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Carolyn Reinach Wolf

Executive Partner
Long Island

3 Dakota Drive

Suite 300

Lake Success, NY 11042

Tel: (516) 592-5857

Fax: (516) 328-6638

Email: [email protected]

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Home > Attorneys > Carolyn Reinach Wolf

Carolyn Reinach Wolf is an Executive Partner in the law firm of Abrams Fensterman, LLP and Director of the Firm’s Mental Health Law practice. She is the only attorney in the country with a family-focused mental healthcare practice. Supported by a team of expert clinicians, she specializes in guiding families through the complex landscape of legal issues that impact loved ones with serious mental illness, overall mental health issues, and/or substance abuse issues. She also represents institutions, such as major hospital systems, community hospitals, and outpatient programs, consulting on matters including capacity, mental hygiene law, end of life decision making, development and ongoing functioning of ethics committees and advance directives. She also represents mental health and healthcare professionals, and higher educational institutions.

 

Ms. Wolf’s expertise encompasses mental hygiene law, including retention and treatment over objection psychiatric cases; mental health warrants; capacity determinations; informed consent and medical treatment cases; confidentiality and release of records matters; interaction with law enforcement in family matters, health care facilities and institutions of higher education; Kendra’s Law applications (Assisted Outpatient Treatment Orders); Article 81 and 17-A guardianship proceedings; civil and criminal litigation and negotiation specific to mental health issues; consultation and advice in navigating the mental health and health care systems, and legal interventions in the inpatient and outpatient treatment settings as well as mental health issues in the higher education setting.

 

Ms. Wolf is a Past President of the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association (NaBITA), a membership association serving more than 1,500 professionals in schools, colleges and workplaces whose role is to support individuals in need of mental health intervention and to minimize the potential for school and workplace violence. She is also a frequently invited speaker and consultant to healthcare and mental health organizations, as well as institutions of higher education. She also provides mental health legal advice to administrators, and professional associations throughout the country regarding mental health law issues and many of the above-mentioned topics. She has been selected to the New York Super Lawyers list since 2013 and the Best Lawyers of America since 2018. Ms. Wolf has also been selected as an honoree of the City and State of New York’s 2024 Above & Beyond Women.

 

Ms. Wolf holds a J.D. from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, an M.S. in Health Services Administration from the Harvard School of Public Health and an M.B.A. in Management from the Hofstra University School of Business. She is admitted to practice in New York State and Federal Courts as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, Ms. Wolf is an adjunct professor at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, teaching “Law and Psychiatry.” Prior to practicing law, Ms. Wolf was a hospital administrator and Director of Hospital Risk Management at City Hospital Center at Elmhurst in New York, from 1980 until 1984.

 

New York Times Article:  Front page, Metro Section, February 12, 2013, “A Guide in the Darkness”, available here.

Bar Admissions

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  • New York
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Education

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  • Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York – J.D.
  • Harvard University, School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts – M.S.
    Major: Health Services Administration
  • Hofstra University School of Business, Hempstead, New York – M.B.A.
    Major: Management
  • University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland – B.A. with Honors
    Major: American History

Honors and Awards

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  • 2024 Honoree of the City and State of New York’s Above & Beyond Women
  • 2021 Outstanding Women in Law, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
  • 2019 Greater New York Community Service Award Breakfast Recipient
  • 2017 UJA Federation of New York L.I. Business and Professional Leaders Connect and Celebrate!
  • 2016 Long Island Power Women in Business
  • 2014 Long Island Power Women in Business

Recent Published Works and Media Interviews

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Contributor/writer: Psychology Today blog entitled “From the Desk of a Mental Health Lawyer”:

Contributor/writer: Other Published Works and Media Interviews:

Professional Associations and Memberships

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  • Association for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM), New York State, President, 2007-2008
  • ASHRM, New York State, Board of Directors, 1983-Present
  • Nassau County Bar Association (NCBA), Hospital and Health Law Committee, Member
  • NCBA, Lawyers Assistance Program Committee, Member
  • New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), Health Law Section, Member
  • NYSBA, Health Law Section Subcommittee on Mental Health Law, Co-Chair
  • National Center for Higher Education Risk Management (NCHERM), Affiliated Consultant
  • National Behavioral Intervention Team Association (NaBITA), Advisory Board Member, 2010 – Present
  • NaBITA, President Elect, 2015-2016
  • NaBITA, President, 2016-2017