Carolyn Reinach Wolf is a partner at Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Greenberg, Formato & Einiger, LLP.

Ms. Wolf’s practice focuses on the areas of mental health, health care and elder law. Ms. Wolf regularly represents mental health and health care professionals, major hospital systems and community hospitals, outpatient programs, skilled nursing facilities, and families. In addition, she is Counsel to the Suffolk Coalition of Mental Health Centers.

Ms. Wolf’s expertise includes mental hygiene law, including retention and treatment over objection psychiatric cases, mental health warrants, capacity determinations, informed consent and medical treatment cases, confidentiality and release of records matters, and interaction with law enforcement in health care facilities. She also handles Kendra’s Law applications, Article 81 and 17-A guardianship proceedings, civil and criminal litigation and negotiation specific to mental health issues, consultation and advice in navigating the mental health system, and legal interventions in both the inpatient and outpatient treatment settings. Ms. Wolf also counsels health care institutions on issues of end of life decisionmaking, development of ethics committees, advance directives, and institutional review boards.

Ms. Wolf lectures both locally and nationally and advises college and university counseling centers and administration regarding issues of the increasing rate of student suicides, serious mental illness on campus, drug and alcohol abuse, and date rape. She also counsels them on law enforcement, confidentiality, parental notification, documentation and increasing liability of campus staff, administrators, mental health professionals and the institutions themselves. She has developed seminars, written and lectured extensively in these and other areas of mental health and health care law, providing education to professionals in legal, medical, and educational disciplines, other attorneys, laypersons and the judiciary.

Ms. Wolf holds elected positions in the Association for Healthcare Risk Management of New York State, (Presidentelect, 2007, President, 2008-2010, Chairperson of the Education Committee); Nassau County Bar Association, Hospital and Health Law Committee, (Vice Chairperson); and New York State Bar Committee on Mental Health Issues. She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association, Nassau County Bar Association, Article 81 Advisory Committee, New York County (Co-Chairperson “Integrated Guardianship Part” Committee), Healthcare Executives Club, American Counseling Association, American College Counseling Association, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys.

She holds a J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law, an M.S. in Health Services Administration from the Harvard School of Public Health and an M.B.A. in Management from the Hofstra University School of Business. She is admitted to practice in New York State, various Federal Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to practicing law, Ms. Wolf was a hospital administrator and a Director of Risk Management.