Lecturer Bios
William D. Buckley
Mr. Buckley, the firm’s appellate counsel, joined Garbarini & Scher, P.C. in 2000 and became a partner in 2013. In addition to representing clients before the state and federal appellate courts in New York and New Jersey, Mr. Buckley is counsel to hospitals on issues arising under the N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law. His notable decisions include Rivera v. Kleinman, 16 N.Y.3d 757 (2011); Gibbs v. St. Barnabas Hospital, 16 N.Y.3d 74 (2010); Velazquez v. St. Barnabas Hospital (2009); and Executive Risk Indemnity, Inc. v. Pepper Hamilton LLP, 13 N.Y.3d 313 (2009).
Mr. Buckley earned a B.A. from LeMoyne College, cum laude, and an M.A. from Fordham University, both in history. He worked as a secondary school teacher and assistant principal in private schools in New York and New Jersey before receiving his J.D. from Seton Hall University, where he served on the moot court board. Before joining private practice, he was law clerk to the Honorable Alan B. Handler, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and the Honorable Barbara K. Hackett, United States District Judge, Eastern District of Michigan.
Mr. Buckley was an adjunct professor at New York Law School between 2008 and 2013 and he frequently teaches continuing legal education. Each year he presents a conference on New York appellate practice for the Marino Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He is a member of the Committee on Appellate Courts at the New York County Lawyers Association and he has joined several continuing legal education panels there, including “The Expert Guide to Appellate Practice: the Basics and Beyond” in 2010 with the Honorable Eugene F. Pigott, Jr. of the N.Y. Court of Appeals. In 2014 Mr. Buckley returned to the Committee on Capital Punishment at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where in 2002 he had chaired the panel for a symposium entitled “Dying Twice: Incarceration on Death Row,” which addressed conditions for prisoners sentenced to death while they awaited execution at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.
Since 1997 Mr. Buckley has been an arbitrator in the Small Claims Court of the Civil Court of the City of New York.
Elliott Scheinberg, Esq.
Elliott Scheinberg is an attorney whose practice is limited to matrimonial law. He is a Fellow of
the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and serves on its Board of Managers, New
York Chapter, and as co-chair of the Amicus Curiae Committee and Continuing Legal Education
Committees. He is also a Member at Large, Family Law Section, Executive Committee of the
New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”) and is co-chair of its Amicus Curiae Committee.
Mr. Scheinberg is the author of five chapters for Matthew Bender Publishing, Civil Action
Matrimonial series. He as also authored “Grandparental Visitation: Its Evolution in New York
State”, published by Benjamin N. Cordozo School of Law. He is published in the NYSBA Family
Law Review on such topics as vacatur of stays, settlement agreements, valuation dates, etc.
Mr. Scheinberg is a contributing author for the New York Law Journal including “The Best
Interest of the Child Test as Applied to Grandparental Visitation” (Nov. 21, 2003), “The Expert’s
Recommendation in Custody Cases” (June 30, 2002), “Expert Testimony as a Backdoor to
Impermissible Hearsay” (July 29, 2004), “People v. Goldstein: The Professional Reliability
Rule and Frye” (Jan. 9, 2006), etc. He has also written several amicus curiae briefs to the
Court of Appeals on behalf of the Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, several of his arguments
were cited and adopted by the appeals court.
Mr. Scheinberg has lectured for many local and state Bar Associations, the Statewide Appellate
Division Roundtable, the Appellate Division, Second Department, and the Judicial Institute. In
1995, he was honored for his pro bono service by the NCFJE.
Hon. Judith J. Gische
Justice Judith J. Gische was born in Queens, New York in 1956. In 1977 she received her undergraduate degree, with honors, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977. She went on to receive her law degree from SUNY Buffalo in 1980.
In October 2012 Justice Gische was appointed and presently serves as an Associate Justice in the New York State Appellate Division, First Judicial Department.
Justice Gische served as a Judge in the Housing Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County, between 1990 and 1993. She was elected to the Civil Court in 1994 and reelected in 2004. She was appointed an acting Supreme Court Justice in 1997. She was elected to the Supreme Court in 2009. She presided over dedicated matrimonial parts in both the Bronx and New York County for seven years. For eight years she presided over an lAS Civil Part in New York County.
Prior to her election to the bench, Justice Gische was a Judicial Clerk in the Appellate Division, Third Department from 1980 to 1982 and a senior attorney at Richenthal, Abrams & Moss from 1982 to 1990.
