SCHOOL OF LAW

Sarah M Buel

Clinical Professor

JD Harvard
BA Harvard

Sarah Buel has spent the past 32 years working with battered women, abused children, and juveniles within the legal system. Currently, Ms. Buel is a Clinical Professor at the University of Texas School of Law, having started, then co-directing their Domestic Violence Clinic. She also teaches "Domestic Violence and the Law," criminal law, and "Public Education, Civic Engagement and Policy" courses. Ms. Buel is co-founder of the University of Texas Voices Against Violence program that has developed a system of comprehensive, coordinated services for victims of sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking. She also co-founded the interdisciplinary University of Texas Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault that focuses on research, pedagogy, and direct services. She serves as the faculty supervisor for the Domestic Violence Survivor Support Network (DVSSN), a group of law and business students assisting abuse victims to achieve economic literacy and security. Professor Buel has served as Special Counsel for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, providing domestic violence training, technical, and case assistance to prosecutors throughout Texas. For six years she was a prosecutor, most of that time with the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office in Quincy, MA., helping to establish their award-winning domestic violence and juvenile programs. Previously, Ms. Buel served as a victim advocate, state policy coordinator, and legal aid paralegal.

As a domestic violence survivor, Prof. Buel has been committed to improving the court and community response to abuse victims. She was a welfare mother for a short time before working full time in the day and going to school at night for seven years to obtain her undergraduate degree in 1987. She then graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1990, where she founded the Harvard Battered Women's Advocacy Project, the Harvard Women in Prison Project, and the Harvard Children and Family Rights Project, while active in the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

Prof. Buel has written extensively on family violence issues, having published more than 32 articles and many more training manuals and diverse publications. On behalf of abuse victims, she has co-authored amicus briefs to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is actively involved in human rights projects in Cambodia, China, and Kenya addressing gender-based violence and human trafficking, and is part of the Global Women Leader’s Human Rights initiative. She is a member of the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence, Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Relief Nursery of Central Texas, the Board of Directors of Texas CASA, the Texas Health Initiative on Domestic Violence Leadership Team, and numerous other boards and commissions. She is also currently an adjunct professor at Harvard Medical School. In 1991, Ms. Buel received the Boston Bar Association's Public Service Award; and in 1992 she received both the Mass. Bar Association's Outstanding Young Lawyer's Award and the American Bar Association's Top Twenty Young Lawyer's Award. She narrated the 1992 Academy Award winning documentary "Defending Our Lives" and in 1996 was profiled by NBC as one of the five most inspiring women in America. In 1997, Ms. Buel was awarded the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Public Service Award and in 1998, she was given The University of Texas Law Fellowships Public Service Award. In 1999, Ms. Buel was given the National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA) Allied Professional Award and was awarded the 2001 American Bar Association's Fellows Award. In 2002, she received the Harvard Law School Gary Bellow Public Service Award and in 2003 she was given an Outstanding Teacher Award from Harvard Medical School, as well as being selected to take part in Leadership Texas. In 2004, she received the City of New York Outstanding Achievement Award; National Women's History Project Award; and the U.T. Law School Thurgood Marshall Society Distinguished Lawyer Award. In 2005, Professor Buel was given the Henry B. Gonzales Civil Rights Award by the Texas Civil Rights Project, and in 2007 was given both the Girl Scouts Woman of Distinction Award and the ABA Rule of Law Award for Pro Bono Service with the China Project. In 2008, Prof. Buel received the American Society of Victimology Award and the U.T. Chicano-Hispanic Law Students Spirit of Education Award, while in 2009 she was awarded the Rose Fund Sterling Rose Award for Excellence. She is most proud of her son, Jacey, who recently graduated from law school after working with high-risk, violent teens in Boston schools for five years.