Lecturer Bios
Ronald C. Minkoff, Esq.
Ronald C. Minkoff is a partner in the Litigation Group and Head of the Professional Responsibility Group. Mr. Minkoff is also one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including law firm partnership disputes, disciplinary cases, legal fee disputes and legal malpractice and professional liability cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. He also provides ethics opinions and advice to a wide variety of law firm clients.
Mr. Minkoff is a member of several Bar Ethics Committees, including the Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct (COSAC) and the Committee on Professional Discipline of the New York State Bar Association. He is also the Chair of the Task Force on Professionalism of the New York County Lawyers Association, a former member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism, and a past President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. He is a member of the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) ethics committee and has written extensively for the New York Professional Responsibility Report, The Professional Lawyer, The New York Law Journal, and other publications. Mr. Minkoff is an Adjunct Professor of Professional Responsibility at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law, Fordham Law School, and Brooklyn Law School. He is a frequent lecturer on the law of lawyering.
In addition, Mr. Minkoff represents businesses and individual professionals and executives in a wide variety of commercial litigation, including business break-ups, securities lawsuits, and domestic and international trade disputes. He represents several law firm partners in partnership disputes. And he represents an internationally known petrochemist in an oil and gas venture dispute. Mr. Minkoff was recently appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court, New York County and was a member of Chief Judge Lippman’s Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century. He is also a member of the Council on Judicial Administration of the New York City Bar Association.
Mr. Minkoff is a graduate of Columbia Law School (JD, 1980). He was an attorney at the Nassau County Legal Aid Society (1980-83), and was associated with Obermaier Morvillo & Abramowitz, P.C. (1983-85) and Owen & Fennell (1985-87). Mr. Minkoff was a member of Fennell & Minkoff (1987-94) and Beldock Levine & Hoffman (1994-2001) before joining Frankfurt Kurnit.
Representative cases: Grynberg v. BP Explorations Operating Co. Ltd. 92 A.D.3d 547 938 N.Y.S.2d 439 (2012); Frauzblau v. Cassin and Cassin LLP Index: 105949/10 Supreme Court New York County (2010); Carl v. Cohen and Greenberg Traurig, LLP 23 Misc.3d 1110(A) 886 N.Y.S.2d 66 (2009); Conopco, Inc. v. Wein, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46945 (S.D.N.Y. 2007); Trepel v. Dippold, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78050 (S.D.N.Y. 2006); Goetz v. Volpe and R & L Leasing, LLC, 11 Misc.3d 632, 812 N.Y.S.2d 294 (2006).
Richard M. Maltz, Esq.
Richard M. Maltz is counsel to our Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Group and he has more
than 23 years of experience in the professional responsibility field. He represents 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. He was recently recognized by Best Lawyers in
America as one of the top attorneys in his field.
Mr. Maltz served two years as First Deputy Chief Counsel (1998-2000) and nine years as Deputy Chief
Counsel (1989-1998) for the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the Appellate Division, First
Judicial Department. Prior to joining the Committee, Mr. Maltz handled both criminal and civil litigation.
Currently, Mr. Maltz is a member of the New York State Bar Committee on Professional Discipline and
the New York City Bar Professional Responsibility Committee. He was creator and Chair of the 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 served as 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. He has also acted as an ethics expert.
Daniel L. Abrams, Esq.
Mr. Abrams has helped many corporations and individuals complaining of inadequate legal services or overbilling obtain relief and settlements from their former attorneys. He represents mostly plaintiffs but occasionally defendants in legal malpractice cases and other disputes related to legal ethics, including legal fee disputes, breach of fiduciary duty cases, cases alleging conflicts of interest, and other professional responsibility issues.
Lawyers and law firms frequently hire Mr. Abrams to serve as lawyer, expert or consultant on issues related to legal ethics or the law governing lawyers. He has taught legal ethics to other lawyers for the Practicing Law Institute, the New York State Bar Association, Lawline.com and Access MCLE. He has also appeared as a guest lecturer at Suffolk Law School.
