Lecturer Bios
Robert J. Genis, Esq.
Bob is a senior and founding partner in the law firm of SONIN & GENIS, ESQS. Bob is a trial attorney specializing in seeking compensation for the families of people killed or seriously injured as a result of negligence, medical malpractice and products liability cases in the State and Federal Courts of New York and New Jersey, Federal Court of Connecticut, and has litigated cases in a number of other states.
Bob achieved a verdict in a negligence case that was listed as one of the top jury verdicts of the year in the USA and New York, and the following year as one of the top medical malpractice settlements of the year in the National Law Journal, the New York Law Journal, New York Magazine and ALM Verdictsearch, and has obtained numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements, is a Lifetime member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and has been inducted into the Super Lawyers and The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Bob was awarded the only “Lawyer’s Lawyer” award from the Bronx County Bar Association, and received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Jewish Lawyers Guild.
He has successfully represented numerous victims of negligence, medical malpractice, lead poisoning, construction accidents, premises and vehicular accidents, elevators/escalators accidents, police brutality and false arrest, municipal wrongdoing, and other significant injuries.
In addition to trying cases, Bob is a past Associate Editor of the National Trial Lawyer magazine and Past Editor in Chief of the Bronx Bar Journal, The Advocate, and has been published in those journals as well as the New York Law Journal, where he has been a frequent contributor, as well as the New York State Trial Lawyers Quarterly, New York State Trial Lawyers Bill of Particulars, the Queens Bar Journal and the Insurance, Negligence and Compensation Law Section Journal of the New York State Bar Association. Some of his articles have been cited in McKinney’s and other treatises. Bob was appointed a Trustee of the Law Library for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Bronx County Courthouse.
Bob is a long time Director and active member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and has served on its Legislative Affairs, Amicus and other committees; Past Vice President of the Jewish Lawyers Guild; a Director of the Bronx County Bar Association; a past Director of the Bronx Women’s Bar Associations; a past Secretary of the Tort Litigation Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He has served on the Judicial Screening Committees of various bar associations and the Independent Democratic Screening Committee. His bar association memberships include the New Jersey Association for Justice, the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Association for Justice.
Bob has taught, chaired and moderated numerous CLE programs on a national and statewide level. Nationally, he has taught classes for the American Association for Justice [formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America] at their National Annual Convention, for the New Jersey Association for Justice at their Statewide Conventions, at the National E-Litigation Summit, and online for Lawline.com, the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education, and OnlineCLE123.com. In New York, he has lectured extensively for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, has Chaired its annual Evidence Seminar and taught at its Decisions Seminar for over a decade, and has also Chaired programs and lectured for the New York State Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York County Lawyers Association, the Bronx County Bar Association, the Bronx Women’s Bar Association, Bronx Black Bar Association, Bronx Criminal Bar Association, and the Orange County Bar Association, on numerous topics relating to wrongful death and personal injury and medical malpractice litigation.
Bob is admitted to practice law in the State and Federal Courts of New York and New Jersey, the Federal Court of Connecticut, the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and has been admitted pro hac vice into the State and Federal Courts of a number of other jurisdictions.
Bob has handled numerous high profile cases that have attracted national and international media attention on TV, radio, newspapers and the internet, including his pro bono representation of Teron Francis, where he was able to change the law in New York State to allow the family and not the hospital decide when to terminate life support.
Bob is a graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law.
Benjamin Brafman, Esq.
Benjamin Brafman is the principal of Brafman & Associates, P.C. law firm located in Manhattan. Mr. Brafman’s firm specializes in criminal law with an emphasis on White Collar criminal defense.
Mr. Brafman, a former Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, has been in private practice since 1980. Mr. Brafman is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and was selected by New York Magazine as the “Best Criminal Defense Lawyer in New York.” He is also the recipient of the “first” ever Clarence Darrow Award for Distinguished Practitioner by the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Mr. Brafman has represented a wide range of high-profile celebrities, business leaders, lawyers and professionals in major criminal cases throughout the country including most recently the NY Giants superstar Plaxico Burress and former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Stephen Gassman, Esq.
Stephen Gassman has been practicing matrimonial and family law for over 30 years, and has garnered a nationwide reputation as a leader in the field. He is one of fewer than 100 trial lawyers nationwide to be designated as a Diplomate of the exclusive American College of Family Trial Lawyers.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina and New York Law School, Mr. Gassman has served as an adjunct professor of law at Touro Law School, as Chair of the Family Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, and as President of the Nassau County Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a member of the Committee on Matrimonial Practice of the Unified Court System of the State of New York. He also serves on the Law Guardian Advisory Panel to the Tenth Judicial District, and as a member of the Judicial Hearing Officer Screening Committee of the Tenth Judicial District.
Mr. Gassman has authored numerous articles and monographs on all facets of matrimonial law and is the co-author, with Timothy M. Tippins, Esq., of counsel to Gassman Baiamonte Betts PC, of the popular works Evidence for Matrimonial Lawyers and Matrimonial Valuation. He is an editor of Fairshare, a monthly matrimonial law publication, and has authored a chapter on the Use of Appraisers in the Valuation of Marital Property, published by Matthew Bender, as well as articles for the New York State Bar Association's Family Law Review. Mr. Gassman has lectured extensively to bar groups and at judicial symposiums on the national, state and local levels. As the founding member of the firm, Mr. Gassman has successfully tried hundreds of matrimonial cases, and settled thousands of cases, throughout his career. In addition, he has served as appellate counsel in the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals. The New York Post has written that he is regarded as the top divorce lawyer in Nassau County.
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.
Ignatius Grande, Esq.
Ignatius Grande advises case teams and clients on how to best leverage the latest technologies and e-discovery practices from initial document preservation and collection through to review and production. By putting strategic processes in place, Mr. Grande helps clients manage their e-discovery obligations in the most efficient and cost effective manner. He also advises clients on the management of their social media presence and in the preservation and collection of social media information. Ignatius previously served as in-house counsel for a commodities company and as an e-discovery consultant for a national e-discovery vendor. He is a frequent writer and speaker on topics relating to e-discovery and social media and teaches a course on E-Discovery at St. Johns University School of Law.
