Flaster Greenberg is excited to announce the recipients of our 2025 Laura B. Wallenstein Memorial Scholarship in partnership with Rutgers University Law School – Camden. The scholarship is awarded to first- and second-year law students attending Rutgers University School of Law – Camden, who embody longtime Flaster Greenberg shareholder, Laura B. Wallenstein’s, passion for excellence in law and who share her ambition for the advancement of women in the legal profession.
Rutgers Law Students Emily O’Donnell and Chyanne Rhodes were each awarded $2,500 to help offset the cost of law school tuition. These magnificent women law students embody Laura Wallenstein’s interest in law, leadership, or entrepreneurship. This initiative, which honors Wallenstein’s memory, is part of Flaster Greenberg’s ongoing commitment to supporting the next generation of women in law as they pursue meaningful careers and help shape the future of the profession.
(Left): Karen Roberts, Chief People Officer, Flaster Greenberg; Mariel Giletto, Business & Corporate Law Shareholder & Chair of DEI Committee, Flaster Greenberg; Scholarship Recipients Emily O’Donnell, President of Women’s Law Caucus and Chyanne Rhodes, President of the Black Law Students Association; Rhasheda Douglas, Assistant Dean, Director of the Minority Student Program, Rutgers Law School; Sy Nicholson, Sy Nicholson, Director of Development, Rutgers University, Rutgers Law School, Rutgers Law School Foundation.
Emily O’Donnell is currently a second-year law student at Rutgers University School of Law – Camden. She is president of the Women's Law Caucus and an associate editor for the Women's Rights Law Reporter. She received bachelor’s degree in political science and minor in communications from Mount St. Mary's University.
Chyanne Rhodes is currently a second-year law student at Rutgers University School of Law – Camden. She is a member of the Black Law Students’ Association, OUTlaws, Minority Student Program, and is a Social Justice Scholar. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Rutgers University.
Laura B. Wallenstein, a 1977 graduate of Rutgers Law School, was the first woman to ever hold the position of shareholder at Flaster Greenberg. She passed away in September of 2022 at the age of 77.
An accomplished and trailblazing attorney, Wallenstein joined Flaster Greenberg in 1980 and became an equity shareholder after just five years, when only ten percent of the partners at law firms were women. She was a name shareholder of the firm, until it was abbreviated to Flaster Greenberg PC in 1999. Wallenstein was a champion for women’s causes and regularly mentored younger female attorneys. Early on, she helped spearhead and develop an internal women’s group where the women lawyers would gather to support, learn from, and share with each other. This has since been formalized as the firm’s internal Women’s Initiative Committee, which continues to support the professional development and work-life balance of the firm’s women attorneys. Wallenstein concentrated the entirety of her legal practice in corporate, business, tax planning, and family wealth transfers. She also practiced in health care law. She was known within the firm as the unofficial head of its Trusts & Estates Practice and was the architect and draftsperson for most of the estate planning documents the firm uses to this day. She also served on the firm’s management committee and was regarded by all who knew her as one of the leaders of the firm. She retired in 2016.
While attending Rutgers Law School, Wallenstein was an editor of the Law Review and upon graduation was the valedictorian of her class. She also was a 1966 graduate of Smith College with a degree in mathematics and earned her LLM in Taxation from NYU in 1981.
About Flaster Greenberg
Flaster Greenberg, a midsize business law firm with offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and in Florida, has been providing legal services to publicly traded corporations, privately held and family owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals for more than 50 years. Flaster Greenberg serves a broad range of clients in dozens of industries and practice areas including aviation law, bankruptcy, business & corporate, cannabis, commercial litigation, environmental, family law, healthcare, insurance recovery, intellectual property, labor and employment, real estate, taxation, transportation, and trusts and estates.
