LegalHealth

Randye Retkin
Director and Founder, LegalHealth

Randye is director and founder of LegalHealth. She previously served as Director of Legal Services for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the nation’s oldest and largest organization serving people with HIV/AIDS. She has consulted to projects addressing the needs of people with breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, asthma and other chronic illnesses, including a project to improve access to information about, and navigation of, the New York City managed care system. Randye is nationally recognized for building collaborations between professionals working with the chronically ill and for helping these people access medical and legal care. Randye co-authored one of the first major articles on collaborative care for the chronically ill: “Attorneys and Social Workers Collaborating in HIV Care: Breaking New Ground,” Fordham Urban Law Journal (1997). She also co-authored “Complexities in HIV Consent in Adolescents,” Clinical Pediatrics (2005); “The Attorney as the Newest Member of the Cancer Treatment Team,” Journal of Clinical Oncology (May 2006); “Lawyers and Doctors Working Together – A Formidable Team,” ABA Health Law Journal (2007); “Public Health Legal Services: A New and Powerful Vision,” Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy (2008); and, most recently, “Medical Legal Partnerships: A Key Strategy for Mitigating the Negative Health Impacts of the Recession,” ABA Health Lawyer, (2009). Randye is a frequent speaker at professional conferences. She has addressed the Annual Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the American Bar Association (ABA), Health Law Section and the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children National Summit. She is the current chair of the New York State Bar Committee on Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLP) and a member of the ABA working group on MLP’s. Randy is a founder of the New York Immigration Coalition and co-author of New York’s Standby Guardianship law. Randye graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Howard School of Law.

Julie Brandfield
Associate Director, LegalHealth

Julie is the Associate Director of LegalHealth. She coordinates the training curriculum for hospital partners, establishes new clinics, and supervises LegalHealth’s staff attorneys. Julie has extensive experience in employment and insurance law, key focuses of her LegalHealth practice. Julie has spoken at numerous conferences on partnering with healthcare professionals. She co-authored “Medical Legal Partnerships: A Key Strategy for Mitigating the Negative Health Impacts of the Recession,” ABA Health Lawyer, (2009), “Lawyers and Doctors Working Together – A Formidable Team,” ABA Health Law Journal (October 2007), ”The Attorney as the Newest Member of the Cancer Treatment Team,” Journal of Clinical Oncology (May 2006), and ”Complexities in HIV Consent in Adolescents,” Clinical Pediatrics (July/August 2005). Before joining LegalHealth in 2002, Julie was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York. She clerked for the Honorable Alfred J. Lechner of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Julie served as secretary of the Federal Courts Committee of the New York City Bar Association from 1995 to 1998 and contributed to Trial Ready: A Manual for Pro Se Litigants Appearing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1997). She graduated from the University of Chicago and Fordham University School of Law.

Domna Antoniadis
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Domna is a staff attorney with NYLAG’s LegalHealth Unit, conducting legal clinics at St. Luke’s Hospital and Woodhull Hospital’s Geriatric Wellness Center.  She graduated from Fordham University  School of Law where she founded Fordham HEALS (Health, Education, Advocacy and Law Society), the law school’s first public interest group to specialize in health law advocacy, for which she received the Public Service 1L Student of the Year Award.  Upon graduation Domna was awarded a Public Interest Resource Center Leadership Award and the Archibald R. Murray Service Award for giving more than 1,000 hours of her time to public service work as a law student. Domna interned with the N.Y.S. Department of Insurance interpreting insurance regulations, with a focus on health insurance.

Jason Biafore
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Jason is in charge of the legal clinic at Lincoln Hospital and LegalHealth’s housing caseload. Prior to joining LegalHealth, Jason was a housing attorney at Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation. He earned a BA degree from Concordia University, Montréal, and graduated from Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Kingston, Canada with an LL.B degree.

Maria S. Campigotto
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Maria is responsible for the LegalHealth clinics at the Institute of Family Health, a federally qualified health clinic, and Beth Israel Medical Center. A magna cum laude graduate of Ohio State University, Maria received her law degree from New York University where she was also a student advocate at the institution’s employment and housing discrimination clinic. She is admitted to practice in both New York and New Jersey. Maria has served in internship and research programs in South Africa and Ireland on human rights issues.

Brian Cohen
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Brian is in charge of the legal clinics at Jacobi Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital’s Cancer and Palliative Care Centers at Bellevue Hospital. Before joining LegalHealth, Brian practiced civil and administrative litigation in Toronto, Canada for 12 years, and was also an adjudicator with the Ontario Social Benefits Tribunal. He studied philosophy at Trent University, Ontario, and Université Laval, Québec City, and earned his common and civil law degrees from McGill University, Montreal. Brian is admitted to the bar of New York State and received the Canadian Bar Association’s “Young Lawyers’ Year 2000 Pro Bono Award”.

Mary Fox
Senior Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Mary runs the legal clinic at Woodhull Medical Center and assists with cancer-related cases. She has extensive experience handling consumer debt matters.  Before joining LegalHealth in 2013, Mary was a pro se attorney for the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of New York, the first pro se attorney for the United States Bankruptcy Courts across the nation. There, Mary structured and implemented a pilot program to provide in-court assistance to pro se debtors and creditors. Previously, Mary was a Senior Staff Attorney at Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Staff Attorney at Housing Conservation Coordinators, Inc.  Mary graduated from University of Maryland and received her JD from City University of New York.

