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Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP
New York, New York

Eleven Lawyers at the Firm Are Named “Super Lawyers” or “Rising Stars”

New York, New York, October 2022.  Eleven lawyers at the Manhattan law firm of Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP have been named as “New York Super Lawyers” and “Rising Stars” for 2022-2023, and one was again included on the list of the Top 100 attorneys in New York City.  The selection of "Super Lawyers" is based on a survey of thousands of colleagues in New York.

GSLZ’s "Super Lawyers" include litigation partner Steven J. Shore, who received "Top 100" honors; real estate partners David S. Fitzhenry, Steven R. Ganfer, Matthew J. Leeds, and Margery N. Weinstein; litigation partners Mark C. Zauderer, Mark A. Berman, Ira B. Matetsky and Craig S. Kesch; and litigation counsel Jason T. Cohen. Litigation partner Grant A. Shehigian was recognized as a “New York Rising Star.”

Biographies of the attorneys receiving recognition follow:

GSLZ SUPER LAWYERS – LITIGATION

Steven J. Shore is GSLZ’s managing partner and co-head of the firm’s litigation practice group.  He has extensive experience in representing parties in complex commercial litigations and, in particular, in business, securities, and real estate controversies.  Mr. Shore is experienced in all phases of litigation and is a seasoned appellate attorney, having argued before the Second Circuit and the Appellate Divisions of both the First and Second Departments.  Prior to founding the firm in 1979, Mr. Shore was a staff attorney with the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and thereafter an associate in the litigation department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.  He has lectured at the New York City and State Bar Associations in real estate and mediation and at Columbia Law School on securities law, and has served as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.  Mr. Shore is rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level in professional excellence and ethics.  He has been selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America; was named Securities Litigation Lawyer of the Year by Global Law Experts; is recognized in the Best Lawyers in America; is recognized in the American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel top-rated lawyers and was listed by Five Star Law as a New York Litigation Lawyer.  He has been listed as a New York Super Lawyer annually since 2006 and nine times as a “Top 100” lawyer.

Mark C. Zauderer, a prominent New York trial and appellate lawyer, is co-head of GSLZ’s commercial litigation practice.  He has represented major corporations, well-known individuals, and a Presidential cabinet secretary in significant business, financial and commercial litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Subject matters have included contracts, business torts, securities, real estate, legal malpractice, shareholder rights, limited partnerships, defamation, and fiduciary relationships in business, law firm and estate matters.  Mr. Zauderer frequently serves as an arbitrator and private mediator of significant disputes and is a member of the national roster of commercial arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association and its International Centre for Dispute Resolution. He is a past President of the Federal Bar Council and is a member of the Board of Editors of the New York Law Journal.

In 2003, Mr. Zauderer was appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye as Chair of New York’s Commission on the Jury, a blue-ribbon panel of lawyers and judges charged with finding ways to improve New York’s jury system. He also served as a member of the Chief Judge’s Commercial Courts Task Force, which implemented the establishment of the New York State Court System’s Commercial Division and as member of the Office of Court Administration’s Program on the Profession and the Courts, which drafted New York’s current sanctions rules. Mr. Zauderer is a past chair of the 2000 member Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association, served as a delegate to its House of Delegates, as a member of the Special Committee on Cameras in the Courts, and chaired the Association’s Steering Committee on Commerce and Industry. He also served as a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Professional Responsibility, and the Committee on State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Zauderer currently serves as a member of the Governor’s Judicial Screening Committee for the Appellate Division, First Department and a member of the Chief Administrative Judge’s Advisory Committee on Civil Practice. In 2016, Mr. Zauderer delivered the commencement address at Touro Law School and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree.

In 2012, Mr. Zauderer was appointed by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman as a member of the Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century. In 2013, he was appointed by Chief Judge Lippman as a member of the permanent Advisory Committee of the Commercial Division. In 2015, Mr. Zauderer was appointed a Member of the Chief Judge’s Commission on Statewide Attorney Discipline, which made recommendations for the revisions of New York’s attorney discipline system.  He is currently a member of the Attorney Grievance Committee of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department.  In 2015, Mr. Zauderer was honored by the New York Law Journal with its award for “Lawyers Who Lead by Example” for his contributions to public service.  In 2004, Mr. Zauderer served as a member of a four-person delegation to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to advise on the establishment of a commercial court. Mr. Zauderer is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who America, New York Super Lawyers and New York Magazine’s “The New York Areas Best Lawyers”. In 2007, he was awarded the Eliphalet Nott Medal for distinction in field by the Union College Board of Trustees.

