Declan Mansfield
I was born in the Bronx, New York and for the next 9 years my family simultaneously lived in both, the Bronx and Mt. Vernon, New York. How is that possible you might say? My grandparents, who we lived with in their two-story, two-family house, had built their house on the county line dividing the Bronx and Westchester Counties. So it is true that my bedroom (who I shared with my older brother) was located in the Bronx. I slept there but the living room, where we at our meals, was actually in Mt. Vernon.
I grew up with my 2 brothers and 2 sisters (I am the "middle child" with one of each younger and older) mostly in "Da Bronx" until my father, a White Plains Police Officer, moved us to our own house 9 years later in White Plains. I then was "allowed" to share my room with my younger brother. So much for progress.
- Fordham University Law School, New York - Juris Doctor - June 1977
- Admitted to New York Bar - June 1978
- Admitted to Florida Bar - June 1987
- Former Assistant District Attorney - Westchester County District Attorney's Office, New York - 1979 through 1987
- Former Assistant State Attorney - Sixth Judicial Circuit, Pasco County, Florida - 1987 through 1991
- Exclusive representation of Plaintiffs in personal injury cases since 1993.
- Member of the New York State Bar Association, Florida Bar Association, and West Pasco Bar Association
- Admitted to U.S. District Courts: Eastern District of New York - June 1980, Southern District of New York - June 1980, Middle District of Florida - September 1991
I attended parochial schools through high school, graduating Archbishop Stepinac High School with a Regents degree in 1969. I went on to Pace University and graduated in 1973 with a BBA in accounting and financial marketing. In my senior year I began to realize that the law held a certain fascination, and I decided rather than proceed with a career in accounting I would go to law school.
I worked for a solid year to save enough money to ease the financial burden, knowing fully I would not be able to work while attending law school. I was able to successfully graduate from college with no debt by working two jobs, but I knew that is was impractical to think I would be able to accomplish that through three years of law school. I did eventually take out loans that enabled me to complete my law studies.
I was accepted at Fordham University Law School in 1974 and graduated in 1977 with no job and lots of debt. I received a position with the Carvel Corporation (yes the ice cream company) in the litigation department. My office was just down the hall from the founder and president Tom Carvel. After a few months I accepted a new position with Peat, Marwick & Mitchell, at that time one of the "Big Eight" accounting firms, and was appointed as an International Tax Specialist in their tax department. So much for not using my accounting degree. During the 15 months I was employed by P, M&M I realized I was missing something and that I enjoyed litigation. I applied to a few District Attorney Offices and received an appointment as an Assistant District Attorney in 1979 to the Westchester County District Attorney's Offices. I served for 8 years in various bureaus: Fraud, Local Court, Grand Jury, General Trial and Career Criminal. I resigned in 1987 (At that time I was a Division Chief as well as Deputy Bureau Chief of the Career Criminal trial bureau) and moved my wife and three children to Florida.
I accepted a position with the State Attorney's office of the Sixth Judicial Circuit covering Pasco and Pinellas counties. I quickly became second in charge of the West Pasco Office under Senior A.S.A. Michael Halkitas. When I left I was running a felony division, the juvenile division and administratively responsible for all misdemeanors. Multi-tasking is just a daily routine within any prosecutor's office. Four years later another assistant state attorney, Frank Bianco, and I took a risk and opened our own law firm. Twenty years later it looks like this gamble may pay off.