Alumni Spotlight Madison Scarfaro '24

Touro Law Grad Finds Fulfillment in Fighting for the Underserved in Society

Madison Scarfaro is a deeply kind and blazingly bright young woman who has the ability to change every life she touches. Though she insists she sleeps, Scarfaro, who graduated Touro Law Center in 2024 and has a demanding job, seems to squeeze every extra moment to volunteer and do pro bono work. During law school and in her first year after graduation, she fought for clemency for a woman who had already served 20 years in prison and collaborated with Touro students, Lisa Milas, and New Hour to create a pamphlet about DVSJA for those incarcerated. "I don't really know how, but I make time," she says, laughing. "It's a good thing I love coffee!"

Professors at Touro Law Center call her “a standout student and already a standout alum.” Scarfaro spent her final semester before graduation working full-time with the federal defenders of the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, Long Island as a Pro Bono Scholar.

She was one of only eight law students in the entire country named Top Law Student of the Year by National Jurist magazine. The publication honors outstanding leadership, service, and advocacy, with 2024 winners focusing on initiatives like creating wellness spaces and leading continuing legal education programs.

“Going to Touro Law was the best decision I ever made,” says Scarfaro, 29. “It’s a small, close-knit school. All of my professors were behind their students 100 percent. Touro helped to shape me into the lawyer I am today.”

While in school, Scarfaro was president of the Women’s Bar Association, Business Editor of the Touro Law Review, vice president of the Public Interest Law Organization, vice president of the Sports & Entertainment Law Society, and student liaison for the Suffolk County Women in the Courts Committee. She did pro bono work with Breaking Barriers, assisting people with reentry to society after prison, and through New Hour for Women and Children, she went into the local jail weekly and met with women to discuss various ‘know your rights’ topics to make certain they knew their rights.

Scarfaro’s proudest achievement was starting Long Island’s first Human Trafficking Awareness Week with help from various groups, all while still a student.

She worked with court agencies, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who had experienced sex trafficking in her community, near Touro Law Center, to organize a week of educational seminars, trainings, and documentary screenings. The event, which was held the week of November 11, 2024, was a huge success. The Second Annual Long Island Human Trafficking Awareness Week is (or was) being held from November 9 to November 16.

These days, Scarfaro is a Staff Attorney for the Criminal Defense Practice at the Legal Aid Society (Queens), where she works with a community of dedicated advocates. In what most would consider laughably little free time, Scarfaro worked to plan the 2025 Human Trafficking Awareness weeklong event. “Helping to stop human trafficking is a passion,” explains Scarfaro, who was reared along with her brother by a “strong, independent, and encouraging” mother in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. She lives with her toy Australian shepherds, Pepper and Nola, in Queens. “I feel like I’m someone who is always trying and wanting to be there for people,” she says, batting away any and all compliments. “It’s what makes me feel happy and fulfilled.”