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Judges and Neutrals
Hon. Anthony Perri - Since graduating from St. John’s University School of Law in 1978, Judge Perri worked as a trial attorney for 35 years and has tried cases in the Supreme Courts in every Borough and County in the metropolitan area. He been the elected judge for the Village of Bayville for the last 20 years. For the past 10 years he has been a judge for Nassau County Traffic Court and he is an arbitrator for Financial Industry National Regulatory Agency (FINRA) dispute resolutions. He is also an arbitrator and mediator for numerous private ADR firms. He is the Judicial Hearing Officer for Nassau County Consumer Affairs and Nassau County District Court. He was the Executive Director Managing Trial Attorney for USAA Insurance in Manhattan for 17 years.
Hon. Martin E. Ritholtz (NYS Sup. Ct. Queens County, Ret.) served for sixteen years as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court of Queens County. He presided over jury and non jury trials, managed the Compliance and Settlement Conference Part, and published many opinions in the Official Reports. For many years, Judge Ritholtz handled general litigation in the Supreme Court with an emphasis on personal injury, premises liability, negligence, medical malpractice, property damage, labor law, and matrimonial law. From 2014 until his retirement in December, 2016, he also served in the Commercial Division, where he presided over all manners of business claims and disputes, including business valuation proceedings, corporate and partnership disputes, contractual litigation, class actions, and complex commercial cases. Judge Ritholtz served as the Dean of the Queens County Bar Association Academy of Law for 28 years, and lectured for many law schools and Bar associations. He is a member of the New York State Bar and the Israeli Bar.
Hon. John H. Rouse (NYS Sup. Ct. Suffolk County Ret) Judge Rouse was elected Suffolk County Court Judge in 2013 and was shortly thereafter elevated to Supreme Court as an Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. During his eight years on the Supreme Court bench, Judge Rouse presided over a variety of cases including legal and medical malpractice, auto accidents, slip and fall, negligent supervision, products liability, breach of contract, real estate and land disputes, foreclosure and labor law issues. Judge Rouse developed his passion for trial work immediately upon graduation from Western New England School of Law in 1987 when he began working as a Trial Prosecutor in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office where he remained for over seven years. Throughout his tenure there he regularly tried to verdict all manner of cases from misdemeanors to violent felonies. Upon his departure from the District Attorney's office Judge Rouse began work as a solo practitioner with a concentration in criminal defense and trial work. In his capacity as a solo practitioner he came to fully understand and embrace the many challenges faced by private sector attorneys. After over eight years in private practice Judge Rouse made a distinctive addition to his burgeoning wealth of experience, serving for nine years as the elected Superintendent of Highways for the Town of Brookhaven, New York. Significantly, during that time he oversaw thousands of infrastructure construction and maintenance projects, addressing on a regular basis contractual, labor and municipally related legal issues. He also supervised the work of 250 union employees, regularly settling labor disputes and serving as Chief Negotiator for the Town during labor contract negotiations.
Hon. William J. Condon (NYS Sup. Ct. Suffolk County, Ret.) served for thirteen years as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court of Suffolk County where he presided over hundreds of jury and non-jury trials. Prior to serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court, he was Counsel to New York State Senator Cesar Trunzo as well as working in private practice for more than fifteen years representing plaintiffs and defendants in civil litigation. He is a past chairman of the Suffolk County Bar Association’s Negligence Defense Committee, and has also served on the Supreme Court and Bench Bar Committees. He has lectured on trial jurisprudence for the New York State Bar Association, at the Suffolk County Academy of Law, Touro Law School, St. Joseph’s College and Dowling College, as well as, the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is a graduate of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Academy, and has presided as Judge in several Moot Court Finals through St. John’s Law School and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office.
