General Practice Section

Andrea Bonina, Esq.

Chair, Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts

Partner, Bonina & Bonina P.C.

Brooklyn, New York

Since beginning her law career in 1992, Andrea Bonina has concentrated almost exclusively on significant plaintiff’s personal injury cases. Andrea is now managing partner of the firm, which handles medical malpractice, product liability, and other complex personal injury litigation.

Andrea is a frequent lecturer on litigation and practice management topics. She is the past president of the Brooklyn Bar Association and current Foundation Trustee. She obtained an “AV” rating from Martindale Hubbell, which is the highest rating for skills and ethics. Andrea has earned the respect of her peers and has been featured in the New York Times “Super Lawyers” section since 2007 as one of the finest plaintiff’s product liability litigators in New York. She has been included in the New York Area’s Top Rated Lawyers since 2012. Andrea has received numerous awards and honors including the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Vivian H. Agress Trailblazer Award and the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award.

Andrea’s decision to practice law is an outgrowth of her commitment to helping others. As Co-Chair of an annual fund-raising drive for St. Jude Children’s Hospital from 1992 through 2006, Andrea raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for children stricken with catastrophic diseases.

Joel Cohen, Esq.

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP.

New York, NY

Joel Cohen, an experienced white-collar criminal lawyer, joined the firm in 1985 after ten years as a prosecutor, first with the New York State Special Prosecutor’s Office and, second, as an Assistant Attorney-in-Charge with the U.S. Justice Department’s Organized Crime & Racketeering Section (E.D.N.Y.). In those positions, he concentrated in the investigation, prosecution and trial of organized crime figures and corruption cases involving high-ranking public officials in New York, including the top leadership of the Colombo crime family, many members of the elite narcotics division of the New York Police Department, and the first ever prosecution of a sitting FBI agent.

Since arriving at Stroock, Mr. Cohen has represented and actively counseled individuals and corporations that have been investigated and/or prosecuted for alleged federal racketeering, securities violations, tax evasion, bribery, fraud, corruption, obstruction of justice, money laundering, environmental offenses, and customs violations involving alleged international frauds. He has also represented attorneys on ethical issues and in disciplinary proceedings in a number of jurisdictions in the New York area.

Sarah E. Gold, Esq.

Gold Law Firm

Albany, NY

Sarah Gold has always been a part of the Capital District of New York, having grown up in Guilderland, and attending Schenectady County Community College, University of Albany, and Albany Law School. She was a paralegal and legal secretary prior to going to law school and was admitted as an attorney in New York in 2007.

After passing the Bar, she was an associate where she worked extensively in the hedge fund industry, negotiating and drafting contractual agreements with some of the largest banks in the world. Her firm, Gold Law Firm, was created in 2011 to work locally with small for-profit and not-for-profit businesses to help them with their legal issues. She forms companies, drafts and negotiates employment contracts, and helps businesses exercise their legal rights. She is also a part-time professor at Rensselaer (RPI) teaching Business Law and Ethics and the advisor to the Rensselaer Pre-Law Association.
She is extensively involved with the New York State Bar Association. She is a past Chair of the Business Law and Young Lawyers Sections, co-chair of the Law Practice Management Committee and has been named a Fellow of the New York State Bar and American Bar Foundations. She is also the Co-Chair of the Small and Solo Committee of the Albany County Bar Association.

You can find her and her firm here:
Twitter – @SarahGold
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahgold
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/goldlaw

District Judge Philip M. Halpern

United States District Court, Southern District of New York 

Philip M. Halpern was appointed as a District Judge of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York on February 21, 2020 by President Donald J. Trump.

Judge Halpern graduated from Fordham University College of Business magna cum laude, with a major in economics, and received his J.D. from The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. Judge Halpern began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Irving Ben Cooper of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1980. He practiced commercial litigation for almost four decades, and was managing partner and head of the litigation group at Collier Halpern & Newberg, LLP in White Plains, New York.

