Kevin J. Curnin is Founding Director of Stroock’s Public Service Project, the cornerstone of the firm’s longtime commitment to serving the public interest. Created in March 2001, the Public Service Project provides a broad array of legal assistance, concentrating on underserved and under- resourced communities in New York City, and is a national leader in providing critical legal pro bono services in response to national disasters.
In addition to managing the program, Kevin leads cases and advises associates and partners with their pro bono litigation and transactional work. Kevin supervises a broad range of matters, from special education hearings to family and housing court disputes. He is counsel to non-profit entities and micro-entrepreneurs. During his tenure, Kevin and the Public Service Project have won dozens of awards from city, state, and national organizations, including the American Bar Association and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.
Kevin served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Pro Bono Council for six years and was President of APBCo in 2017. Before his 2001 appointment as the Project’s first Attorney Director, Kevin spent more than five years in commercial litigation at Stroock. His areas of commercial experience include insurance, banking, securities, and arbitration. Since 2001, Mr. Curnin and the Public Service Project have received over 85 awards.
Jason Moff is Special Counsel in the litigation department at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. As part of his pro bono docket, Jason has played a key role in virtually every major LGBTQ rights litigation his firm has undertaken, including a series of cases establishing recognition within New York State for the valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples; a series of amicus briefs on behalf of mainstream religious stakeholders in the Windsor, Perry, and Obergefell cases and their progeny, as well as several federal Court of Appeals cases leading up to Obergefell; two different cases in the New York Court of Appeals establishing rights for non-biological parents to seek custody or visitation following dissolution of same-sex relationships; and a lawsuit on behalf of LGBTQ asylum seekers who obtained preliminary injunctive relief against enforcement of the 2020 federal rule that would have severely curtailed avenues for asylum relief.
This list is not exhaustive even as to Jason’s LGBTQ rights work, and he has also undertaken substantial pro bono work in the areas of immigration, domestic violence, labor rights, and reproductive freedom. With the Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood, Jason tried a lawsuit in federal court in Tennessee challenging a state law that unconstitutionally obstructed women’s right to abortion access. In the past year, he also has represented two private employees in federal New York courts seeking to redress their rights for fair pay under federal and state labor laws, and a lesbian woman living in Brooklyn seeking asylum from Kazakhstan. In addition, Jason has represented multiple young clients seeking to dismiss removal proceedings and obtain immigration documentation after fleeing oppressive circumstances in their home countries.
Kelly M. Curro has been admitted to practice in New York and Massachusetts since 1993. She is 1990 graduate magna cum laude of The College of Saint Rose with a B.A. in History/Political Science. She was the College’s first participant in its combined law degree program with Albany Law School. She received her J.D. cum laude from Albany Law in 1992. She is an attorney with the law firm of Ianniello Anderson P.C. in Albany, New York. Her primary practice is in the areas of matrimonial and family law.
Kelly volunteers with the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York in Albany, New York to conduct pro se divorce clinics in the Third Judicial District. She has been able to continue to facilitate these clinics during the pandemic with Legal Aid Society via Zoom. The Legal Aid clinics in the District provide valuable assistance to clients trying to navigate the complex instructions, forms, and process of obtaining a pro se divorce.
She lives in Latham, New York with her husband, Tony and son, Anthony.
David Pratt is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School. He received his law degree from Oxford. Since 1976, he has specialized in retirement plans and other employee benefit programs. He is the author of the Social Security and Medicare Answer Book and the co-author of Pension and Employee Benefits Law (with John Langbein, Susan Stabile and Andrew Stumpff), ERISA and Employee Benefit Law: The Essentials (with Sharon Reese) and Taxation of Distributions from Qualified Plans (with Dianne Bennett and others). He has also written numerous articles and is a frequent lecturer. He is the Vice Chair of the Life Insurance and Employee Benefits Committee of the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and a fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel. He has participated in pro bono activities since he first started work at a law firm in London in 1973. Since joining the law school faculty in 1994, he has supported the law school’s extensive pro bono activities by advising students and clients and speaking at Senior Citizens’ Law Day and Veterans’ Law Day. Since 2016, he has been one of a group of attorneys representing former employees of St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady seeking to recover promised pension benefits that were not paid.
Russell grew up in the Syracuse area, graduating from Bishop Ludden High School after also attending Corcoran High School in Syracuse. Before moving back to Syracuse in 2009, he lived in South Florida for 12 years.
