NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION HONORS TOURO LAW DEAN WITH RUTH G. SCHAPIRO MEMORIAL AWARD

ALBANY, NY (01/29/2016)(readMedia)-- Patricia E. Salkin is the 2015 recipient of the Ruth G. Schapiro Memorial Award, given by the Committee on Women in the Law of the New York State Bar Association.

Salkin received the award on January 29 during the State Bar Association's Annual Meeting in New York City. It recognizes a State Bar member for outstanding contributions to addressing the concerns of women.

"Dean Salkin is a woman who embodies the spirit of the Ruth G. Shapiro Award," said Ellen G. Makofsky (Makofsky & Associates), co-chair of the Committee on Women in the Law. "The Committee on Women in the Law is honored to be able to recognize and highlight Patricia Salkin's many efforts on behalf of women."

Salkin, who is dean of Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center and interim provost of the Touro College Graduate and Professional Divisions, has consistently worked to advance the status of women in the legal profession. She contributed to the ABA's "Women Trailblazers in the Law" book, served as a liaison to the ABA Commission on Women in the Law and helped establish the country's first "Justice Patch Program" with the Girl Scouts of Suffolk County.

Past Chair of the State Bar's Municipal Law (now the Local and State Government) Section and founding member and past chair of the Committee on Attorneys in Public Service, Salkin has chaired numerous State Bar task forces, including government ethics, eminent domain, and town and village justice courts.

Salkin is a nationally recognized authority on land use and zoning law. She is a graduate of the University at Albany and Albany Law School, where she served for more than two decades as associate dean, director of the Government Law Center and as the Raymond & Ella

Smith Distinguished Professor of Law.

The award is named for the late Ruth G. Schapiro, a nationally regarded tax lawyer, who was the first woman partner at Proskauer. Active in the State Bar Association, she was the first chair of the Committee on Women in the Law, chair of the Tax Section and the Finance Committee, and one of the first women to serve on the Executive Committee. She died in 1991. The Ruth G. Schapiro Award was created in her honor in 1992.

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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