People

Paul R. Braunsdorf
Senior Counsel

Mr. Braunsdorf is senior counsel to the firm.  He practices in the Business and Commercial Litigation and Appellate Litigation and Advocacy Practice Groups, and the Health Care Industry Team.  Mr. Braunsdorf, who has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America for his antitrust law practice and in New York Super Lawyers for his business litigation practice and who is a member of Who’s Who in American Law and Who’s Who in America, focuses his practice in two areas.  He represents clients on business and commercial litigation matters including litigation of antitrust claims.  In addition to litigating cases involving antitrust issues, he counsels clients regarding antitrust issues, represents clients in their dealings with antitrust enforcement agencies and works with other attorneys in the firm to handle antitrust aspects of mergers, particularly those relating to not-for-profit entities.  Some of Mr. Braunsdorf’s recent representative litigation cases include the following:

  • Representation of Univac Dental Company in an antitrust suit against Dentsply International, the world’s largest manufacturer of artificial teeth in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  Following extensive litigation, the case was settled (2010).
  • Award of judgment of $787,000 on behalf of The Woolard Group against the State of New York in a case brought in the New York Court of Claims involving construction contract delays (2009).
  • Representation of Surgical Synergies, Inc. in an action against various physicians who had breached a non-compete agreement.  The case was settled after extensive litigation (2008).
  • Resolution on behalf of a Rochester building contractor of a claim brought against it by a nursing home facility for defective construction (2008).

In addition to these recent cases, Mr. Braunsdorf has represented plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of cases during his career.  These include the successful challenge on constitutional grounds of a New York statute requiring that preference on public works projects be given to residents of New York, defense of defamation claims, cases regarding covenants not to compete, several cases regarding termination of distributorship arrangements, defense and prosecution of accounting malpractice claims, suits for breach of contract arising from termination of employment relationships, suits relating to claim by physicians that staff privileges were improperly denied, and various age and race discrimination cases.

Mr. Braunsdorf’s antitrust litigation experience includes the successful defense of the only two criminal antitrust cases tried in Rochester in the last 30 years.  He also secured dismissal on behalf of various beverage distributors of claims that a program they had developed for recycling violated the antitrust laws.  Further, in a case that ultimately was settled, he represented the owner of various shopping malls in Rochester in an action brought by one department store chain against another claiming that the purchase by the second chain of a department store which was exiting the Rochester market was violative of the antitrust laws. 

Mr. Braunsdorf also has been admitted pro hac vice for cases in various jurisdictions.  These include the Western District of North Carolina, the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the Northern District of Ohio.

In addition to his litigation experience, Mr. Braunsdorf has successfully represented businesses and not-for-profit entities whose activities were under investigation by the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the New York Attorney General’s Office.  He has also been involved in numerous transactions relating to the antitrust issues surrounding proposed mergers.  While many of these mergers were between commercial entities, his primary focus has been on mergers of not-for-profit health insurance companies and hospitals.  These include the following:

  • Merger of all the Catholic hospitals and nursing homes in Buffalo, New York into one entity.
  • Merger of the third and fourth largest hospital systems in Rochester, New York.
  • Merger of the two largest health insurers in Syracuse, New York.Merger of a health insurer in Rochester, New York with a health insurer in Utica, New York.
  • Mergers of smaller hospitals in rural areas throughout New York.

Professional & Community Activities

Mr. Braunsdorf is a member of the Litigation and Antitrust Sections of the American and New York State Bar Associations.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Antitrust Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and served as its Secretary.  He is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Health Care Committee and a member of the Trial Lawyers’ Section of the New York State Bar Association.

A frequent speaker on general litigation and antitrust issues, he has delivered presentations before the Banking and Business Law Section of the Monroe County Bar Association, the Rochester Regional Hospital Association, Genesee Valley Regional Bankers’ Association, Rochester Automobile

Dealers’ Association, Purchasing Managers’ Association of Rochester and the New York State Bar Association, including a presentation regarding the antitrust aspects of transactions among health care providers.  He has been an instructor at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy Program sponsored by the Monroe County Bar Association and has lectured at numerous programs on federal practice and New York trial practice.  He was a contributor to the Antitrust Health Care Handbook II published by the American Bar Association in 1993.  He wrote a chapter concerning the trial of a rule of reason case for the New York State Bar Association for its 1995 publication, Antitrust Law in New York, and was the only attorney from outside New York City to contribute to that book as was true when he updated this chapter for the second edition of the book published in 2002.  Further, he is a co-author of a chapter dealing with the provisions of § 63(12) of the Executive Law of the State of New York for a forthcoming publication by the New York State Bar Association on antitrust law in New York.

Mr. Braunsdorf has been involved in a number of community organizations including several involving Rochester area Catholic schools and parishes.  He has been President of the Parents’ Advisory Board of McQuaid Jesuit High School and Our Lady of Lourdes grade school and was a member of the Parents’ Advisory Board of Our Lady of Mercy High School.  He is presently the Vice Chair of the pastoral council of Our Lady of Lourdes/St. Anne Parish.