Russell has been practicing law since 2010. He graduated from the Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center (now known as the Shepard Broad College of Law) in 2006 with a concentration in International Legal Practice and a Certificate in Arbitration through a joint program offered by the McGill University Faculty of Law and the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Management Information Systems from the Nova Southeastern University College of Computing and Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Since 2012, Russell has owned and operated the Dombrow Law Firm in Syracuse. The Dombrow Law Firm focuses its practice on consumer protection; specifically, matters involving automobile fraud, debt collection defense, and credit reporting. Before starting the Dombrow Law Firm, Russell started his legal career as a Staff Attorney at the Justice Alliance of Central New York, which consists of the Legal Aid Society of Mid – New York and Legal Services of Central New York, primarily representing tenants facing eviction and habitability issues.
Russell has been a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates since 2018. Russell is admitted to practice in New York State, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of New York, and the Bankruptcy Courts for both of those districts.
Russell’s pro bono work is with the Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County’s CLARO program. CLARO is the Consumer Legal Advice Resource Office. CLARO provides free legal advice and help with drafting court pleadings for low – income consumers primarily in Onondaga County, but also in the surrounding area. CLARO helps its clients with court cases or judgments related to credit card debt, medical debt, student loans, car loans, utilities collections, lines of credit, and charge accounts. Since Russell joined the program at its founding in Fall 2019, he has been able to help consumers defend against lawsuits by debt collectors, advise whether consumers might benefit from filing for bankruptcy protection, and vacate default judgments.
Attorney Gaji is a solo practitioner in Binghamton, New York, with over 25 years of experience. His diverse practice includes family law, immigration, securities arbitration, and ” attorney for the child” representation. Before coming to the United States, he trained and practiced in Nigeria.
Since 2009 Attorney Gaji has been an active member of Legal Aid ‘s pro bono panel. In response to the tragic mass shootings at American Civic Association (ACA) in Binghamton on April 3, 2009, Legal Aid organized clinics to address the emergency legal needs of those impacted, many of whom were immigrants attending ESL class e s at the time of the shootings. Attorney Gaji was the only immigration attorney in the Binghamton area and he readily volunteered to help. Since then, Attorney Gaji been dedicated to assisting immigrants through monthly “Talk to a Lawyer” clinics at ACA.
In addition, Attorney Gaji also volunteered to help organize and present at various immigration forums over the years co-sponsored by Legal Aid and ACA. When the Obama Administration announced, “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) for Haitians following the devastating earthquakes in January 2010 (protecting recipients from deportation for 18 months), there was only a six-month window to apply. With Attorney Gaji’ s help Legal Aid quickly set up clinics to educate Haitians in the Binghamton area about the program.
Attorney Gaji also presented on family law topics as part of the clinics. Thereafter, Attorney Gaji also helped put together a community forum about the employment of immigrants in the United States.
Beyond immigration matters, Attorney Gaji also accepts end of life planning and divorce referrals from Legal Aid. Legal Aid has grants to assist those over the age of 60 with end-of-life planning, such as wills, health care proxies and powers of attorney. But younger persons who also may need these services do not qualify for help under the grants. Attorney Gaji is one of a s mall group of attorneys that has volunteered to provide this assistance.
After retiring from a career in public education, including an administrative role in special education, I graduated from University at Buffalo School of Law, and spent 18 years as an Attorney for Children in Erie County. When I was no longer able to continue an active practice, I returned to Ontario County in 2017, and enrolled in the Attorney Emeritus Program. Since that time, I have worked with two agencies, Legal Assistance of Western New York, and the Volunteer Legal Services Project in Rochester.
At LawNY, I assisted some clients whose children had special needs, advocating for them with local school districts. I also represented clients in divorce, child support, and custody matters. More recently, I have focused on the Family Preparedness Clinic with VLSP and assist vulnerable undocumented migrants in planning for the future of their children in the event the parent(s) are detained or deported.
Tony Szczygiel is a University of Buffalo Law School Professor Emeritus, where he taught from 1982 through 2015. Tony earned his Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1975. From 1977 through 1981 he worked in a Legal Services Corporation-funded program providing representation to migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the Mid-Hudson Valley and the eastern end of Long Island.
At the Law School Tony’s classroom courses included Elder Law and Health Law. For 30 years, Tony supervised the Elder Law Clinic that he started in 1983. The Clinic worked closely with the Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled or Disadvantaged law office in Buffalo NY (now named the Center for Elder Law and Justice). As part of this work, the Clinic handled scores of Medicare and Medicaid appeals for elderly or disabled clients. Tony continues to volunteer at CELJ as a consultant on Health Law issues and as a CLE presenter.
Over his 44-year career as a lawyer, Tony has made over 300 presentations for the New York State and local County Bar Associations, as well as other advocates and consumers. He participates in the NYSBA Attorney Emeritus program. The NYSBA Senior Lawyers Section presented Tony with their 2018 Jonathan Lipppman Pro Bono Award (service to underserved members of the community).
