Redmond EMS Abstracts.indd - IAFF

BRIEFING:
9/11 Health Compensation Act (Zadroga)
Outstanding Appellate Advocacy. Ms. Birnbaum was honored with the Louis D. Brandeis Award
by the American Jewish Congress and an award from Touro Law School for achieving the highest
standards of professional excellence. She is a member of the Hunter College Hall of Fame.
Law360 recently profiled Ms. Birnbaum in an article that named Skadden as a “Product Liability
Group Of The Year” for 2010. The publication also named her one of the 10 Most Admired Product
Liability Attorneys. Her work was included in a feature in The American Lawyer, which selected
Skadden as a finalist for “Litigation Department of the Year.” Ms. Birnbaum has been chosen as the
leading product liability lawyer in the world by The International Who’s Who of Product Liability
Defence Lawyers each year since its inception in 2005 and has been repeatedly selected for
inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for personal injury and mass tort litigation. In addition,
she has been selected by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 most outstanding members of
the legal profession, and, more recently, she was profiled as one of the three outstanding lawyers of
the year. She also has been named by Fortune as one of the 50 most powerful women in American
business, by Chambers USA as a “star individual” in the area of products liability, by Crain’s New
York Business as one of the 25 most influential women in New York business and by Lawdragon
Magazine as one of the 500 leading lawyers in the country. Ms. Birnbaum was honored at New
York University’s 2008 Law Alumni Association Awards with the Vanderbilt Medal, the highest
honor bestowed on an alumnus of the NYU School of Law.
Bill Romaka
Health & Safety Director, Sergeant-at-Arms
IAFF Local 94, Uniformed Fire Fighters Association
204 East 23rd Street
New York, New York 10010
212-683-4832
bromaka@ufanyc.org
Background:
Bill Romaka has recently been re-elected to his third term as the Uniformed Firefighters Association
IAFF Local 94’s Sergeant-at-Arms/Health and Safety Officer. He has a degree in Business
Administration with a major in Accounting from Dowling College and is also a tax preparer.
He joined the New York City Fire Department in July of 1987 and was assigned to Engine 238
in Brooklyn. Late in 1989, he was elected delegate of his Engine Company after showing an
interest in the members’ well being. In 1999, he was elected as a Battalion Delegate representing
Battalion 28 and approximately 175 members. His dedication to the membership led him to run
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