Uniondale, Long Island, New York, November 13, 2006 – Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, P.C. announced today that Douglas A. Cooper, co-managing partner of the firm and a senior member of the litigation department has, together with family members Jerry Cooper and Dorothy Cooper, endowed The Cooper Family Chair in Urban Legal Issues at Fordham Law School. Douglas Cooper is Fordham Law Class of 1972 and Jerry Cooper is Fordham Law Class of 1953. The Chair is designed to advance scholarship in the area of urban legal issues, an area of particular interest to the Cooper family.
Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Matthew Diller is the first occupant of the chair. He earned both his A.B. and J.D. at Harvard University. He served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and clerked for the late Hon. Walter R. Mansfield, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the Fordham Law faculty in 1993, he was a staff attorney in the Civil Appeals and Law Reform Unit of the Legal Aid Society. Dean Diller is a leading expert on poverty law, with a focus on pubic benefits and disability law.
“We are delighted to have Dean Diller as chair of the Cooper Chair in Urban Legal Issues. His deep understanding of the complex intersection of legal theory and social science, and the consequences of governmental action in people’s lives, is profound,” noted Douglas Cooper. “My family and I are proud to participate in Fordham Law’s initiative to bring legal academia to the fore in a relevant and dynamic way, and hope the insights gained as a result of Dean Diller’s work will help improve people’s lives.”
Cooper has vast experience in general commercial litigation. He has tried numerous such cases in both the federal and state courts. In addition, he has argued appeals in the New York State Court of Appeals, the Appellate Divisions of the First, Second and Third Departments of the New York State Supreme Court, as well as in the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
Cooper has been involved in civic and political matters for many years. He is a past President of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association and past Chairman of the New Rochelle Public Library Foundation. He is also one of twelve members of the Board of Advisors of the Center for Crisis Public Relations and Litigation Studies at Lehigh University. In 2005, he was named to the board of trustees of The Nature Conservancy, Long Island Chapter. In 2006, he was named to the national board of The WILD Foundation.
For more than 35 years, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, headquartered in Uniondale, has built a reputation as one of the region’s leading providers of innovative legal services. Its attorneys are practical, experienced advocates who measure their success by their clients’ success. Cornerstone groups in all major practice areas of the law are represented at the firm, including corporate & securities, financial services, commercial litigation, intellectual property, health care, real estate, employment and trusts & estates. Through its independent arm, Island Strategies, lobbying services are provided at all governmental levels. Clients include large and mid-sized corporations, privately held businesses, institutions and individuals.