New Faculty Members Appointed at Touro Law

Touro Law Center Dean Elena B. Langan is pleased to announce the appointment of three new faculty members Allison Caffarone, Cara Dagostino and Denise Marzano-Doty.  

Allison Caffarone joins Touro Law as an Assistant Professor of Law. She will teach courses in Evidence, Criminal Law and Transnational Criminal Law. Prior to joining Touro, Professor Caffarone served as a Professor of Skills and as the Executive Director of the Perry Weitz Mass Tort Institute at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, where she taught numerous subjects, including Transnational Criminal Law, Corporate Compliance, Evidence, and Torts. Caffarone also served as the Executive Director of the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement at NYU School of Law. 

 

Caffarone previously practiced for nine years as a litigation associate in Sullivan & Cromwell's Criminal Defense and Investigations Group, where she specialized in white collar criminal defense. She represented individuals, corporations, and financial institutions in numerous high-profile matters involving allegations of securities fraud, insider trading, money laundering, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions.

 

She is a contributing author to the white-collar crime treatise, Defending Corporations and Individuals in Government Investigations, and a recipient of the Burton Award for Legal Achievement in Legal Writing. She has a J.D. from NYU School of Law and a B.A. from Hofstra University.

Cara Dagostino will serve as Assistant Dean of Academic Excellence and Bar Success and Assistant Professor of Law. In this role, she will leverage her extensive experience in legal education, academic support, and bar preparation to enhance student success.

Previously, Professor Dagostino served as the Associate Director of Academic Success and Bar Preparation, and as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. During her tenure at Hofstra, she taught skills-based and bar prep courses, and along with the Academic Success team collaborated with students, faculty, and administrators to significantly improve bar passage rates.

Professor Dagostino’s scholarly interests include the methodologies for successfully preparing students for the bar exam, family law, and preparing students for the current legal practice landscape. Prior to entering academia, she was a litigator focusing on family and matrimonial law. She holds a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and earned her J.D. from Emory University Law School in Atlanta, Georgia. 

In addition to her professional achievements, Professor Dagostino is deeply committed to community service. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Long Island Coalition Against Bullying, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding Long Island children and families affected by bullying in schools. 

Denise Marzano-Doty is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic at Touro Law Center.  She is a 1994 graduate of Touro Law Center, where she served as a Research Editor on the Touro Law Review.     

The Small Business Legal Assistance Clinic provides legal services at no cost to women- and minority-owned businesses of 10 employees or less, in Suffolk and Nassau Counties, New York.  Areas of advice include; choosing a business entity, the Fair Labor Standards Act, worker classifications, paying oneself, drafting contracts, community economic development, inclusive business practices and employment laws.

Professor Marzano-Doty was previously the Senior Staff Attorney for the Senior Citizens Law Program Clinic at Touro Law Center, from March, 2010 to June, 2024.  In this position, Professor Marzano-Doty provided no-cost legal services including preparation of Community Medicaid and pooled trust applications, advance directives, last will and testaments and representation in landlord-tenant, town zoning violations and small claims court matters.  She taught lawyering skills and elder law issues in her weekly clinic seminar course and supervised many law students who assisted in serving approximately 1,000 seniors across Suffolk County, each year. 

Additionally, she worked with Family Services League to provide legal issue training for their ombudsmen who volunteer in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Suffolk County and was a regular speaker at senior citizen and caregiver groups.  She volunteered monthly for the Suffolk County Access to Justice Program. was a lecturer in CLE and symposium programs, taught a one-week module on Preventing Elder Abuse as part of an asynchronous course offered by Touro Law, and has taught Interviewing, Negotiating and Counseling. Prior to her employment at Touro University Law Center, Professor Marzano-Doty worked in private law firms and maintained her own practice. 

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Patti Desrochers

Director of Communications

pattid@tourolaw.edu

(631) 761-7062