Events :: Touro Law Center

Auction Honors Nine Public Interest Attorneys, Raises Nearly $65,000 for Public Interest Fellowships

Central Islip, NY – Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center hosted its 14th Annual Goods & Services auction to benefit Summer Public Interest Law Fellowships for Touro students. This year, the auction raised nearly $65,000, twenty percent more than has ever been raised in the past. All auction proceeds will be awarded to students who are dedicated to helping others. Nine local attorneys were also recognized as Public Interest Attorneys of the Year for their commitment to public interest and pro bono work.

“Touro Law has always demonstrated a commitment to public service,” said Professor Lewis Silverman, Co-Chair of the Auction Committee. “The auction is a wonderful night of both fundraising for students and celebration for those members of our community dedicated to public service. It is an honor to be a part of such a worthwhile event.”

Touro Law Center’s Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program provides fellowships on a competitive basis for those students who spend their summers in non-profit organizations and government agencies providing representation to those who are in critical need of help. Last year, 14 students were awarded fellowships for their work as a result of the auction.

The auction also celebrates members of the local legal community who are reaching out to those in need. This year, nine attorneys were honored as public interest attorneys of the year. This portion of the event is chaired by Lois Carter Schlissel, Managing Partner with Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C. These attorneys were nominated by their own firm or outside agencies to receive the award based on their commitment to public interest and pro bono work. This year’s honorees were:

Linda S. Agnew,
Linda S. Agnew
Ms. Agnew is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Long Island Chapter (“NAWBO”) where she sits on the Executive Board, presently holding the office of Secretary. NAWBO is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the public interest through advancing the growth of women-owned businesses within Nassau and Suffolk County. In this regard, the organization holds monthly programs for its membership designed to assist women in the operation and growth of their companies which range anywhere from sole proprietorships to those with many employees. Ms. Agnew also served on the group’s committee for its annual “Public Affairs Day,” which tackles current and prospective legislative issues which directly affect women-owned businesses. Ms. Agnew has also participated in a mentoring workshop for high school students. In 2007, Ms. Agnew also volunteered her time to the New York State Bar Association by co-authoring the updated Chapter 17 entitled “Adverse Possession” of the Real Estate Titles treatise published by the Bar Association. Ms. Agnew also volunteers in her church’s Sunday school program. Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman LLP
Valerie M. Cartright ’03,
Valerie M. Cartright
Valerie M. Cartright, an attorney with the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington in Hempstead since April 2007, received her undergraduate degree from West Virginia University, and earned her law degree from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in 2003, with honors. She attended the Paris Institute on International and Comparative Law in 2002. She is admitted in New York, New Jersey, Florida and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Ms. Cartright concentrates her practice in civil rights law, employment discrimination, wrongful termination and criminal law. She previously worked with the Law Offices of J. Stewart Moore, P.C. and L’Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini, L.L.P.

Ms. Cartright served as research assistant for ERASE Racism, and as a judicial clerk for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of NY, both on Long Island.

Ms. Cartright is also a member of the Association of Black Women Attorneys, American Bar Association, National Bar Association, and Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association. She was named chair of the New York State Bar Association’s 3,000-member Young Lawyers Section in 2007 and serves as vice-chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association, chair of the Board of Directors of Project Hope-The New Direction, and is a board member of ERASE Racism.

Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington
Donnalynn Darling,
Donnalynn Darling
Donnalynn Darling is a partner and chair of the Special Education, Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice law practices at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C.

Ms. Darling’s professional life has been driven by her advocacy for children. In 1978, upon graduation from law school, she began her career as an Assistant District Attorney under Bronx D.A. Mario Merola, where she was in charge of prosecuting sex crimes involving children. She was responsible for the innovative approach of utilizing anatomically correct cloth dolls for non-verbal children to allow them to demonstrate the abuse perpetrated upon them before the grand jury and at trial. Ms. Darling worked personally with these young victims and their devastating tales of abuse remain with her today as she advocates for children in the special education and personal injury arenas.

