Hon. Fernando M. Camacho, 2023 Abely Awards Honoree

Established 26 years ago by Davis Polk, Sanctuary for Families, and Columbia Law School, the Abely Awards honor individuals who have made a difference in the lives of survivors of gender violence.

Established 26 years ago by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Sanctuary for Families, and Columbia Law School, the Abely Awards honor individuals who have made a difference in the lives of survivors of gender violence and who embody Maryellen Abely’s compassion, zeal, energy, and dedication.

This year, we are thrilled to present the 2023 Abely Leading Women and Children to Safety Award to the Honorable Fernando M. Camacho.

INTRODUCING JUDGE CAMACHO

The Honorable Fernando Camacho is an Acting Justice of the Suffolk County Supreme Court in the Tenth Judicial District of New York, where he presides over Suffolk County’s CONCEPTS Court, which he spearheaded in January 2021. Providing alternatives to residential placement for youth charged as Juvenile Delinquents in Family Court, the CONCEPTS Court offers assistance and support to court-involved children from the ages of twelve to seventeen, many of whom have been victims of sex-trafficking. From 2013 until 2021, Judge Camacho was assigned to Suffolk County Supreme Court where he created and presided over the Suffolk County Felony Youth Part, which provided alternatives to incarceration for young people charged with felonies.

Judge Camacho began his legal career at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he worked in the Trial Division, the Sex Crimes Unit, and the Homicide Unit. In 1991 he was promoted to Senior Trial Counsel and assigned to the Homicide Investigation Unit, a joint state and federal task force, where he directed long term homicide investigations and prosecutions of violent gangs.

In 1997 Judge Camacho became a New York City Criminal Court Judge in Brooklyn. Assigned to Queens County in 2002, he served as the Deputy Supervising Judge and presided over the Domestic Violence Court.

In 2003 Judge Camacho created a pioneering treatment court with a mission to stop the incarceration of persons charged with prostitution. That court was the spark that led to the creation of the present day Human Trafficking Intervention Courts operating throughout New York State and a groundbreaking National Summit on Human Trafficking and State Courts in 2015, hosted by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.

Appointed to the New York State Court of Claims in 2008, Judge Camacho also served as an Acting Supreme Court Justice in the Integrated Domestic Violence Court in Queens County Supreme Court. In 2009 he was promoted him to the position of County Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters. While serving as administrative judge he also created and presided over the Queens County Supreme Court Youth Diversion Part, a specialized diversion court for adolescents charged with felony offenses.

Over the last two decades years Judge Camacho has inspired and shaped the New York State court system’s response to human trafficking, advocating for more resources to assist victims of sex trafficking and for a response that shields trafficked and commercially sexually exploited adults and children from criminalization while holding their exploiters accountable. He has been a speaker at numerous state and national conferences and training seminars on the topics of juvenile justice, sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of youth.

Judge Camacho obtained his undergraduate degree from Columbia College and graduated from Fordham Law School.

Dara Sheinfeld, 2023 Abely Awards Honoree

Established 26 years ago by Davis Polk, Sanctuary for Families, and Columbia Law School, the Abely Awards honor individuals who have made a difference in the lives of survivors of gender violence.

Established 26 years ago by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Sanctuary for Families, and Columbia Law School, the Abely Awards honor individuals who have made a difference in the lives of survivors of gender violence and who embody Maryellen Abely’s compassion, zeal, energy, and dedication.

This year, we are thrilled to present the 2023 Abely Pro Bono Award to Dara Sheinfeld.

INTRODUCING DARA

Dara Sheinfeld is Counsel and Head of Pro Bono Litigation at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where she leads pro bono litigation initiatives focusing on trial work and matters assisting survivors of domestic violence.

As Head of Pro Bono Litigation, Dara oversees pro bono family court litigation, post-conviction relief matters in criminal courts, federal civil rights and Hague Convention actions, and civil and criminal appeals. Focusing much of her time on the representation of survivors of domestic violence, Dara has led Davis Polk teams that have achieved precedent-setting litigation victories on their behalf, securing U.S. refuge under the Hague Convention for multiple families and early release from prison as a result of numerous resentencing applications and clemency petitions.

In Hague litigation in the S.D.N.Y. and E.D.N.Y., Dara has first chaired four matters, all resulting in trial wins or negotiated resolutions that allowed domestic violence survivors and their children to remain in New York, free from the abuse they had suffered in their home countries.

Since New York passed the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) in 2019, Dara has been integral to the resentencing of over a dozen survivors – cumulatively reducing their sentences by decades.

Dara’s advocacy has also led to multiple grants of clemency, including for a survivor of severe domestic violence, who, after having been kidnapped at gunpoint by her estranged husband, and forced to participate in his crimes, had been convicted and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

Through her supervision, Dara helps Davis Polk lawyers develop and strengthen their trial and investigative skills and serves as a resource to other law firms on pro bono best practices. She is also an invaluable resource to numerous public interest legal services organizations, strategizing with their lawyers about complex cases and bringing pro bono resources to areas of great client need.

