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.

James Bogin – Senior Supervising Attorney

James Bogin

Senior Supervising Attorney

(518) 438-8046  ext. 1109

jbogin@plsny.org

After college, Mr. Bogin spent years as an archeologist in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. Then came law school. Mr. Bogin graduated from Cornell Law School in 1984, and was a staff attorney at North Country Legal Services from 1985 to 1987. In 1987 Mr. Bogin joined the Albany office of PLS as a Staff Attorney.  Between 1994 and 2000 Mr. Bogin worked at times as a Staff Attorney and at times as Managing Attorney of the Albany office. He served as the Managing Attorney of the office continuously from 2000 – 2017, and has been Senior Supervising Attorney since that time.

Jillian Nowak – Managing Attorney

Jillian Nowak

Managing Attorney

(716) 844-8266 ext. 1323   

jnowak@plsny.org

Jillian Nowak was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. Jillian received her B.A. in Sociology from Hofstra University and her J.D. from the University at Buffalo with a concentration in International Law. In 2014, as the recipient of the Buffalo Human Rights Center Fellowship, Jillian conducted research on reparations for victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide through the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Jillian was selected for the inaugural class of New York Pro Bono Scholars and was admitted to the New York State Bar in June 2015. Before joining PLS, Jillian worked at Journey’s End Refugee Services, one of Buffalo’s refugee resettlement agencies, providing free and low cost legal representation to immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers. Jillian also co-owns a small knitting business, and the collective, known as West Side Stitchery, proudly hosts the annual Buffalo Women’s Gifts Arts And Crafts Show.

James Milstein – Immigration Project Director

James Milstein

Immigration Project Director

(518) 694-8699 ext. 2101

cell (518) 423-1719

jmilstein@plsny.org

Jim Milstein graduated from the University of Vermont in 1980 and Albany Law School in 1983. He was an Assistant Public Defender for Albany County and a partner in the law firm of Milstein & Milstein from 1984 to 2011.  Jim was the Albany County Public Defender from 2011 -2016.  From 2016 through 2018, Jim was the Director of the Regional Immigration Assistance Center for the Capital District and Northern New York. In this capacity Jim provided assistance and training to attorneys in fourteen counties in Upstate New York who were representing noncitizen clients in criminal proceedings.  As Public Defender Jim was recognized for his commitment to provide alternative treatment programs for clients and was proud to work with other community leaders to develop the Law Enforcement Assistance Diversion (LEAD) Program which has received national recognition.  As the Director of the Regional Immigration Assistance Center, Jim would assist attorneys to insure that the attorneys were properly counseling noncitizen clients of the immigration consequences of their cases as constitutionally required by Padilla v. Kentucky. Most importantly, Jim guided attorneys to achieve the most advantageous plea bargains that would minimize or eliminate the potential disastrous effects of deportation. He also provided direct representation for cases in which post-conviction relief proceedings[JM1] . The Regional Immigration Assistance Center also provided legal assistance to individuals who had been arrested by local ICE officers.

Sophia Heller – Managing Attorney

Sophia Heller

Managing Attorney

(518) 438-8046  ext. 1106

sheller@plsny.org

Sophia joined PLS as a staff attorney in 2011 after graduating from Georgetown Law. At PLS she has litigated a range of issues in federal and state court, including damage actions for wrongful solitary confinement, excessive use of force by guards, the failure to protect incarcerated individuals from assault by other prisoners, state writs of habeas corpus, and challenges to agency decisions through Article 78 proceedings. She became Managing Attorney of PLS’ Albany office in 2018. Prior to law school Sophia earned a B.F.A. in film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a Ph.D. in mythological studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her decision to attend law school was motivated, in large part, by her inability to satisfactorily answer the question of what one does with a Ph.D. in mythological studies. A class on prison law ignited a passion for prisoner rights, and she hasn’t looked back since. Sophia was also a contestant on NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” in 2009 and proudly uses Carl Kassell’s recorded greeting on her voicemail to this day.