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Proskin Law Firm Since 1977 the Proskin Law Firm has been serving the legal needs of residents and businesses throughout N.Y.'s Capital Region and beyond.

It seems everyone has an opinion on the “Cornell 7” case. So many people are either blaming the woman completely or putt...
10/20/2026

It seems everyone has an opinion on the “Cornell 7” case. So many people are either blaming the woman completely or putting at least some fault on her. Even someone know and respect has told me that the woman should not have gone to the party if she was drunk and drugged - that she knew what she was risking. I was dumbfounded hearing that. Just because someone has consumed alcohol does not give others permission to attack her. Just because a woman may be dressed in a certain way does not mean she is giving permission to be r***d. If she was doing drugs, it does not equal consent to be abused. Those are not contributing factors. How about blaming the people who committed the attack?

If the woman consumed too much alcohol and/or was high on substances she might have expected to get sick or to pass out. She should not have expected to be gang r***d. In fact, the law recognizes that if someone is unable to give consent (due to intoxication, drugs, or other factors), they are unable to give consent, making the act by definition non-consensual. Nowhere does it say that the clothing the victim was wearing matters or that she went to the party voluntarily. These factors may have made it easier for the predators to act, but they do not excuse their actions. I believe that it actually magnifies the evil of their actions.

Victim blaming is as old as time, and it has been and will continue to always be wrong. None of the circumstances involving the physical or mental state of the woman are legitimate excuses for the actions of the men who chose to attack her. In fact, her defenselessness makes their actions even worse. These men have every right to defend themselves, and should certainly get due process. However, they don’t get a pass from me. If the victim's accusations are accurate, the behavior of the seven men accused was repugnant, and I can’t think of anything to mitigate it.

Despite her fame and fortune, actress Hayden Panettiere died without a will. She left behind an 11 -year-old daughter wh...
10/15/2026

Despite her fame and fortune, actress Hayden Panettiere died without a will. She left behind an 11 -year-old daughter who, under the laws of intestacy, will inherit her entire estate. Seems simple enough, except that the daughter and her father live in Ukraine. The dad, former boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, has petitioned to be the guardian of the estate to ensure that his daughter’s interests are protected.

In the meantime, there are accusations that someone in California, where Panettiere lived, has sold some pieces of the actress's jewelry and other personal items to a pawn shop. No one has the right to do anything with assets belonging to a decedent. In fact, it is illegal to remove anything from an estate, without express permission of the executor/administrator/personal representative. In this case, no one has yet been appointed to that role, so anything taken from the estate is problematic. In addition, the beneficiary lives so far away it may be difficult to keep track of the assets.

It's always important that a beneficiary’s interest are protected and an estate is kept whole. In this case, I imagine the court will appoint someone to do so - sooner than later. I would expect the father of the beneficiary will be appointed and his attorney or other representative in California will need to keep a proper eye on the estate, including tracking down the pawned property and filing charges against whoever raided the assets of the estate.

"Boys will be boys." "We don’t want to ruin their lives forever". "It was just one bad decision." These are just some of...
10/13/2026

"Boys will be boys." "We don’t want to ruin their lives forever". "It was just one bad decision." These are just some of the phrases used when a youngish male walks away with a slap on the wrist for illegal activity that someone else would likely pay a much higher price for.

It happened with Stanford University student Brock Turner. Remember him? Back in 2015 he assaulted and r***d an unconscious woman until two people came upon the scene and stopped him. The facts of the case were horrific. However, the judge stated he did not want to ruin Turner's life, so he sentenced him to only six months in county jail. The possible sentence for his acts was 14 years. Boys will be boys.

This same thing happened with the suddenly high-profile Cornell University r**e case. Two years later decisions by authorities are now being revisited. The university chose to hand down slap on the wrist punishments to most of the accused, and the victim withdrew from the school. Once again, there are statements from officials saying they didn’t want one bad decision to destroy the futures of the young men involved.

This same "reasoning" has been used when potential justices were confronted with allegations of prior actions, CEOs and leadership faced accusations of inappropriate behavior, and even when a tape was released of admissions by a presidential candidate. This excuse is used at every level to minimize and downplay illegal and heinous actions.

