Constitutional Law, criminal procedure, Death Penalty, First Amendment, Habeas Corpus, Religious Liberty, sex discriminiation, Supreme Court
My research mainly focuses on constitutional law issues, including the First Amendment and social media, same-sex marriage/divorce, criminal procedure and, most recently, the Justices themselves. I was fortunate to work with two federal judges, the Honorable Jerry Buchmeyer (a legal legend in the Dallas area) and the Honorable Jane J. Boyle. These two individuals taught me not only the importance of law but also the vital nature of justice.
Constitutional Law, criminal law, criminal procedure, Ethics, Evidence, Family Law, Human Rights, Juvenile Justice
Professor Melissa L. Breger has been teaching at the law school level for 20+ years, first at The University of Michigan Law School and then at Albany Law School since 2002. Prior to teaching, Professor Breger dedicated her career to children, women and families, with her formative years practicing in New York City in a number of capacities. She is the recipient of several teaching and service awards, both on a local level and on a national level, including the Shanara C. Gilbert Award in recognition of her excellence in teaching and contributions to the advancement of social justice from the American Association of Law Schools; the L. Hart Wright Excellence in Law Teaching Award from the University of Michigan Law School; and the 2016 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2018 Faculty Award for Excellence in Service, and 2019 Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship from Albany Law School. Professor Breger also received the Albany County Family Court Children鈥檚 Center Award 鈥渋n recognition of her outstanding and tireless work assisting children and families in need and for her dedication to ensure that law students obtain the skills necessary to provide high quality and compassionate legal services to court litigants鈥 in May 2008. Professor Breger teaches a variety of courses at Albany Law School, including Evidence, Family Law, Criminal Procedure: Investigation (4th, 5th, 6th A), Gender & the Law, Children, Juveniles & the Law (hybrid online), Domestic Violence Seminar, and Children & the Law. She was the Director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic from 2002 to 2010. Professor Breger is the co-author of NEW YORK LAW OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, a two-volume treatise published by Reuters-Thomson-West, as well as the author of numerous law review articles regarding issues of family law, gender, and justice. Her scholarly interests include the rights of children and families, gender and racial equality, procedural justice in the courtroom, juvenile justice, the increasing epidemic of child sexual trafficking, implicit bias, law and culture, family violence, and the intersections between psychology and the law.
James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence
Albany Law SchoolConstitutional Law, Contracts, criminal law, criminal procedure, First Amendment, Human Rights, International Law, Jurisprudence
Anthony Paul Farley is the James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at Albany Law School. He was the James & Mary Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law and the Andrew Jefferson Endowed Chair in Trial Advocacy at Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 2014-2015, the Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights at CUNY School of Law in 2006, and a tenured professor at Boston College Law School, where he taught for 16 years. Prior to entering academia, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Prior to serving as a federal prosecutor, Farley practiced law as a Corporate/Securities Associate with Shearman & Sterling in NYC. Professor Farley's work has appeared in chapter form in Bandung Global History and International Law: Critical Pasts and Pending Futures (Eslava et al. eds., Cambridge University Press: forthcoming); Hip Hop and the Law (Bridgewater et al. eds., Carolina Academic Press: 2015); After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina (Troutt ed., The New Press: 2007); Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies & the Law (Sarat & Simon eds., Duke University Press: 2003); Crossroads, Directions & a New Critical Race Theory (Valdes et al. eds., Temple University Press: 2002); Black Men on Race, Gender & Sexuality (Carbado ed., NYU Press: 1999); and Urgent Times: Policing and Rights in Inner-City Communities (Meares & Kahan eds., Beacon: 1999). His writings have appeared in numerous academic journals, including the Yale Journal of Law & Humanities, the NYU Review of Law & Social Change, the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, Law & Literature, UCLA's Chicano Latino Law Review, the Berkeley Journal of African American Law & Policy, the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, and the Columbia Journal of Race & Law. He has presented recent work at Harvard University, Yale Law School, Howard Law School, the University of Kentucky College of Law, University of Minnesota, the University of California at Davis, York University (Toronto, Canada), the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, and elsewhere. He appeared in the short film "Slavery in Effect," a dialog among scholars at Harvard University's conference The Scope of Slavery: Enduring Geographies of American Bondage in 2014. Professor Farley was nominated and elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 2017. He served a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the Minorities Section of the Association of American Law Schools. He has previously served on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT). He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia. Public Interest: Professor Farley has conducted the reading group - Changing Lives Through Literature - composed of people convicted in the Dorchester District Court. The ten-week course culminates with an in-court graduation ceremony and a reception for participants, friends, relatives, and alumni. Participants have included judges, probation officers and other court personnel, alumni, and even prosecutors. The syllabus includes authors from Frederick Douglass to Primo Levi to Dorothy Day. His efforts have been profiled in David Holmstrom, Staying Out of Jail with Books' Help: Massachusetts Lowers Recidivism by Helping Repeat Offenders Discover the Power of Literature, The Christian Science Monitor, May 30, 1995, at 13. He is a member of the Society of American Law Teachers and previously served as a member of its Board of Governors. He is a member of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and a previously served as a member of its Board of Directors. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Public Representation. He is also a member of the American Philosophical Association