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Brian_Ginsberg
D: (914) 298-3028  
bginsberg@harrisbeach.com

Brian D. Ginsberg

  Member

(914) 298-3028
  bginsberg@harrisbeach.com
“I operate on the core belief that effective appellate advocacy depends as much on creative problem-solving, seasoned judgment, and the determination to leave no stone unturned as it does on precedent. This approach enables me to formulate innovative legal strategies and help clients prevail in their most challenging appeals.”
  • Appellate Practice Group Partner Brian Ginsberg Comments on Chief Judge Search
  • In the News: Partner Brian Ginsberg Talks More about Chief Judge Candidates
  • Partner Brian Ginsberg Moderates Panel on Court of Appeals Issues
Profile
Representative Matters
Professional and Civic
Areas of Experience
Admissions
Education
Location
Publications and Events

Brian is a partner in Harris Beach’s Appellate Practice Group, where he leads appeals spanning a broad spectrum of industries and legal issues in federal and state courts in New York and across the country. A nationally recognized appellate litigator, Brian is a veteran of the Office of the New York State Solicitor General, the elite unit responsible for representing the state in some of its most economically, politically, and socially significant appeals, including appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to his appellate work, Brian collaborates on cases at the trial level to help shape legal strategy, litigate critical motions, and direct other key tasks that benefit from his focused analysis, rigorous brief writing, and strong oral advocacy. Brian also guides clients through administrative proceedings that present novel or substantial legal questions.

Brian has handled hundreds of appeals and critical motions over the course of his career. A seasoned courtroom lawyer, he has personally argued more than 85 appeals, including 21 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and seven in the New York State Court of Appeals. Brian’s cases have covered numerous industries, such as financial services, entertainment, healthcare, telecommunications, energy, transportation, gaming and wagering, and consumer products. Brian’s cases have also encompassed a diverse array of legal subjects: administrative law, constitutional law, class-action defense, intellectual property, tax, insurance, bankruptcy, arbitration, antitrust, professional malpractice, personal injury, civil rights, labor, employment, contractual disputes, business torts, whistleblower actions, elections and voting rights, land use, public safety and emergency-response, white-collar crime, and others. Many of Brian’s matters have attracted significant media attention.

Brian thrives on the most challenging cases, and he is routinely called upon to brief and argue appeals and critical motions that require an outside-the-box approach. For example, Brian persuaded a New York appellate court to overturn a $5 million verdict against his client for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage by demonstrating that a widely-approved pattern instruction given to the jury had misstated the applicable law. In another case, Brian successfully urged a New York appellate court to reject an adverse legal rule for certain insurance-related lawsuits that every one of its sister courts had embraced and applied for decades.

Additionally, Brian’s technical background—which includes a graduate degree in mathematics—has made him a go-to litigator for appeals and critical motions requiring mastery of scientific or quantitative concepts. Brian’s unique training enables him to develop a deep understanding of even the most arcane subject matter and distill it into plain-spoken, persuasive advocacy. He has built a track-record of success in tech-intensive cases. For example, in separate “bet the company” appeals, he helped persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reject a copyright infringement challenge to a satellite provider’s commercial-skipping DVR and also helped persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reverse a finding of patent infringement against an eCommerce company’s point-of-sale payment terminals. Brian’s proficiency extends to cases involving the life sciences, as well. He was a principal architect of the litigation strategy that led the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to dismiss a False Claims Action against major pharmaceutical manufacturers accused of having defrauded the federal government of more than $500 million by misrepresenting certain drugs as covered by Medicaid and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Another distinguishing feature of Brian’s practice is his extensive experience litigating in the U.S. Supreme Court. Brian has briefed more than a dozen Supreme Court matters on issues as disparate as arbitration and freedom of speech. He is well-versed in seeking and opposing certiorari, litigating on the merits, and handling proceedings on the expedited “shadow docket.” Brian has contributed to multiple high-profile Supreme Court wins, including Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., which held that the Copyright Act allows domestic merchants to import and resell copyrighted items made and first sold abroad. The New York Times called an amicus brief Brian authored for a bipartisan group of former law enforcement officials in a Supreme Court immigration appeal “the most interesting supporting brief” in the case. (Adam Liptak, Witness Feels Betrayed as U.S. Plans to Divide Family, New York Times, Aug. 2011.)