In addition to his legal malpractice and ethics practice, Mr. Abrams has an active business litigation practice. Mr. Abrams’ clients include business owners, general counsel, and individuals in a full range of business litigation and arbitration matters. His cases have included business dealings arising out of oil & gas contracts, licensing agreements, business mergers, construction matters, employment agreements, financing arrangements, business fraud, trade secrets, and corporate whistleblower allegations. His litigation cases include a successful multi-million dollar reversal of an arbitration award, a defense victory after a bench trial in a breach of contract case, and many favorable settlements of commercial disputes and legal malpractice cases.
Mr. Abrams received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1995 where he was an Olin Fellow of Law and Economics. He is a member of The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where he served on the Professional Responsibility Committee and the Subcommittee on Lawyer Promotion and Advertising from 2004-2007 and presently serves on the Ethics Committee. He is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Sixth Circuit, Tenth Circuit, and DC Circuit.
Kenneth Small, Esq.
Experienced Vice President Claims with a demonstrated history of working in the insurance industry. Skilled in Professional Liability, Litigation Management, Arbitration, Dispute Resolution, and Legal Malpractice. Strong legal professional with a JD focused in Law from Boston College Law School.
John B. Harris, Esq.
John B. Harris is a partner in the Litigation Group with more than 25 years of experience representing clients in high stakes civil matters and white collar criminal cases. He is a recognized leader in the professional responsibility and white collar defense bars.
In his legal ethics and professional responsibility practice, Mr. Harris defends law firms, lawyers, and other professionals against claims of legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. He frequently represents law firms in disputes with current and former partners.
A central part of Mr. Harris’ practice is the representation of individuals and entities who are the subjects of either criminal or regulatory investigations. He has represented public figures, corporate executives and securities industry professionals against allegations involving collateralized debt obligation and mortgage fraud; anti-money laundering investigations; insider trading; securities and accounting fraud; and mutual fund pricing violations. In addition, he has advised clients on research analyst independence issues, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, and "spy shop" matters. Mr. Harris understands that his clients are best served when charges are not filed by prosecutors and regulators, and he has had substantial success for his clients in accomplishing this result.
Mr. Harris was the Chair of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and is a former member of the New York City Bar’s Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics, Committee on Professional Discipline, Judiciary Committee, and Task Force on Multi-Disciplinary Practice. He has served as a delegate to the New York State Bar Association House of Delegates and currently serves as a member of the State Bar Professional Discipline Committee. He acts as a mediator for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and has served as an expert witness.
Mr. Harris is also a member of the American Bar Association; is a past Chair of the New York Regional Board and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Anti-Defamation League; is vice-chair of the New York University Law Alumni Association; and is a board member of Summer Search, New York. He has been recognized in Super Lawyers magazine as a New York-area Super Lawyer for eight consecutive years.
Mr. Harris has litigated matters in New York State and federal courts (Southern and Eastern Districts), and appeared in numerous SEC, FINRA and Departmental Disciplinary Committee proceedings. Before joining Frankfurt Kurnit, he was a partner at Stillman & Friedman, P.C. and Ballard Spahr LLP. Previously, Mr. Harris was a reporter for The Hartford Courant. Mr. Harris is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut.
Wendy Stryker, Esq.
Wendy Stryker is counsel to the Employment and Litigation Groups at Frankfurt Kurnit. She represents marketing services agencies, media companies, tech startups, and other sophisticated corporations and individual executives in New York State and Federal courts and before administrative agencies and self-regulatory organizations.
Ms. Stryker effectively plays the role of outside general counsel. She has extensive experience guiding media, advertising and publishing clients through sensitive matters, including hostile work environment claims, use of freelancers, and the application of child labor laws to child actors and models. She advises on a wide variety of day-to-day employment issues as they arise, including discrimination, employee classification, wage and hour, employee discipline, employee use of social media, background checks, interview questions, identity and work authorization issues, and requests for accommodations. She regularly performs on-site training for client staff and reviews and drafts agreements and policies, including handbooks, offer letters, nondisclosure agreements, restrictive covenants, and employment and severance agreements.
