News

Zachary Murdock of the Firm’s Appellate Practice group was a member of the victorious team including counsel for the Town of Southampton, environmental and civic organizations, and neighbors of the “Sand Land” sand and gravel mine in Noyac, in obtaining a reversal in the Appellate Division, Third Department, in what appears to be the first reported decision applying a 1991 statute to annul mining permits. In Town of Southampton, et al. v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Sand Land Corporation, et ano., — A.D.3d — (3rd Dep’t May 27, 2021), the court reversed an Albany Supreme Court judgment that had dismissed the petitioners-appellants’ Article 78 proceeding challenging renewed and expanded permits for the mine, including one allowing a 40′ vertical expansion.  The court agreed with the appellants that Section 23-2703(3) of New York’s Environmental Conservation Law, enacted to provide special safeguard’s for Long Island’s sole source aquifer where local zoning laws or ordinances prohibit mining uses within the area proposed to be mined, had prohibited the DEC from processing and granting Sand Land’s applications for mining permits, where the Town’s code prohibited mining. The court granted the petition and annulled DEC’s determinations granting the subject permits. Mr. Murdock, representing neighbors of the mine, has advocated for application of the statute to Sand Land’s permit applications since 2014.

David Lazer, of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group, served as the attorney-coach to a local high school mock trial team in this year’s New York State Bar Association-sponsored Mock Trial Competition. Mr. Lazer’s team, Northport High School, won the 2019 Mock Trial Competition defeating Bay Shore High School. The event was canceled in 2020 due to Covid-19 and then resumed again this year, remotely. Mr. Lazer’s Northport team defended its Suffolk County championship by defeating Kings Park to win the Suffolk County finals for the 2nd year in a row. The High School Mock Trial program provides an excellent opportunity for young people to learn about the law and take on the roles of attorneys and witnesses in a courtroom. After several years in the program, some of the really talented high school students exhibit trial skills that rival those of admitted attorneys. A number of the Northport students that participated in the program have gone on to become attorneys.

Marcy Finkelstein and Sam Yedid, partners in the Firm’s Real Estate practice group, represented a leading franchisee of a national moving company in the purchase of its new headquarters and the layered acquisition financing, which included permanent and bridge financing as well as a loan under the U.S. Small Business Administration 504 Loan Program.

The Firm is proud to welcome Amier Shenoda as an Associate in the Firm’s Banking Litigation practice group. Amier is a former Associate at the law firm of McGlinchey Stafford in New York City, where he represented financial institutions, lenders, mortgage loan servicers financial service providers in commercial and consumer financial services litigation. Amier is a graduate of St. John’s Law School where he was a Senior Staff member of the NY Real Property Law Journal.  In 2020, Amier was named a “Rising Star” by New York Metro Super Lawyers.

The Firm is proud to welcome Liam Ray as an Associate in the Firm’s Corporate and Business practice group. Before he joined the firm, Mr. Ray was an associate with the international law firm Watson Farley & Williams LLP in their New York City office, where he worked on complex corporate finance transactions and other corporate matters for both private and institutional clients in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. Mr. Ray is an alumnus of St. John’s University School of Law and received his J.D. cum laude in 2018 while serving as a Senior Articles Editor for the St. John’s Law Review. Mr. Ray graduated with honors from Stony Brook University’s undergraduate political science program, and he also obtained his master’s degree in public policy from the same institution.