Celebrating Our History: David Fischler
5.29.2026
In honor of our 150th anniversary, we asked longtime, involved members for their recollections of the New York State Bar Association.
David Fischler is the past chair of the Committee on Mass Disaster Response, which provides legal guidance to the victims of disasters and their families. He recalled when the committee was deployed in the aftermath of the TWA Flight 800 plane crash in 1996, which killed 230 people.
“That got us more involved because a Family Assistance Center was opened at the Ramada Inn by Kennedy Airport. We were there about six weeks, staffing a table, providing legal guidance. Not only to the families that are victims, but also to the other support groups that were there – if they needed help or had any questions.”
Fischler said that with the committee’s input, the federal government has created stronger legal protections for the families of accident victims. Some of the attorneys on the committee are also medical professionals and first responders. Fischler is a former Suffolk County firefighter.
“We’re a committee that hopes we never get used. Because if we get used, it means there’s a tragedy. So, we hope we never get called. You never want to wish something bad on anybody. But we have to be ready to go. We have to be able to mobilize the nearest local people to the incident within 24 hours.”
Do you have a special memory you want to share in honor of our 150th anniversary? Email rmelnitsky@nysba.org and your memory may be featured on our website.
