Harold Somer Named Pro Bono Attorney of the Month

Longtime bankruptcy attorney Harold M. Somer of Salisbury believes that practicing law is a privilege, not a right, and that every lawyer has an obligation to give back.

For 20 years, he has done just that, logging in hundreds of hours of pro bono bankruptcy assistance to help those in financial crisis. He interviews clients, educates them on their options, and vets cases for eventual referral to the panel of pro bono bankruptcy attorneys at the free Volunteer Lawyers Project Bankruptcy Clinics, co-sponsored by Nassau/Suffolk Law Services and the Nassau County Bar Association.

Sometimes he accepts cases himself for pro bono representation in bankruptcy proceedings. He often helps homeowners at the free NCBA Mortgage Foreclosure Legal Consultation Clinics. On top of that, Somer volunteers as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Volunteer Lawyers and regularly lectures on bankruptcy and other legal topics for various professional groups.  

For his deep dedication and passion to help others, NCBA President Susan Katz Richman has named Harold Somer the Pro Bono Attorney of the Month for April 2012.

Harold Somer graduated with the first class of Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in 1983 and began his legal career in a general practice firm for his first five years after graduation.  Since 1988 he has practiced bankruptcy law and appeared in matters in all four Federal Districts.  He eventually opened his own practice in Garden City and thereafter moved to Westbury where, in addition to bankruptcy, he practices general, commercial, mortgage foreclosure, foreclosure defense and real estate law.