Since his retirement, Tony became a certified volunteer with the NYS Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, focused on systems advocacy for nursing home and adult care facility residents. The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care awarded Tony the 2019 Howard Hinds Memorial Award (recognizing advocacy for long-term care consumers at the local level).
Tony has served as a Board member for various local not-for-profit organizations, including Canopy of Neighbors, a “Village” dedicated to helping seniors age in community, the Community Health Center and Neighborhood Legal Services.
I grew up in rural Southeastern Virginia in a little town on the Chesapeake Bay and now reside with my husband and two college age sons in Goldens Bridge, New York. My legal career has been entirely in public interest law in North Carolina, Long Island and Westchester. I have been volunteering at Pace Women’s Justice Center, for close to 6 years, fielding calls on the Helpline once a week and representing indigent clients in their divorces. I graduated from University of Virginia in 1982 and Northeastern University Law School in 1987.
Scott Stone obtained his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1989 and then went on to study law at Hofstra Law School.
In addition to New York (1993), Connecticut (1992) and the District of Columbia (1993), Scott is also admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, and the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
At the Law Offices of Scott Stone PLLC, located in East Rockaway New York, Scott maintains a general practice, a substantial portion of which involves residential and commercial real estate, traffic, tax certiorari, landlord tenant, business transactions and corporate representation.
Scott also serves as Special Counsel to the Incorporated Village of Farmingdale and Special Counsel to the Incorporated Village of Cedarhurst for Tax Certiorari, as well as a Referee for the New York State Supreme Court. From 2006–2020, he served as Special Counsel to the City of Glen Cove for Commercial Tax Certiorari matters.
Scott has belonged to numerous professional associations including the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as the Advisory Board to the Jazz Composers Collective. He is also on the Board of Trustees of Congregation Shaaray Shalom in West Hempstead.
Scott is an active participant in the effort to protect low-income tenants in Nassau County. He began volunteering with Nassau Suffolk Law Services, Volunteer Lawyers Program by donating his time with their Landlord/Tenant Project-VLP Attorney of the Day in 2012 and has represented over 221 clients facing eviction. The program provides direct pro bono representation to low-income tenants facing eviction in nonpayment or holdover proceedings. Attorneys taking part in the program volunteer for the day prevent or forestall evictions. As a pro bono counsel, Scott is usually able to dismiss the eviction proceeding or negotiate a stipulation of settlement that allows the tenancy to continue or, at a minimum, give the tenant additional time to find alternative housing. This critical legal service protects the tenant from homelessness or shelter placement.
Scott has previously earned recognition for his level of generosity and constant dedication to pro bono work by receiving the Pro Bono Attorney of the Month Award in Nassau County and named as Top Pro Bono Honoree on numerous occasions, including 2021.
He is also active in his community as a coach and sponsor for the North Bellmore-North Merrick Little League Softball, East Rockaway High School Senior Seminar Internship Program and has previously assisted the East Rockaway Mock Trial Team, as well as given lectures on property tax issues for veterans and other civic groups.
Scott grew up in West Hempstead and now lives with his wife, Elyse, and their two daughters, Maya, and Dana, in Bellmore, New York.
I graduated from Columbia Law School in 1963, where I was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
I was a partner and the head of the real estate department at Gordon Hurwitz Butowsky Baker Weitzen Shalov and Wein for twenty-five years.
Later I became General Counsel to lntervest National Bank, which was subsequently acquired by Bank OZK.
My legal services work included the following:
- For fifteen years I served as a director of Mobilization for Youth.
- I was a volunteer attorney at The Legal aid Society and Mobilization for Justice (formerly Mobilization for Youth)
- My service at Mobilization for Justice included:
- Work in the field of foster care, adoption, and guardianship.
- Work with the mental health group, which work was primarily in the field of landlord and tenant law.
Work with the workplace justice project, which evolved into a unit that represents drivers and taxi and other for-hire drivers against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission in hearings before the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). Since the inception of the pandemic hearings before OATH have been conducted by conference call with evidence submitted by email.
The tribunal does not strictly follow the rules of evidence and hearsay testimony is permitted and may be relied upon.
SERGIO VILLAVERDE was born and raised in NYC. The son of immigrants Sergio is fluent in Spanish. He has lived most of his life, as currently, in the Bronx. Sergio has been in the service of others all his adult life.
Sergio is the founder of the Law Office of Sergio Villaverde, PLLC a community based matrimonial and family law practice.
