CONGREGATION BETH EL ELECTS
COHEN AND WOLF, P.C. ATTORNEY TO SERVE AS ITS PRESIDENT

BRIDGEPORT, CT, May 17, 2005 – The Bridgeport-based law firm of Cohen and Wolf, P.C. is pleased to announce that Richard Slavin, a Fairfield resident, has been elected president of Congregation Beth El in Fairfield, Connecticut. Mr. Slavin is an active member of the Congregation serving on its Board of Directors and as a former executive vice president, ritual vice president, and chair of its Rabbinic Search Committee.

Mr. Slavin is a principal and chair of Cohen and Wolf, P.C.’s Securities Group. He is also a member of the firm’s Litigation and Business & Corporate Groups. Resident in the firm’s Bridgeport office, Mr. Slavin practices in the areas of securities regulation, securities and federal court litigation, and banking regulation. He regularly represents brokers, dealers, investment advisors, broker-dealer agents, investment advisor agents, and issuers of securities before federal, state and self-regulatory securities agencies. While Mr. Slavin is a primary resident of Cohen and Wolf, P.C.’s Bridgeport office, he also spends time working from the firm’s Westport office.

Prior to joining Cohen and Wolf, P.C., Mr. Slavin served as the director of the Connecticut Banking Departments' Securities and Business Investments Division from 1981 to 1983. Prior to that time, he served as a financial analyst examiner, staff attorney, and attorney inspector at the Ohio Division of Securities from 1972 through 1981. He also served as a staff attorney in the Division of Enforcement at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in 1981, as a part of the Intergovernmental Exchange Act Program.

Mr. Slavin is admitted to practice in Connecticut and Ohio. He is a member of the Connecticut Banking Commissioner's Securities Act Advisory Counsel. Mr. Slavin served as chairman of the Business Law Committee of the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association from 1996 to 1998, and has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association's Business Law Section since 1985. He was the chairman of the Section's Securities Law committee from 1995 to 2000, a position he also held from 1985-1990. He is also a member of the Connecticut Bar Association's Federal Practice Committee.

Mr. Slavin serves on the State Regulation of Securities Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and its Enforcement, Broker-Dealer and Small Business Capital Formation Subcommittees. He is also a member of the Securities Litigation Committee and the Arbitration and Enforcement Subcommittees of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the Arbitration Boards of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. and the National Futures Association. Attorney Slavin is the author of "Securities Regulation in 1990," Connecticut Bar Journal, May 1990, and lectures and writes extensively on securities law.

Active in the community, Mr. Slavin served as chair of the Jewish Center for Community Services of Eastern Fairfield County from 1999 through 2001 and also served on its and its predecessor organization's Board of Directors for 17 years. He is a member and secretary of the Board of Directors of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc. (since 1993). He also serves as fund-raising chair for Connecticut Legal Services (since 1996). Mr. Slavin is a founder of the Legal Center for Connecticut Non-Profit Organizations, Inc. He currently serves as chair of the Jewish Community Foundation, Inc. In 2004, he received the United Way's Community Builder Award.

Mr. Slavin received his B.A. in 1969 and his M.B.A. in 1972 from Case Western Reserve University. He received his J.D. in 1977 from the University of Akron.