Judge Halpern is an Adjunct Professor at The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University where he teaches a class entitled, “The Anatomy of a Trial: The Burden of Proof,” which deals exclusively with trial skills. He has also lectured for the Office of Court Administration, New York State Bar Association, New York City Bar Association and other Bar Associations on a variety of litigation topics. In 2002, Judge Halpern authored a two- volume book for Thompson Publishing Company on civil procedure entitled, “Civil Pretrial Proceedings in New York.” In 2020, he authored another textbook entitled, “The Burden of Proof,” published by the American Bar Association. He has also authored several articles for the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Westchester County Bar Association and the law review at The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

Richard A. Klass, Esq.

The Law Office of Richard A. Klass, Esq.

Brooklyn, NY

Richard A. Klass is the quintessential “Court Street lawyer,” as defined by The New York Times, a “street-smart sharpie with verve, hustle and a striver’s charisma.” Practicing law much like a critical care doctor functions, Klass is the lawyer clients appreciate when the issue is so vital. Practicing primarily in the areas of commercial litigation, debt collection and enforcement of judgments, legal malpractice, and real estate litigation, his firm also represents clients in bankruptcy, civil appeals, and federal court litigation. Mr. Klass lectures and writes extensively for lawyers and industry professionals.

Mr. Klass serves as an Officer of the Brooklyn Bar Association; Member of the Grievance Committee for the Appellate Division, Second Department; Former Chair of the General Practice Section of the New York State Bar Association; Co-Editor of the New York State Bar Association’s General Practice Section One on One Publication; and an Arbitrator, Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, County of Kings. Mr. Klass also serves as a Fee Arbitrator in the Part 137 Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Program. He has been selected for the New York Super Lawyers List. He also served as a representative to the Statewide Special Counsel for the Supreme Court’s Commercial Division.

In 1989, Mr. Klass received his Bachelor of Arts at Hofstra University and his Juris Doctorate at New York Law School in 1992. He was the Recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Conflict of Laws. Mr. Klass is admitted to the following jurisdictions: State of New York (1992); State of New Jersey (1993); U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1992); U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (1992); U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (1993); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1999); and the U.S. Supreme Court (1997).

Richard Klass has been a formative voice within New York law circles both for the high standards of his work as well as his extensive writings, lectures, and appearances in the media. He reaches an audience of lawyers and non-lawyers equally through publications which include his quarterly newsletter, Law Currents and his blogs Law Currents and The Legal Malpractice Blog, New York. His books include Hug of War instead of Tug of War: RPAPL 993 (2020); A Man’s Home is (Not Always) his castle: RPAPL 881 (2019); I Got Bloomed: Keeping Client Confidences and Loyalties (2018); Killing the “Zombies”: Recent Changes to New York State’s Foreclosure Laws (2017); Attorney’s Liens and Legal Fee Enforcement (2015); Retention and Withdrawal of Counsel: a guide for attorneys (2015); and Successfully Defending Your Credit Card Lawsuit (2013). The newsletter and blog, Law Currents, with tens of thousands of readers combined, is particularly popular. Written in a style that appeals to nearly anyone who likes a good story, this two-page illustrated quarterly features entertaining and informative case studies written in plain English.

Burton N. Lipshie, Esq.

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP.

New York, NY

Burton N. Lipshie has been the Managing Attorney of the Litigation Practice Group since 1977. Prior to joining Stroock, he was an Assistant District Attorney in New York County and a member of the Appeals Bureau. Mr. Lipshie also served for six years as Principal Law Clerk to a New York State Supreme Court and Appellate Term Justice.

Widely regarded as an expert on New York procedure, Mr. Lipshie has served as both an educator to, and an advocate on behalf of, the New York State Court System. Each year he is invited by the New York State Office of Court Administration, and its Judicial Institute, to teach New York procedure at its annual seminars for Justices and Judges throughout the state, as well as the seminars for Law Clerks and Court Attorneys. He also lectures each year to newly elected judges. Mr. Lipshie also serves as regular outside counsel to the Association of Law Secretaries to the Justices of the Supreme and Surrogates’ Court in New York City, and the Association of Supreme Court Justices of the State of New York.