Mark A. Berman is a seasoned litigator whose practice focuses on complex commercial disputes in state and federal courts and in alternative dispute forums and, in particular, in business, real estate and complex title controversies.  Prior to joining GSLZ, he was a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and clerked for United States Magistrate Judge Michael L. Orenstein for the Eastern District of New York.  He is Co-Chair of the Technology Working Group of the Chief Judge’s Commission to Reimagine the Future of the New York’s Courts.  He was a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) and serves as a delegate to its House of Delegates.  He is a New York Law Journal 2021 Innovation award winner.  He is the 2021-2022 Co-Chair of NYSBA’s Task Force on Post-Pandemic Future of the Legal Profession.  Mr. Berman is the founding Chair of NYSBA’s Committee on Technology and the Legal Profession and served as Chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of NYSBA for 2016-17.  Mr. Berman is Co-Chair of the Commercial Division Committee of NYSBA's Commercial and Federal Litigation Section.  He is also Co-Chair of the Champions Committee of the Women in the Law Section of NYSBA.  Mr. Berman is the creator of NYBSA’s first Legal Innovation tournament for law students.  He has written and taught cybersecurity, ethics, social media, and electronic discovery issues at various New York State law schools and before groups including the American Bar Association, NYSBA, the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Judicial Institute, and the First and Second Departments of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court.  He is a member of the New York State E-Discovery Working Group advising the New York State Unified Court System, and authors the column in The New York Law Journal on virtual lawyering.  He graduated in 1986 from Columbia College and in 1990 (magna cum laude) from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  He is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed as a Super Lawyer since 2008.

Ira Brad Matetsky has been a partner in the litigation department of GSLZ since 2004. His experience prior to joining the firm includes twelve years as a litigator at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP followed by five years as in-house counsel for Goya Foods, Inc.  His practice includes appearing before federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate levels, as well as arbitrations and mediations.  As an appellate advocate, he has successfully handled appeals before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, and Ninth Circuits as well as the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court, First and Second Departments.  Mr. Matetsky has authored several published several articles on legal and historical topics in legal periodicals.  He recently authored “General Counsels for New York Law Firms – An Idea Whose Time Has Come,” published in the New York State Bar Journal.  He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of In-Chambers Practice, the successor publication to In-Chambers Opinions by the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and is a Master of the New York American Inn of Court, where he co-chairs the Historical Trial Team.  He is the co-author and co-editor of “Clerking for ‘God’s Grandfather’: Chauncey Belknap’s Year with Oliver Wendell Holmes,” which appeared in the Journal of Supreme Court History in 2018, and many other published articles on legal history, legal practice, and law and literature.  He has testified as an expert witness on the procedural and substantive law of New York in cases in other jurisdictions, both domestic and international.  Mr. Matetsky served for six years as a member of the Baldwin Union Free School District Board of Education, and received the President's Pro Bono Service Award from the New York State Bar Association.  At GSLZ, Mr. Matetsky has authored more than 200 issues of the firm’s monthly Client Advisory, focused on real estate, cooperative, and condominium law, and contributes a column to the New York State Bar Association Real Property Section’s Real Property Journal.  His practice concentrates on litigation, including complex commercial, securities, real estate, employment, and intellectual property matters.  Mr. Matetsky is a graduate of Princeton University and the Fordham University School of Law, where he received awards in Contracts and Constitutional Law and served on the Fordham Law Review.  He has been named a New York Super Lawyer annually since 2011.

Craig S. Kesch litigates commercial disputes in a wide variety of areas, including banking, securities, real estate and professional liability. He has represented clients in a variety of state and federal jurisdictions throughout the country and in various alternative dispute resolution forums.  Prior to joining GSLZ as a partner, Mr. Kesch had been a partner at Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer LLP.  He began his career at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP.  He is a graduate of the New York University School of Law, where he served on the Moot Court Board and was elected to the Order of the Barristers, and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.  Mr. Kesch is currently serving on the Board of Directors and the Nominating Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association and is the immediate past Co-Chair of its Supreme Court Committee.  Additionally, he is a member of the Federal Courts Committee and the In-House/Outside Counsel Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association, the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association, the Judiciary Committee of the Association of the Bar for the City of New York, and the Federal Bar Council.  He has lectured on state and federal procedure and practice.  Mr. Kesch has been named to the “Super Lawyers” list every year since 2016, and to the “Super Lawyers” Rising Stars list from 2011 to 2015.  In addition, Mr. Kesch was showcased as a recommended professional in the 2016 edition of Financier Worldwide’s Litigation and ADR Handbook.

Jason T. Cohen is an experienced commercial litigator who represents businesses of all sizes in a full range of civil and commercial litigation, including breach of contract, insurance coverage, product liability, construction, fraud, securities and commodities, professional liability, personal injury, premises liability, and defamation. He is experienced in all phases of litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts, and in arbitral forums.  He has played a major role in some of the most significant, multi-defendant litigations throughout the United States, coordinating complex legal strategy and discovery efforts. He has led critical depositions, hearings, conferences, and trials in such high-stakes, high-profile cases as September 11-related litigations, defense of asbestos actions, and residential mortgage-backed securities litigation arising from the 2007 financial crisis.

