AveMaria Thompson - Senior Staff Attorney, Senior Citizens Law Program and Adjunct Professor of Law

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AveMaria Thompson is the Senior Staff Attorney for the Touro Senior Citizens Law Program, Adjunct Professor of Law, and Clinical Faculty. In 2025, now in its 15th year, Touro's Senior Citizens Law Program (SCLP) has become a critical safety net for Suffolk County's expanding senior population. AveMaria Thompson works with the SCLP staff and law students to provide free legal assistance for a wide variety of legal matters to over 1,000 seniors annually. She has been working in the Senior Citizens Law Program since 2017.

 

AveMaria Thompson was the Director of the Landlord Tenant Medication Clinic. In the LT Mediation Clinic, Clinic students had the opportunity to engage in both client representation and neutral, facilitative mediation. Students were trained in landlord-tenant law and given the important responsibility of representing litigants and conducting mediations in active landlord-tenant cases in Suffolk County District Court. Students learned the basics of landlord-tenant law and mediation techniques. Seminars included simulations of housing cases, negotiation, and alternative dispute resolution. This clinic provided a critically important service to litigants and judges in landlord-tenant matters. Students also developed advocacy and negotiation skills, proficiency in mediation, and knowledge of landlord-tenant law and court procedures. 

 

Ms. Thompson is also an Access to Justice Program Volunteer and a recipient of the 2019 Pro Bono Honoree Award and the 2025 Champion of Civil Justice Award for her volunteer work. She has lectured at Touro Law Center’s annual “Perfect for Practice Continuing Legal Education Program,” a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program for newly admitted attorneys on two occasions. She presented at "Elder Abuse, Aging Health, and Equity Law" at a national conference in September 2021 and has lectured on "Topics in Geriatrics" for the Touro New York School of Podiatric Medicine every year since Spring 2022. She was also a Torts Adjunct Professor at Touro Law Center for three years. Ms. Thompson has served as the Law Clinic Mock Trial Judge for several years and has supervised Siena University Summer Legal Fellow Program interns at Touro since 2017. 

 

Upon graduating from Touro Law Center in May 2000, Ms. Thompson began her career in public service as an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office. After three years at the Queens County District Attorney's Office, she joined the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney. In both District Attorney's Offices, Ms. Thompson was promoted several times to various bureaus. Ms. Thompson served as an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County for 10 years, including as a Senior Assistant District Attorney in the Narcotics Bureau.  

 

 Ms. Thompson earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Buffalo University. She earned her Juris Doctor from Touro Law Center. In law school, Ms. Thompson earned a merit scholarship, served on Law Review, and served as President of the Minority Student Bar Association. Through the years, Ms. Thompson has held membership and office in various professional organizations including the New York State Enhanced Multidisciplinary Team (E-MDT), with a focus on a collaborative approach to addressing elder abuse since 2019; Landlord/Tenant Access to Justice Program since 2019; a volunteer for the Access to Justice Library Program since 2019. Past memberships also include: Board of Directors for the Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association; The Women in Courts Committee; The Links, Inc. Services to Youth Co-Chair; Jack and Jill of America Suffolk County Chapter Parliamentarian, Legislative Chair, Community Service Chair, Bylaws Chair and Nomination Committee member; the National Bar Association Government Attorneys Executive Board Member; the National Black Prosecutors Association, where she served as Election Chair; Suffolk County Bar Association, and Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association, where she served as President-Elect (2017) and Constitution Law Day Committee Chair (2015 and 2016).