Applying this excuse prevents change from occurring — and exposes a failure of the system. Individuals need to be held accountable for their actions, despite any and all potential negative ramifications. This does not mean that I don't believe in forgiveness. But what I believe above all is responsibility. In all of the above examples, holding people accountable for their actions would have changed so much more than the penalty imposed.

All legal cases are unique, each with mitigating circumstances. I will never believe in or support a blanket exception for young men who make bad decisions. Period.

10/12/2026

Just a reminder — the office is closed today in observance of the Columbus Day holiday. We will reopen tomorrow beginning at 8:30am.

Back when I was a young lawyer, it was very clear what could and shouldn't be worn into a courtroom. I would never wear ...
10/08/2026

Back when I was a young lawyer, it was very clear what could and shouldn't be worn into a courtroom. I would never wear pants and always had a jacket or blazer on. Male attorneys always wore suits. Even sport coats and dress pants were frowned upon. I remember one time I got called into court unexpectedly, and I had pants on. I apologized to the judge, and he told me that he knew it was an unscheduled appearance and so not to worry about it. Overall, there was a clear, if unwritten, dress code.

While times have changed, there is still a certain dress code that most lawyers adhere to in order to show respect to the court and those in it. This situation has come to light in Texas, where a young lawyer was recently reprimanded by a judge for wearing a sleeveless dress. For me, the public scolding was out of line.

I have personally seen female lawyers wear micro-mini skirts, and midriff baring and plunging necklines tops into court. I've witnessed male attorneys in jeans and sweatshirts. I find all of those fashion decisions quite inappropriate. They demonstrate a lack of respect for the court, the judge, and the system. You should not wear what you would wear to the club or to play a sport into a courtroom. However, despite all of this, I have never seen an attorney - no matter how inappropriate the outfit - be called out by a judge in open court.

The judge in the Texas case had a dress code posted in her courtroom. Interestingly, the attorney’s sheath dress met the dress code. The act of purposely embarrassing, harassing, and humiliating a member of the bar is simply wrong. Maybe the judge was having a bad day or there's more to the story than we know, but there was a better way to handle the situation. It would not surprise me if the lawyer files a complaint with the Committee on Judicial Conduct (or the Texas equivalent).

While judges do have the right to decide how people appear in Court (no hats, no shorts, etc.), the way they execute their dress code matters. I don’t think we've heard the end of this case.

The Proskin Law Firm will be closed Monday in observance of Columbus Day. If you need us heading into the holiday weeken...
10/08/2026

The Proskin Law Firm will be closed Monday in observance of Columbus Day. If you need us heading into the holiday weekend - to set-up an appointment or for quick legal advice - call the office today or Friday (518-436-0775).

As a woman, a mom, and a lawyer, the alleged r**e case at Cornell University turns my stomach. Two years ago, the victim...
10/06/2026

As a woman, a mom, and a lawyer, the alleged r**e case at Cornell University turns my stomach. Two years ago, the victim allegedly went to a fraternity party drunk, where she was sexually assaulted and gang r***d for hours. She reported this to the university. There was an investigation. It appears the District Attorney declined to prosecute, citing “inconsistent stories” and claims. Cornell concluded its investigation, expellied two students and penalized the others with penalties ranging from suspensions to having to write essays. The victim has now filed a civil suit naming the fraternity, Cornell, the bar where she was over-served, a sorority, the individuals, and assorted others. It took the civil suit for the DA’s office and Cornell to reopen their investigations.

This is a horrible story. No one, except those directly involved, know the facts of what happened at that fraternity house. It seems the initial investigations were not thorough. Penalizing the alleged perpetrators with a writing assignment is - at the very least - terrible optics. If they were found to have done nothing, they should not have been punished at all. If they were found to have done something wrong they deserved far more of a punishment. This is simply unthinkable to me.

There was a group message and invitation sent to others that night to take part in this heinous event. This fact, apparently, was not part of the initial investigattions. Even the individuals who received the text, but did not participate in the attacks, failed to react properly. While ignoring the message may not have been illegal, it was certainly immoral. Why didn’t they try to stop what was happening? Why didn’t they call the police? Morals and law may not align on this, preventing those individuals from facing punishment, but it's unbelievable to me that, after learning what was going on, they did nothing.