Ms. Stryker has also successfully handled litigation and administrative proceedings for executives and some of the world’s best-known marketing services agencies and sophisticated corporations. She recently settled — promptly and on good terms — a sex discrimination case brought by a former creative director against one of the world’s most famous advertising agencies. Her recent work also includes successfully defending an international company with offices in 20 states against employment-related allegations including age discrimination, disability discrimination, and sexual harassment, and successfully defending various employers against claims alleging breaches of restrictive covenants. Ms. Stryker has been interviewed by Forbes, Variety magazine and SiriusXM and has been quoted by The New York Post.
In addition to her employment practice, Ms. Stryker’s litigation experience includes advertising, trademark and copyright, entertainment, First Amendment, and general commercial litigation matters.
Ms. Stryker is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Civil Liberties Union and is a member of the NYC Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Committee. She performs a significant amount of Pro Bono work, including recent successful representations of two New York City tenant advocacy groups, helping them to defeat on First Amendment grounds a landlord’s effort to ban their community service efforts.
Ms. Stryker is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law. Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, Ms. Stryker was a law clerk to the Honorable Michael H. Dolinger, United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York. She is admitted to practice in New York.
Viviane Scott, Esq.
Viviane K. Scott is an associate in the Litigation Group at Frankfurt Kurnit, focusing on employment, intellectual property, and commercial litigation.
Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, Ms. Scott served as law clerk to the Honorable Theodore A. McKee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Before her federal clerkship, she was an associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where she focused on complex commercial litigation, representing large financial institutions, pharmaceutical corporations and small companies. In her employment law practice, Ms. Scott assisted with investigations and advised individuals, non-profits, and financial institutions.
From 2014 to 2015, she also served as law clerk to the Honorable Bridget M. McCormack of the Supreme Court of Michigan.
She is admitted to practice in New York.
Alexandra Harwin, Esq.
Alexandra Harwin is Co-Chair of the National Title VII Practice at Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, as well as a Partner in the firm’s New York office. One of just five employment attorneys nationwide named a Rising Star by Law360 in 2017, Alexandra is known for her legal acumen, strategic thinking, pragmatism, and outstanding results in representing victims of discrimination and retaliation.
Alexandra has served as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in some of the highest-profile employment lawsuits in the country. She spearheaded the gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Columbia University brought by a female faculty member named Enrichetta Ravina, which recently resulted in a $1.25 million jury verdict. Alexandra is also co-lead counsel for Fabio Silva, the former Vice President for Legal Affairs at Giorgio Armani Corporation, in a $75 million case alleging national origin discrimination, disability discrimination, and retaliation.
Alexandra has also played a leading role in Sanford Heisler Sharp’s groundbreaking gender discrimination lawsuits against BigLaw firms. Alexandra played a leading role in the firm’s closely watched, multi-plaintiff gender discrimination lawsuit against Chadbourne & Parke LLP, as well as a high-profile gender discrimination and retaliation case against defense firm Proskauer Rose LLP.
In addition to representing individual plaintiffs, Alexandra has successfully overseen major class action litigation. Alexandra was integrally involved in negotiating a $14.25 million settlement for the women victimized by disgraced Rabbi Bernard Freundel, who surreptitiously videotaped women in a Jewish ritual bath facility known as a mikvah. She was also co-lead counsel in a multi-million dollar gender discrimination class action and collective action against pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Alcon; she represented thousands of directors, managers, specialists, and sales professionals against these companies in their class claims of discrimination in pay, promotion, and assignments.
In addition to her ongoing litigation activity, Alexandra has achieved lucrative negotiated settlements for her clients. Her clients have included law firm partners, executives at pharmaceutical corporations, and employees of other corporations. Their claims have included gender, race, age, and other discrimination in their workplaces. Alexandra’s settlements have totaled more than $40 million.
Alexandra’s practice, focused on anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation law, reflects her longstanding commitment to civil rights and gender equality issues. As an undergraduate at Harvard, where she was the top-ranked student in her graduating class, she studied gender-based employment discrimination through the disciplines of history and economics. At the Yale Law School, she served as Managing Editor of the School’s Journal of Law and Feminism and helped design Yale Law Women’s annual survey of family-friendly law firms. In addition, she conducted research on the history and prospects of using Title VII litigation to protect minority men from employment discrimination based on criminal records.