Before joining Harris Beach, Brian served as an Assistant New York State Solicitor General, briefing and arguing some of the most consequential appeals brought and defended by the state’s numerous agencies and officials. Among many notable cases, Brian litigated Haug v. State University of New York, in which he prevailed upon the New York State Court of Appeals to reverse a lower-court ruling that threatened to upend the evidentiary standards by which nearly all New York state agencies resolve adversarial disputes. Commentators opined that “the importance of the Haug decision cannot be overstated,” describing Brian’s victory as a “landmark” ruling that “laid bare critical standards of review that will serve as guideposts for future cases” (Howard M. Miller, New York High Court Renders Important Decision Deferring to Institutional Determination in Sexual Misconduct Proceeding, Bond, Schoeneck & King Higher Education Law Report, Nov. 2018) and ranking it among “those decisions that are most relevant to everyday practice in the Empire State” (Patrick M. Connors, Court Addresses Longarm Jurisdiction and Judiciary Law Violation, Among Other Notable Issues, New York Law Journal, Aug. 2019). Brian’s distinguished service in the Solicitor General’s Office earned him the Louis J. Lefkowitz Award, the highest honor given by the New York State Attorney General for outstanding performance by an attorney in pursuit of the public good. Brian was also issued a special commendation by the New York State Department of Transportation for his work in securing the dismissal of a $20 million wrongful-death claim against the state for negligent roadway design.

Prior to his tenure in government, Brian worked in the appellate practices of two global law firms. He also clerked for Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and for Judge Anita B. Brody of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Throughout his career, Brian has taken pride in serving the legal profession. Together with his Harris Beach colleagues, Brian edits the LexisNexis New York Appellate Practice treatise. He also writes and lectures on appellate advocacy and is a co-developer of a popular continuing legal education seminar on effective oral argument. Additionally, Brian has authored academic articles on tort law and criminal law that have been cited by courts, scholars, and practitioners. He has been repeatedly honored for his commitment to pro bono representation.

Brian graduated from Columbia Law School, where he was named a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. He holds an undergraduate degree, cum laude with departmental distinction in mathematics, as well as a graduate degree in mathematics, from Yale University.

Representative Matters

U.S. Supreme Court

  • United States v. June (2015) (briefed) – holding that the statute of limitations on lawsuits against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act is subject to equitable tolling
  • Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013) (briefed) – holding that the Copyright Act does not prohibit domestic merchants from importing and reselling copyrighted items made and first sold abroad
  • Southern Union Co. v. United States (2012) (briefed for amici curiae U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) – holding that corporations found guilty of criminal wrongdoing may not be fined more than the maximum amount authorized by the facts determined by the jury

U.S. Courts of Appeals

  • Miller v. New York State Police (2d Cir. 2022) (argued) – affirming dismissal of a police investigator’s claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that his superiors created a racially hostile work environment
  • Geller v. Cuomo (2d Cir. 2020) (briefed and argued) – denying injunction against restrictions on the size of outdoor gatherings imposed by the State of New York during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. New York State Dep’t of Environmental Conservation (2d Cir. 2019) (briefed and argued) – sustaining the New York state administrative environmental approval of a major natural gas pipeline project
  • Baldwin v. State University of New York (2d Cir. 2017) (briefed and argued) – affirming dismissal of a professor’s claim under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that she was denied tenure in retaliation for having reported a colleague’s sexually offensive remarks
  • Cooper v. New York State Dep’t of Labor (2d Cir. 2016) (briefed and argued) – limiting the scope of employer liability for retaliatory discharge under Title VII
  • In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation (9th Cir. 2016) (briefed) – clarifying the evidentiary privilege applicable to communications made by parties in connection with the mediation of federal antitrust cases
  • CardSoft, LLC v. VeriFone, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2015) (briefed) – reversing a finding of patent infringement against an eCommerce company’s point-of-sale payment terminals
  • Fox Broadcasting Co. v. DISH Network (9th Cir. 2013) (briefed) – rejecting a copyright infringement challenge to a satellite provider’s commercial-skipping DVR

