Twelve lawyers at the Manhattan law firm of Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP have been named as “New York Super Lawyers” and “Rising Stars” for 2018-2019, and one was 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 Steven R. Ganfer, Matthew J. Leeds, and Margery N. Weinstein; and litigation partners Mark C. Zauderer, Mark A. Berman, Ira B. Matetsky and Craig S. Kesch.
In addition, real estate attorneys Jason A. Ganfer and Lloyd F. Reisman and litigators Grant A. Shehigian and Madeline R. Greenblatt and were recognized as “New York Rising Stars.”
Biographies of the attorneys receiving recognition follow:
GSLZ SUPER LAWYERS – LITIGATION
Steven J. Shore is GSLZ’s managing partner and head of the firm’s litigation practice groups.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 2017 Securities Litigation Lawyer of the Year by Global Law Experts; and is recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America and 2017 New York Litigation Lawyer by Five Star Law.He has been listed as a New York Super Lawyer annually since 2006 and as a “Top 100” lawyer in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Mark C. Zauderer, a prominent New York trial and appellate lawyer, 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 as well.
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.In 2015, he 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 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 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 also currently Chair of NYSBA’s newly formed 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. Mr. Berman has written and spoken on cybersecurity, ethics, social media and electronic discovery issues before various law schools and groups including the American Bar Association, NYSBA, 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 has authored the New York e-discovery column in The New York Law Journal since 2005. 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.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, and serves as the General Counsel of GSLZ.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 chairs the Historical Trial Team.He previously served for six years as a member of the Baldwin Union Free School District Board of Education, and was a recipient of the President's Pro Bono Service Award from the New York State Bar Association.At GSLZ, Mr. Matetsky authors the firm’s monthly Client Advisory, focused on real estate, cooperative, and condominium law.His practice concentrates on litigation, including complex commercial, securities, real estate, and other types of cases before trial and appellate courts and arbitrators.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 has experience in various forms of alternative dispute resolution procedures.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, the Nominating Committee, and as Co-Chair of the Supreme Court Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association.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.
GSLZ SUPER LAWYERS – REAL ESTATE
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 counsel to some of the nation’s largest law firms and lending institutions in connection with condominium project financing.He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School, a frequent lecturer and writer, and 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. He is also a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. 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 was 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. He's also been a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers since 1999.
Margery N. 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.Prior to joining GSLZ, she was Counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, practicing in that firm’s real estate group for over sixteen years. Ms. Weinstein’s practice concentrates on cooperative and condominium law and residential and commercial transactions, including townhouse and single-family-home conveyances, cooperative and condominium sales, financing, leasing, construction contracts, and bulk purchases.She has also represented owners in connection with the creation of “no-action” condominiums, and counsels cooperative and condominium boards in corporate governance and general matters.Ms. Weinstein has been recognized as one of New York’s Women Leaders in Law for 2017, has been listed as a Super Lawyer annually since 2012, and is a member of the New York City Bar Association Committee on Cooperative and Condominium Law, where she is chairperson of the subcommittee editing the form contract utilized statewide in cooperative apartment transfers.
GSLZ RISING STARS
Jason A. Ganfer is Co-Chair of the firm’s Complex Title Litigation Practice. He is a seasoned attorney whose practice focuses on representing clients in complex disputes relating to title such as fraud, forgery, boundary disputes and suits regarding coverage.Mr. Ganfer additionally devotes a substantial amount of time to representing purchasers, sellers and developers on real estate transactions including but not limited to purchases, financing and the establishment of cooperatives and condominiums. Prior to joining GSLZ, he worked in house at a national title insurance company as a claims counsel on the mid-Atlantic team and New York-Connecticut Team and subsequently as an Associate Major Claims Counsel. Mr. Ganfer has spoken on title insurance and mortgage fraud before the Asian American Bar Association as well as various title insurance companies. He is presently co-chair of the American Bar Association Real Estate, Condemnation and Trust Litigation sub-committee on title insurance. He is a 2002 graduate of Columbia College and a 2005 graduate of Brooklyn School of Law.
Lloyd F. Reisman is an associate in the Real Estate Transactions and Cooperative and Condominium Housing practice groups. He works on a range of real estate transactions, including the development and conversion of residential, commercial and mixed-use properties to the condominium form of ownership, and represents cooperative and condominium boards in day-to-day affairs.Mr. Reisman has also acted as special condominium counsel to some of the nation’s largest law firms and lending institutions in connection with condominium project financing, represents owners in connection with the creation of “no-action” condominiums and represents cooperative boards in connection with the issuance and sale of previously unissued shares.He also has experience representing both market- and government-regulated cooperatives and condominiums in a wide variety of real estate work, including corporate governance matters, refinancing, Mitchell-Lama regulatory matters and the preparation of contracts for major capital improvements, professional services and with other vendors.
Grant A. Shehigian is a litigation associate 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.
Madeline R. Greenblatt is an associate in the Commercial Litigation, Cooperative and Condominium Housing and Real Estate Litigation Practice Groups.She has extensive experience in representing partnerships and individuals, as plaintiffs and defendants, in complex commercial matters, with an emphasis in real estate and business contract disputes.She is experienced in all phases of litigation in both state and federal courts.Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Greenblatt worked in private practice with an emphasis on general commercial litigation and real estate litigation.
ABOUT GANFER SHORE LEEDS & ZAUDERER LLP
Since 1979, Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer 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 their clients’ goals, GSLZ has earned the trust of Fortune 500 companies, major real estate investors, and other leading law firms.