Mr. Lipshie is an Adjunct Professor of Legal Writing and New York Practice at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. In 1999, after nine successive graduating classes awarded him “The Outstanding Adjunct Professor” award, the school renamed the award the “Burton N. Lipshie Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award.” He has been given the award again by eight other graduating classes. Mr. Lipshie is co-author of New York Civil Practice Before Trial published by James Publishing Co., and has written articles and book chapters on procedural issues.

Richard M. Maltz, Esq.

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz, PC

New York, NY

Richard M. Maltz is counsel to the Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Group at Frankfurt Kurnit.

He has more than 25 years of experience in the professional responsibility field, representing lawyers in disciplinary matters and lawyers and law firms in partnership disputes. He also handles litigation involving professional responsibility issues, fee disputes, law firm disputes, disqualification, sanctions, and problems in the admission process for law graduates.

Mr. Maltz served 12 years in the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division, including two years as First Deputy Chief Counsel (1998-2000) and nine years as Deputy Chief Counsel (1989-1998) for the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department. Prior to joining the Committee, Mr. Maltz handled both criminal and civil litigation.

Currently, Mr. Maltz is Chair of the New York State Bar Committee on Professional Discipline and a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Association Committee on Professional Ethics. He was creator and Chair of the former New York State Trial Lawyer’s Ethics Committee.
Mr. Maltz is a former Chair of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the New York City Bar (2002 – 2005) and former Chair and then Co-Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Westchester County Bar Association. He is a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Ethics Institute and was appointed to the New York State Bar Advertising Task Force. He was also former Chair of the Briarcliff Manor Ethics Board, as well as a former Referee for the Judicial Conduct Commission.

Mr. Maltz has been certified to teach an ethics CLE course by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board and he lectures often on disciplinary and ethical issues for New York State, City, and County Bar associations and for private law firms.

He has taught professional responsibility at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and has published articles in the New York Law Journal, New York State Bar Journal, and Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. Mr. Maltz sits on the editorial board for the New York Legal Ethics Reporter. He has also acted as an ethics expert. Mr. Maltz is admitted to practice in New York.

Michael A. Markowitz, Esq.

Michael A. Markowitz, PC

Hewlett, NY

Education:
Washington University in St. Louis (BA 1986)
Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center (JD 1989)

Admitted to practice law in New York (Registration Number 2303394)
Pro Bono Attorney of the Year with Legislature Citation (1996)
Member of the New York State Bar Association

• NYSBA delegate (2018 – Present)

Member of the Nassau County Bar Association

• Board of Directors Member (2013 – 2017)
• Directors Award (2016)

NYS and Nassau County Arbitrator (1998 – Present)

Martin Minkowitz, Esq.

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP.

New York, NY

Martin Minkowitz concentrates in insurance regulatory and litigation matters and on workers’ compensation law. He was the Deputy Superintendent and General Counsel of the New York State Insurance Department from 1981 to 1988, where he was responsible for the administration, interpretation and enforcement of state insurance laws and regulations. He also served as General Counsel for the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board from 1976 to 1981. He joined Stroock as a partner in 1988.

He has successfully written and lobbied legislation effecting significant changes to New York workers’ compensation law and New York insurance law. He has been designated and qualified as an expert witness in many cases on insurance and workers’ compensation issues in Federal and state courts, as well as arbitrations. He represents many of the leading corporations and major insurance companies in their regulatory issues, as well as their self-insurance status for workers’ compensation.

Mr. Minkowitz is an adjunct professor at New York Law School and Brooklyn Law School, and has lectured on insurance regulatory topics to professional groups such as the Practising Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association CLE, the Defense Research Institute, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the New York Chamber of Commerce, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, and The American Society of Workers’ Compensation Professionals (AMCOMP). He has received numerous citations and awards from professional and charitable organizations.