New York State Court of Appeals

  • Liuni v. Gander Mountain (2022) (briefed and argued) – clarifying the law applicable to New York state workers’ compensation awards for successive injuries to the same body part
  • Haug v. State University of New York (2018) (briefed and argued) – permitting New York state agencies to credit reliable hearsay evidence over live testimony when resolving adversarial disputes
  • Allen v. Yelich (2018) (briefed and argued) – protecting New York’s sovereign control of its criminal justice system from potential interference by out-of-state courts

New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division

  • Disney v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2022) (briefed) – rejecting multinational entertainment company’s corporate franchise tax deduction of billions of dollars’ worth of royalty payments received from overseas affiliates
  • Ross v. New York (2021) (briefed and argued) – upholding constitutionality of a law that authorizes New Yorkers to vote absentee in statewide elections if they risk contracting COVID-19 at the polls
  • Kernan v. Emami (2021) (briefed and argued) – affirming a New York state insurance regulator’s first-of-its kind sanction prohibiting an attorney from practicing law for certain clients
  • XO Communications Services, LLC v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2020) (briefed and argued) – establishing that purchases of utilities integrated into high-tech telecommunications products are subject to New York state sales tax
  • Family & Educational Consultants, LLC v. New York State Insurance Fund (2019) (briefed and argued) – rejecting a jurisdictional rule that had long been applied to certain lawsuits seeking recoupment of insurance premiums
  • Gonzalez v. New York State Gaming Commission (2019) (briefed and argued) – upholding 10-year suspension of a jockey agent found to have illegally accessed proprietary information for the purpose of securing more race appearances for his clients
  • Sznajderman v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2019) (briefed and argued) – disallowing personal New York state income tax deductions purportedly generated by an oil-and-gas investment scheme designed for the purpose of tax avoidance
  • Warner v. New York (2018) (argued) – affirming dismissal of $20 million wrongful-death claim against the State of New York for negligence in roadway design
  • Ray v. Stockton (2018) (briefed and argued) – reversing a $5 million verdict for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage upon concluding that a widely-accepted pattern instruction given to the jury had misstated the applicable law
  • Kreeger v. New York (2018) (briefed and argued) – clarifying the prerequisites that New York state government contractors must satisfy in order to receive payment for services rendered
  • TD Holdings II, Inc. v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2018) (briefed and argued) – holding that the New York state banking corporation franchise tax “net operating loss” deduction must be interpreted in conformity with analogous federal tax provisions
  • Soriano v. Elia (2017) (briefed and argued) – holding that public school boards in New York need not provide an evidentiary hearing before reducing the compensation of tenured employees for non-disciplinary reasons

Professional and Civic

  • Federal Bar Council, member
  • American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers, member
  • New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, Appellate Practice Committee, member
  • New York State Bar Association Committee on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction, member

Recognition

  • New York State Attorney General’s Louis J. Lefkowitz Award for outstanding performance by an attorney in pursuit of the public good – 2021
  • Special Commendation for Warner v. New York (appeal affirming dismissal of $20 million wrongful-death claim), New York State Department of Transportation – 2019

Legal Practices

Political Law
Appellate
Business and Commercial Litigation
Government Compliance and Investigations

Admissions

District of Columbia

New York

U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

U.S. District Court, New York - Eastern District

U.S. District Court, New York - Southern District

U.S. Supreme Court

Columbia University School of Law

JD 
2007

Yale University

MS 
2004

Yale University

BS 
2004
cum laude

Location

White Plains, NY Office
Insights
News
January 30, 2023

Partner Brian Ginsberg Moderates Panel on Court of Appeals Issues

Partner Brian Ginsberg moderated a panel for the Albany County Bar Association looking at recent decisions and previewing what may be ahead.
December 19, 2022

In the News: Partner Brian Ginsberg Talks More about Chief Judge Candidates

Partner Brian D. Ginsberg provides insight into the significance of the appointment of the Chief Judge for the New York Court of Appeals
December 5, 2022

Appellate Practice Group Partner Brian Ginsberg Comments on Chief Judge Search

Partner Brian Ginsberg has been helping media outlets make sense of the search for the new Chief Judge for the New York State Court of Appea
November 14, 2022