In response to the increasing needs of parents of learning disabled children, Donna established the Special Education practice at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein to assist in the securing of timely education evaluations, services and accommodations for children in public and private schools under federal and state regulations. Believing that parents are, in many cases, the best advocates for their children, Donna frequently volunteers her time speaking and meeting with parents and advocacy groups, educating them on their rights and those of their special-needs children. In addition, Donna has offered her services pro bono for those who have been unable to pay, and frequently provides consultations and representation of children in Committee on Special Education meetings before school districts on a pro bono basis.

Ms. Darling serves as counsel and is a board member of TECA, Long Island’s Twice Exceptional Children’s Advocacy group. She also has served on the Board of Directors of Variety Child Learning Center, a center-based special education pre-school. She continues to provide free legal counsel to this not-for-profit school. Ms. Darling has been appointed by Nassau County Department of Health Commissioner David M. Ackman, M.D., as a member of the County’s Local Early Intervention Coordinating Council whose purpose it is to advise the County regarding the planning, delivery and evolution of services to special needs children from birth to age three.

Ms. Darling is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association, co-chair and founding member of the Committee of Attorneys and Accountants, and a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association and is a frequent lecturer on trial evidence, special education law and other topics.

Donna has been honored by the Coalition Against Child Abuse & Neglect as a recipient of the "Voice for All Children Award" for her outstanding contribution toward child protection and child abuse prevention. She has also received LIBN's Top 50 Professional Women Award. She serves as an attorney coach each year for the New York State Bar Association Mock Trial Competition.

Ms. Darling graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1975 from State University of New York at Stony Brook and received her Juris Doctor from SUNY at Buffalo in 1978. Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C.
Jeffrey D. Forchelli,
Jeffrey D. Forchelli
Jeffrey D. Forchelli’s commitment to his community and the greater good has been unwavering for over 30 years. From providing pro-bono legal counsel to individuals and organizations to endowing scholarships that help further the education of students in need to making thousands of contributions to charitable organizations in his community, he truly embodies the “Outstanding Public Interest Attorney of the Year” - no doubt, not for one year, but for his lifetime of service.

Mr. Forchelli’s public interest work includes service to Congregation Tifereth Israel in Glen Cove, the oldest continuously operating Jewish house of worship on Long Island. He also assists the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, the oldest protestant organization in North America and home of the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, one of the most influential religious figures of the 20th Century.

He is a Trustee of Brooklyn Law School, a Trustee of Wagner College, a past President of the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District and a former Trustee of Nassau Community College.

Mr. Forchelli established a scholarship fund at Hofstra University School of Law providing financial assistance to a first year student. He requested only one other criteria of the scholarship applicant beyond need, that the applicant be civic-minded, demonstrating an obligation to the larger community.

He endowed two chairs at Brooklyn Law School and in 2005, celebrated the opening of the school’s Jeffrey D. Forchelli Conference Center. In addition, he received the National Alumni Association Award for “Excellence in Business” from Wagner College.

As the former President of Community Mainstreaming Associates, an organization that owns and operates group homes for adults with developmental disabilities, Mr. Forchelli worked hard to champion the plight of the developmentally disabled and promote their ability to live independently. He has been honored by receiving the organization’s "Humanitarian of the Year" award.

He is a member of the New York State and Nassau County Bar Associations and a Fellow of The New York Bar Foundation.

Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn, LLP
Victor Fusco,
Victor Fusco
Victor Fusco, Esq., is one of the founding members of Fusco, Brandenstein & Rada, P.C., established in 1978. Mr. Fusco received his undergraduate degree from Hofstra University in 1972, and his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1975.

Mr. Fusco is a frequent lecturer in the areas of Social Security Disability, Workers’ Compensation and Media Relations and Communications. He has lectured for such institutions as the New York State Bar Association; The Practicing Law Institute; the New York Injured Workers’ Bar Association; the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives; the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations; The Labor-Management Center, National Business Institute, Sterling Educational Services, as well as various unions and community organizations. His columns appear in numerous union newsletters and local newspapers.

