Garden City seminars for in-house lawyers

Pity the poor in-house counsel.

That's the lawyer who works for a small- to medium-sized company alone in the office without anyone to turn to for advice on a point of law. One of Long Island's largest law firms, Garden City-based Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, has a plan to deal with problems like that: Call it Continuing Legal Education.

"This is an opportunity to support Long Island businesses," said Lois Schlissel, managing attorney at Meyer Suozzi, who is putting together the program in conjunction with the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Corporate Counsel, an organization of in-house lawyers.

The program is to begin Friday, when Schlissel will host a seminar for 25 to 30 in-house lawyers on the topic of employment law. Future sessions are planned on a bimonthly basis at Meyer Suozzi's offices.

Vincent Castiglione, general counsel at Coby Electronics Corp. in Lake Success and president of the Greater New York chapter of the ACC, said about 60 percent of the organization's 1,500 members in the five boroughs and Long Island are in-house counsels.

"We're trying to bring the in-house counsels closer together and become a resource for one another," Castiglione said.

Schlissel said the meetings Meyer Suozzi will hold are open to ACC members and in-house lawyers alike. They will be able to call to discuss legal matters in the future, she said.

"I always conclude: If you want to talk about something, call me," Schlissel said.