Partner Brian Ginsberg Explains Federal Court Tax Decision in Whistleblower Case

When is a settlement of tax-fraud claims under the New York False Claims Act considered “fair, adequate, and reasonable?”
November 2, 2022

Partner Brian Ginsberg Addresses New York Law School Students

Students and others at New York Law School got a chance to learn about the appellate practice from Partner Brian Ginsberg this week.
October 18, 2022

In the News: Partner Laura Smalley Analyzes ‘American Axle’ Patent Case

Partner Laura Smalley Analyzes ‘American Axle’ Patent Case
September 15, 2022

Partner Brian Ginsberg Discusses Court of Appeals with Statewide Media Outlets

The New York State Court of Appeals is going through a change at the top with the decision by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to step down.
August 15, 2022

Partner Brian Ginsberg Article on Appellate Concurrences and Dissents Published in New York Law Journal

Partner Brian Ginsberg of our Appellate Practice Group, a former New York State Assistant Solicitor General, wrote an opinion piece in the N
July 5, 2022

Partner Brian Ginsberg Appointed to New York State Bar Association Committee on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction

Brian Ginsberg, Partner in the Appellate Practice Group, has been named to the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Courts of Appel
June 7, 2022

Brian Ginsberg Discusses Decision to Join Harris Beach Appellate Practice

Partner Brian Ginsberg’s decision to join Harris Beach from the Office of the New York State Solicitor General was featured in an article in
Events
February 3, 2023

Partner Brian Ginsberg Moderates Panel on Court of Appeals Issues

Brian Ginsberg presents, “The Business, Commercial, and White-Collar Decisions of the Court of Appeals” CLE
January 18, 2023

Partner Brian Ginsberg Speaks to Students at Hofstra University School of Law

December 14, 2022

Brian Ginsberg and Laura Smalley to Present Celesq CLE Webinar

External Publications
July 12, 2021

Speaker: Entering Public Service in the Legal Profession (New York State Attorney General’s Office Panel Discussion)

February 5, 2020

Speaker: Delivering Persuasive Oral Argument: A View from the New York State Solicitor General’s Office (CLE, Albany County Bar Association)

October 4, 2019

Speaker: Delivering Persuasive Oral Argument: A View from the New York State Solicitor General’s Office (CLE, Erie County Bar Association)

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Brian D. Ginsberg

bginsberg@harrisbeach.com
D: (914) 298-3028
White Plains, NY Office
Brian_Ginsberg
https://www.harrisbeach.com/people/ginsberg-brian-d/

■ Areas of Expertise

Legal Practices

Political Law Legal Practice
Appellate Legal Practice
Business and Commercial Litigation Legal Practice
Government Compliance and Investigations Legal Practice

■ Profile

Brian is a partner in Harris Beach’s Appellate Practice Group, where he leads appeals spanning a broad spectrum of industries and legal issues in federal and state courts in New York and across the country. A nationally recognized appellate litigator, Brian is a veteran of the Office of the New York State Solicitor General, the elite unit responsible for representing the state in some of its most economically, politically, and socially significant appeals, including appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to his appellate work, Brian collaborates on cases at the trial level to help shape legal strategy, litigate critical motions, and direct other key tasks that benefit from his focused analysis, rigorous brief writing, and strong oral advocacy. Brian also guides clients through administrative proceedings that present novel or substantial legal questions.

Brian has handled hundreds of appeals and critical motions over the course of his career. A seasoned courtroom lawyer, he has personally argued more than 85 appeals, including 21 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and seven in the New York State Court of Appeals. Brian’s cases have covered numerous industries, such as financial services, entertainment, healthcare, telecommunications, energy, transportation, gaming and wagering, and consumer products. Brian’s cases have also encompassed a diverse array of legal subjects: administrative law, constitutional law, class-action defense, intellectual property, tax, insurance, bankruptcy, arbitration, antitrust, professional malpractice, personal injury, civil rights, labor, employment, contractual disputes, business torts, whistleblower actions, elections and voting rights, land use, public safety and emergency-response, white-collar crime, and others. Many of Brian’s matters have attracted significant media attention.

