Richards, Alice

Alvin Dorfman has handled personal injury cases from inception through trial for more than 40 years. His practice emphasizes personal injury, criminal, civil rights and civil liberties matters. His political activities have included running for District Attorney of Nassau County twice, running for the Nassau County legislature, and running for the New York State Assembly.

Mr. Dorfman is widely recognized for his impressive ability as an attorney and for his broad political involvement. Very notable in his background is his deep and abiding commitment to civil rights issues. Mr. Dorfman has been very active in defending civil rights activists, racial discrimination cases, freedom of information issues and integration issues.

In December 1997, a group of 100 tenants, mostly Hispanic, received word from the Town of Oyster Bay that they would be immediately evicted from a building complex in Hicksville. Al Dorfman represented the tenants in a successful legal challenge to the planned eviction.

In 1982 Al Dorfman represented the residents of a minority section of Long Beach against the advertising weekly called the Pennysaver, charging that the Pennysaver had engaged in a racially motivated economic boycott of their neighborhood. In 1984, as part of the settlement, the Pennysaver agreed to distribute the paper to the neighborhood.

In 1974 Mr. Dorfman represented Dennis Dillon, then a Democratic candidate for Nassau County District Attorney, in a suit against the incumbent DA. It was the first lawsuit brought under the recently enacted Freedom of Information Law.

In 1967, the only Black teacher at Baldwin High School, Maurice McNeill, was accused of molesting a 16 year old, white female student. The School Board pressed administrative charges against the teacher. A large segment of the community supported McNeill. Mr. Dorfman represented McNeill at the school disciplinary hearings that lasted approximately two months. McNeill was fully exonerated at the conclusion of the hearings and reinstated with back pay. The hearings were covered by the national and international press and the major broadcast networks.

In 1969, during a period of racial tension at Long Beach High School, a Black student was arrested and charged with desecrating the American flag. Al Dorfman represented the student. During the four day trial, one witness invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer after Dorfman asked him if he had fabricated the charges. The student was acquitted after the jury deliberated only 10 minutes.