By John Caher
New York Law Journal
September 19, 2001

DELMAR, N.Y. -- Trial lawyers are often accused of figuratively igniting blazes, but David E. Rook literally puts fires out. The associate of The LaFave Law Firm PLLC in suburban Albany moonlights as a volunteer firefighter and member of the New York Urban Search and Rescue Team.

Last week, Mr. Rook found himself at ground zero when the Search and Rescue Team was activated to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts at the former site of the World Trade Center. From Wednesday through Friday, he worked up to 15-hour days on the logistical effort: keeping the direct rescue workers supplied with the equipment they needed and keeping the equipment in working condition.

In that time, he encountered thousands of dedicated firefighters, endured the pain of running into an old friend whose brother was in Tower One and missing, experienced the terror when it appeared that the American Express building was about to topple, and was struck with emotion when volunteer ironworkers climbed atop a cherry picker and hung an American flag from a lamp post -- a gesture that ignited spontaneous applause and cheering.

“The scene itself, even when you are there, doesn’t seem quite real,” said the 45-year-old attorney and father of three. “It was hard to believe that it was possible, but it was there, right there in front of me. I was deeply saddened, but at the same time could feel very strongly the family of emergency workers.”

Mr. Rook is a member of the Slingerlands Fire Department, a commitment he made some years ago after a first-hand experience at the Elsmere home of his father, attorney Edward Rook. While the younger Mr. Rook was in the dwelling, a blazing fire erupted.

“It was a huge fire and I narrowly escaped with my life,” Mr. Rook recalled. He had never seen volunteer firefighters in action before and was very, very impressed.

Call to Duty

Mr. Rook eventually became what is called a “heavy rescue technician,” or one of a corps of volunteers that trains specifically for tricky rescues like cave extrications, ice rescues and other efforts in confined spaces and along cliffs. Last Tuesday night, he received a call asking him to join the New York Urban Search and Rescue Team, which Governor Pataki created in response to the World Trade Center attack and the Oklahoma City bombing.

“The Governor had decided we needed to improve our ability to respond to these type of emergencies, since many times fire departments aren’t really equipped or trained for that kind of operation,” Mr. Rook explained. “I said, ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’”

After boarding a bus with other volunteers, Mr. Rook began the trek downstate. The bus was met by the State Police and escorted to lower Manhattan. Even after viewing the carnage on television, Mr. Rook was not prepared for the enormity of the devastation. His assignment with the logistics crew brought him close to the action, and a little too close for comfort when the American Express structure began to sway, and it appeared the building was going to fall.

“I thought,” he said, “that I was going to die.” Mr. Rook ran for his life along with hundreds of other rescue workers, but promptly returned once it was apparent that the building would remain erect. Despite a few more close calls, that structure is still standing.

Throughout, Mr. Rook said, community support was impressive.

“There were people giving us food all the time,” he said. “Everywhere you went, there were people giving you things -- sandwiches, bottles of water, granola bars. There was a woman who brought us a container of coffee, with a sock stuck in the top.”

Particularly painful, Mr. Rook said, was viewing the wreckage of crushed fire vehicles -- from one came the body of a dead firefighter, as Mr. Rook looked on.

Past Public Service

Much of Mr. Rook’s career has involved public service. He worked with Assemblyman Martin A. Luster, D-Ithaca, from 1996 to 1999 and previously counseled the powerful Committee on Codes. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Rook served with the Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau, and also held various other positions in the Departments of Social Services, Environmental Conservation and Taxation and Finance.

Mr. Rook was something of a late-comer to the law. After receiving a bachelor of science degree from the University at Albany in 1979, he worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service. From there, he went to the School of Management at the University at Buffalo, earning a master’s of business administration-finance in 1989. In the early 1990s, Mr. Rook turned his attention to the law and enrolled in Albany Law School. He graduated cum laude in 1995.

“Over the course of time, I had a lot of interaction with lawyers and I decided that I could do a reasonably good job at this [practicing law],” Mr. Rook said. “There was a window of opportunity with my wife returning to the job market, so I thought I’d make a change.”

The LaFave Law Firm concentrates on representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases.

Mr. Rook said that certain personalities seem to be attracted to rescue work, those with “cool heads in the midst of chaos, an ability to focus when everything is coming apart and people are in pain, and where there is not necessarily a clear idea of what has to be done or how it is going to get done” -- in other words, he agreed, qualities similar to those necessary in the practice of law.