Benjamin P. Flavin, ESQ
233 Fifth Avenue, suite 4A
(917) 579-5220
New York, New York 10016
EDUCATION
City University of New York School of Law, Flushing, NY, Juris Doctorate, May 2009
Activities: Student Government Representative (elected), student representative, Committee of Committees (appointed); CUNY Student Senate Representative (elected); Irish Law Students Association; Class of 2009 Gift Committee; Pieper New York Bar Review Representative (paid)
Honors: Shanara Gilbert Summer Fellowship, offer extended; Summer 2008 Charles H. Revson Law Student Public Interest Fellowship Grant; R.A. to Writing Center Director Professor Susan Markus; R.A. to CED Clinic Director Carmen Huertas
St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY; Bachelor of Arts in English Writing, May 1998
Activities: “The Hill News”, Editor, Staff-Writer; Varsity Wrestling; Rugby Club
EXPERIENCE
SOLO PRACTICE Spr. 2010 – Present
Attorney at Law: Represented and counseled not-for-profit organizations, small business, and artists through strategic planning, capacity building, incorporation and various other legal issues; drafted wills; represented sellers of co-op apartments
Interim Executive Director, Project Remain Nos Quedamos: (June – July 2010) Served as an interim executive director for a housing legal assistance non-profit; managed office, board development, strategic planning and hiring process for new executive director
CUNY SCHOOL OF LAW Spr. 2010 – Present
Special Projects Manager, Community Legal Resource Network (“CLRN”): Performed project management tasks such as monitoring and tracking of CLRN initiatives; supervision of contractors; fundraising and program development
Non- Faculty Adjunct, CLRN: Developed strategies to advance and support community-based Access to Justice initiatives throughout NYC; helped to identify resources to promote economic viability for attorneys in solo and small firms and not-for-profit legal services; developed and implemented CLRN activities with local and state politicians, city and state economic development corporations and other governmental agencies; created training and Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) on business management for solo and small firm practitioners
NYS State Office of the Attorney General, Real Estate Finance Bureau Spr. 2008 – Spr. 2010
Volunteer Assistant Attorney General: Wrote internal memoranda and decisions for escrow disputes, reviewed and edited request for “No-Action”; reviewed complaints on various housing development projects in New York City
Legal Aide and Summer Intern: Extensive legal research on the breadth of the Office of the Attorney General’s jurisdiction under the Martin Act, extensive legal research on affordable housing issues; involved in sponsor mediations; reviewed offering plan amendments
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FELLOW Fall 2009
Serve in the Volunteer Attorney and Volunteer Lawyer for a Day programs as a recent law graduate; jointly sponsored by CUNY School of Law’s Community Legal Resource Network and the New York State Unified Court System, primarily to assist clients lacking legal representation in housing court; assisted start-up non-profits in board development, tax-exemption filings and organizational structure.
MAIN STREET LEGAL SERVICES, CUNY School of Law Fall 2008 – Spr. 2009
Community Land Trust Advising: Organized, evaluated and archived a local community land trust’s legal documents including regulatory agreements, deeds, land disposition agreements, ground leases, subordination agreements, by-laws in order to determine which regulatory agency’s documents supersede and determine the rights and responsibilities of the community land trust’s board of directors
Housing Clinic Development: Implemented a feasibility study for a housing clinic division of Main Street Legal Services; collaborated with third year students and professors on a strategy to address stakeholders, community need, and scope of services to be provided
Externship, Urban Justice Center: Researched and developed alternatives for small businesses relocated away from downtown Brooklyn, and researched various issues of consumer and commercial law; wrote litigation papers
REPRESENTING A NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION Spr.2008
Fourth Semester Lawyering Seminar: Thorough study of Not-for-Profit law and the evolution and corporatization of charities beginning with the first English charity laws enacted in 1601 through the present; studied the structure of a local not-for-profit including interviews with board members and directors, and wrote paper analyzing the organization’s board involvement, corporate structure and financial growth
INDEPENDENT PROJECT Spring 2008-Spr 2009
“The Housing Crisis and Mitchell-Lama”
Independently researched and wrote a paper on recent U.S. lending practices as it relates to affordable housing loss; described the Mitchell-Lama Cooperative housing program and the existing and affordable housing units being lost through “opt-outs” and corporate dissolution. Researched legal issues concerning Mitchell Lama cooperatives housing including dissolution, privatization, Board of Director responsibilities under the Business Corporation Law, Shareholder rights under the Business Corporation Law, and the authority and responsibility of regulatory agencies; Compiled and organized case law, statutes and regulations concerning these issues
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB)
New York, NY 2002-2006
Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan TIL/HDFC Borough Director: Supervised team providing technical assistance, training and organizing to more than 300 limited-equity housing cooperatives and tenant associations in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn under a contract with the City of New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”); involved with capacity building, leadership development, financial management training, and internal mediation. Wrote daily reports. Edited and compiled monthly reports. Collaborated with HPD staff and management and other non-profits
Director of Training: Wrote, tested and administered training program for tenant associations in development pipeline to become limited-equity HDFC co-ops; facilitated UHAB’s T4T©, a week-long program training facilitators to use the Small Group Training Method
AmeriCorps VISTA Tenant Organizer
Performed grassroots tenant organizing in fringe neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx around housing issues, primarily including homeownership opportunities for tenants in distressed buildings
PEACE CORPS 1999 – 2001
Community Training Center Manager, Tamabacounda, Senegal, West Africa: Served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural areas of the Southeastern region of Senegal; Managed one of five training centers in Senegal; Facilitated community training; including youth groups, women’s groups, farmers, local government officials, and local businesses. Positions included: Village based Agriculture Extension Agent; Community Training Center Manager; Editor, “The Volunteer Exchange”; Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA) Trainer
SKILLS/MEMBERSHIPS
Proficient in verbal and written Wolof; Proficient in Westlaw and LexisNexis; Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Certified Divemaster; Member, New York State Bar Association; Member, New York City Lawyer’s Association; Admitted to the Bar, New York State Second Department, 2010
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