Don Friedman is the managing attorney of the Empire Justice Center’s Long Island office, located within the Public Advocacy Center at Touro Law School.  Before coming to Empire Justice, Don was a staff attorney at Legal Services offices in Queens and Manhattan, the public benefits coordinating attorney at Legal Services for New York City, and a public benefits policy analyst at the Community Food Resource Center and then the Community Service Society, both in New York City.  He is a co-founder of Project FAIR, serves on the board of Hunger Solutions New York and the Public Utility Law Project, and is a member of the Suffolk County Welfare to Work Commission.  He wrote An Advocate’s Guide to the Welfare Work Rules, which was published in 1998, then revised and updated in February 2008.  Don is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School, and plays guitar and sings in two folk/old-time trios.

Tanya E.M. Wong, Esq., is the Director of Government Benefits at the Legal Support Unit at Legal Services, NYC. Building on her background in human rights advocacy, Ms. Wong began practicing in this area in 1996, as a Staff Attorney at Harlem Legal Services, Inc., as New York City began implementation of the new immigration and work rules under welfare reform. Ms. Wong participates in many welfare trainings for Legal Services and various CBO’s throughout NYC. She served on the Advisory Board of the Empowerment Project at Urban Justice Center from 1997-2003 and has served on the Board of Directors of Project FAIR. Ms. Wong is a graduate of Harvard University and Northeastern University School of Law.