James R. Marsh Testifies before Congress

Today children are interacting and becoming integrated with national and international society in ways which are unprecedented in world history. Consider that just a decade ago there was no instant messaging, MySpace, YouTube or the wide adoption of cell phones. Consider that just as modern Western societies have permitted a free flow of people and goods internationally, they have also enabled and facilitated child trafficking, the commercialization and wide distribution of child pornography, and cheap and easy global communication. As never before, children are not only participating in, but in some cases assuming a leading role in this new largely ungoverned and unregulated world, with often tragic consequences.

In 1998, a Russian orphan girl named Mariya Nikolaevna Yashenkova (later re-named Maria Mancuso and now known as Masha Allen) was targeted by a sophisticated child pedophile network. Mariya was adopted internationally at age five by a single American man named Matthew Mancuso who raped and sexually abused her for six years. Throughout this period, Mancuso memorialized his ongoing exploitation of Masha by producing hundreds of child sex abuse images which he distributed on the Internet to other pedophiles.

In late 2005, I was instrumental in enhancing the federal civil legal rights of children who are victims of child pornography. Borrowing from intellectual property law, our firm helped draft, introduce and pass—in just seven months—a comprehensive update to a long-forgotten federal law which gives victims the right to sue anyone who produces, distributes or possess their child sex abuse images. Masha’s Law provides statutory damages of $150,000 for each violation of federal child pornography provisions and was incorporated into the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act [Pub.L. 109-248] signed by President Bush on July 27, 2006.

Thanks to our work, victims of child pornography and sexual exploitation have a newly invigorated federal statutory right in every federal district court in the country to pursue their victimizers. No longer will children have to suffer in silence relegated to permanent unseen and unheard victims of this horrible crime. Now everyone who profits from and participates in these acts will be held accountable not only criminally, but financially.

James R. Marsh included in 2007 / 2008 / 2009 New York Super Lawyers

I am honored by my continuing selection for inclusion in the 2009 New York Super Lawyers. Only five percent of the lawyers in New York earn the Super Lawyers honor. Super Lawyers is an annual listing of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. More than 60 practice areas are included. The survey, research, and selection process is performed by Law & Politics which has published Super Lawyers since 1990.

A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and its acclaimed Child Advocacy Law Clinic, I am an experienced trial attorney and frequent commentator and author on legal issues effecting children. I am the founder, former executive director and current board member of the nationally recognized Children’s Law Center in Washington, DC which received the National Association of Counsel for Children’s Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award during my tenure.

I have represented clients in wrongful adoption, civil rights, RICO, Title IX peer-on-peer sexual harassment, section 1983, special education, high stakes testing (SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT), child welfare, custody, visitation and paternity proceedings before state and federal trial and appellate courts.

I now largely limit my legal advocacy to victims of wrongful adoption, child trafficking, sexual exploitation and child pornography at The Marsh Law Firm PLLC in New York.

I have appeared on CourtTV, CNN, Nancy Grace and The O’Reilly Factor and have been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Albany Times Union, New York Post, Boston Globe and American Bar Association Journal.

A longtime technology expert, I have spoken on Technology Fundamentals for Attorneys; Document Management: Best Practices and Technology Solutions; and Records Retention Management in the Digital Age: A Key Element in Minimizing Liability.

Laura A. Dempsey's Washington Post Op-Ed on Military Families

In 2008, Marsh Law Firm partner Laura A. Dempsey wrote an influential Washington Post op-ed entitled The Military vs. Marriages.

Since graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996, Laura has practiced as a trial attorney, representing children and parents in child abuse and neglect proceedings in both Washington, DC with The Children’s Law Center and in Manhattan for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division.

While at the Children’s Law Center, Laura supervised the award-winning Pro Bono Adoption Project. She also served two years as an Assistant District Attorney for Chatham County, Georgia, specializing in child abandonment prosecutions and child support enforcement. In Georgia, Laura created and instituted a program to pursue child support evaders who attempted to hide in federal bankruptcy court. This program led to an increase of thousands of dollars in child support collections in its first year alone.

In 1997, Laura authored an integrated legal and policy manual for Governor Gary Locke’s newly formed Office of the Family and Children’s Ombudsman in Seattle, Washington. She has written analysis and commentary for The Adoption and Child Welfare Law Reporter and assisted James in writing Federal Paternity Law in Disputed Paternity Proceedings by Matthew Bender. Laura was a primary contributer to Masha's Law and practices extensively in the areas of child exploitation and child pornography.