Rochester’s PSAP initiative going strong at 8 months

Launched in February 2017, the Federal Pro Se Assistance Program (PSAP) has been operating out of the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building each Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. Starting this fall, those hours have expanded to include Fridays, noon to 2 p.m. also.

The PSAP was started by U.S. District Court Judge William Skretny in 2013 in Buffalo as a
collaboration between the University at Buffalo School of Law and the U.S. District Court of the Western District of New York.

In order to expand to Rochester, VLSP joined the effort to help coordinate volunteers to staff the program walk-ins. In the months since February, approximately 42 pro se individuals have been helped in 18 sessions. With fall semester underway, there will be 22 sessions to staff. VLSP Staff Attorney Karen Chung is still recruiting experienced federal court litigators or appellate attorneys to help with PSAP through the fall.

Vicki Economou (Rochester) and Emily Stouffer-Quinn (Nunda) were the UB law students selected for the initial Rochester launch. Both commuted to Buffalo for classroom work, but the PSAP program gave them the opportunity to get face-to- face client experience.

Lindsay Hartley and Emma Molodetz, both from Rochester, were the UB Law participants through the summer term, and they are staffing the fall semester sessions as well.

More and more pro se litigants are seeking relief in federal court, and such cases provide unique learning opportunities for law students, while moving cases forward in the very over-scheduled district court.

Professor Bernadette Gargano, who teaches the pro se civil litigation practicum at UB Law,
explained: “Students screen unrepresentated litigants for financial eligibility for the program and gather background information for the volunteer attorneys who will in turn offer limited scope legal assistance on civil claims being pursued in the WDNY.”

The volunteer attorneys who have participated in the PSAP program in Rochester to date include: Siddarth Bahl (Brenna Brenna & Boyce), Jared Cook (Adams Bell Adams PC), Justin Cordello (Cordello Law PLLC), Joseph Gawlowicz (Trevett Cristo), Barbara Heyne (solo practice), Timothy Hoover (Hodgson Russ LLP), Cindy Lapoff (Trevett Cristo), Michael Ognenovski (Thomson Reuters), David Rothenberg (Geiger & Rothenberg LLP), Ernest Santoro (Ernest D. Santoro, Esq. PC), Mark Whitford (Barclay Damon LLP), and Lisa Paine(Fourth Department, Mental Hygiene).

Written by Nora A. Jones