The ninth annual Above the Bar Awards ”” which recognizes the top attorneys in Westchester County ”” has named the six winners who will be honored June 4 at Pace Law School in White Plains.
Receiving the Pace Setter Award is Jerold R. Ruderman of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP; Most Socially Conscious Attorney is Natanya L. Briendel of Pace Women”™s Justice Center; Leading Health Care Attorney is Gary S. Sastow of Brown, Gruttadaro, Gaujean, Prato PLLC; Leading Real Estate Attorney is Frank S. McCullough Jr. of McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt LLP; and Most Promising Pace Law Student is Leigh Ellis.
Ruderman has been a managing partner of Wilson Elser”™s White Plains office for 18 years. He also served as a member of the firm”™s executive committee and of its operations group until his retirement and transition to of counsel in 2008. He also serves as chairman of the Grievance Committee for the Ninth Judicial District, is a member of the chief judge”™s statewide Grievance Review Committee, and serves on the Cornell University board of trustees and the Pace University Law School board of visitors.
Briendel is a senior staff attorney with the Pace Women”™s Justice Center. She has served as chair of the Westchester Women”™s Bar Association”™s Domestic Violence Ad Hoc Committee.
Sastow, who has been practicing law for 23 years, deals extensively with health care law and is co-chair of the Westchester County Bar Association Health Law Committee. Before establishing his own firm, Sastow was associated with other firms including being of counsel to Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz PC and a partner at Cooperman Lester Miller LLP.
McCullough has served both as chairman and a trustee of the New York Power Authority and is a past president of the Economic Power Allocation Board of the State of New York. He has also served as a member of the board of trustees of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Ellis, a third-year student at Pace, is also a pro bono scholar in the child advocacy unit of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. She has served as both a president of and a secretary for the National Lawyers Guild. She served as a student attorney for the Neighborhood Justice Clinic of John Jay legal Services and as a legal intern for the immigration unit of Legal Services NYC.
Alfred B. DelBello, the former Yonkers mayor, Westchester county executive and lieutenant governor of New York and the late husband of Westchester County Business Journal Publisher Dee DelBello, will receive a special recognition at the ceremony. A graduate of Fordham Law School, DelBello was a practicing attorney with White Plains-based DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten & Wiederkehr, and was a member of the firm”™s executive committee and a member of the land use and zoning and government relations practice groups.
The keynote speaker for the event is Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman. The former commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Friedman has served as Pace president since 2007. Prior to being named university president, Friedman also served for three years as dean of Pace Law School.
Gary M. Karlitz, practice leader of valuation services at Citrin Cooperman, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event.
In addition to the Westchester County Business Journal and Pace Law School, the event is sponsored by Citrin Cooperman, Westchester County Bar Association and Westchester Women”™s Bar Association.
“Citrin Cooperman is looking forward to the ninth annual Above the Bar Awards celebrating the achievements of the top lawyers in Westchester County,” said Alan G. Badey, managing partner of Citrin Cooperman”™s White Plains office. “All of the winners and nominees have represented the highest standards of excellence in the legal community ”” congratulations to all.”
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the school”™s White Plains campus on North Broadway. To register, contact Holly DeBartolo at hdebartolo@westfairinc.com or 914-358-0743.