Domenick Napoletano, Esq.

Law Offices of Domenick Napoletano

Brooklyn, New York

Domenick Napoletano is an attorney who represents clients in the Brooklyn, New York area. Domenick Napoletano is recognized by peers and was selected to Super Lawyers for 2016 – 2018, 2020. This selection is based off of an evaluation of 12 indicators including peer recognition and professional achievement in legal practice.

Domenick Napoletano chose to pursue a career in law after completing undergraduate studies. He attended Hofstra University School of Law and graduated in 1980. Domenick Napoletano passed the bar exam and was admitted to legal practice in 1981.

He represents clients with General Litigation issues in New York. He also represents clients with Real Estate: Consumer issues.
Being selected to Super Lawyers is limited to a small number of attorneys in each state. As one of the few attorneys to garner the distinction of Super Lawyers, Domenick Napoletano has earned the respect of peers as one of the top-rated attorneys in the nation.

John M. Nichols, Esq.

Barclay Damon LLP.

Syracuse, NY

As Counsel at Barclay Damon LLP, John serves clients from a nearly 300-attorney, superregional platform of offices across the Northeastern United States and Toronto. Clients seek long-term planning assistance from John, to position themselves to respond to developments in cannabis laws and regulations. With that, clients rely on John to direct their cannabis projects, including governmental licensing, property right acquisition, compliance, and organizational structure. In developing resources for others in the legal profession, John is actively involved with the State Bar’s Committee on Cannabis Law.

In addition, John represents clients in litigation and transactional matters in other highlyregulated industries, like energy/utilities and consumer lending. To properly shape lawsuits and appeals and keep them on course as vehicles to resolve disputes, John learns clients’ business objectives. Hurdles overcome by John’s clients have involved tortious interference, compliance issues, clashes over goods/services contracts, secured transactions, and real property rights.

Shanita Penny M.B.A.

CEO, Founder and Principal, Budding Solutions

Immediate Past President, Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA)

Baltimore, MD

Shanita Penny, MBA is a cannabis advocate, business professional and entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience helping world class companies and startups solve complex issues and improve business performance in multiple industries. In 2015, Shanita took a leap of faith and founded Budding Solutions, a boutique cannabis consulting firm based in Baltimore, MD, to provide Management and Strategy Consulting to startups, small businesses and multistate operators in the cannabis industry.

As an internationally recognized management consultant and certified Project Management Professional, Shanita brings an essential skillset coupled with immense passion to the cannabis industry. Budding Solutions supports cannabis advocates, business professionals, entrepreneurs and policy-makers nationwide to achieve exceptional results. She has helped clients establish and scale compliant, successful cannabis businesses, while simultaneously empowering them to positively impact the burgeoning cannabis industry and the greater community.

Shanita was the Past President of the Board of Directors for the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA), the first non-profit organization created specifically to progress the cannabis industry by increasing diversity through the creation of equal access and economic empowerment for cannabis businesses, their patients, and the communities most affected by the war on drugs. She is also a member of the New Jersey Cannabis Industry Association’s (NJCIA) Board of Trustees. NJCIA is a nonprofit trade association dedicated to advancing the legalization of cannabis by promoting sensible policy for the responsible development and growth of a legalized cannabisbased economy.

Michael S. Ross, Esq.

Law Offices of Michael S. Ross

New York, NY

Michael S. Ross is the principal of the Law Offices of Michael S. Ross, where he concentrates his practice in attorney ethics. He is a former Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Southern District of New York and also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County. Mr. Ross has been an Adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School since 1980 (where he teaches Fall and Spring Semester courses in Litigation Ethics). Mr. Ross has also taught a variety of trial practice and judicial administration courses as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Brooklyn Law School since 2005 (where he teaches year-round Fall, Spring and Summers courses in Professional Responsibility). In addition, in three and a half decades of teaching at Cardozo Law School, he has taught a variety of ethics, trial practice and judicial administration courses.