Hon. Martin M. Solomon (NYS Sup. Ct., App. Term, Ret.) A graduate of New York Law School Justice Solomon was first elected to the New York State Senate in 1978 where he served as a ranking member of the Insurance Committee as well as the Judiciary, Banks, Rules, and Health Committees. In addition, he served as a member of the executive Committee of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators and chaired task forces on Integrated Financial services and Insurer Investments. Justice Solomon also maintained a private law practice with an emphasis on co-op conversions and real estate transactions until his election to the Civil Court of the City of New York in 1996 where he presided until 2003 when he was elevated to Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York sitting in Kings County until 2017. Justice Solomon also served as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term 2nd, 11th & 13th Judicial Districts from 2012 until his retirement in 2017.
Daniel Cassidy, Esq. After graduating from Pace University School of Law in 1992, Dan immediately began litigating personal injury cases. After more than 30 years of representing both Plaintiffs and Defendants and over 100 verdicts, Dan has the expertise and insight to evaluate claims regarding both liability and value. His track record for bringing parties to resolution through compromise is outstanding. Dan also served as the Chairman of the Board of the Bronx Bar Association as well as serving as a member of the New York State Bar Association House of Delegates.
Joseph Tonetti, Esq. A graduate of New York Law School in 1978, Joe has had 43 years of active practice in both plaintiff and defense litigation, as well as a Mediator/Arbitrator since 2007. That bilateral experience has kept him knowledgeable regarding the needs, problems, and generally, the issues that each side brings to the Mediation process. He appreciates the carrier’s need for specific information in order to fully evaluate claims as well as the day to day issues that stretch the patience and talent involved with representing injured plaintiffs. He strongly believes that the Mediation process requires preparation in order to be successful, but if impediments arise, he employs practical solutions to keep the dialogue on the track for success. Joe has given a CLE course directed to the plaintiff’s bar regarding preparation for Mediations and Arbitrations, highlighting those items that carriers and Arbitrators require to promote proper evaluation with an eye towards efficiency, and offers that syllabus to the Bar upon request.
Jack Walisever, Esq. A graduate of Brooklyn Law School in 1970, Mr. Walisever has spent the past 50 years as a tort litigator representing both Plaintiffs and Defendants. As Lead Trial Counsel and then Attorney of Record for GEICO for over 20 years, Mr. Walisever has personally tried hundreds of motor vehicle cases to verdict and has participated in thousands of mediations and settlement conferences. Mr. Walisever's experience puts him in the unique position to be able to analyze a case from both the insurance carrier's as well as the Plaintiff's perspective which greatly aids in claims resolution.
Joseph C. Kasouf, Esq. After receiving his J.D. and M.A (Communications) from Syracuse University College of Law, and completing 11 years in law enforcement, Mr. Kasouf practiced in real estate development before joining Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company as an attorney. He was promoted to Managing Counsel responsible for all litigation throughout New York State. Mr. Kasouf attended the mediation school at Pepperdine University, bringing the training process to NY claims and legal operations in resolution of cases. Mr. Kasouf was later named Nationwide’s Chief Claims Counsel in Columbus, Ohio where he managed all corporate and resolved litigation issues throughout the U.S. Upon retiring from Nationwide, he was General Counsel to Counsel Financial, a leader in plaintiff funding in the U.S. He was highly regarded by his clients as a person with unique insight into case valuations and procedural recommendations to settlement opportunities.
Scott Braziller, Esq. Since graduating from St. John’s University School of Law in 1987, Scott Braziller has spent his entire legal career representing parties in personal injury cases, both on the Plaintiff side as well as representing Defendants while senior trial attorney for two insurance carriers. As a result, Mr. Braziller brings to the role of Neutral several decades of vast and varied personal injury experience.
H.O. Robert Ziatz. Robert Ziatz has been working in personal injury for over thirty-five years. After graduating with honors from Mercy College, he worked for several top law firms and has been an Arbitrator and Mediator for over fifteen years. His experience and expertise spans a range of legal issues including personal injury, labor law and landlord/tenant law. Mr. Ziatz has a strong command of the law with respect to liability and is able to evaluate every aspect of damages in a personal injury claim. He is a volunteer at Seaside Therapeutic Riding working with handicapped children and resides with his family in Massapequa Park, New York.