Earlier in her career, Dara spent five years as the Director of Sanctuary for Families’ family law practice in the Bronx and Manhattan Family Justice Centers. She still volunteers monthly to conduct legal screenings at the Manhattan Family Justice Center.

Prior to working at Sanctuary, Dara was a litigation associate at Davis Polk and clerked for Judge Harold Baer, Jr., in the S.D.N.Y.  She is a graduate of New York University Law School and Brown University.

 

How to Take Action This Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Join us in taking a stand this Domestic Violence Awareness Month and be part of the solution. Together, we can raise awareness and create a safer world where freedom from gender violence is a human right.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). Join advocates and survivors in New York and across the country in educating ourselves and our communities about the dynamics of abuse, and raising awareness about resources available to victims. Here are a few ways you can get involved:.

Raise Your Voice on Social Media

Help us raise awareness about the prevalence and lethality of domestic violence, as well as of resources available to survivors, by posting on social media. We have created a social media toolkit with sample captions and downloadable infographics to help get you started, but feel free to customize your messaging in whatever way is most meaningful to you.

Access our full social media toolkit here: https://bit.ly/3yvqqR8

Check out more videos on our YouTube Channel.

Attend an Event

Join Sanctuary, fellow service providers, advocates, and supporters during the month of October.

  • October 6 |  KAFSC’s Annual Silent March against Domestic Violence, 5:00 PM @ NYPD – 109th Precinct, 37-05 Union Street, Queens, New York – The Korean American Family Service Center will be hosting a march down the heart of Flushing in solidarity with survivors of domestic violence. No registration required.
  • October 11-29 | Scrambled Eggs @ Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond St, New York, NY – Watch this provocative and heartbreaking play on Domestic Violence that highlights the causes and affects that
    it can have on one family. Buy Tickets
  • October 15 | Bronx DA Walk/Run/Roll to End Domestic Violence 5K, 9:30 AM-12:30 PM In front of the Supreme Court steps at 161st Street and the Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY – An Annual 5K Walk/Run/Roll hosted by the Bronx District Attorney’s office to raise awareness about domestic violence and honor the resilience of survivors. Register here
  • More events to be announced soon!

Request a Training

Our staff and survivor leaders are available to lead virtual trainings for community members and groups – including schools, hospitals, law enforcement, courts and judges, faith communities, and cultural groups – who are interested in learning how to identify and support survivors. Learn more.

Donate to Sanctuary

Your support ensures our ability to deliver counseling services, legal representation, career-readiness training, and shelter to thousands of immigrant and low-income survivors and families every year.

    MAKE A GIFT   
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Take action to keep the conversation about domestic violence going through Domestic Violence Awareness Month and beyond.

In Memory of Amanda B. Norejko

Sanctuary for Families proudly announces that the Director of its Matrimonial/Economic Justice Project (Mat/EJP) will be renamed the “Amanda B. Norejko Fellowship” in honor of former Director Amanda B. Norejko.

Sanctuary for Families announces that the Director of its Matrimonial and Economic Justice Project will be renamed the “Amanda B. Norejko Fellowship” in memory of former Director Amanda B. Norejko, an extraordinarily dedicated and visionary champion of gender violence survivors.

Our dear friend and former colleague Amanda Norejko, who helped found and lead the Legal Center’s Matrimonial and Economic Justice Project (Mat/EJP) for over a decade, has passed away after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Amanda was an extraordinarily powerful, inspirational leader at Sanctuary and the Women’s Bar Association and her legacy of groundbreaking achievements and place in our hearts lives on.

To honor Amanda’s legacy, Sanctuary has announced that Lisa Vara, the Director of our Matrimonial/Economic Justice Project (Mat/EJP), is now the “Amanda B. Norejko Fellow” in memory of Amanda.

Joining Sanctuary as a student volunteer at NYU Law School in our Courtroom Advocates Project (CAP) alongside her future husband Ryan Candee, Amanda worked for sixteen years in Sanctuary’s Legal Center, where she played an indispensable role in the leadership of the Legal Center and the development of Mat/EJP. She specialized in the representation of survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking in complex contested divorces. Amanda also supervised a team of staff and pro bono attorneys in family law and matrimonial and housing and public benefits matters in all five boroughs of New York City.

Amanda also spearheaded legislative and policy initiatives aimed at combating violence against women and advancing gender equality and the fair administration of justice on the local, state, national, and international levels. She demonstrated on a daily basis what strategic, survivor-centered representation looks like and continues to inspire all of us, especially attorneys handling matrimonial cases. An expert practitioner, mentor, and teacher, Amanda provided a quality representation of the survivors we serve that was truly the gold standard. Her leadership made Sanctuary’s Legal Center stronger and more effective.

Amanda left Sanctuary for Families to become a Support Magistrate in New York County Family Court, where she presided over paternity and child and spousal support matters with great knowledge, compassion, fairness, and attention to issues of gender, racial, and economic equality.

We extend our deepest condolences to her devoted husband, Ryan Candee, and her parents and sister, as well as to her many close friends on Sanctuary’s staff and in the domestic violence survivor advocacy community.