He is the founding president of the New York Social Security Bar Association; a founding member of the Social Security Section of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and former board member and past-president of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives. A long time advocate for worker health and safety, he is the past-president of the Greater New York Safety Council. He is active in the Suffolk County Bar Association and serves on the Judicial Screening Committee.

Since March of 1999, he has been the host of “Labor Lines” a program about working men and women and the organizations that represent them, heard twice weekly on WGBB 1240 AM radio, Saturday at 6:30 PM and Thursday at 7:00 PM (webcast on www.am1240wgbb.com). He has hosted several other community based radio programs.

He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Long Island Occupational and Environmental Health Center, the Long Island World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, the Lupus Alliance – Long Island/Queens Affiliate and the Labor-Management Center, Inc. He is a member and former director of the Foundation for Sight and Sound, and the emcee of their annual "Blind Wine Gala." He served as counsel to the Long Island Crisis Center. He is now counsel to the Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, Inc., an organization advocating for the interests of disaster and recovery workers from Ground Zero and other disasters. He serves on the Workers’ Rights Board of Jobs with Justice Long Island, and was honored by that organization in August 2006. He serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals in Lake Grove, NY; the Suffolk County Charter Revision Commission and a pro-bono arbitrator in the Eastern District of New York.

He has received awards from the Long Island Federation of Labor, the Lupus Alliance, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the A.M.T. Children of Hope Foundation, The March of Dimes Salute to Labor, Congressman Steve Israel, the New York State Assembly, the Suffolk County Corrections Officers’ Association, CSEA Local 880, the County of Nassau, the Town of Oyster Bay, the Town of Hempstead, the Nassau County Police Department and the County of Suffolk.

Fusco, Brandenstein & Rada, P.C.
Kenneth M. Kern,
Kenneth M. Kern
Kenneth M. Kern is an associate attorney in the Melville based elder law firm, Genser Dubow Genser & Cona. Mr. Kern handles a wide range of complex matters affecting the senior community concentrating his practice in the areas of Medicaid planning, healthcare facility representation, guardianships, estate administration and estate litigation.

Mr. Kern is a New York State Certified Guardian, Guardian ad Litem, Court Evaluator and counsel to incapacitated persons. Currently, he acts as a guardian for a woman in her late 80s afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

Mr. Kern practices before the Supreme, District, Civil, and Surrogate’s Courts of Suffolk County, Nassau County and the five boroughs of the City of New York. He is a member of the Health Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and a member of the Nassau and Suffolk County Bar Associations.

Mr. Kern has dedicated over 10 years of his life toward enhancing the lives of the mentally ill and physically disabled. He first began working with disabled adults in 1997 at Park House Inc, a community residence located in Smithtown, New York. Mr. Kern has also worked at Concern for Independent Living, one of Long Island’s largest housing facilities providing low income and disabled adults greater independence, housing stability, and increased pride in their accomplishments.

Mr. Kern provides pro-bono legal services to those with limited access to the legal system. Currently, he is providing services to a single mother with a disabled child, who as a result of a DHT vaccine was rendered mentally retarded and autistic.

Mr. Kern was recently profiled in Suffolk Lawyer’s Elder Law edition in an article titled ‘Good Things Lawyers Do: Reaching Out to the Needy.’ He has authored numerous articles, including To Appear or Not to Appear: Protecting Your Facilities Rights in a Guardianship Proceeding.

According to Mr. Kern, his role as an elder law attorney provides him with the opportunity to help clients through some of the most difficult periods of their lives such as admitting a loved one to a nursing home or appointing a guardian for a family member who is no longer able to make decisions for themselves.

Mr. Kern graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. He earned his Juris Doctor Degree with Honors in 2005 in the field of intellectual property from Hofstra University School of Law where he was a merit scholar. Mr. Kern was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in 2006.