Brian thrives on the most challenging cases, and he is routinely called upon to brief and argue appeals and critical motions that require an outside-the-box approach. For example, Brian persuaded a New York appellate court to overturn a $5 million verdict against his client for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage by demonstrating that a widely-approved pattern instruction given to the jury had misstated the applicable law. In another case, Brian successfully urged a New York appellate court to reject an adverse legal rule for certain insurance-related lawsuits that every one of its sister courts had embraced and applied for decades.

Additionally, Brian’s technical background—which includes a graduate degree in mathematics—has made him a go-to litigator for appeals and critical motions requiring mastery of scientific or quantitative concepts. Brian’s unique training enables him to develop a deep understanding of even the most arcane subject matter and distill it into plain-spoken, persuasive advocacy. He has built a track-record of success in tech-intensive cases. For example, in separate “bet the company” appeals, he helped persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reject a copyright infringement challenge to a satellite provider’s commercial-skipping DVR and also helped persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reverse a finding of patent infringement against an eCommerce company’s point-of-sale payment terminals. Brian’s proficiency extends to cases involving the life sciences, as well. He was a principal architect of the litigation strategy that led the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to dismiss a False Claims Action against major pharmaceutical manufacturers accused of having defrauded the federal government of more than $500 million by misrepresenting certain drugs as covered by Medicaid and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Another distinguishing feature of Brian’s practice is his extensive experience litigating in the U.S. Supreme Court. Brian has briefed more than a dozen Supreme Court matters on issues as disparate as arbitration and freedom of speech. He is well-versed in seeking and opposing certiorari, litigating on the merits, and handling proceedings on the expedited “shadow docket.” Brian has contributed to multiple high-profile Supreme Court wins, including Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., which held that the Copyright Act allows domestic merchants to import and resell copyrighted items made and first sold abroad. The New York Times called an amicus brief Brian authored for a bipartisan group of former law enforcement officials in a Supreme Court immigration appeal “the most interesting supporting brief” in the case. (Adam Liptak, Witness Feels Betrayed as U.S. Plans to Divide Family, New York Times, Aug. 2011.)

Before joining Harris Beach, Brian served as an Assistant New York State Solicitor General, briefing and arguing some of the most consequential appeals brought and defended by the state’s numerous agencies and officials. Among many notable cases, Brian litigated Haug v. State University of New York, in which he prevailed upon the New York State Court of Appeals to reverse a lower-court ruling that threatened to upend the evidentiary standards by which nearly all New York state agencies resolve adversarial disputes. Commentators opined that “the importance of the Haug decision cannot be overstated,” describing Brian’s victory as a “landmark” ruling that “laid bare critical standards of review that will serve as guideposts for future cases” (Howard M. Miller, New York High Court Renders Important Decision Deferring to Institutional Determination in Sexual Misconduct Proceeding, Bond, Schoeneck & King Higher Education Law Report, Nov. 2018) and ranking it among “those decisions that are most relevant to everyday practice in the Empire State” (Patrick M. Connors, Court Addresses Longarm Jurisdiction and Judiciary Law Violation, Among Other Notable Issues, New York Law Journal, Aug. 2019). Brian’s distinguished service in the Solicitor General’s Office earned him the Louis J. Lefkowitz Award, the highest honor given by the New York State Attorney General for outstanding performance by an attorney in pursuit of the public good. Brian was also issued a special commendation by the New York State Department of Transportation for his work in securing the dismissal of a $20 million wrongful-death claim against the state for negligent roadway design.

Prior to his tenure in government, Brian worked in the appellate practices of two global law firms. He also clerked for Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and for Judge Anita B. Brody of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Throughout his career, Brian has taken pride in serving the legal profession. Together with his Harris Beach colleagues, Brian edits the LexisNexis New York Appellate Practice treatise. He also writes and lectures on appellate advocacy and is a co-developer of a popular continuing legal education seminar on effective oral argument. Additionally, Brian has authored academic articles on tort law and criminal law that have been cited by courts, scholars, and practitioners. He has been repeatedly honored for his commitment to pro bono representation.

Brian graduated from Columbia Law School, where he was named a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. He holds an undergraduate degree, cum laude with departmental distinction in mathematics, as well as a graduate degree in mathematics, from Yale University.

