Christine Clemens, Esq. Finkelstein & Partners, LLP 1279 Route 300, P.O. Box 1111 Newburgh, NY 12551 cclemens@lawampm.com (646) 253-4762 Christine Khalili-Borna Clemens joined the firm in October 2012 after trading in the Los Angeles sun for the pizza and bagels of New York. She specializes in Veterans Benefits Appeals. After having received her JD from the University of Michigan Law School and Masters in Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in 2008, Christine began her career as an Equal Justice Works/AmeriCorps Legal Fellow in the Homelessness Prevention Law Project at Public Counsel in Los Angeles. After her fellowship, Christine stayed on to work as a staff attorney in Public Counsel s Homelessness Prevention Law Project, and later, its Center for Veterans Advancement. At Public Counsel, Christine ran a legal advocacy program throughout Los Angeles County on-site at fourteen different Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) office to reach out to hungry and homeless individuals in need of legal advice, connection to vital resources, and advocacy assistance. Christine also started up and coordinated numerous weekly legal clinics and provided direct legal service at a variety of organizations serving homeless youth, families, individuals, and Veterans. In addition to her legal advocacy, Christine engaged in policy advocacy on issues of homelessness and public assistance with the County of Los Angeles. In 2010, Christine started up a medical-legal partnership with SHIELDS for Families Healthy Start Program and St. John s Well Child and Family Center, to promote better health outcomes for pregnant and parenting mothers in South Los Angeles. Christine also coordinated Los Angeles County s Homeless Court Program. In 2012, Christine began working with homeless Veterans on their benefits and general legal issues. Christine is very passionate about working with Veterans and is thrilled to continue her work with them at Finkelstein and Partners. Recently, Christine was selected to present at a National Organization of Veterans Advocates, Inc. (NOVA) Conference. Christine's presentation, "A critical feature of every award is the effective date," was designed to help attorneys understand the general rules governing effective dates and to provide tools to analyze whether VA assigned the correct effective date for an award of benefits.
Peter A. Kempner, Esq. Volunteers of Legal Services 40 Worth Street, Suite 820 New York, NY 10013 pkempner@volsprobono.org (347) 521-5704 Peter Kempner is the Director of the Elderly project at Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS), where he has worked since May 2018. Prior to working at VOLS he was the Director of the Veterans Justice Project and Deputy Director of the Housing Unit at Brooklyn Legal Services, where he has worked from September 2001 until May 2018. Mr. Kempner worked in the Comprehensive Rights/HIV Unit from 2001 until 2011 where he provided general legal services to clients who are HIV positive. In May 2011, Mr. Kempner help found the Veterans Justice Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services, an innovative general legal services practice focusing on veterans, active duty military personal and their families. He received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in 2001 and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2002. He received his B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York College at Purchase in 1996 and he received an M.A. in Political Management from the Graduate School of Political Management at the George Washington University in 1998. Mr. Kempner s work focuses on a population based approach to legal services, and he has served as a member of the Social Welfare Law Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Kempner served as the Chairperson of the Social Welfare Law Committee from 2013 until 2016. Mr. Kempner is admitted to practice in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. He served on the advisory committee to the Brooklyn Veteran Treatment Court, was a member of the New York State Bar Association s Committee on Veterans and is accredited by the VA. He is also an adjunct clinical professor at New York Law School where he has co-taught their Veterans Justice Clinic since 2015.
Nancy Y. Morgan, Esq. Finkelstein & Partners, LLP 1279 Route 300, P.O. Box 1111 Newburgh, NY 12551 nmorgan@lawampm.com (845) 563-9587 Nancy Y. Morgan is a Partner and Director of Legal Operations at Finkelstein and Partners in Newburgh, NY. Nancy graduated from the Lois D. Brandeis School of Law at University of Louisville in 1986 and joined Finkelstein & Partners in early 1987. In the first five years with the firm, Nancy took over 45 verdicts. Between 1991 1996, Nancy accompanied her Active Duty Army husband when he was transferred out of state. During those five years, she worked at Colorado Interstate Gas Company (Coastal) in Colorado Springs, Colorado where she was a senior trial attorney. She then worked at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, PA where she developed the national litigation protocol for an asbestos product used in ship building. Nancy s practice area expertise spans personal injury law, but she also has a specialized focus on negligent supervision, lack of security, and ski cases. Her recognitions include: the designation of Super Lawyer, National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and has a top (AV) rating by Martindale. Nancy is the founder of the Veterans Services Group and she administers the firm s mentoring and Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs. In 2008, Nancy started the Veterans Services Group at Finkelstein and Partners and Fine, Olin and Anderman. Nancy and her husband settled in New York when he was assigned to the Staff & Faculty at West Point. When he retired after 24 years of service, Nancy, a career Army spouse, witnessed firsthand how her husband had to fight for his Veterans disability benefits. His struggles inspired her to find a way to continue to serve others by assisting Veterans who were also struggling with the process of applying and being awarded the proper Veteran s benefits they deserved. When the law changed to allow attorneys to assist Veterans with this process, she travelled to Washington D.C., and attended every available training option. Driven by her passion and under her supervision, the Veterans Services Group (VSG) at Finkelstein and Partners has developed into a national practice. The team collaborated with the National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA) to write the Amicus brief for the U.S. Supreme Court in the Henderson case. Her VSG team has helped hundreds of Veterans obtain the benefits they deserve. The VSG regularly volunteers to provide information and pro bono services for many events and clinics throughout the year and continue to work to assist Veterans and their families obtain the benefits they have earned. As the Director for the Finkelstein and Partners Center for CLE program, Nancy has coordinated more than a dozen free programs each year. Judges and attorneys have
been recruited to add to the in-house expertise to help train and develop attorneys in a wide variety of topics. The program presenters have come from a myriad of locations as well as specialties. The CLE Center was established in 1999 and continues to offer approved mandatory CLE credits for attorneys licensed in NY, NJ and PA. The program helps practitioners maintain and enhance the skills, techniques and procedures essential to the practice of law.
Stephen C. Lessard, Esq. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 51 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 slessard@orrick.com (212) 506-5137 Stephen Lessard, an associate in Orrick's New York office, is a member of the Tax Group. Steve focuses his practice on the taxation of debt and equity offerings, crossborder transactions, tax controversy, and municipal finance. He also has experience counseling nonprofit organizations on federal tax law and corporate governance. Prior to joining Orrick, Steve was a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy.