Frederick Eisenbud, Esq.
Frederick Eisenbud, THE Environmental Law Firm®
Website: www.LI-EnviroLaw.com
Fred Eisenbud has a theory that everyone who lives on Long Island originally came from Brooklyn. While he too was born in Kings County he grew up in Rockville Centre and now calls Fort Salonga home. When it came time to choose a college and a degree major, the first was easier for Fred than the second. "I got my Bachelors in psychology with a sociology minor" he said, explaining that it was a common choice for the "undecideds" at New York University Uptown. The NYU uptown campus was sold right after Eisenbud graduated, not that there's any connection between the two events he was quick to note. The campus is now part of City College. After college, Fred spent three years in the Peace Corps, assigned to a small village in Liberia in western Africa. From 1968 through 1971 he taught English and other subjects to fifth and sixth grade students. "It was a wonderful experience," Fred recalled of the time he spent 50 miles from the capital city, in a village with no water, no stores, and no transportation. "I tell people that I was sent there to teach villagers how to speak English with a Bronx accent." Although the Bai tribe he lived with was small, it was marked by some remarkable achievements. Liberia's minister of education, who earned his Ph.D. in Wisconsin, came from the village, and two village women earned Masters Degrees in the U.S. "There was a certain prestige about going to school, but little emphasis was put on how long it took to graduate," he explained. The average age of a sixth grade student was 15 in a country where continuing on the 7th grade required passing a national competency exam. "Even though only 20% of those taking the entrance exam passed, I never had a student fail during the time I was there," Eisenbud recalled with pride. He said it took him nearly a year to adjust to the climate, culture and isolation. "Forget about MTV, I was lucky to get Voice of America and the BBC." Trips to the capital were a regular event for Fred and gave him a chance to visit some well-stocked bookstores. "There was little else to do," he explained. "I read a book a week during the three years I was there." Fred was the only Peace Corps volunteer in the village but managed to meet with colleagues stationed nearby occasionally. A memorable trip was when a group of Americans chartered a plane for a personal tour of the East African countryside. The Peace Corps experience helped him grow and focus on what he wanted for the future. He took the LSAT's, required for entry into law school, in Monrovia, the capital city. "I didn't really know what lawyers did, but I felt it was a good mechanism for social change," he said. Fred's father had been the first head of the Environmental Affairs under NYC Mayor John Lindsay and had opened his own environmental firm by the time Fred returned from Africa. Working there for nine months until he entered Hofstra Law School help him focus on that newly emerging field for his practice in later years. He met his wife, Lynne Adair Kramer at Hofstra. Also an attorney, she is about to become First Vice President of the Suffolk County Bar Association and within a couple of years will become only the second woman President of the Bar. Fred, a former director of the Suffolk County Bar, just completed his third term as Chairman of its environmental committee. This year, the Eisenbuds' spring break became a ritual tour that many parents have had to make. Their eldest son, Joshua, is making the rounds of prospective colleges. He and brother Benjamin are honors students with a penchant for tennis, a sport that Fred also enjoys. He and Lynne also recently took up golf, he said. "I've been attempting, rather slowly to educate myself on American history by reading biographies of all the presidents," Fred said. "It occupies whatever spare time he finds and gives him an overview of the important issues during those times," he said. He gained most of his experiences in environmental law working with Suffolk's evolving environmental legislation and for private firms early on. From 1987 to 1990 he taught environmental law at Touro Law School. In 1992 he started his own practice, where nearly 80% of his work is related to environmental law. "There has to be a balance between environmental protection and the ability of people to grow their business," he explained. "What it comes down to is nobody wants to see the environment hurt by commercialization, but on the other hand, when regulations are proposed, it's important that legislators understand the impact they will have on business." Fred joined the HIA in 1992 when a friend told him that it had an active environmental committee. He became a director in 1995 and now co-chairs the environmental committee. "The reason I got excited about the HIA," he said, "was that it was the most practical business organization. It actually got involved instead of just lobbying. They pick their battles very carefully and as a result are very successful."
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