“This Institute, the first of its kind in the country, is the brain child of Bob Abrams and we are thrilled to be joining forces with him to make this vision a reality,” said Dean Patricia Salkin. “Bob and I have worked together on aging issues for the past 20 years. He is a leading expert in Health and Elder Law and has made a significant impact in the field. This new Institute represents an innovative opportunity for collaboration that will benefit the community at large as well as Touro Law students. It is going to be an exciting venture.”

The Institute has been designed to provide attorneys and other professionals with the information and resources they need to serve the 100 million Americans who are 50 years of age or older. Through Touro Law Center’s Continuing Legal Education (CLE), the Institute will provide CLE programs and continuing education credits for programs developed for other licensed professionals such as social workers. The Institute will address a wide variety of educational topics, including fragility of capacity, adult children with special needs, bankruptcy, confidentiality, emergency preparedness, estate planning and administration, financial planning, grandparents’ rights, mental health issues, retirement, taxes and many others. As the Institute grows, plans include a research agenda focused on law and public policy in the area of longevity and aging law.

“Marianne is uniquely qualified to launch and run our new Longevity and Aging Law Institute and I look forward to watching this innovative center blossom under her guidance and direction,” said Dean Salkin. “I am confident that our students who are interested in this field of study and all of those associated with the Institute will benefit from Marianne’s leadership and this innovative center.”

Artusio has been at Touro Law for more than twenty years, serving as Director of Clinical Programs and faculty advisor for the Elder Law Clinic until accepting this new post. She supervises the Elder Law Clinic and teaches courses in elder law and consumer law. She has served as the Director of Touro's Summer Discover India Program in India, teaching Comparative Constitutional Law and Tibetan Buddhist Law & Philosophy.  Before joining the faculty she practiced law for fifteen years specializing in discrimination, civil rights, disability and poverty law, first as a staff attorney and then as Deputy Director with Monroe County Legal Assistance Corp and then as a Managing Attorney with Westchester Legal Services, Inc., where she directed the agency's Senior Citizens' Law Clinic at Pace University School of Law.  She has served for over fourteen years on the board of the Lower Hudson Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, where her special interests are censorship and students' rights. 

Artusio stated, “I am excited about these new initiatives and the opportunities they will certainly bring for our students in the very near future. I think we have an opportunity to affect the landscape of the elder law field to the benefit of community members and legal professionals. I am thrilled to have a leadership role in this newly created Institute and look forward to the future.”   

Robert Cannon has been appointed Founding Coordinator of the Institute. Cannon received his Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B. Honors) from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in 2009, his Diploma in Legal Practice (DLP), also from the University of Aberdeen in 2010 and received his Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2012.He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

“I am looking forward not only to the opportunities that will be generated through the Institute, but this partnership with Touro Law Center,” said Robert Abrams. “I believe that this Institute will prove to be a valuable collaboration for the field of Elder Law and will have a lasting impact on the community.”