Touro Law Hires Staff Attorney for the Public Advocacy Center
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Touro Law Hires Staff Attorney for the Public Advocacy Center
Alumna Danielle Schwager ’98 Leads PAC Law Office
February 2, 2016Dean Patricia Salkin is pleased to announce that Danielle Schwager, class of 1998, has been hired as Staff Attorney for Touro Law’s Public Advocacy Center. In this role, Ms. Schwager will represent clients who would otherwise not be represented by other legal services organizations and serve as a practitioner mentor for Touro Law students beginning in their first year in the 1L pro bono project.
Through the 1L Pro Bono Project, a requirement of all first year students at Touro Law, Ms. Schwager will assist students with their introductory contacts in the court system and with unrepresented litigants. Specifically, she will lead students in their work with litigants in landlord tenant court and litigants interested in filing for uncontested divorces. Additionally, she will work with upper level students on numerous pro bono projects sponsored by the law school and the Public Advocacy Center that deal with criminal law, juvenile justice, housing, immigration and more.
Dean Patricia Salkin stated, “We are thrilled to have one of our accomplished graduates come back to head this office and provide hands-on learning opportunities for students while serving the community. I am confident that Danielle’s tenacious lawyering skills combined with her natural inclination to teach and help others will ensure her success in this position and benefit all whom she encounters.”
Ms. Schwager has long been an active member of the Touro Law community and has nearly two decade’s worth of expertise as a trial attorney. Incorporating her past experience as a former Assistant District Attorney for Suffolk County and as a litigator for Martin Clearwater & Bell, LLP, Ms. Schwager opened her own practice in 2004 with an emphasis on Family Law. A member of the Attorney for the Child Panel and the Suffolk County Family Court 18(b) Panel Ms. Schwager has spent over a decade practicing in Family and Supreme Court specializing in the areas of abuse, neglect and termination of parental rights as well as custody, visitation, juvenile delinquency and matrimonial cases. She also has appeared before the Appellate Division Second Department in her representation of children.
Her background as an associate at the prestigious law firm of Martin Clearwater & Bell, LLP adds to her knowledge base as she litigated the defense of medical malpractice actions from inception through trial while engaging in all facets of motion practice, depositions and negotiation of settlements.
As an Assistant District Attorney, Ms. Schwager was involved in all matters of criminal cases. Her work at the District Attorney’s Office encompassed being the Attorney in Charge of the Suffolk County Drug Court, Gang prosecution and numerous hearings, jury and bench trials.
In addition to her association with the Suffolk County Bar, the New York State Bar and the American Bar Association, Ms. Schwager holds admissions to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, United States District Court-Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the United States Armed Forces.
The Law Office of the PAC is a non-profit law office, which was established by funding primarily from the New York State Court System's "Access to Justice" grant and supplemented by a grant from the Education & Assistance Corporation's (EAC), which is funded through the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance's (OTDA) "Just for Dads" program. In its inaugural year, the Law Office of the PAC provided direct legal assistance to clients that positively impacted more than 250 residents of Long Island. Despite the elimination of both funding sources from the New York State budget, Touro Law Center recognized the need for, and displayed its commitment to low income residents of Suffolk County by completely funding this law office.
Ms. Schwager stated, “I am eager to work with students while serving community members in need. Touro Law provided me with a quality legal education and gave me the skills necessary to succeed for years in my own practice. I am looking forward to this next chapter of my career.”
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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center’s 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art law school is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law, which has a student body of approximately 650 and an alumni base of more than 6,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs, several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of the Touro College system.
Touro Law’s newly implemented Portals to Practice is a cutting-edge, experiential learning program that reconceives and restructures the law school experience. Portals to Practice expands the scope and quality of legal education by focusing on the development of legal professionals, from pre-law through post-graduation.
About the Touro College and University System
Touro is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, Paris and Florida. New York Medical College, Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division are separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to: http://www.touro.edu/media/.
Patti Desrochers
Director of Communications
pattid@tourolaw.edu
(631) 761-7062