Mr. Ross is a frequent lecturer and author on topics involving ethics, trial practice and criminal law for such organizations as the Practicing Law Institute, the Appellate Divisions, First and Second Departments, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Judicial Institute, the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers’ Association, the New York State Association of Trial Lawyers and the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Ross currently serves as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Discipline; the New York County Lawyers’ Association Committee on Professional Discipline; the New York State Bar Association’s Special Committee on the Unlawful Practice of Law; and the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Mass Disasters. He previously served for a number of terms on the Association of the Bar of the City Of New York’s Committee on Professional Discipline, the New York State Bar Association Special Committee on Procedures for Judicial Discipline, and the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force On Lawyer Advertising.

Mr. Ross completed a five-year tenure as an appointed member of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board, which, among other things, formulates CLE guidelines in the State. Mr. Ross has chaired the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Grand Jury Committee and the City Bar Association’s Committee on Criminal Advocacy. He previously served as the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s liaison to the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and was an appointed member of the ABA’s Special Criminal Justice In Crisis Committee.

Among his writings, Mr. Ross has co-authored a chapter on “Client and Witness Perjury,” for the ABA’s Section of Litigation ethics training course book entitled “Litigation Ethics: Course Materials For Continuing Legal Education.” The course book was developed for use nationally by law firms, bar associations and other groups which provide ethics training.

Douglas H. Wigdor, Esq.

Founding Partner, Wigdor Law, LLP.

New York, NY

It is difficult to imagine another employment lawyer with a comparable record both in the courtroom and at the negotiating table. Ranked one of the Top 100 attorneys in New York Metro by Super Lawyers, Mr. Wigdor routinely tries cases to verdict, has won numerous verdicts in the millions of dollars and has been honored with the New York Law Journal’s 2020 Distinguished Leader Award. A tireless advocate for victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault and other forms of unlawful workplace misconduct, Mr. Wigdor is a Forbes Diversity & Inclusion Contributor and can often be seen standing up for his clients’ rights in television and radio interviews; he has even testified before the UK Parliament. His “pursuit of decency, justice and high-dollar settlements in the #MeToo era has landed Mr. Wigdor on the list of Law360’s Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar,” according to a recent profile recognizing Mr. Wigdor as one of the 10 most influential plaintiffs’ lawyers in the U.S. Mr. Wigdor’s trial verdicts, arbitration awards and settlements exceed $1 Billion.

From Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Harvey Weinstein, Mr. Wigdor has been at the forefront of some of the most closely watched sexual harassment and sexual assault cases of the last decade. Named a Top 100 Hollywood Power Lawyer by The Hollywood Reporter and a Top Music Lawyer by Billboard, Mr. Wigdor’s employment trial verdicts and high-profile cases have resulted in several feature profiles about his career, including articles in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and the London Independent. He has been referred to in these and other major news publications as one of New York’s most high- profile litigators. In a recent study, Mr. Wigdor was the only plaintiffs’ employment lawyer to be recognized as one of the most fearsome lawyers in the Country. A former U.S. Senator for New York said of Mr. Wigdor, “it’s much better to have him on our side than risk sitting across from him.”

Mr. Wigdor is known for taking on some of the most powerful people in the business and political worlds. Some of his notable representations include six alleged victims of sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein (including one woman who testified at Weinstein’s criminal rape trial in New York), the hotel maid in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, the rape victim in the Delhi Uber case that led to numerous executive resignations, NBA All-Star Charles Oakley in a defamation lawsuit against James Dolan and Madison Square Garden, former Recording Academy President and CEO Deborah Dugan in a sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation case in connection with the Grammy Awards, the former chief of staff to ousted WeWork CEO Adam Neumann in a pregnancy discrimination case, multiple clients in the seminal “shop and frisk” cases, five award-winning female journalists at NY1 in an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against Charter Communications, countless women in their gender discrimination and sexual harassment claims against their powerful employers, and over 20 employees at Fox News in their claims of sexual harassment, gender and race discrimination and retaliation against the network.