Jeffrey Slonim

Jeffrey I. Slonim is general counsel and secretary of the Fashion Institute of Technology, serving as the college’s chief legal officer, as a member of the president’s cabinet, and as chief parliamentary officer of the FIT Board of Trustees. He has held that position since 1998.

Before joining FIT, Mr. Slonim was an assistant attorney general in the New York State Attorney General’s litigation bureau, responsible for the defense of a substantial caseload in state and federal courts at all levels.  For 12 years he was also a section chief, supervising attorneys representing principal clients including The City University of New York, State University of New York, the New York State Education Department, and the New York State Comptroller. Mr. Slonim was also an adjunct legal writing instructor at New York Law School and Brooklyn Law School. Prior to his public service, Mr. Slonim practiced general, commercial and securities law as a litigator with a law firm in New York City.

Mr. Slonim is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, where he has served on several committees and the editorial board of the Journal of College and University Law.  He is a member of the American Bar Association, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York County Lawyers Association, and Federal Bar Council. He is admitted to the bar of New York State, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Mr. Slonim earned his Bachelor of Science in mathematics, cum laude, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received his law degree, with honors, from The George Washington University, where he served as managing editor of the law review. While practicing law he also did graduate work in anthropology, specializing in prehistoric archaeology.  He has done volunteer fieldwork in Swaziland, Easter Island, Borneo, Ireland, and the Illinois Valley.

Mr. Slonim authored a survey of 2001 case law on employment discrimination, published at 29 J. College & Univ. L. 327-57.