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In About Us:
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Staff & Volunteers
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. 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. 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. Aeri Pang, Staff Attorney,is a 2003 graduate of Cornell Law School. Before joining PFCR in 2004, Aeri was a litigation associate at Coudert Brothers LLP. She was also a legal intern at the New York County District Attorney’s office and worked as a legal assistant at Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP. Prior to embarking on her legal career, Aeri was a substitute teacher
in Ann Arbor and a health educator in Detroit, Michigan. She is fluent
in Korean. 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. 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. Joanna Kahan graduated from Oberlin College in May of 2007 and joined Partnership shortly thereafter as a Legal Assistant. Joanna provides support to lawyers in both education and SSI cases. Elizabeth Pastor joined PFCR in December 2005. Prior to joining the organization, she completed her degree in paralegal studies. 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. Back to top 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. 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. Lisa Cristal, a graduate of Washington University School of Law, spent 20 years practicing in the field of intellectual property, specializing in trademarks and internet issues before joining PFCR in 2006. Lisa is currently on the board of SOS4Education, a nonprofit organization helping rebuild schools damaged by Hurricane Katrina. She is also active in local educational issues. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Back to top 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. 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. 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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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.