Darren Stakey, Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman

East Meadow, NY Darren Stakey joined the real estate practice group at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP as an associate and is located in the firm’s East Meadow office. Stakey is admitted to practice law in NY, California, and the District of Columbia. He is also admitted to practice in federal district court for the southern and eastern districts of NY. Prior to joining Certilman Balin, he clerked at the supreme court of Pennsylvania, which is the Commonwealth’s high court and the oldest appellate court in the nation. During his tenure as a law clerk, Stakey drafted numerous majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions, and advised the court regarding the implications of proposed rule changes.

He was salutatorian of the full-time division at Touro College Jacob D. Fuschberg Law Center in spring 2015, graduating with a 4.1237 GPA and donating 700 hours of pro bono legal service to his local community—an achievement partly facilitated by his membership in the inaugural class of NY’s Pro Bono Scholars Program.  Mr. Stakey was published in the Touro Law Review, and was a national quarterfinalist for the Moot Court Honors Board.  He was also an Honorable George C. Pratt Fellowship recipient and garnered awards for superlative achievement in, inter alia, criminal law, constitutional law, international law, legal drafting, oral argument, and accounting.

Mr. Stakey previously interned with the firm’s Real Estate Group as the Touro Board of Governors Summer Associate in 2014, where he gained transactional experience drafting instruments for real estate development projects.  During law school, he also interned for the Honorable federal Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown, and the Honorable federal district Senior Judge Leonard D. Wexler, at the Eastern District of New York.

Before becoming a lawyer, Stakey worked as a ground handler in the private aviation industry, coordinating diplomatic and charter flight operations across the globe.  A professional singer/songwriter, he is also a member of the American Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers, with a catalog maintained by BMG.  Mr. Stakey is now affiliated with On-The-Go Music and, performing under the moniker Stay Key, he recently played the piano and sang for more than 111 consecutive hours to raise awareness and funds for autism research.

Stakey was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society at his collegiate alma mater, Hofstra University.  He has endeavored to continue in the American tradition of scholarship and high-minded civic principles throughout his professional career, most recently co-authoring a survey on land use ethics with Dean Patricia Salkin for The Urban Lawyer.