Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP, is pleased to share that our offices in New York and D.C. have continued to grow. This summer was particularly exciting as we were joined by three summer associates and five new paralegals.
K&F HOSTS THREE SUMMER ASSOCIATES
This year, we welcomed three summer associates, including two alums from our paralegal program who are now at Columbia Law School.
Emilie Klovning (left) returned to K&F as a summer associate, having worked as a K&F paralegal from 2017 to 2018. Emilie is a rising third-year student at Columbia Law School, where she serves as editor-in-chief of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. Emilie has been recognized by Columbia as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and she has received the Class of 1912 Prize, Dean’s Honors for Antitrust and Trade Regulation, and the Debevoise & Plimpton Student Writing Prize in Comparative and International Law (Best Note). Last summer, Emilie interned with a federal judge in Manhattan.
Michael Waalkes (center) will begin his third year at Boston University School of Law and anticipates graduating this coming May with both a JD and LLM in Tax Law. At Boston University, Michael serves as a staff member of the Review of Banking & Financial Law and as treasurer of the American Constitution Society. Last summer, Michael interned at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School in their Federal Tax Clinic, where he prepared U.S. Tax Court petitions and IRS administrative appeal requests, participated in a U.S. Tax Court case addressing novel jurisdictional issues, and assisted clients in completing personal financial statements and tax returns. Michael also worked pro bono for the Greater Boston Legal Services Consumer Rights Unit.
Tim Wang (right) returned to K&F as a summer associate, having worked as a K&F paralegal from 2017 to 2019. Notably, Tim served as the trial team paralegal during the firm’s representation of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Tim is entering his second year at Columbia Law School and is fresh off an internship in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. During his first year at Columbia, Tim was recognized as a James Kent Scholar, and received the Richard J. and Paul S. Lipson Prize (awarded to a top first-year student in Contracts), Dean’s Honors for Criminal Law, Dean’s Honors for Torts, and Dean’s Honors for Law & Legal Institutions in China. Tim has joined the staff of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, where Emilie is editor-in-chief.
FIVE NEW PARALEGALS JOIN K&F
The challenges presented by on-boarding new staff in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop us from expanding our paralegal program. We added five paralegals and stepped-up our training program.
Hannah Ambinder (left) graduated from Cornell University in May 2020, where she majored in Industrial and Labor Relations and received two minors in Law & Society and Crime, Prisons, Education, & Justice.
Jacquelyn A. Sideris (center) graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University in May 2018 with a double-major in Philosophy (with honors) and American Government. Jackie graduated with an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Arizona this past May.
Jas Singh (right) graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in May 2020, where she majored in English Literature, with a focus on South Asian colonial and postcolonial literature.
Hannah E. Weinstein (left) graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in May 2020 with a B.S. in psychology and a specialization in neuroscience.
Emma Westerhof (right) graduated from the University of Virginia in May of 2020, where she received a B.A. in Spanish, as well as a B.A. in Government-Foreign Affairs with Honors as one of six students in the 2018 Cohort of the Politics Honors Program.
Our 2020 incoming class of paralegals was introduced to our practice through a two-week training period that covered 30 subject areas in 23 hours of instruction. The courses were taught by K&F attorneys, senior paralegals, and specialists from Thomson Reuters Westlaw, Law360, DISCO, CCH/Wolters Kluwer Cheetah, and LexisNexis CaseMap.
The courses taught by K&F attorneys included:
- Introduction to the Legal Method – Claude M. Millman
- Security and Confidentiality – Sharon L. McCarthy
- Form 8300 Requirements and Penalties – Megan L. Brackney
- E-Discovery and Privilege Review – Basics and Best Practices – Stephen A. Josey
- ABC’s of the IRS (Or Everything You (N)ever Wanted to Know About Tax Procedure) – Megan L. Brackney
Other training topics included: Overview of Paralegal Responsibilities/General Policies; Timekeeping; Worldox; Sharefile; e-Fax; E-mail encryption; DocuSign; Searching on Legal Platforms (Westlaw, Law360, LexisNexis, PeopleMap); Microsoft Word for Legal Professionals; Drafting Memos; Power of Attorney forms; Captions, Notices of Appearance, and Affidavits of Service; e-Filing, ECF/PACER; Adobe for Legal Professionals; Tax Calculations/TaxInterest software; Citation Checking & Bluebooking; Website/Nationbuilder; Case Tracking & Management; Tax Court – e-Access; the Attorney Admissions Process; Document Indexing; the Basics of e-Discovery; Incorporation and Entity Filings; CaseMap; DISCO; and Cheetah.
A PARALEGAL PROGRAM ALUMNI REUNION
AT K&F’S IN-HOUSE ROUNDTABLE
The energy from the eight new arrivals was evident at K&F’s in-house roundtable about the law school application process, directed at those of our paralegals who plan to apply to law school. The program presented tips from the three K&F summer associates (Emilie, Michael, and Tim) and two K&F paralegal alums (Grant Fergusson, who is entering his second year at Harvard Law School and just finished a summer internship with the Federal Trade Commission, and Sam Leff, who is entering his second year at University of California, Irvine School of Law, and spent his summer as an intern with a federal Magistrate Judge). The roundtable panelists provided tips about taking the LSAT and advice about law school application personal essays. It was a wonderful reunion.
TWO GRADUATES OF THE K&F PARALEGAL PROGRAM
JOIN THE PROGRAM’S ALUMNI NETWORK
K&F is proud of its paralegal training program, which is why we’re so gratified that so many of them have left to head to some of the top law schools in the country and/or to pursue their dreams in other professional areas. We’re even more gratified when our paralegal alums return, which made welcoming Emilie and Tim as summer associates particularly exciting. We’re watching so many of our alums succeed, such as Anne Warnke (Stanford Law ’22) who spent her summer as an intern with the California Attorney General’s Office, Laura Zhu (NYU Law ’20) who is joining Kirkland & Ellis, and Madeline Hopper (Columbia Law ’18) who is now an attorney with the Shelby County Public Defender in Memphis, TN. Many of our current and former paralegals are now networking through a newly-formed LinkedIn group, which we created just for them.
Two of our paralegals graduated from our program this summer. They’re now part of our network of paralegal program alums.
Nathan Chael (left) has joined the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, from Nathan’s home state of New Mexico, where he’ll focus on climate and natural resources issues. Nathan graduated from Stanford University in May of 2019 with an M.S. in Earth Systems (Environmental Politics and Economics) and a B.A. with Distinction in Philosophy.
Madeline “Madie” Lee (right) is now employed by the Dwight-Englewood School in New Jersey as a Middle and Upper School Humanities Teacher and member of the school’s Diversity Committee. Madie graduated from Columbia University in May of 2018 with a B.A. in Political Science and Government (International Relations) and Human Rights.
