In About Us:
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Staff & Volunteers
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Warren
J. Sinsheimer, President, founded the Partnership
for Children's Rights (PFCR) in 1999. A corporate lawyer for more than
35 years, Warren retired in 1995 as a partner of the law firm of Patterson
Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. He then volunteered for four years as an
attorney for Hudson Valley Legal Services, concentrating on special education
cases, before leaving to found PFCR. Warren has received many awards honoring
his work on behalf of disadvantaged children. In 1997, he received the
President's Pro Bono Service Award for the Ninth Judicial District from
the New York State Bar Association. In 1999, the American Bar Association
presented him with the Senior Lawyers Division Pro Bono Award. In 2002,
he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree by Drew University.
In 2004, The American Bar Association honored him with its Pro Bono
Publico Award. And in 2006, Civic Ventures made him a Purpose Prize
Fellow. In addition to heading PFCR, Warren is the organization's most
senior special education attorney. |
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Todd Silverblatt, Executive Director,
has been with PFCR since its founding in 1999. He is in charge of the
legal practice, office management, recruitment, training and supervision
of staff, program development, and new projects. Todd represents children
with special education needs as he continues his lifelong career as an
advocate for children. He is also responsible for the training and development
of volunteer attorneys in the Volunteers for Children division. A graduate
of Brooklyn Law School, Todd worked for more than 20 years with the Juvenile
Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society of New York where he was Attorney-in-Charge
of the Kings County office. He has represented hundreds of children in
child protective, custody/visitation and juvenile delinquency proceedings
in Family and Supreme Court. He is also certified as a Law Guardian in
Domestic Relations Matters in the Appellate Division, First Department. |
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Michael D. Hampden, Senior Attorney,
has been with PFCR since February 2000. A graduate of Haverford College
and Harvard Law School, he has more than 40 years of experience representing
low-income families in a broad range of civil legal issues. He has previously
served as Executive Director of Westchester/Putnam Legal Services, Project
Director of Bronx Legal Services, Attorney-in-Charge of the New York Legal
Aid Society, Bronx trial office, and Assistant Attorney-in-Charge of the
Legal Aid Society, Civil Appeals Bureau. He is the 1999 recipient of the
Denison Ray Award from the New York State Bar Association and the Annual
Legal Services Award from the Association of the Bar of the City of New
York. In addition, he has trained dozens of public interest lawyers in
diverse practice areas, and was a lecturer and author at the Practising
Law Institute's Third Annual School Law Institute. |
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Erin McCormack, Staff Attorney,
graduated magna cum laude from the NYU School of Law. As a law
student, she was an Associative Executive Editor of the Law Review, a
teaching assistant in the Lawyering Program, and a member of the steering
committee for Law Students for Human Rights. She interned at the Kings
County District Attorney's Office, before joining PFCR as a Skadden
Fellow in 2005. Erin has also worked for programs helping children who
are deaf and have serious developmental disabilities. |
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Sandra Weinglass, Staff Attorney, effective
June 2, 2008. Born and raised in California, she received her BA in English
from California Polytechnic University in Pomona and obtained her law
degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Following positions as staff
attorney in Puget Sound Legal Assistance Foundation, Northwest Justice
Project, and Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Ms. Weinglass relocated
to New York where she spent almost five years as Staff Attorney at New
York Legal Assistance Group. Sandra has also worked as an Administrative
Law Judge and a Review Judge for the Department of Social and Health Services
from 1995-2002. |
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Janny Huisman, LMSW, Director of Social Services, holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University
of Michigan and joined PFCR in 2002. She has worked with families and
children for more than 20 years through programs at Legal Services of
Southeastern Michigan, the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society,
and the Eastern District Civil Litigation Fund. She is an Adjunct Assistant
Professor at the NYU School of Social Work. In addition, she has supervised
interns at the Brooklyn Family Court and is a mediator trained at the
Ackerman Institute for the Family. |
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Ana E. Lazo, Administrator, joined
PFCR in 2008. A lawyer in her native country of Colombia, where she graduated
with a J.D. from Universidad del Norte in June 1998, Ana also received
a Certificate in English and Computer Management from Long Island University
and recently attended New York College of Technology’s Adult Learning
Center. When in Colombia, Ana served as a law clerk in the Superior Tribunal
of Barranquilla and was in-house counsel at Banco Superior. Since coming
to the United States, she has served as a legal intern at Lansner &
Kubitscheck and worked as a paralegal at Thaker Berowitz LLP. |
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Elizabeth Pastor joined PFCR in December 2005. Prior to joining the organization, she completed her degree in paralegal studies. |
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Joan Amron, M.Ed., a graduate of Teacher's College, Columbia University, spent 35 years in private practice, testing and working with learning disabled children in the New York area. She also served as a consultant to several Manhattan private schools. A former head of the Yorkville Civic Council, Joan is a long-time board member of Goddard Riverside Community Center, one of New York's historic settlement houses serving children and adults on the Upper West Side and West Harlem. She joined PFCR in the spring of 2007 to advise on educational issues and services. |
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Charles Bergoffen, a Yale Law School
graduate and Law Review editor, spent more than 40 years in private practice
with law firms and as house counsel to a publicly held corporation. Long
committed to children's issues, Charles spent 16 years on the board of
directors of Childreach, an international child sponsorship organization.
