Tabatha Brown, Legal Secretary, PLS’ Ithaca Office.
Tabatha Brown – Legal Secretary
Megan Welch – Staff Attorney
Megan Welch
Staff Attorney
(607) 273-2283 ext. 1209
mwelch@plsny.org
Megan joined PLS in October of 2018 after received her J.D. from CUNY School of Law in May of 2018. Prior to law school, she worked as an 8th and 9th grade science teacher, and received her Masters of Education from Brooklyn College in 2014, and B.A. from Ithaca College in 2009. During law school, she was a Judicial Intern with Hon. Lois Bloom in the USDC Eastern District and had a number of internships focusing on urban environmental justice, including legal policy research for Lloyd Patel, LLP, on drug overdose health issues, and authored recommendations on environmental legislation for the Office of NYC Councilmember Costa Constantinides. She also interned with Queens Legal Services, preparing and attending school suspension hearings and conducting intake for students whose rights had been violated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Her work as an AmeriCorps Volunteer after undergraduate school took her to Alaska and Maine, focusing on restorative justice and at-risk youth. In her free time, Megan enjoys traveling and hopes to see all 58 national parks one day. She has traveled to 32 parks so far, with Glacier Bay and Death Valley being her favorites.
LANDMARK SETTLEMENT INCREASES TREATMENT AND HOUSING PROGRAMS FOR PRISONERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IN NEW YORK STATE PRISONS
LANDMARK SETTLEMENT INCREASES TREATMENT AND HOUSING PROGRAMS FOR PRISONERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IN NEW YORK STATE PRISONS
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Ann Ferrari – Staff Attorney
Ann Ferrari
Staff Attorney
(607) 273-2283 ext. 1206
aferrari@plsny.org
Ann Ferrari joined Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York in 2021. Previously, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Garrett Penn of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. As a staff attorney at North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, she represented clients in medical, disability, and civil rights matters. Ann received her B.A. from Oberlin College and her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for the American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal. She interned with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Hallie Mitnick – Senior Staff Attorney
Hallie Mitnick
Senior Staff Attorney
(607) 273-2283 ext. 1204
hmitnick@plsny.org
Hallie joined PLS in September of 2015. She works in PLS’s civil rights practice litigating and advocating on behalf of a wide variety of clients including people with disabilities and people in solitary confinement. Her past work included clinical work at the Innocence Project clinic and the Cardozo Civil Rights Clinic, as well as an internship at the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice’s Special Litigation Unit where she worked on solitary confinement appeals for individuals at Rikers Island. Her note “Estelle v. Gamble in a Post-Affordable Care Act World” was published by the Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal in summer 2015. Hallie is a graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo school of Law and Cornell University. While at Cornell, Hallie was a teaching assistant in the Cornell Prison Education Program at Auburn Correctional Facility. Hallie is admitted to the state bars of New York and New Jersey and admitted to practice in the United State Districts Court for the Northern and Western Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey.
Krin Flaherty – Executive Director
Krin Flaherty
Executive Director
(607) 273-2283 ext. 1205
kflaherty@plsny.org
In April 2026, the PLS Board of Directors selected Krin Flaherty for the position of Executive Director.
To this role, Krin brings experience as a Staff Attorney from 2006-2012 primarily working on access to mental health and medical care and disciplinary issues and related litigation.
Krin left PLS to work for the Ithaca City Attorney’s Office, where she extended her Article 78 practice into land use matters, worked to preserve the city’s interests in its assets and infrastructure, and assisted in implementing several novel and progressive local initiatives.
Returning to PLS in 2022, Krin has served as the Managing Attorney for the Ithaca office of PLS and Acting Deputy Director.
She enjoys making messes with art supplies.
Matthew McGowan – Senior Staff Attorney
Matthew McGowan
Senior Staff Attorney
(518) 438-8046 ext. 1801
mmcgowan@plsny.org
Matt joined the Albany office of PLS as a staff attorney in 2013. He works throughout PLS’s core practice areas, with a particular focus on challenges to administrative disciplinary hearings, youth and late-stage adolescent advocacy, parole and sentencing matters, and records access issues. His past work includes full time internships with Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, the Legal Aid Society’s Civil Law Reform Unit, and the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. He also served as a judicial intern for the Hon. Shirley S. Abrahamson, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, where he represented clients as a student attorney in both the Prisoners’ Rights and Poverty Law and Practice clinics. He is admitted to the state bars of New York and Massachusetts and admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of New York.
Rebecca Calvetti Madan – Immigration Paralegal
Rebecca Calvetti Madan
Paralegal, Upstate Immigration Court
(716) 844-8266
rcmadan@plsny.org
Rebecca graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH with a B.A. in English/World Literature. She subsequently spent five years in warmer climes, working as a Montessori Primary Teacher after getting her AMI certification in Atlanta, GA. In 2012, she decided that she missed shoveling snow too much and moved to Western New York to attend SUNY at Buffalo, where she attained an M.A. in Linguistics. Rebecca speaks Italian, Spanish and French, and has worked extensively in translation, transcreation, and copyediting for nearly 20 years. She joined PLS’s Buffalo Immigration office in 2019.
David Bentivegna – Managing Attorney
David Bentivegna
Managing Attorney
(716) 854-1007 ext. 1302
dbentivegna@plsny.org
David attended Canisius College for his undergraduate education, successfully completing the school’s rigorous Honor’s program to graduate with Bachelor degrees in History and Philosophy. David next moved on to the University at Buffalo Law School where he earned his Juris Doctor in 2007. David has been a staff attorney with the Buffalo PLS office since 2010. Raised in Western New York, David is also an avid runner who participates in races for various charitable causes throughout the year.
Maria Pagano – Senior Supervising Attorney
Maria Pagano
Senior Supervising Attorney
(716) 854-1007 ext. 1301
mpagano@plsny.org
Maria has practiced public interest and poverty law for over 20 years in New York, Arizona, and on the Navajo Nation. Prior to her current position at PLS, she was the Managing Attorney at DNA-People’s Legal Services in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she practiced family law, public benefits, consumer, and housing law.
She is a graduate of Barnard College, and received an M.F.A. in Visual Arts from the University of California in San Diego. She left a career in the visual arts to attend C.U.N.Y. Law School, and has followed its motto of “practicing law in the service of human needs”.
Maria has focused on youth in the adult prison system and the rights of disabled individuals. She is director of the PLS Education Unit, and a member of the Erie County ReEntry Task Force.