Center Editorial Board, 2021-2022

Director
Vincent Martin Bonventre

Editor-in-Chief

Olivia Harvey is a third-year student at Albany Law School. Before law school, Olivia earned her bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, where she majored in government and minored in public policy.

Olivia previously interned for a U.S. Senator in Albany and served as a volunteer intern for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Albany as well. At Albany Law, Olivia is involved with the Black Law Students Association, is a Government Law Center fellow, and serves as a student representative on Albany Law’s faculty diversity committee. Olivia also participated in the 2020 Domenick L. Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Competition. Olivia has worked as an intern in the Schenectady District Attorney’s Office since summer 2020 and plans to continue there through the upcoming academic year.

This academic year she is a teaching assistant for Professor Bonventre's Constitutional Law II and Criminal Law courses. She is also looking forward to participating in the Immigration Law Clinic.

Upon graduation, she will will working in the office of the District Attorney of New York.

Executive Editor

Hailey Smith is a third-year student at Albany Law School. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a Litigation Clerk at a law firm in Southern California.

Hailey graduated from the University of California, Berkeley where she double majored in Political Science and Legal Studies. She has held multiple political internships, including interning for her local Congressman in California.

At Albany Law, Hailey is the Executive President of the Student Bar Association and the Executive Editor for State Constitutional Commentary for the Albany Law Review. She is also involved in Business Law Society, Federalist Society, and the American Constitutional Society.

Hailey participated in the Community and Economic Development Clinic at the Justice Center last fall and worked as a law clerk at an insurance defense firm in Irvine, California this past summer.

Executive Editor

Jenna M. DiBenedetto is a third-year student at Albany Law School. Before law school, Jenna earned her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University, where she majored in Environmental Studies and Anthropology while on a Pre-Law track. Additionally, Jenna worked as a Legal Assistant in Energy Law and Litigation before beginning law school.

Jenna has previously interned with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection in their Legal Bureau, the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office, and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. There, she wrote three Appellate Briefs to the Third Department, Appellate Division. As a second-year student, Jenna participated in the 2020 Domenick L. Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Competition in which she and her partner received an award for their brief, she was a finalist in the 2021 Donna Jo Morse Negotiations Competition, and she was a member of the 2021 American Association for Justice Student Trial Advocacy Competition team.

This academic year she is the Competition Chair for the Domenick L. Gabrielli Appellate Advocacy Competition and is participating in a Field Placement with the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of New York.

Executive Editor

Patricia Whelan is a current 2L at Albany Law School. Prior to attending Albany Law, she graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2020, where she majored in Criminology and minored in Sociology.

At Albany Law, Patricia is a member of the Albany Law Review, the Chief Justice of the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, and the ABA At-Large Senator for the Student Bar Association. 

She has interned for the Third Judicial District Town and Village Courts Unit and served as the Law Student Liaison for the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law from 2020-2021.

Patricia is now a Law Clerk at Pierro, Connor & Strauss, LLC.

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For previous years' staffs, click HERE.