Monday, June 11, 2001 NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL/WESTCHESTER EDITION
Pace Resource Center Assists Town Officials
WHITE PLAINSAnyone, lawyer or not, who has needed to refer to a town code knows what a hassle it can be to obtain a copy. And comparing ordinances from different towns can lie even more frustrating.
One resource that Westchester localities have come to rely on is the Edwin G. Michaelian Municipal Law Resource Center at Pace University here.
The center "provides legal research services to cities, towns and villages in Westchester and to the law firms who represent them," explained Lester D: Steinman, director of the center.
Local governments pay an annual subscription fee ranging from $750 to $1,500, depending on their size: The fee for law firms is $'750 a year. Subscribers are entitled to an. unlimited number of research requests as well as access to the center's library at One Martine Avenue in White Plains where town codes are, kept.
Every two months, the center puts out a newsletter, "Municipal lawyer;" which is copublished by the Municipal Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; The center offers seminars throughout the year and a oneyear training program for local government officials in Japan.
"The Municipal Law Resource center is absolutely a phenomenal resource for all of the towns," said Eastchester Town Attorney Gerald S. Jacobs, a .practitioner at the Law Offices of Gerald S. Jacobs also in Eastchester.
"Lester is like having a legal encyclopedia on municipal. issues," added Martha Conforti, village attorney, for Pelham and a practitioner at Conforti & Tarcher also in Pelham. Mr. Steinman's institutional knowledge of
various localities' approaches to problems are invaluable, she said.
"In contrast to prior experience working with a community of lawyers in a large law office where you could bounce ideas off people and take shortcuts in research, you don't have that when you are the only lawyer representing a town," said, one local government lawyer.
"The Municipal Law Resource Center woks well because you don't have to spend a lot of time re-creating the wheel,” Ms. Conforti said. Rather, subscribers can just telephone Mr. Steinman and his staff and pose their questions.
The center is the legal affiliate of the Edwin G. Michaelian Institute for Public Policy and Management, at Pace. The Institute, currently under the directorship of Anthony A. Cupaiuolo, will get a new leader on Sept. 1 when Brian Nickerson, a professor at Iona College and a graduate of Pace University School of Law, will succeed Mr. Cupaiuolo.
More information about the Municipal haw Resource Center is available at http://www.pace.edu/dyson/mlrc/
or by telephoning (914) 422-4304. The center’s library is open to the public during business hours.
- Lori Tripoli