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REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

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  • Won dismissal of action against attorney on “litigation privilege” and other grounds. ◊

  • Obtained disqualification of opponents’ lawyers. ◊ 

  • Earned appellate reversal in complex insurance coverage action, ◊ and later convinced the Commercial Division of the New York County Supreme Court to establish new legal precedent on timing of insurers’ coverage disclaimers. ◊

  • Won summary judgment, affirmed on appeal, ◊ in first-party coverage litigation. ◊

  • Prevailed in federal appeal of legal malpractice suit dismissal. ◊

  • Awarded dismissal of insurance carrier’s lawsuit due to waiver of subrogation rights. ◊

  • Received ruling permitting discovery of adversary’s privileged communications with his former lawyers. ◊

  • Won three appellate motions in $35 million hedge fund/securities case. ◊ ◊

  • Achieved pre-answer dismissal in suit involving complex commercial transactions. The Court penned a 41-page (single-spaced) decision adopting my arguments. ◊

  • Received favorable settlement in attorney malpractice action after submitting 192 pages of opening and opposition papers in summary judgment motions (exclusive of exhibits) and litigating ten other motions over the course of six years.

  • Resolved federal case during pending summary judgment motion analyzing Austrian and Czech commercial law. ◊

  • Settled title insurer lawsuit that delved into powers of attorney and several other issues, after counsel perfected appeals and cross-appeals. ◊

  • Briefed and argued unanimous appellate victory concerning “law office failure.” ◊

  • Appealed in legal malpractice suit on statute of limitations grounds, ◊ eventually attain-ing summary judgment, affirmed on appeal. ◊

  • In accountant malpractice dispute, the Court issued detailed opinion dismissing all but one cause of action. The court accepted, inter alia, my creative argument that suit should have been brought as a shareholder derivative action, and that since derivative suits are equitable in nature, laches constitutes a proper defense. ◊

  • In a national coverage case with several large firms representing our co-defendants, the Court based its summary judgment decision on my contention that it should not issue an advisory opinion. 

  • Defended strip club in federal lawsuit concerning publicity rights of internationally-known models. Settled on the eve of trial, this case attracted media attention.

  • Instituted two insurer “claw-back” proceedings against accounting firms, each involving difficult tax and coverage issues and subsequently settled on favorable terms.

  • Advanced arguments (against breach of fiduciary duty claims) that prevailed on appeal in insurance carrier motion to dismiss state attorney general’s well-known “contingent commissions” lawsuit. ◊

  • Attained temporary restraining order and advantageous compromise for individual investor pitted against major investment bank.

  • Tested, in two separate suits, the limits of a provision of the New York Public Health Law. ◊ ◊ ◊

  • Argued appeal attempting to disqualify opponent’s lawyer in insurance policy reformation class action. ◊

  • Successfully defended creators and producers of celebrity television show in dispute regarding ownership rights to the show.

  • Helped win summary judgment for hospital against former department head. During that case, expanded an unsettled doctrine in employment law; ◊ and prevailed in novel motion concerning the privacy of work email. ◊

  • Also won the dismissal of another physician’s civil RICO suit against insurer, featured in the Civil RICO Report’s “You Be the Judge” column. ◊

  • Defense counsel in sweepstakes fraud lawsuits. ◊

  • Class action defense in multi-district insurance market conduct litigation. Achieved dismissal of gross negligence claims. ◊

  • Drafted victorious motion to dismiss antitrust counterclaims in $300 million lawsuit.

  • As law clerk to Hon. Whitman Knapp (S.D.N.Y.), conducted substantial research and writing, including major portions of numerous prominent opinions such as:

  • First published opinion to distinguish an aspect of decade-old controlling U.S. Supreme Court decision on self-critical analysis privilege. ◊

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder claims under Warsaw Convention; additionally, holding that amended legislation does not preempt treaty. Cited frequently in cases and law reviews. ◊

  • Due process rights of tenured professor to receive research grants without interference. ◊

  • Important aspect of prisoners’ speech and association rights. ◊

  • First opinion to distinguish two Second Circuit cases construing the Americans with Disabilities Act for persons with Tourette syndrome. ◊

  • Interpreting Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s “affiliate exemption.” ◊

  • Examining constitutional right to proceed pro se at trial. ◊

  • ◊◊◊

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