On the criminal end of this case, it looks like nothing was presented to a grand jury. If it had been and they had not returned an indictment, the DA could show he properly pursued an indictment. Regardless of the reasons, it appears that there was a callous attitude toward an alleged sexual assault. It looks as if authorities also turned a blind eye to underage drinking and illegal drug use. Upon news of the civil suits, the DA announced that the case would be reopened, but soon thereafter the NYS Attorney General was appointed as special prosecutor. Hopefully, this will lead to a full review of, not only the facts of the case, but the procedures that led to the current situation.

The victim coming forward with a civil suit - which she and her legal team can control (and win) much easier - has pushed the criminal system to finally take action. Legal standards for the civil suit are different, as are the consequences. My hope is that justice will be served — on both levels. I believe the truth will come out and, if there was an assault someone(s) will be held responsible and, if there was not one, the names of the accused will be cleared. We can all also hope that this high profile situation may spur Cornell University into taking appropriate and perhaps preventive actions for cases such as this in the future.

I know I've written about this before, but it's certainly worth revisiting.Did anyone ever tell you not to put anything ...
10/01/2026

I know I've written about this before, but it's certainly worth revisiting.

Did anyone ever tell you not to put anything in writing that you wouldn’t want published in the New York Times? Maybe it was some variation of that advice. My grandmother said that a lot. The idea was, if you put something in writing there was no question what was expressed. If spoken, the memory of the statement could be disputed — but if it was in writing, it was there forever.

Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn just learned that lesson - the hard way. Flynn was found guilty this week of murdering his wife. Part of the evidence against him were over 100K text messages Flynn exchanged with his mistress about hating his wife and wanting her dead. Although the defense tried to explain them away, the text messages, combined with other evidence, were enough for a jury to find Flynn guilty after less than two hours of deliberation.

Flynn putting his feelings and desires into writing undoubtedly made the jury’s work a whole lot easier.

I recently learned of a very sad story of a widow whose daughter and son-in-law took money from her. This happened a few...
09/29/2026

I recently learned of a very sad story of a widow whose daughter and son-in-law took money from her. This happened a few weeks after her husband’s death, and the daughter and son-in-law claimed they were trying to help her. They presented her with some paperwork, which they said would allow them to assist her. They told her this was routine. She trusted them, signed the paperwork, and never had anyone else (including a lawyer) review it. A few weeks later, she learned that what she signed was a power of attorney, and they used it to steal from her accounts.

A power of attorney is used in estate planning. I believe everyone should have one. In most cases they are kept locked-up until they are needed. In this case, the daughter and son-in-law used the POA for their own purposes. A power of attorney is intended - specifically - for the agent to act in the person’s best interests. Obviously, in this case, cleaning-out a person's bank accounts does not fall into this category. The older woman would not contact the police, but she is working to recover the money civilly.

There are two important elements to this situation. First: No matter how much you trust someone, you should always consider getting an outside opinion before you sign anything. At the very least, you should read the paperwork and make sure you understand it. This does not mean everyone is looking to steal from you, but you do need to protect yourself. Second: NO paperwork is routine, especially if it alters who can make decisions and speak for you. You should never give away any control unless it's something you really want to do.

Jake Reiner, who's accused of murdering his father and mother, gave an interview recently complaining that he has not re...
09/24/2026

Jake Reiner, who's accused of murdering his father and mother, gave an interview recently complaining that he has not received any money from his trust. This is a trust that was set-up by the parents he is accused of killing. I'm not privy to the exact terms of trust, but can assume the reason he's not receiving funds is either a) because the wording of the trust explicitly prohibits distribution due to his alleged acts, or b) those alleged acts on their own prohibit the release of funds.

The law is clear: you cannot benefit from feloniously killing someone. The Slayer Law is common law, codified in every state. Basically, it states that a killer cannot benefit from killing, and this cannot be overridden by any will, trust, beneficiary designation or joint tenancy.

Unless or until Reiner is proven not guilty (and maybe not even then) he cannot get any benefit from the trust. He can complain all he wants, but that does not change the law and his right to the money.

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