Justice Gische is a member of the New York Chapter of the Women's Bar Association, where she serves as a member of the Board of Directors. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association. She is also a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where she has served on the Tort Litigation Committee, the Matrimonial Committee, as Chair of the Housing Court Public Services Project, on the Council on Public Service, the Housing Court Committee, and on various Advisory Committees. She is a member of the New York County Lawyer's Association where, she serves on the Judicial Section. She is a member of the New York Association of Women Judges.
Justice Gische has been an Adjunct Professor for the last 10 years at New York Law School. She has also been a featured lecturer, on numerous occasions, at bar and other professional association programs. She has published a number of articles on housing, custody and guardianship issues. She is also a contributing author of the, soon to be released, updated version of the Judges Bench Book.
Hon. Sheila Abdus-Salaam
Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, was born in Washington, D.C. in 1952 and educated in its public schools. She graduated from Barnard College in 1974 and received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1977.
Upon graduation, she began her legal career as a staff attorney at East Brooklyn Legal Services, Corporation A (1977-1980); served as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Department of Law, Civil Rights and Real Estate Financing Bureaus (1980-1988); and served as General Counsel for the New York City Office of Labor Services (1988-1991). She began her judicial career in 1992, having been elected in 1991 to the Civil Court of the City of New York. In 1993, she was elected to the Supreme Court, New York County, and was re-elected in 2007. She was appointed an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department in March 2009 by Governor David A. Paterson.
Her appointment to the Court of Appeals by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was confirmed by the State Senate on May 6, 2013. She lives in New York City.
Aprilanne Agostino
Clerk of the Court, Appellate Division, 2nd Dept.
Hon. Leonard B. Austin
Justice Leonard B. Austin is a graduate of Georgetown University in 1974 and Hofstra University School of Law in 1977. Justice Austin engaged in the private practice of law until his election to the Supreme Court Bench in the Tenth Judicial District in 1998.
In his private practice, Justice Austin focused primarily on complex commercial litigation, matrimonial and family matters, personal injury and real estate matters. In 1980 and 1981, he served as counsel to the Speaker of the New York State Assembly. In that capacity, he was assigned as counsel to the Agriculture and Commerce and Industry Committees.
Since his elevation to the Bench, Justice Austin has been assigned to a Dedicated Matrimonial Part in Suffolk County (1999) and a Dedicated Matrimonial and Commercial Part in Nassau County (2000). In October 2000, and continuing to the present time, Justice Austin has been assigned full time to a Dedicated Commercial Part. He is currently the Chairman of the Commercial Division Rules Committee.
Justice Austin has served on the Office of Court Administration's Matrimonial Practice and Commercial Division Curriculum Committees. He is a member of the New York State, Florida, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and New York State Women's Bar Associations.
Over the years, Justice Austin has authored several articles dealing with Equitable Distribution and New York City's Forfeiture Law. Recently, he authored an article in the Banking Law Journal entitled The Impact of New York's Commercial Division on Bank Litigation. He is a frequent lecturer in the fields of appellate, commercial and matrimonial law and practice. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School.
In March, 2009, Justice Austin was elevated to the Appellate Division, Second Department by Gov. David Paterson to serve as an Associate Justice. Since his elevation, Justice Austin has authored to opinions dealing with commercial law, Matter of 1545 Ocean Avenue LLC, - A.D.3d - , 893 N.Y.S.2d 590, 2010 WL 213331 and Symbol Technologies, Inc. v. Deloitte & Touche, LLP, 69 A.D.3d 191, 888 N.Y.S.2d 538, as well as several per curiam decisions.
Stuart M. Cohen, Esq
Stuart M. Cohen returned to private solo practice in 2010 after a long period of employment in the appellate courts of New York, in which his positions included, among others, chief Clerk of the Court of Appeals and law clerk to a former Chief Judge. A graduate of Connecticut College and New York University School of Law, he has appeared as an advocate in the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division on civil and criminal matters; his practice also includes consulting with other attorneys on appeals and litigated motions in appellate and trial courts. Contact information is available at www.smcappeals.com.
Hon. Robert J. Miller
Justice Robert J. Miller. Associate Justice, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, appointed by Gov. David Patterson, December 21, 2010.
Hon. John W. Sweeny, Jr.,
Hon. John W. Sweeny, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department. Prior to joining the bench, he was worked in private practice. He also served as Law Secretary to the Honorable John P. Donohoe and Fred A. Dickinson. He was also an Administrative Assistant District Attorney for Putnam County.
He subsequently served as a New York Supreme Court Justice, from 1987 to 2004. He was designated a Justice for the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department in 2004 by Governor George Pataki.
Susanna Rojas
Susanna Rojas is Clerk of the Court, Appellate Division, 1st Dept.