Sergio has always maintained a direct link to his community, which he serves, in various volunteer roles. Donating thousands of hours to public service, Sergi has been a volunteer baseball coach, mentor, chairman of a local youth services corporation, volunteer attorney for victims of domestic violence and serves on the Boards of The Bronx County Bar Association and the Association of Naval Services Officers. He has been appointed to Community Board 7 and 8 in the Bronx. In the Community Board Sergio has served and chaired several committees including Economic Development and Veteran’s Affairs. Sergio also volunteers a Board Member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, an Officer of the Bronx County Bar Association, Judge Advocate General of the Association of Naval Services Officers as well as a member of several other professional and service organizations.
Upon graduation from John F Kennedy HS in the Bronx, Sergio enlisted in the US Coast Guard Reserve where he retired with over 32 year of service at the rank of Commander. During his time with the Coast Guard Sergio has served in military, legal and law enforcement roles. Sergio has received commendations for service in numerous peacetime operations and served as a reservist during the Gulf war, was activated to service September 11, 2001 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010.
Sergio has also served as an Emergency Medical Technician for the City of New York. Sergio received commendations for life saving and delivered 18 children (all girls!). As an EMT, Sergio worked in the Lower East Side of New York, Harlem, and the Bronx.
Sergio is a retired New York City Police Officer. While a member of the NYPD Sergio served the neighborhoods of the mid-west Bronx. His assignments included: Patrol, Community Policing, plain-clothes detail, and training officer. Sergio was an active Police Officer in defense of the Community making arrests ranging from armed robbery to spousal and child abuse. Sergio received awards for meritorious service and three integrity awards for arresting criminals who attempted to bribe him.
While working a member of the US Coast Guard Reserve, an EMT and later in the NYPD, Sergio obtained an Associate in Arts Degree, A Bachelor of Arts (political science)-with honors and finally a Juris Doctor from Fordham University Law School.
Eve Lynn Newman has been practicing law for more than 25 years. She is a graduate of New York University, holds a master’s degree from City University of New York and received her Juris Doctorate from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. She has had a Per Diem only practice for the last 20 years, exclusively appearing in Richmond county for the last 15 years.
Ms. Newman has served as Vice President of the Staten Island Women’s Bar Association and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Richmond County Bar Association. She is an Alternate Delegate from the 13th Judicial District to the New York State Bar Association. She has been active with the Richmond County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyer’s Project and sits on its Board of Directors. She appears regularly in the Richmond County Foreclosure Part to assist pro se litigants.
Devon Galloway is a New York-based associate at the premier litigation boutique, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. Since graduating from Columbia School of Law and completing his clerkship for Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Devon has maintained a broad-reaching litigation practice spanning health care, business litigation, and investigations. Presently, he is engaged in one of the most significant MDLs in the country. In addition to his billable work, Devon extends his talents and hours to his many deserving pro bono clients. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, this work has focused primarily on pursuing compassionate release for several individuals. When not hard at work on these matters, Devon devotes time to educating and empowering others to support compassionate release efforts.
A 1980 graduate of Vermont Law School, Joe served as an Administrative Law Judge and Commissioner at the NYS Division of Tax Appeals for over 29 years, deciding tax matters in every tax the State of New York administers. After his retirement in 2016, he began to volunteer with the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York’s Low Income Tax Clinic, taking assignments of clients with federal and state tax issues. While continuing with this representation, he began assisting with LASNNY’s uncontested divorce clinics as well as its Attorney for the Day program, negotiating for and appearing with clients in landlord/tenant issues in local city courts.
Kaitlyn J. Lauber is a 3L at the University at Buffalo School of Law. Prior to studying law, she earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from Buffalo State, while simultaneously working on an A.A.S. in Baking and Pastry Arts from the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute. As an aspiring family court practitioner and progressive social justice advocate, she intends to spend the duration of her career working to advance the public interest.
She worked as a volunteer at the Volunteer Lawyers Project Family Court Help Desk for the majority of 2020 as part of her work with the University at Buffalo School of Law Civil Access to Justice Clinic. Kaitlyn spent the summer working in the Volunteer Lawyers Project Positive Families and Individuals Unit, serving clients directly affected by HIV/AIDS with employment matters, housing disputes, estate planning, and gender-affirming name changes. Kaitlyn has spent nearly 400 hours working with hundreds of clients across Western New York in the last year.
