MEET YOUR NEWLY ELECTED BAR LEADERS 10 | July/August 2023 | BAEC Bulletin
VICE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENT ELECT
Lauren E. Breen Executive Director, Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
Lauren Breen is the Executive Director of Neighborhood Legal Services, WNY’s largest free civil legal services agency, where she initiated medical-legal partnership programs with Roswell, Evergreen Health and Catholic Health Systems and replicated the California-based Justice Bus program to serve low-income communities throughout WNY. In 2016, Lauren returned to Neighborhood Legal Services after teaching for nearly 24 years at the University at Buffalo School of Law as a clinical professor and where she most recently had directed UB Law’s New York City Program in Finance & Law. Before joining the UB Law School faculty, Lauren practiced commercial litigation as an associate with Hiscock & Barclay and worked as a public benefits litigator at Neighborhood Legal Services. Her other professional experience includes Western New York Law Center Supervising Attorney; Massachusetts Avenue Project Interim Executive Director; and Daemen College Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement Executive Director. Lauren serves on the UB School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors and the NYSBA President’s Committee on Access to Justice. She is an officer and co-founder of the NYS-based Legal Services Access Alliance. Lauren served on the 8th Judicial District Attorney Grievance Committee from 2017-2023, chairing the Committee from 2021-2023. She is a member of the Minority Bar Association/ BAEC/UB Law-sponsored Empire State Legal Diversity Career Fair Planning Committee and was honored to serve on the BAEC Board of Directors from 2018- 2021. Lauren has served on numerous nonprofit boards and advisory groups, including the Massachusetts Avenue Project; New Yorkers for Responsible Lending; Erie County Child Care Resource Center; C.A.S.H. Buffalo; Precious Jewels Day Care Center; ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law Legal Educators’ Practice Division; and Neighborhood Legal Services. She also was part of the team that created the Buffalo Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office (CLARO), a WNY Law Center-sponsored pro se free legal clinic. Originating through Fordham Law School’s Feerick Center for Social Justice, New York CLARO programs provide limited legal advice to unrepresented consumer debtor-defendants. Lauren has an A.B. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law, where she received the Birzon Prize in Clinical Legal Studies. In 2022, the UB Law School Law Review recognized Lauren for community contributions over her career. She is a recipient of the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County ‘One Person Can Make a Difference’ award for her work in creating a local free tax preparation network and the ‘Women Builders of Communities & Dreams’ award from the St. Philip’s Community Center. She is an inaugural member of the DC-based National Women’s Law Center Progressive Leadership Advocacy Network. Under Lauren’s leadership, the UB Law Community Economic Development Clinic received awards from the Internal Revenue Service, Child Care Research Center and the Buffalo Chapter of the American Association for University Women Educational Foundation.
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