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THE WEINBERG CENTER TEAM

Deirdre M.W. Lok, Esq.

Deirdre Lok is the Director and Managing Attorney at The Weinberg Center for Elder Justice, where she leads a multi-disciplinary team in the development of the national elder abuse shelter model, with services that include direct legal, clinical and medical support for older adults who have experienced harm. Within the field of elder justice, Ms. Lok focuses the Weinberg Center’s work on training, education, thought leadership and policy initiatives. She has direct experience in Supreme Court, Housing, Family and Criminal Court. An Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School for over ten years, Ms. Lok directs the law school’s HELP (Helping Elders through Litigation and Policy) Clinic. She is a frequent speaker on issues of elder abuse and the law, and has guest lectured and presented to national and international audiences across a multitude of fields. Ms. Lok was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to the Age-Friendly NYC Commission, is chair of the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyer’s Division, Elder Justice Committee, served as Chair of the Policy and Procedure Subcommittee of the New York State Committee on Elder Justice.  She is the recipient of the New York Law Journal 2017 General Counsel Impact Award. Ms. Lok was recently appointed to a one-year term as special advisor of the Law and Aging Commission. Ms. Lok is a Certified Trauma Professional, Certified Dementia Practitioner, and Elder and Adult Family Mediator. Prior to joining The Weinberg Center, she was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Oahu, Hawaii and an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office where she focused on domestic violence cases.

Malya Kurzweil Levin, Esq.

Malya is the Assistant Director and General Counsel at The Weinberg Center. In this role, she represents victims of acute elder abuse from throughout New York City and Westchester County in a wide variety of legal fora. Malya has spoken extensively about various aspects of elder abuse to professional and community audiences, and has also published prolifically on the subject, with a primary focus on the role of legal tools and policies in elder abuse cases. Malya is the coordinator of Westchester County’s Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team. She is on the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Elder Law Section, and a member of its Elder Abuse Committee. Malya was named one of The New York  Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” for 2018. She graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2012 and is a certified Reiki energy healer.

John Holt, Esq.

John Holt is the Senior Staff Attorney at the Weinberg Center for Elder Justice. Prior to joining The Weinberg Center, John was the Director of Legal Services for Project Guardianship, a non-profit provider of guardianship services in New York City. John is a member of the New York State Office of Court Administration Guardianship Advisory Committee and was a long time presenter of trainings at the Guardianship Assistance Network for newly appointed lay-guardians in New York State.

Meredith Levine, LMSW

Meredith Levine is the Senior Elder Justice Specialist at The Weinberg Center. Meredith has worked extensively with older adults in both long-term care and community-based settings. She is passionate about person-centered dementia care, the prevention and treatment of delirium in hospitalized older adults, and palliative care. She is an advocate for trauma-informed care and advance care-planning. Meredith graduated from Cornell University with Bachelor of Arts in English and Government. She received her Master of Social Work from Columbia University, where she focused on Advanced Clinical Practice in Aging. For her second year of graduate school, she was selected by The Social Work Leadership Institute as a fellow for the Hartford Partnership in Aging Education Program. Meredith is an avid reader of fiction, a perfume enthusiast, and a frequent Connect 4 champion.

Rachael Domanico, LMSW.

Rachael Domanico is the Elder Justice Specialist at The Weinberg Center. Rachael has worked with a variety of populations including LGBTQ+ youth, justice involved individuals, and housing insecure veterans. She graduated from Molloy College with a Bachelor in Social Work and was secretary of the Molloy Social Work club. She later received her Master of Social Work from Fordham University. Rachael was given the New York State Society for Clinical Social Work Student of the Year Award of Excellence in the spring of 2020.