After retiring in 1999, he served as a Family Court Liaison for a children's
residential treatment center. |
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Larry Bodkin is a
graduate of Harvard Law School and holds a master's degree in tax law
from NYU. He has practiced law at firms in NYC, specializing in tax law
and employee benefit plans. He joined PFCR in 2001 to handle special education
cases, while still maintaining a private practice. He also serves as a
mediator and is on the mediation panels of the SDNY and EDNY Federal Courts. |
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Christina Clayton joined PFCR in 2005 after retiring as Vice President and General Counsel of Xerox Corporation. A graduate of Columbia University School of Law, Chris previously served as a litigation associate at two New York law firms. She has served on the boards of Literacy Volunteers of America, Stamford-Greenwich Chapter, and Fresh Art, an organization that promotes the work of low-income artists with special needs in New York City. She has also volunteered at Pro Bono Partnership. |
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Howard Davis a New
York University School of Law graduate, joined PFCR in 2000 after
retiring from a successful 30-year career as a litigator specializing
in medical malpractice. Wanting to put his extensive knowledge and training
in medical issues to use on behalf of disabled children, Howard has secured
vital Social Security Disability and Medicaid benefits for scores of children
with profound medical impairments. In 2003, he was honored with the Legal
Services for Children's Samuel Johnson Award for Public Service, and in
2005, he received the ABA Senior Lawyers Division's Pro Bono Award. |
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James H. Fogel a graduate
of Harvard College and Yale Law School, joined PFCR in 2008. Formerly,
he was a judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York and Acting
Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. Mr. Fogel has also served
as an assistant district attorney for New York County, where he was chief
of the Frauds and Major Offense bureaus. In addition, he was an arbitrator
and mediator, both privately and for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Fogel also holds two Masters degrees from the City College of New
York - one in education and the other in education administration - and
he taught math and physics in a Central Harlem public high school for
seven years. He has been of member of New York City Community Board Number
8 and has served on the boards of various charitable organizations, including
the Riverdale Senior Services, the Bronx High School of Science PTA (as
president and chair of the student leadership team), Riverdale’s Ittleson
School, and the 92nd Street Y. He sings professionally with anyone who
needs a tenor at the last minute. |
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Henriette Hoffman a graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, joined PFCR in
2000 after more than two decades of distinguished service with the Legal
Aid Society of NY. While there, she was Attorney-in-Charge of the Federal
Defender Division, Federal Appeals Bureau. Henriette's education experience
ranges from teaching at the elementary level to law school, where she
taught Appellate Advocacy at the Fordham School of Law. She was also a
2003 recipient of the Legal Services for Children's Samuel Johnson Award
for Public Service. |
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David Irwin, a graduate of
Harvard Law School, served three years as a Navy JAG and spent over 30
years as a partner at Dewey Ballantine LLP. After retiring in 2005, David
joined PFCR where he works in the special education unit. David has long
been an active participant in local civic affairs, and is an active volunteer
with the United Way. |
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Phyllis A. Klein joined PFCR in 2002 and concentrates on special education law. Phyllis earned her
law degree at the Fordham School of Law after obtaining a Master of Arts
in Teaching (MAT) from Harvard University, as well as a master's degree
in American History from New York University. She was previously employed
as Associate General Counsel at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New
York, and as an associate in the health care group of Proskauer Rose LLP.
She received the Legal Services for Children's Samuel Johnson Award
for Public Service in 2005. |
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Lesley Koegel, Psy.D., worked
in the Department of Education for 25 years, first as a teacher and then
as a school psychologist. She also maintained a private practice. Lesley
joined PFCR in 2004 and assesses clients to determine the specific special
education services and placements they require. She also works at The
Learning Resources Network, a consulting agency of JBFCS. |
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Helena Lee graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and holds an undergraduate degree in Physical Therapy from the same institution. She worked as an associate at the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell and as an assistant corporation counsel in the Affirmative Litigation and Appeals Divisions of the New York City Law Department. She has also worked as a volunteer lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights, Appeals Division. |
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Marilyn C. Mazur
a graduate of NYU School of Law, has volunteered at PFCR
since 2000. In her 25 years of practice, she was counsel to several major
publishing houses, a Moreland Commission staff attorney investigating the
nursing home industry, and a Special Assistant Attorney General in Medicaid
Fraud. Marilyn also contributed pro bono legal services to the ACLU Children's
Right Project and the New York Civil Liberties Union. She was a 2003 recipient
of the Legal Services for Children's Samuel Johnson Award for Public Service. |
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Emily Sherwood, Ph.D., is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Ph.D. in social policy from Brandeis University's Heller School. She spent 20 years as an active volunteer in civic and educational affairs, most recently serving on the Scarsdale Board of Education, as well as Westchester County and New York State school board committees. She is a freelance writer for Education Update, a New York City education newspaper, and is working with a national group of superintendents to help reform No Child Left Behind legislation. Emily is currently a trustee of the Scarsdale Foundation where she chairs their scholarship committee. |
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Susan Slovak-Stern joined PFCR in 2007 after more than 30 years of public interest law practice. With a law degree from Rutgers University, Susan served as appellate counsel for indigent criminal defendants with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, Appellate Section, and the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Appeals Bureau in New York City. As supervising attorney at the New York City Commission on Human Rights, she investigated and litigated claims of discrimination up through the State Supreme Court level. She also serves as volunteer arbitrator in the Civil Court of the City of New York, Small Claims Part. |
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Sandra Young, LCSW is a graduate of The Fordham School of Social Work and spent
25 years in private clinical practice with children and families. She
has conducted educational screenings as well as parent training and workshops
in the tri-state area. She joined PFCR's Volunteers for Children in early
2005 and works with the legal staff to assess and identify clients' disabilities
and family issues to secure appropriate educational and social services. |
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