ABOUT THE REPORTERS

Sherry K. Cohen served as first deputy chief counsel to New York’s Departmental Disciplinary Committee (DDC), First Department, Appellate Division (2003–10) and as staff attorney (1993–2003). Prior to joining the DDC, she was a litigation associate at Schulte Roth & Zabel. She graduated from Hofstra University School of Law with honors, including membership in the Hofstra Law Review. In her tenure at the DDC, Mrs. Cohen concentrated on matters involving substandard representation and unauthorized practice in the immigration area. Her notable immigration discipline cases include Matter of Wilens and Baker, Matter of Muto, and Matter of Rodkin. Ms. Cohen is a former member of the Honorable Robert Katzman (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) Immigration Study Group. Although no longer practicing law, Ms. Cohen has participated in numerous CLE programs on attorney ethics and published an article in the New York Law Journal entitled Professional Discipline: The Immigration Lawyer’s Nightmare (Jan. 31, 2013). Ms. Cohen served as reporter for the AILA Ethics Compendium from 2012 through 2017, drafting chapters covering ABA model rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.14, 1.16, 1.18, 3.3, 4.1, 5.3 and 5.5.

Professor Theo Liebmann teaches ethics at Hofstra Law School, where he is the Executive Director of the Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics and has directed Hofstra’s Youth Advocacy Clinic since its inception. Professor Liebmann regularly conducts trainings on ethical issues and on the overlap of immigration matters and family court proceedings. He has written law review articles and legal journal columns on ethical challenges in the representation of children, how ethical mandates affect the representation of immigrant children and families in state courts, and the ethical use of case studies to achieve social justice goals. In his capacity as Attorney-in-Charge of the Youth Advocacy Clinic, Professor Liebmann works with law students to advocate on behalf of youth involved in the immigration and family court legal systems. Professor Liebmann and his students have represented hundreds of immigrant children in dependency and guardianship cases in family and appellate courts, as well as in immigration courts. Professor Liebmann co-chairs a New York State Council that has issued statewide guidance related to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a form of immigration relief for immigrant children who have been subjected to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or similar family crises; U-Visas, a pathway to lawful status for victims of crimes who cooperate with courts and other government agencies; and Adverse Immigration Consequences to Family Court Adjudications. Professor Liebmann is on the editorial board of the Family Court Review and serves as a Special Advisor to the American Bar Association Commission on Youth at Risk. Professor Liebmann received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE COMPENDIUM

AILA Ethics Committee
Cyrus Mehta, Chair 2012–2016, 2023–2024
Alan Goldfarb, Chair 2016–2018
Kenneth Craig Dobson, Chair 2018-2021
Michele Carney, Chair 2022–2023

AILA Practice & Professionalism Center
Reid Trautz, Senior Director
Charity Anastasio, Practice and Ethics Counsel
Erin Lynum, Pro Bono Program Manager
Maheen Taqui, Associate

Board of Advisors
Michael Patrick
Helena Younossi
Philip Schrag
Nathan Crystal
Jojo Annobil
Cyrus Mehta
Kaylin Whittingham
Sherry Cohen