■ Representative Matters

U.S. Supreme Court

  • United States v. June (2015) (briefed) – holding that the statute of limitations on lawsuits against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act is subject to equitable tolling
  • Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013) (briefed) – holding that the Copyright Act does not prohibit domestic merchants from importing and reselling copyrighted items made and first sold abroad
  • Southern Union Co. v. United States (2012) (briefed for amici curiae U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) – holding that corporations found guilty of criminal wrongdoing may not be fined more than the maximum amount authorized by the facts determined by the jury

U.S. Courts of Appeals

  • Miller v. New York State Police (2d Cir. 2022) (argued) – affirming dismissal of a police investigator’s claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that his superiors created a racially hostile work environment
  • Geller v. Cuomo (2d Cir. 2020) (briefed and argued) – denying injunction against restrictions on the size of outdoor gatherings imposed by the State of New York during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. New York State Dep’t of Environmental Conservation (2d Cir. 2019) (briefed and argued) – sustaining the New York state administrative environmental approval of a major natural gas pipeline project
  • Baldwin v. State University of New York (2d Cir. 2017) (briefed and argued) – affirming dismissal of a professor’s claim under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that she was denied tenure in retaliation for having reported a colleague’s sexually offensive remarks
  • Cooper v. New York State Dep’t of Labor (2d Cir. 2016) (briefed and argued) – limiting the scope of employer liability for retaliatory discharge under Title VII
  • In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation (9th Cir. 2016) (briefed) – clarifying the evidentiary privilege applicable to communications made by parties in connection with the mediation of federal antitrust cases
  • CardSoft, LLC v. VeriFone, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2015) (briefed) – reversing a finding of patent infringement against an eCommerce company’s point-of-sale payment terminals
  • Fox Broadcasting Co. v. DISH Network (9th Cir. 2013) (briefed) – rejecting a copyright infringement challenge to a satellite provider’s commercial-skipping DVR

New York State Court of Appeals

  • Liuni v. Gander Mountain (2022) (briefed and argued) – clarifying the law applicable to New York state workers’ compensation awards for successive injuries to the same body part
  • Haug v. State University of New York (2018) (briefed and argued) – permitting New York state agencies to credit reliable hearsay evidence over live testimony when resolving adversarial disputes
  • Allen v. Yelich (2018) (briefed and argued) – protecting New York’s sovereign control of its criminal justice system from potential interference by out-of-state courts

New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division

  • Disney v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2022) (briefed) – rejecting multinational entertainment company’s corporate franchise tax deduction of billions of dollars’ worth of royalty payments received from overseas affiliates
  • Ross v. New York (2021) (briefed and argued) – upholding constitutionality of a law that authorizes New Yorkers to vote absentee in statewide elections if they risk contracting COVID-19 at the polls
  • Kernan v. Emami (2021) (briefed and argued) – affirming a New York state insurance regulator’s first-of-its kind sanction prohibiting an attorney from practicing law for certain clients
  • XO Communications Services, LLC v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2020) (briefed and argued) – establishing that purchases of utilities integrated into high-tech telecommunications products are subject to New York state sales tax
  • Family & Educational Consultants, LLC v. New York State Insurance Fund (2019) (briefed and argued) – rejecting a jurisdictional rule that had long been applied to certain lawsuits seeking recoupment of insurance premiums
  • Gonzalez v. New York State Gaming Commission (2019) (briefed and argued) – upholding 10-year suspension of a jockey agent found to have illegally accessed proprietary information for the purpose of securing more race appearances for his clients
  • Sznajderman v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2019) (briefed and argued) – disallowing personal New York state income tax deductions purportedly generated by an oil-and-gas investment scheme designed for the purpose of tax avoidance
  • Warner v. New York (2018) (argued) – affirming dismissal of $20 million wrongful-death claim against the State of New York for negligence in roadway design
  • Ray v. Stockton (2018) (briefed and argued) – reversing a $5 million verdict for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage upon concluding that a widely-accepted pattern instruction given to the jury had misstated the applicable law
  • Kreeger v. New York (2018) (briefed and argued) – clarifying the prerequisites that New York state government contractors must satisfy in order to receive payment for services rendered
  • TD Holdings II, Inc. v. New York State Dep’t of Taxation & Finance (2018) (briefed and argued) – holding that the New York state banking corporation franchise tax “net operating loss” deduction must be interpreted in conformity with analogous federal tax provisions
  • Soriano v. Elia (2017) (briefed and argued) – holding that public school boards in New York need not provide an evidentiary hearing before reducing the compensation of tenured employees for non-disciplinary reasons

