott Weber, UB provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, is effective July 1.

Brown is a professor, the William J. Magavern Faculty Scholar, and vice dean for academic affairs at the law school.

He is an expert on bankruptcy trusts, chapter 11, complex litigation and mass torts. His scholarship has been cited in a variety of state and federal opinions, and he has testified concerning these issues before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, state legislatures, the American Bar Association task force on asbestos and bankruptcy trusts, and the American Bankruptcy Institute's Commission to Reform Chapter 11.

Prior to joining UB in 2009, Brown was the managing partner of a small business, an attorney with WilmerHale in Washington, D.C. He also worked at the law firm Jones Day in its Washington and Cleveland offices, and served as a Freedman Fellow at Temple University. He received his JD from Columbia University and an LLM from Temple University.

Professor Brown succeeds Dean Aviva Abramovsky, who is returning to her faculty role as a professor of law.

“We are grateful to Professor Brown for his leadership and service during this transitional period, during which time I will launch a national search for the next dean of the School of Law,” Weber said in his memo to the campus on Friday.