Retired Judge Renee R. Roth Joins McLaughlin & Stern

McLaughlin & Stern, LLP is very pleased to announce that the Honorable Renee R. Roth, New York County Surrogate for the past 26 years until her retirement on December 31, 2008, will become Of Counsel to the firm on May 1, 2009.

During her tenure as Surrogate, Judge Roth issued 132 reported opinions, many addressing novel issues, including, e.g., the rights of children born through in vitro fertilization, the rights of non-marital fathers in adoption cases and the reformation of wills to maximize tax benefits for the estate. She was also responsible for developing and implementing the process for expediting the issuance of death certificates in the aftermath of the 9/11/01 attack on the World Trade Center. Before her election to the Surrogate’s Court in 1982, Judge Roth served for 13 years as Law Assistant and Referee in the Kings County Surrogate’s Court.

Judge Roth graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1961 from the City College of New York, and received her J.D. in 1969 from the Fordham University School of Law, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor teaching Estate Administration. She is Chair of the Surrogate’s Court Advisory Committee of the Office of Court Administration, a Director of the Fordham Law School Alumni Association, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Surrogate’s Association of the State of New York. She also serves as a Judicial Hearing Officer in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Term. She is a frequent lecturer in New York State and around the country, and for many years authored the New York Law Journal column, “Wills, Estates and Surrogate’s Practice.”

“I have known Judge Roth since her days in Brooklyn, and we are excited to have a jurist of her experience and prominence join McLaughlin & Stern,” said T. Randolph Harris, co-chair of the firm’s Trust & Estate Department. Adds co-chair David R. Stack: “She brings unparalleled expertise that will be of great value to our clients.”

Judge Roth observed: “Having spent my entire career in the Surrogate’s Court system, I look forward to a new challenge in private practice. I am particularly delighted to join a firm having such a strong commitment to the area that I love.”

McLaughlin & Stern is a general practice law firm of 70 lawyers in New York City, Milbrook, New York and West Palm Beach, Florida. Based on its 17 partners and counsel, the firm’s Trust and Estate Department is the largest in the New York area.