McLaughlin & Stern, LLP

Biography

Mr. Farren has been a member of the firm since 1990.
He is a general practitioner with experience in real estate, tax, environmental, health, corporate, administrative and trusts and estates law. In 1994 he was appointed by Governor Pataki to head the transition team on environmental issues in New York State. In 1995, he organized a task force to create a "green building" tax credit for New York State which was enacted into law in 1999.

Mr. Farren is a graduate of Yale University (1968) and Harvard Law School (1971). He began his legal career at Dewey, Ballantine in New York City as an associate in its trusts and estates department. In 1977 he joined the practice of Charles Korn to handle Mr. Korn's estate practice, but soon thereafter was introduced to Mr. Korn's active real estate practice, and in 1982, upon Mr. Korn's closure of his office, he joined the firm of Friedman, Leeds & Shorenstein, representing primarily real estate developers and tax shelter syndicators.

After joining McLaughlin & Stern, he was appointed by the New York County Supreme Court to mediate more than twenty cases and successfully settled more than two-thirds of those cases. In addition he has served as an arbitrator on a number of occasions, including a recent AAA panel. Recently, he has become involved in a number of litigations, most of which are real estate related.

For his work related to environmental matters, he was named a Super Lawyer in 2009. He currently serves as the co-chairman of the endorsement committee for the New York League of Conservation Voters as well as on its policy committee. He was recently named to the New York Audobon Society Steering Committee.

In the health care field, Mr. Farren serves on the Advisory Board of Medefile, Inc., a public company which has developed a proprietary personal electronic medical record platform that is being actively marketed to HMOs and insurers.

He lives in Manhattan on the West Side with his wife, Ellen. He is currently a board member of the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York, the nation's oldest independent men's chorus, having previously served as its president for three years. He is also a board member of the co-op in which he lives and a member of the Advisory Board of the Soldiers', Sailors', Marines' and Airmen's Club in Manhattan.