天美传媒

Ava Ayers is an assistant professor of law, and a past Director of the Government Law Center, at Albany Law School.
Before teaching, Ayers worked for nine years in the office of the New York Attorney General, where she was a Senior Assistant Solicitor General. She served both as a supervisor and as lead counsel in various high-profile cases involving immigration law, states’ rights, constitutional rights, environmental law, and other issues. Ayers graduated first in her class from Georgetown Law in 2005. She then clerked for the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and for the Honorable Gerard Lynch on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ayers is the author of articles on immigration law, federalism, legal ethics, and other subjects, as well as the book A Student’s Guide to Law School, published by the University of Chicago Press. Before her gender transition in 2020, she was known as Andrew Ayers.

Professor Brescia combines his experience as a public interest attorney in New York City with his scholarly interests to address economic and social inequality, the legal and policy implications of financial crises, how innovative legal and regulatory approaches can improve economic and community development efforts, and the need to expand access to justice for people of low and moderate income. He is the author of “The Future of Change: How Technology Shapes Social Revolutions” (Cornell University Press, 2020), which examines the intersection of technology and social movements, from the American Revolution, to the present day. He is also the co-editor of two books: Crisis Lawyering: Effective Legal Advocacy in Emergency Situations” (New York University Press, 2021); and “How Cities Will Save the World: Urban Innovation in the Face of Population Flows, Climate Change, and Economic Inequality (Routledge 2016). Before coming to Albany Law, he was the Associate Director of the Urban Justice Center in New York, N.Y., where he coordinated legal representation for community-based institutions in areas such as housing, economic justice, workers' rights, civil rights and environmental justice. He also served as an adjunct professor at New York Law School from 1997 through 2006. Prior to his work at the Urban Justice Center, he was a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance and the Legal Aid Society of New York, where he was a recipient of a Skadden Fellowship after graduation from law school. Professor Brescia also served as Law Clerk to the pathbreaking Civil Rights attorney-turned-federal judge, the Honorable Constance Baker Motley, Senior U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York. While a student Yale Law School, Professor Brescia was co-recipient of the Charles Albom Prize for Appellate Advocacy; was a student director of several clinics, including the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Homelessness Clinic; and was Visiting Lecturer in Yale College. Professor Brescia is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Patrick M. Connors is a Professor of Law at Albany Law School where he teaches New York Practice and Legal Ethics. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law where he taught Professional Responsibility from 1991 to 1999.

He received his B.A. degree from Georgetown University and his J.D. degree from St. John鈥檚 Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review and research assistant to Professor David D. Siegel.

Upon graduation from St. John鈥檚 in 1988, Professor Connors served as a personal law clerk to Judge Richard D. Simons of the New York Court of Appeals until 1991. From 1991 until May of 2000 he was an associate and then member of the litigation department at Hancock & Estabrook, LLP, in Syracuse, New York.

In January 2013, Professor Connors became the author for the NEW YORK PRACTICE treatise, which is now in its sixth edition. In addition, he is the author of the McKinney鈥檚 Practice Commentaries for CPLR Article 22, Stay, Motions, Orders and Mandates, Article 23, Subpoenas, Oaths and Affirmations, Article 30, Remedies and Pleading, and Article 31, Disclosure. He also authors the Practice Commentaries for the New York Rules of Professional Conduct (available on Westlaw; in progress) and several articles in the Surrogate鈥檚 Court Procedure Act. He is also the author of the New York Practice column and the annual Court of Appeals Roundup on New York Civil Practice, which are published in the New York Law Journal. From 1992 through 2003, he was a Reporter for the Committee on New York Pattern Jury Instructions (鈥淧JI鈥�), the panel of New York State Supreme Court Justices that drafts and oversees the frequent revisions of the standard jury charges in civil cases. His publications have been cited in over 130 reported cases.

He is a member of the New York State Bar Association鈥檚 Committee on Professional Ethics. He served on the New York State Attorney Grievance Committee for the Fifth Judicial District from 1997 until 2000. He was the Reporter for the New York State Bar Association's Special Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct, which published a report recommending substantial amendments to New York鈥檚 Code of Judicial Conduct. He was also the Reporter for the New York State Bar Association's Task Force on Non-lawyer Ownership of Law Firms. He is a member of the Office of Court Administration鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Civil Practice and served as a member of the New York State Bar Association鈥檚 CPLR Committee from 2003 through 2007.

Professor Connors is a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education seminars on recent developments in New York Practice, professional ethics and legal malpractice. He has also served as an expert witness and consultant on issues pertaining to attorney ethics, legal malpractice, and civil procedure.

In the Fall of 2015, Professor Connors was a Visiting Scholar in Residence at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center.