GSLZ SUPER LAWYERS – REAL ESTATE

David S. Fitzhenry practices primarily in transactional real estate matters and cooperative and condominium law.  A graduate of New York Law School, he represents a wide variety of clients, including lenders, developers, sponsors, purchasers, sellers, landlords, tenants, condominium associations, and cooperative apartment corporations.  He often acts as special counsel to major retailers, educational corporations, medical centers, and various nonprofit organizations pursuing conversions of existing properties to commercial condominiums, including the creation of complex leasehold condominium structures.  In addition, he regularly counsels privately held businesses on the bulk purchase of unsold cooperatives shares and unsold condominium units, as well as the subsequent required filings with the New York State Department of Law.  He is a member of the Real Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association’s Cooperative and Condominium Committee.  He is also a co-author of the chapter on “Cooperatives, Condominiums, and Homeowner’s Associations” in the current edition of the New York State Bar Association’s Real Estate Titles: The Practice of Law in New York.  In addition, Mr. Fitzhenry serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law, where he teaches a course on condominiums and cooperatives.

Steven R. Ganfer is a 1973 graduate of St. John's University School of Law, with extensive experience in commercial and residential real estate matters. Mr. Ganfer has a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from City College of New York, and before obtaining his law degree, Mr. Ganfer was an electrical engineer at Sperry Corporation. Prior to joining the predecessor to GSLZ, Mr. Ganfer was a partner in the firm of Laber & Ganfer, a firm that specialized in cooperative housing law, representing both sponsors and tenant associations. Mr. Ganfer has advised more than 100 tenant associations, condominiums, and cooperative housing corporations in a wide range of real estate transactions, including the development and conversion of residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties to the condominium form of ownership.  He also counsels cooperative and condominium boards in day-to-day affairs, corporate governance issues, and refinancings.

Matthew J. Leeds is a real estate lawyer whose diverse practice includes the representation of owners, developers, sponsors, condominium and cooperative boards, investors, and institutional real estate lenders. Mr. Leeds is often retained as special condominium or cooperative counsel to some of the nation’s largest law firms and lending institutions in connection with project financing and workouts and other sophisticated matters, including commercial and leasehold condominiums.  He has throughout his career frequently written and lectured in the subject area, and was the co-author of New York Practice Guide: Real Estate: Cooperatives and Condominiums. He is a former Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Real Property Section and its Condominiums and Cooperatives Committee, and for many years was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. He was elected a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers in 1999. He began his law career as a Special Deputy Attorney General in the New York State Department of Law’s Real Estate Financing Bureau.  He is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell and is recognized in New York’s Best Lawyers in the field of real estate law.  He has been listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America since 2003 and a Super Lawyer since 2006.

Margery N. Weinstein is a real estate transactional attorney with a practice that focuses on cooperative and condominium law, where she counsels cooperative and condominium boards in corporate governance and general matters. Her diverse practice also includes representing owners and purchasers in residential and commercial transactions, including multi-unit conveyances, townhouse transfers, cooperative and condominium transfers, single-family conveyances, construction contracts, financings, leasing and bulk sales and purchases. She has also represented owners in connection with the creation of “no action” condominiums.  Ms. Weinstein is a former Chairperson of the New York City Bar Association Committee on Cooperative and Condominium Law and is a current member of that committee.  She also served as the chairperson of a New York City Bar Association subcommittee editing the form contract utilized statewide in cooperative apartment transfers.  Ms. Weinstein is a summa cum laude graduate of Tufts University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a graduate of New York University School of Law.  She has been listed as a Super Lawyer annually since 2012, and has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America since 2020.  She has lectured at the New York City Bar Association and at the Mattone Institute of St. John’s Law School, and recently authored an article published by the New York State Bar Journal.  Prior to joining GSLZ, she was Counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, practicing in that firm’s real estate group for over sixteen years.

GSLZ RISING STAR

Grant A. Shehigian is a litigation partner at GSLZ with extensive experience in all stages of litigation, including trials and appeals, in both state and federal courts, and in alternative dispute resolution. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of civil and commercial litigation matters, including breach of contract, professional liability, partnership breakups, insurance coverage, fraud, defamation, product liability, personal injury and property damage. Mr. Shehigian’s exceptional familiarity with New York practice and procedure has made him part of a core group of attorneys at GSLZ who have become the go-to attorneys on such issues for many large, national law firms.  Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Shehigian practiced at Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer LLP.  Away from the office and courtroom, Mr. Shehigian serves as an adjunct professor at his law school alma mater, where he coaches students competing in national moot court competitions.  Mr. Shehigian has coached his teams to several top honors and first place finishes.  He has been named to the “Super Lawyers” Rising Stars list each year since 2013.

ABOUT GANFER SHORE LEEDS & ZAUDERER LLP

Since 1979, Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP has been a significant force in business litigation and real estate law in New York City. With the skill and sophistication of a large law firm and the responsiveness and efficiency of a boutique firm, GSLZ approaches every matter, every case, every transaction with fresh eyes and an innovative mindset. By consistently delivering outstanding service and maintaining laser focus on its clients’ goals, GSLZ has earned the trust of Fortune 500 companies, major real estate investors, and other leading law firms.

Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms.

Contact
Mark A. Berman
Tel: 212.922.9250
Fax: 212.922.9335
Email: mberman@ganfershore.com
Website: ganfershore.com