NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ELECTS 2016-2017 OFFICERS

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Sharon Stern Gerstman

ALBANY, NY (02/03/2016)(readMedia)-- Sharon Stern Gerstman of Buffalo was named president-elect designee of the 74,000-member New York State Bar Association.

The House of Delegates, the Association's governing body, elected Gerstman during the 139th Annual Meeting in Manhattan. She begins a one-year term as president-elect on June 1, 2016 and will become president on June 1, 2017.

Current President-elect Claire P. Gutekunst of Yonkers assumes the presidency on June 1, 2016, succeeding David P. Miranda of Albany (Heslin Rothenberg Farley and Mesiti).

Ellen G. Makofsky of Garden City (Makofsky & Associates) was elected secretary a third time for another one-year term. Scott M. Karson of Melville was elected treasurer.

Sharon Stern Gerstman

Gerstman is of counsel to Magavern Magavern Grimm in Buffalo. She concentrates her practice in the areas of mediation and arbitration, and appellate practice.

A 34-year member of the State Bar and currently its treasurer, Gerstman previously served on the Executive Committee as an Eighth Judicial District vice-president. She is a member of the House of Delegates, Finance Committee, Civil Practice Laws & Rules Committee, Dispute Resolution Section, and Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law Section.

She was chair of the Committee on Civil Practice Law & Rules and the Special Committee on Lawyer Advertising and Lawyer Referral Services. She previously co-chaired the Task Force on E-Filing and the Special Committee on Strategic Planning. She also served on the American Bar Association Board of Governors for three years and is a member of the ABA's House of Delegates.

A resident of Amherst, Gerstman graduated from Brown University and earned her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She received a master's degree from Yale Law School.

Scott M. Karson

Scott M. Karson, a vice-president on the Executive Committee for the 10th Judicial District, is a partner of Lamb & Barnosky. He concentrates his practice on trial and appellate litigation, as well as municipal, civil rights, commercial, real property, personal injury and criminal litigation.

A member of the State Bar's House of Delegates, Karson is chair of the Audit Committee and a past chair of the Committee on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction. He is a member of the President's Committee on Access to Justice, Committee on Leadership Development and the Committee to Review Judicial Nominations. A past president of the Suffolk County Bar Association, Karson is vice chair of the Board of Directors of Nassau Suffolk Law Services. He is also a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and the American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers.

Karson graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and earned his law degree cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law. He is a resident of Stony Brook.

Profiles of the State Bar's current officers can be viewed at http://www.nysba.org/CustomTemplates/SecondaryStandard.aspx?id=27268

The 74,000-member New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. It was founded in 1876.

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