Genser, Dubow, Genser & Cona, LLP
Jim Montes,
Jim Montes
Throughout his life Jim Montes has participated in various community projects and organizations. This includes serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Long Island, as a member of United Way’s Youth and Family Counseling Allocations & Admissions Panel, and as a member Newsday’s “Everyday Hero” series committee. In 1999, Mr. Montes was appointed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin to the IRS Citizen Advocacy Panel, where he served for two years as chairman. He was honored by Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Hispanic Advisory Board in 2001 for his leadership and commitment to improving the quality of life for the Hispanic community in Suffolk County. For several years Mr. Montes was involved with the Hispanic Day Parade in Suffolk County, serving as chair in 1996. This involvement has continued while practicing law through his participation as a member of Nixon Peabody’s firm-wide Pro-bono Committee and as Chair of the firm’s Hispanic Affinity Network.

Mr. Montes concentrates his practice of law in public and project finance. He has served as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, and bank counsel throughout the country and in Puerto Rico for various tax-exempt and taxable financings for stadiums and arenas, transportation, public power, and water and sewer authorities. Prior to beginning his career in law, Mr. Montes spent twenty years in the banking industry, where he successfully managed several hundred million dollars in loan commitments. His experience includes thirteen years as a commercial lender, rising through several banks and finishing his banking career, prior to entering the practice of law, by managing a commercial lending office on Long Island where he was responsible for all corporate lending in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Mr. Montes received his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from New York University in 1987 and his J.D. degree from Fordham University School of Law in 2000. Mr. Montes is admitted to practice in New York State. Nixon Peabody LLP
James Rose ’96,
James Rose
Since 1998, James A. Rose has practiced law at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP. As a partner in the Litigation Practice Group, he represents clients in various matters including banking, securities, employment, business, real estate, commercial, personal injury and medical/dental malpractice. Mr. Rose also acts as counsel to many companies in the tri-state area regarding contract negotiations, business issues and disputes.Having litigated cases in both federal and state courts, he has significant trial and appellate experience.

After graduating from Hofstra University in 1993, he went on to earn his law degree from Touro Law Center in 1996. A member of the Law Review from 1995-96, Mr. Rose was the contributing author of “New York State Constitutional Decisions: 1994 Compilation” and “A Comparison and Analysis of the Federal Rules of Evidence and New York Evidentiary Law.”

Mr. Rose serves on the Smithtown School District’s Industry Advisory Board and participates as a mentor in several different programs, including the LIKE (“Lawyers Involved in Kids’ Education”) program and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island. He is a member of the Long Island Elite, a group of young professionals who give back to their community. He is also a member of New Ground, a not-for-profit dedicated to meeting the needs of the homeless, and a member of the Smithtown School Industry Advisory Board. He has served on the committee for Long Island Cares for their 16th Annual Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award given to Howard Stein and has stayed involved with Touro Law Center, attending many of its annual events.

A member of the New York State Trial Lawyers and Nassau County Bar Associations, Mr. Rose is admitted to practice in the State of New York, as well as the United States District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts.

Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP
Jeffrey P. Rust,
Jeffrey P. Rust
Jeffrey P. Rust is an associate in Farrell Fritz's Corporate and Banking Department. Mr. Rust specializes in corporate matters with particular emphasis on secured lending and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Rust counsels clients in corporate governance, securities regulation and compliance; mergers and acquisitions; employment agreements; health care law; intellectual property matters; shareholder and partnership agreements; and the formation and operation of for-profit and not-for-profit entities. He has represented major international businesses in complex mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, corporate restructurings and lending transactions.

Mr. Rust is a member of the New York State and American Bar Associations. He is admitted to practice in New York. Mr. Rust performs pro-bono and/or public interest work on behalf of several Long Island and New York City-based not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Rust’s pro-bono efforts include legal advice to not-for-profit corporations as well as participation in Social Security and Disability income advocacy projects. In addition to his direct efforts, Mr. Rust actively assists his colleagues in their performance of pro-bono legal service to the community. In addition, Mr. Rust serves on the Board of Directors of the Arthritis Foundation, Long Island Chapter. Farrell Fritz, P.C.

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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center has a new 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art law campus adjacent to and working with a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. Touro’s new campus provides a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro, which has a student body of approximately 750 and an alumni base of nearly 5,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs as well as graduate law programs

April 10, 2008