Denise Marzano-Doty - Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic

Denise Marzano-Doty is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic at Touro University Law Center.  She is a 1994 graduate of Touro Law Center, where she served as a Research Editor on the Touro Law Review.     

The Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic provides legal services at no cost to women and minority-owned businesses of 10 employees or less, in Suffolk and Nassau Counties, New York.  Areas of advice include; choosing a business entity, the Fair Labor Standards Act, worker classifications, paying oneself, drafting contracts, community economic development, inclusive business practices and employment laws.

Ms. Marzano-Doty was previously the Senior Staff Attorney for the Senior Citizens Law Program Clinic located at Touro University Law Center, from March, 2010 to June, 2024.  In this position, Ms. Marzano-Doty provided no-cost legal services including preparation of Community Medicaid and pooled trust applications, advance directives, last will and testaments and representation in landlord-tenant, town zoning violations and small claims court matters.  She taught lawyering skills and elder law issues in her weekly clinic seminar course and supervised many law students who assisted in serving approximately 1,000 seniors across Suffolk County, each year. 

Additionally, In the Senior Citizens Law Program Clinic, she worked with Family Services League to provide legal issue training for their ombudsmen who volunteer in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Suffolk County and was a regular speaker at senior citizen and caregiver groups.   She volunteered monthly for the Suffolk County Access to Justice Program at the Brentwood Library, and was a lecturer in the Touro, “Perfect for Practice” legal education program for recent graduates, as well as the TCUS symposium on Healthy Aging in the Era of COVID-19.  In addition, she taught a one-week module on Preventing Elder Abuse as part of an asynchronous Aging: Health, Law and Policy course offered by Touro University in the Fall 2023 semester. Ms. Marzano-Doty has also taught Interviewing, Negotiating and Counseling to the part-time evening class and is a member of the Touro Interdisciplinary Institute for Healthy Aging (“TIIHA”) and a former member of the Suffolk County Elder Multi-Disciplinary Team.  

Prior to her employment at Touro University Law Center, Ms. Marzano-Doty worked in private law firms and maintained her own practice. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Suffolk County Bar Association and donates her time to several community-based organizations.