■ Professional and Civic

  • Federal Bar Council, member
  • American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers, member
  • New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, Appellate Practice Committee, member
  • New York State Bar Association Committee on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction, member

■ Admissions

  • New York State Attorney General’s Louis J. Lefkowitz Award for outstanding performance by an attorney in pursuit of the public good – 2021
  • Special Commendation for Warner v. New York (appeal affirming dismissal of $20 million wrongful-death claim), New York State Department of Transportation – 2019

■ Education

Columbia University School of Law
 ,JD
 ,2007
Yale University
 ,MS
 ,2004
Yale University
 ,BS
 ,2004
 ,cum laude

Harris Beach and its subsidiaries provide a full range of legal and professional services for clients across New York state, as well as nationally and internationally. Harris Beach is among the country’s top law firms as ranked by The National Law Journal and is among the BTI Elite law firms based on in-depth interviews of more than 600 corporate counsel at the world’s largest and most influential companies. Our clients include Fortune 100 corporations, privately-held companies, emerging businesses, public sector entities, not-for-profit organizations and individuals. Principal industries we represent include education, energy, financial, food and beverage, health care, insurance, manufacturing, medical and life sciences, real estate developers, and state and local governments and authorities.

Industry Teams
Automotive and Vehicle Dealerships
Blockchain and Digital Assets 
Cannabis
Construction and Surety
Educational Institutions Higher Ed
Educational Institutions K-12
EMS and Fire Protection Providers
Energy
Financial Institutions and Capital Markets
Food and Beverage
Health Care
Industrial and Consumer Manufacturing
Medical and Life Sciences
Municipalities and Local Agencies
Nanotechnology
Photonics
Racing and Gaming
Real Estate Developers
Science and Technology
Telecommunications and Media
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
USA Collegiate Sports
Veterinary Medicine

Practices
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Appellate
Business and Commercial Litigation
Collection Law
Commercial Real Estate
Corporate
Cybersecurity Protection and Response
Diversity Compliance
E-Discovery (e-infoSM)
Employee Benefits
Employment Litigation
Environmental Law
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Financial Restructuring, Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights
Government Compliance and Investigations
Health Law
Immigration Law
Insurance Coverage
Intellectual Property Law
International Trade Law
Internet Law
Labor and Employment Law
Mass Torts and Industry-Wide Litigation
New Markets Tax Credit
Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law
Product Liability and Comprehensive General Liability
Public Finance and Economic Development
Real Property Valuation Litigation
Residential Real Estate
Tax Law
White Collar Crime
Wills, Trusts and Estates

Consulting Services
HB Solutions LLC
Collegiate Sports Compliance
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
Economic Development and Public Affairs
Educational Institution Assistance
EMRG® (E-Discovery Management Resources Group)
Energy
Health and Human Services
Human Resources
Information Technology
Marketing and Communication Services
Municipal and Local Agency Assistance

HB Cornerstone LLC
Owner Representation
Design Services
Facilities Consulting
Move Management

Caetra.io
CyMetric (Cybersecurity Regulation Compliance Software)

Offices throughout New York:

Albany
677 Broadway
Albany, NY 12207
518-427-9700

Buffalo
726 Exchange Street
Buffalo, NY 14210
716-200-5050

Ithaca
119 East Seneca Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-273-6444

Long Island
333 Earle Ovington Boulevard
Uniondale, NY 11553
516-880-8484

New York City
100 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
212-687-0100

Rochester
99 Garnsey Road
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-419-8800

Saratoga Springs
513 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-587-0551

Syracuse
333 West Washington Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
315-423-7100

White Plains
445 Hamilton Avenue
White Plains, NY 10601
914-683-1200

Offices also in:

New Haven, CT
195 Church Street
New Haven, CT 06510
203-784-3159

Newark, NJ
One Gateway Center
Newark, NJ 07102
973-848-1244

Washington, DC
800-685-1429

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
© 2022 Harris Beach PLLC

Content current as of March 23, 2023 12:50 pm
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