Client Protection Fund Trustees Reappointed

(Albany, NY 1/20/99) The Court of Appeals has made two appointments to the Board of Trustees of the New York Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, a government trust fund financed by New York's legal profession to protect clients and legal consumers from the misuse of their money in the practice of law.

Eleanor Breitel Alter of New York City has been re-appointed to a three-year term as a Trustee. Mrs. Alter is a partner in the Manhattan law firm of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman where she specializes in family law and litigation. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Columbia Law School, and has served as Trustee of the Lawyers' Fund since 1983.

Mrs. Alter has chaired the fund's Board of Trustees since 1985. Her professional affiliations include the American Law Institute; Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York State Bar Association, New York County Lawyers Association; and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the New York Law Journal.

The Court has re-appointed Shirley B. Waters of the City of Rome in Oneida County, to a three-year term as Trustee. Mrs. Waters is not a lawyer. She is Vice-President of the Rome Sentinel Company, publisher of Rome's Daily Sentinel newspaper.

Mrs. Waters is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees and studies in fine arts and journalism. Her civic and professional affiliations include the New York State Newspapers Foundation, of which she is Vice Chair; National League of American Pen Women; Institute of Technology Foundation at Utica/Rome; Board of Leadership Mohawk Valley; and the Chamber of Commerce in Rome.

The Lawyers' Fund was created by the State Legislature in 1981. The fund is administered by seven trustees appointed by New York high court. The Trustees, five lawyers and two community leaders, are non-salaried. Each year they provide eligible victims of lawyer theft with upwards of $8 million in reimbursement. The offices of the Lawyers' Fund are located in Albany. Telephone 800-442-3863.

-30-