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Allow us to present more than 220 of the best attorneys, lawyers, and legal professionals in the Hudson Valley, as voted on by their peers.
Kelly A. Pressler
Jacobowitz & Gubits, LLP (Civil Law Litigation)
Is there anything you’ve been seeing more of since March?
“Much more trust and estate litigation, typically involving family members disagreeing on how to handle the care of loved ones, or involving challenges to the final wishes of loved ones. It seems the pandemic may have led some people to talk about end-of-life matters in a different way.”
Richard A. Portale
Portale Randazzo, LLP (Criminal Defense)
What is something you’d like to say to your clients, but can’t?
“You’re not smarter than everybody. However smart you think you are, there is a government agent or prosecutor who is smarter. Act accordingly.”
Mony B.P. Yin
Perez Morris Hyde, LLC (Aviation)
Why did you become an attorney?
“My mom came to the USA as a single mom with four children. None of us spoke a word of English when we arrived. Mom found a two-bedroom apartment and signed a two-year lease. Unknown to her, the landlord loved to take advantage of low-income families. At the end of one year, he rejected our tendered rent, and threatened to lock us out if Mom refused his demand for an increased rent. We had already overextended on what little we had. As a 12-year-old, I vowed to become a lawyer and help people in similar situations. Serendipity happened on one of my first days as a licensed attorney. I was asked to defend the same crooked landlord, an assignment I joyously refused at the risk of losing my first legal job.”
Pamela D. Rusk
Rusk, Wadlin, Heppner & Martuscello, LLP (Elder Law)
What is the most memorable case you’ve ever handled?
“One of the most memorable cases resulted in divorced clients remarrying in a nursing home to save the spouse’s alimony for her. Life gets complicated, but even after a divorce, the bond was still there. It’s interesting to see how people can reconcile toward the end of their lives. I appreciate that. Life’s journey should be peaceful in the end.”
Russell G. Wheeler
Charny & Wheeler P.C. (Labor & Employment)
Do you anticipate a spate of lawsuits arising from COVID-19? If so, what kind?
“I anticipate that we’ll see a fair number of lawsuits from employees seeking reasonable accommodations (such as the right to work from home or receiving additional PPE) because their existing disabilities make them more susceptible to COVID or to serious complications if they contract the virus.”
Brian Acard
Finkelstein & Partners, LLP (Personal Injury)
What is the most memorable case you’ve ever handled?
“I tried a case a few years ago in which a 15-year-old girl had been struck in the head with a metal baseball bat during a school softball practice. As a result of the blow to the head, she suffered a mild brain injury. We learned through discovery that the coach the school had hired had little experience, and that the manner in which he ran drills was extremely dangerous. A jury heard the case, found against the school and compensated our client $1.15 million. After rendering the verdict, each of the jurors told us that the purpose of their verdict was to deter the school from making the same dangerous decisions in the future.”
Gisele Rosado
Murphy, Schisano & Rosado (Real Estate)
Why did you become an attorney?
“I was seduced by the glamour of the profession. I quickly realized it was not like Law and Order. I sought my niche within the legal field early on in law school. I’ve always had a passion for reading and writing, so much so that not even my first-year experience could extinguish it! I will never forget the moment my research and writing professor told me that I would never be a partner of a law firm because I didn’t have what it takes. I imagine she would be surprised to learn that, at age 36, I became a partner and equity owner of a law firm, joining the less than 2% of Latina law firm partners in the profession. It is an honor and a privilege to be part of that statistic.”
How top lawyers are selected
Summary. To create the list, Hudson Valley contracted DataJoe Research to facilitate an online peer-voting process and Internet research process. DataJoe Research is a software and research company specializing in data collection and verification, and conducts various nominations across the United States on behalf of publishers. To create the list, DataJoe Research facilitated an online peer-voting process. We paired this with an Internet research process to identify success characteristics. DataJoe checked and confirmed that each published winner had, at time of review, a current, active license status with the appropriate state regulatory board. If we were not able to find evidence of a lawyer’s current, active registration with the state regulatory board, that lawyer was excluded from the list. In addition, we checked available public sources to identify lawyers disciplined for an infraction by the state regulatory board. These entities were excluded from the list. Finally, DataJoe presented the tallied result to the magazine for its final review and adjustments.
Final note. We recognize that there are many good lawyers who are not shown in this representative list. This is only a sampling of the huge array of talented professionals within the region. Inclusion in the list is based on the opinions of responding lawyers in the region. We take time and energy to ensure fair voting, although we understand that the results of this survey nomination and Internet research campaign are not an objective metric. We certainly do not discount the fact that many, many good and effective lawyers may not appear on the list.
Disclaimers. DataJoe uses best practices and exercises great care in assembling content for this list. DataJoe does not warrant that the data contained within the list are complete or accurate. DataJoe does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. All rights reserved. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without written permission from DataJoe.
Questions? For research/methodology questions, contact the research team at surveys@datajoe.com.
