Deborah Wolf Miller, Treasurer
Danielle Bernard was born in Brooklyn, NY but she grew up in several locations across the United States, including Englewood, NJ; San Jose, CA; Goshen, NY and Raleigh, NC. Ultimately, she graduated high school from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in 1988. She graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1992 and received her commission. She retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel where she primarily worked as a program manager. After the Air Force, she attended UNC School of Law. After graduation, she was an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Intern and is now a Fellow where she assists low-income veterans with civil legal issues at Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. ® She loves serving veterans, working on many different types of legal issues and working with great people at LawNY, Inc. ® .
Iska Ziver, Membership Chair
Deborah Wolf Miller is a solo practitioner in Ithaca, NY, and continues to practice in NJ. Deborah graduated from Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, NJ in 1989, and was a pupil of the American Inn of Court #111-The Camden Inn, from 1990 to 1992. Upon graduation from law school, Deborah served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Donald A. Smith, Jr., as well as a teaching assistant for a tax course at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China. Prior to moving to NY in 1996, she was an associate with Garrigle and Palm, an insurance defense firm in NJ. She was previously a partner with the firm of Miller and Miller in Chenango County, staff counsel for the Chenango County Department of Social Services, an associate with Shaw & Murphy, and an editor for Gann Law Books. Her practice focuses on estate administration and estate planning, estate administration and accounting disputes, and real property transfers.
Zulaikha (“Zelo”) Safi is an Associate Attorney at True, Walsh & Sokoni, LLP where she focuses primarily on employment-based and family-based immigration matters, as well as estate administration. Previously she was working at a boutique immigration law firm in NYC focused exclusively on business immigration matters involving artists and creative professionals from around the world. As an Afghan-American woman, her own family immigration history motivated her to pursue a career in immigration law so that she can help others navigate the complex U.S. immigration system. She received a J.D. from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law in Washington, DC and a B.A. in Government & International Politics from George Mason University with a minor in Art History.
Zelo Safi, Vice President
Iska Ziver is a solo practitioner, specializing in family law, focusing on Collaborative Law, mediation and representing children in litigated custody matters. She received her JD from Cornell Law School in 1994, and her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University at Albany. Prior to practicing law, she worked for IBM as a computer programmer, owned and managed Courtside Racquet and Fitness Club in Ithaca, and was part of the management team as Director of Marketing and Development at the Hangar Theatre in the late nineties. When Iska started practicing law in 2001, she wanted to be a peacemaker and sought out additional training in mediation, volunteering as a mediator at the Community Dispute Resolution Center for a number of years. She also received training in Collaborative Law and joined the Ithaca Area Collaborative Law Professionals in 2006, serving as president in 2011 and 2012. She is a member of the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Tompkins County Bar Association, Ithaca Area Collaborative Professionals and Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.
Natanya DeWeese is an Associate Attorney with Shaw & Murphy, PLLC. Her practice areas include family law and matrimonial, criminal and campus disciplinary proceeding defense, estate planning and administration, civil litigation, appeals, and real estate. Before joining Shaw & Murphy, she served as an Appellate Court Attorney for the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Department in Rochester, New York, where she worked on criminal, civil, and family court appeals, and engaged in private practice in Rochester, specializing in personal injury and insurance defense. She graduated from Cornell University in 2009 with a degree in Policy Analysis & Management and received her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2012. She was also active in the Ithaca legal community through the Tompkins County Department of Social Services and the Ithaca City Prosecutor’s Office. Natanya is a member of the New York State and Tompkins County Bar Associations.
Natanya DeWeese, Secretary
Michaela K. R. Azemi, Immediate Past President
& Delegate to WBASNY
Danielle Bernard , President
Michaela K. R. Azemi currently serves as the Associate Director for Judicial Engagement and Professional Development at Cornell Law School. She previously worked as the Regional Pro Bono Coordinator for LawNY's private attorney involvement and law student internship programs. She was a Staff Attorney for LawNY from September 2013 to August 2016, handling Family Law and Disability Advocacy cases. Michaela received her B.A. in Sociology and Women's Studies from the University of Delaware in 2009, her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University Law School in 2012, and was admitted to practice in NY in 2013. In the summer of 2013, she volunteered as a Pro Bono Attorney for LawNY where she developed a model for LawNY's pro se divorce clinic and was honored to receive the NYSBA Empire State Counsel Award in the Fall of 2013. Michaela serves on the President's Committee on Access to Justice for the NYSBA, the Pro Bono Coordinators Network of the NYSBA, New York State Chief Judge's Attorney Emeritus Advisory Council, and is currently the President of the Steuben County Bar Association.