Lecturer Bios
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.
Jeffrey Todd Schwartz, Esq.
For 34 years Jeffrey T. Schwartz has been investigating, prosecuting and defending whitecollar and violent criminal cases in both the state and federal courts of New York and New Jersey. He is a former homicide, investigations and major case prosecutor for the Queens County District Attorney’s Office and was a founding member of both its vertical Narcotics Trial, and Career Criminal Major Crime Bureaus.
He has been honored, recognized and awarded certificates of outstanding dedication and service by the Queens District Attorneys Office, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the City Council of New York, as well as the Detective Endowment Association of the New York City Police Department.
He serves on the faculty of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s Intensive Trial Advocacy Program for over
25 years and lectures on many aspects of trial advocacy, forensic evidence and criminal law. Mr. Schwartz appears in the media as a legal analyst and has been profiled in local and national publications, including the New York Times.