William B. Fornaro (better known as Bill) has been in the legal accounting field since 1989. In the first few years he edited narratives and created invoices for attorneys as they requested them. Bill was not assigned to any specific attorney at that time. In 1993 an opportunity arose to take care of the clients of a specific group of attorneys, and Bill accepted the new challenge. He was able to successfully prepare all invoices for all of his clients in a timely manner and demonstrate interpersonal skills with people at all levels in the firm of Shea & Gould. When Shea & Gould dissolved in 1994 he moved to Rogers & Wells. There were more attorneys to work for and while here learned to write narrative invoices, which helped to drastically improve writing skills. He was also given the personal accounts of all employees to create, distribute, monitor and edit. When Rogers & Wells merged with the British firm of Clifford Chance in 2001, there was a chance to work with invoices posted in foreign currencies like the Pound, Euro, and Yen. After Clifford Chance downsized in 2005 he went to Proskauer Rose LLP. While there he assisted several attorneys in preparing bills for their clients and also took care of numerous accounting reports on programs like Excel. At the end of 2007 he moved over to the East Side of Manhattan and began to work for a smaller firm called Epstein Becker Green PC. At this time he is assigned to 12 attorneys and prepares invoices for their clients. In addition, when clients call with billing issues, Bill promptly and professionally answers all questions in a timely manner.
Several clients use have asked that their invoices be sent electronically using various vendors like Serengeti, Tymetrix and Shareadoc. This requires a knowledge of electronic data processing (EDP) and the creation of interface files (called LEDES files).
Before 1989 Bill worked in the banking world for 14 years. He started out in 1975 at the Lincoln Savings Bank in Brooklyn as an accounting clerk. After 2½ years he moved over to the Apple Savings Bank as an auditor before going to commercial banks. One of them was Bankers Trust Company where he enjoyed special projects, especially those that involve EDP. An assistant vice president advised him that computers and EDP auditing might be a good career move for him. So he went back to college to earn a professional certificate in Information Systems at Pace University and in 1985 took a job at the Atlantic Bank of New York as a systems auditor. While here he helped to design a series of audits for non-mainframe computer systems.
Outside of work Bill has been active as a member of the Islip Fire Department since 1985, and while there served as an emergency medical technician for a few years.
Other hobbies and interests include bowling, baseball, and softball. He played softball for the Clifford Chance team from 2001 through 2005, the Island Softball Association in 2006, and with Epstein Becker Green since 2008.
Education:
St. John's University - BS
Pace University - Professional Certificate
St. Francis Preparatory High School
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