Kaitlyn is a member of OUTLaw, a law school ambassador, and a peer-to-peer advocate. She spent her 1L summer with Hon. Kenneth F. Case in Erie County Court and writing policy papers for the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women. Kaitlyn was named a Buffalo Public Law Interest Program Fellow in 2019 and 2020.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a firm of more than 1,000 lawyers with diverse backgrounds, personalities, ideas, and interests who provide innovative and effective solutions to our clients’ most complex legal and business challenges. Paul, Weiss represents some of the world’s largest publicly and privately held corporations, financial institutions, and asset managers in their most significant legal matters. Paul, Weiss is also deeply committed to providing counsel to individuals and organizations in need of pro bono assistance; our pro bono program is all-encompassing, spanning the core issues facing our society, including racial justice, voting rights, immigrant protection, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many other areas.
Sethi & Mazaheri, LLC is an immigration law firm deeply committed to the free movement of people across borders. Prior to founding their firm, partners Reza Mazaheri and Sanjay Sethi dedicated their careers to public interest and international human rights law, working at the United Nations and Human Rights Watch. Upon founding the firm, Mr. Sethi and Mr. Mazaheri made the provision of pro bono services a key part of their ethos, with each member of their staff dedicated to representing pro bono clients in a wide variety of immigration matters.
In 2017, after receiving several claims from prominent international artists seeking asylum and protection from censorship in their countries of origin, Mr. Sethi and Mr. Mazaheri conceived of the non-profit, Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI), an organization dedicated to representing threatened artists. Sethi & Mazaheri also became a principal pro bono partner for AFI, providing hundreds of hours of pro bono immigration representation to at-risk artists every year. Substantively, Sethi & Mazaheri’s pro bono services include representation on artist visas, asylum petitions, deportation proceedings and travel ban waivers. The firm was also instrumental in adding other pro bono partners, such as such as Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP, enabling AFI to provide services to over 300 artists since its founding.
Professor Minna Kotkin, Director of the Employment Law Clinic
As the pandemic forced the closure of all nonessential businesses in March, Professor Minna Kotkin, director of the Employment Law Clinic, immediately recognized the challenges ahead. She anticipated that the unemployment insurance system, which would be critical in assisting those unable to work while under stay-at-home orders, would be overwhelmed by a deluge of applications, delaying their processing, and effectively denying benefits when they were needed most.
Kotkin knew the clinical program could help meet the need caused by this gap in service. By June, she had rallied students and administrators to launch the Pandemic Employment Relief Clinic (PERC). Through this innovative program, 100 students served more than 700 clients, including out-of-work drivers for ride-hailing apps, restaurant workers, film and theater actors, and many others, helping them navigate the unemployment insurance system.
PERC was kicked off with a two-day virtual bootcamp in which Kotkin taught the basics of unemployment insurance law and explained new opportunities created by the federal CARES Act. Guest speakers addressed issues related to family leave and disability discrimination.
To get the word out to potential clients, the clinic’s teaching assistants posted an offer for free legal services on social media channels, including Twitter and Facebook, which garnered hundreds of responses from individuals needing assistance with unemployment benefits hearings.
“Twitter was flooded with frustrated New Yorkers waiting for benefits,” said Jamie Levitt ’21. “We tweeted at New York unions, the New York Department of Labor, and Brooklyn Law School alumni in New York with large followings, who helped us get the word out about PERC.”
“The response from both students and clients exceeded my expectations,” said Kotkin. “I think the students felt good about helping people. They gained new skills, and they gained a lot of empathy.”
“This clinic experience completely changed my career focus,” said Amanda Perez ’22, a student who participated in PERC. “Helping people secure their due benefits, when they felt they would never hear back from the Department of Labor, made me realize I want to work in a client-focused field serving the public interest.”
The Attorney Professionalism Award is to honor a member of the NYSBA for outstanding professionalism, which is defined as dedication to service to clients and a commitment to promoting respect for the legal system in pursuit of justice and the public good, characterized by exemplary ethical conduct, competence, good judgment, integrity, and civility.
This year’s recipient of the 2021 Attorney Professionalism Award is June M. Castellano
June M. Castellano maintains a solo private practice in suburban Rochester. She offers representation to individuals facing family dissolution and other relationship issues in both litigation and collaborative law. She represents not only adults but children as well in Supreme and Family Court. She is a trained mediator and provides attorney-based mediation services. Ms. Castellano has advocated on numerous issues affecting family policy before legislative and administrative forums. She has developed and delivered educational programs and publications for attorneys and human services professionals. She has served in leadership roles with the New York State Bar Association, New York Bar Foundation, Monroe County Bar Association, and Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys. She is active in community service work, especially in the area of domestic violence and indigent legal services. In 2001, she participated in an international legal exchange to Novgorod, Russia where she lectured on New York domestic violence laws. She has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Rochester where she created and taught a seminar entitled “Women as Advocates.” Ms. Castellano received her Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester.