She is a member of the Executive Committee and has been the Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee as well as a member of other MICA Board Committees.
Garfinkle has been a practicing lawyer in New York and the District of Columbia since 1968.
Her passion is representing artists, estates of artists and arts organizations. For the past 15 years, she has worked at Whiteford Taylor & Preston, LLP, based in Washington, D.C. She has had an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell for over 25 years and has been named to the list of The Best Lawyers in America in Trusts and Estates.
Garfinkle represents many artists and artist's estates, including the Estate of Morris Louis. She also represents the (e)merge Art Fair, a Washington, D.C., institution which emphasizes emerging artists; ConnerSmith Gallery in D.C.; as well as numerous non-profit art organizations nationally.
She is a member and former D.C. Chapter Chair of ArtTable, the national organization for women she founded, and she is former Chair of the D.C. Bar Art Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the D.C. Bar. In addition, Garfinkle is a founding director of International Network for Conservation of Contemporary Art North America (INCCA-NA) as well as a co-founder of the Harriet B. Burg Foundation, which supports the legal issues of disabled women.
Garfinkle is the co-author of Estate Planning for Artists and Collectors, a publication by the D.C. Bar and is a speaker on the subject of Estates of Artists and Collectors for the D.C. Bar and at the C.L.E. International Art Law Conference held annually in Santa Fe, NM.
Her personal art form is photography and her work hangs in numerous law firms and homes. She is married to Joseph Lancaster Brent, III, who is the biographer of America's greatest philosopher, Charles Sanders B. Pierce.
Garfinkle is currently an adjunct professor at George Mason University, College of Arts Management, where she teaches the course Legal Issues in Arts Management.
She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Brooklyn Law School.