The Black and White World of Elder Abuse When Capacity is Gray

Deirdre M.W. Lok, Esq. is the Assistant Director and General Counsel for The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Justice at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, the nation’s first emergency shelter for elder abuse victims.

Ms. Lok manages the operations of the shelter, including providing legal services to victims in Supreme Court, Housing Court and Family Court. An Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Lok currently co-directs the law school’s HELP (Helping Elders through Litigation and Policy) Clinic. Ms. Lok is a frequent speaker on the issue of elder abuse and the law, and has guest lectured at Penn State Dickinson School of Law, Cardozo Law School, Touro Law, Hofstra Law School and CUNY Law School and has provided training to attorney’s through the New York State’s Judicial Institute, the Queens Bar Association, and the Bronx Bar Association.

Ms. Lok is appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to the Age-Friendly NYC Commission, is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyer’s Division, Elder Abuse Prevention Taskforce, and serves as Chair of the Policy and Procedure Subcommittee of the New York State Committee on Elder Justice. Prior to joining The Weinberg Center, Ms. Lok was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Oahu, Hawaii and an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office where she focused on domestic violence cases.

Brooke Santoro, LMSW, is the Community Outreach Specialist at The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Justice at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. She received a Bachelor of Social Work, magna cum laude, from Central Connecticut State University and is a graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work, where she received a Master of Science in Social Work focusing on work with older adults.

Brooke has completed various internships with the older adult population, most recently at Jarvie Commonweal Service, and was also employed at an Area Agency on Aging.