Rockville Centre's Martha Krisel signs on as counsel to county exec

Former Rockville Centre Village Attorney Martha Krisel has taken the position of counsel to Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, where she provides legal advice on county-wide decisions and coordinates the complex legal issues that Nassau faces on a day-to-day basis.

Prior to this, Krisel served as Chief Deputy County Attorney for Special Projects for the Office of the Nassau County Attorney. Examples of her special projects included obtaining New York State accreditation as a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) provider for attorneys employed by the county, coordinating housing initiatives, implementing recently enacted county housing discrimination amendments and counseling in land use and municipal issues. Krisel served as counsel to the Nassau County Commission on Human Rights. She was also responsible for the recruitment and retention of attorneys, law students and volunteer attorneys and paralegals.

Immediately before joining the county attorney’s office, from 1996- 2006, Krisel served Rockville Centre. As the village’s in-house counsel, she represented the mayor and board of trustees and drafted all village legislation, oversaw all litigation and managed outside counsel. She drafted and reviewed contracts, leases, legislation, resolutions, directives and policies. She also trained all employees in the village’s discrimination, harassment and retaliation policies, reviewed FOIL applications and ensured village compliance with state and federal legislation.

Before her stint as village attorney, Krisel worked for Seward & Seward, representing the village, and she also taught at Hofstra Law School from 1989–1994. Krisel has also represented indigent children, criminals and the elderly at Legal Aid and Legal Services offices in New York and Massachusetts.

Krisel is married to Dr. Stanley Berke. The couple, who live in Rockville Centre, have three children. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Nassau County Bar Association and the Nassau County Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee. She chaired the Environmental Law Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association from 2005-2007, and the Municipal Law Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association from 2003-2005. Krisel also served as a member of the Nassau County Board of Ethics from 2005-2010. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Nassau County Women’s Bar Association.