Brian Hilburn
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Brian, a staff attorney with NYLAG’s LegalHealth Unit, runs the legal clinics at Harlem Hospital and Maimonides Medical Center. Prior to NYLAG, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. While in law school, he interned for the Honorable Robert B. Collings of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the San Francisco County Public Defender’s Office, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS). Brian did a post-graduate fellowship at SBLS focusing on unemployment law and foreclosure prevention. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Arkansas Tech University and his Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University School of Law.

Richard Jean-Baptiste
Data and Administrative Coordinator, LegalHealth

Richard is the Data and Administrative Coordinator for LegalHealth, where he oversees data management, and works closely with the Director and Associate Director of LegalHealth to manage administrative operations of the unit. Prior to joining NYLAG, Richard was an Intake Manager at the Workforce1 Transportation Career Center, where he managed intake operations and assisted individuals with finding employment and career training. Richard received his undergraduate diploma in business administration from Berkeley College and his Master’s in Public Administration with honors from Long Island University.

Kevin Kenneally
Senior Staff Attorney/Supervising Attorney, General Legal Services and LegalHealth

Kevin is a Senior Attorney in Legal Health where he staffs our legal clinic at the Bronx VA Medical Center. He also has extensive experience in Social Security appeals. Before joining LegalHealth in 2003, Kevin spent three years in the public benefits unit at Legal Services of Greater Miami, specializing in Social Security disability law. He graduated from the University of Chicago and William and Mary Law School.

Nina Pejoves
Law Graduate, LegalHealth

Nina is in charge of the legal clinics at Montefiore Medical Center. Ms. Pejoves is a graduate from Boston College, where she interned with Senator John F. Kerry’s office and was involved with HIV/AIDS activism. She received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School, where she worked on employment discrimination issues as a legal intern with both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Legal Action Center. Ms. Pejoves was awarded the Brooklyn Law Students for the Public Interest Fellowship and the Edward V. Sparer Fellowship based on her commitment to public interest law.

Indiana Porta
Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow, LegalHealth and Immigrant Protection Unit

Indiana is an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow, and works in LegalHealth and the Immigration Protection Unit. She runs LegalHealth’s asylum clinic at The Libertas Center for Human Rights. Through the Immigration Protection Unit she provides direct representation on U-visas, VAWA self-petitions, family based petitions, and other immigration matters. Ms. Porta has interned at Ayuda, Inc. and Human Rights First, where she worked with victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and asylum seekers. Previously, she worked at Mosaic Family Services, a human rights organization that assists immigrants and refugees, and interned at the Center for Survivors of Torture and the League of Women Voters. She earned her B.A from Southern Methodist University and her Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law.

Regina Rivera
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Regina runs the legal clinic at Kings County Hospital.  Before joining LegalHealth in 2012, Regina volunteered with the Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino and clerked with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.  She graduated from California State University, San Bernardino and received her law degree from Chapman University School of Law, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar, Shropshire Group Scholar, and Chapman Law Public Interest Scholar.

Norma Tinubu
Senior Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Norma runs the legal clinics at Bellevue and Elmhurst Hospitals. She joined LegalHealth from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, where she specialized in immigration law and estate planning. Previously, she worked in investment law at TIAA-CREF. Norma is a graduate of Pace University and received her JD from Touro Law School.

Pamela van der Meulen
Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Cecelia Volk
Senior Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Cecelia runs the legal clinics at the Maimonides Medical Center and the Community Health Center of Richmond in Staten Island. She has extensive experience in immigration matters. Before joining LegalHealth in 2007, she was the Senior Immigration Staff Attorney in the Legal Services Department at Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Prior to that, Cecelia was the Senior Pro Se Staff Attorney as United States District Court of the Eastern District of New York. She received an undergraduate degree from Illinois State University and a Masters from Sarah Lawrence College. Cecelia received her JD from CUNY Law School.

Debra J. Wolf
Senior Staff Attorney, LegalHealth

Debra runs the legal clinics for cancer patients at Beth Israel Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, NYU Cancer Institute and the Ralph Lauren Center. Before joining LegalHealth in October 2005, she was in private practice, specializing in discrimination based on disability and private disability insurance coverage disputes. Debra previously served as Assistant Director of Legal Services and Advocacy for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. She is an adjunct associate law professor at Fordham University School of Law. Debra graduated from Westfield College and received her JD from Washington University School of Law.

Kate Wurmfeld
Senior Attorney, Matrimonial & Family Law Unit, LegalHealth

Kate is a senior staff attorney for the Matrimonial and Family Law and Legal Health Units at NYLAG. She is responsible for providing legal services and direct representation for victims of domestic violence in divorce, custody, orders of protection, support and immigration matters, as well as for providing consultations for attorneys and clients in the Legal Health Unit on all family law matters. In addition to providing direct legal services, Kate also supervises junior attorneys and law student interns and serves as a co-chair for the Lawyers Committee Against Domestic Violence.  Prior to attending law school, Kate was a volunteer at NYLAG and then returned as an intern in the Domestic Violence Clinical Center, further solidifying her commitment to public interest law and to NYLAG’s mission. Kate graduated from Seton Hall Law School in 2005 and worked for Proskauer Rose before returning to NYLAG in 2008 in her current capacity.