John Camillo, Esq. After graduating No. 1 in his class from Fordham College of Business Administration and was a law review editor at Fordham Law School, Mr. Camillo worked in the litigation department of the Wall Street law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, and then worked for several personal injury law firms where he tried and settled numerous cases in the New York state and federal courts. Mr. Camillo then went to work for J.C. Penney Company, Inc. as head of its litigation department and was publicly recognized for bringing all of JC Penney’s litigation work in-house before becoming Executive Vice President and General Counsel of JC Penney’s insurance division. Mr. Camillo has extensive experience as an insurance company executive, as well as being a seasoned litigator in the commercial and insurance arenas representing both plaintiffs and defendants. During the course of his 46 year long legal career, Mr. Camillo has participated in numerous mediations and arbitrations that have resulted in successful resolution. As a lawyer who grew up in the Bronx, Mr. Camillo is “hands on”, “hard working”, “even handed” and always strives to find the best compromise that empowers each of the parties to resolve their differences in order to achieve a win/win solution.
Securities & Commercial Litigation
Jay P. Saltzman, Esq. After receiving his J.D. in 1994 from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review, Mr. Saltzman has spent his entire legal career litigating complex securities and consumer class actions, consumer antitrust actions and derivative actions on behalf of major corporations. Mr. Saltzman was on the trial team for In re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.), which settled for over $6.13 billion, the largest securities fraud settlement at that time. Mr. Saltzman has been involved in every stage of complex litigation in federal and state courts, from motions to dismiss to discovery motions and motions for class certification, and from mediation to settlement. Mr. Saltzman also earned a Masters of Business Administration degree with a major in Corporate Finance from New York University's Stern School of Business in 1991. His background in finance and in all areas of complex litigation give him the broad and unique experience to be able to assist in claims resolution.
Matrimonial & Family Law
Deena L. Moskowitz, Esq. Since graduating from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1992, in which Ms. Moskowitz was one of few students to complete law school in two years, she has practiced in the areas of real estate, commercial litigation, trust and estates and for the last thirteen years, exclusively in matrimonial and family law. Ms. Moskowitz is also an Attorney for Children in the Nassau County courts, representing children in all aspects of family law. Ms. Moskowitz has litigated all areas of matrimonial and family law, including complex and simple divorce, support proceedings, child custody and child support, family offense and neglect proceedings and adoptions. Ms. Moskowitz has also received training in mediation and advanced matrimonial mediation training and believes many matrimonial matters can be settled through mediation, where the parties determine their own parameters of settlement which will then lead to their independent, successful conflict resolution in the future. Ms. Moskowitz’s vast experience as a matrimonial and family lawyer and as an Attorney for Children can help parties successfully address the family’s needs in the matrimonial mediation process.
Out of State
Hon. Alex E. Ferrer – (Florida). Since graduating from the University of Miami School of Law in 1986 as a published member of its Law Review, Judge Ferrer’s legal experience has consisted of civil litigation in the areas of personal injury, admiralty and commercial law, where he represented individual plaintiffs, insurance companies, leasing companies, self-insured national corporations, international and multinational companies, various agencies of the State of Florida, banks and other businesses in general commercial litigation, real property matters, maritime cases, contract disputes, and cases involving wrongful death, medical malpractice, and general personal injury—some of which contained complex issues of foreign law, both substantive and procedural. These cases included the defense of multi-million-dollar claims brought by some of the most prestigious law firms and attorneys in South Florida. In 1995, he became the youngest Circuit Court Judge in Florida's 11th Judicial Circuit where he handled thousands of cases and hundreds of trials in the 10 years that followed, expanding his commercial and general civil legal experience to include family law issues of child custody and support, distribution of property, general financial matters, adoptions and disputes over paternity. Judge Ferrer has regularly taught other judges at Florida's various judicial conferences and judicial colleges and has authored an extensive "bench book" on closing arguments that is used by judges throughout Florida.
Bernard H. McLaughlin, Jr. (Col. Ret.) - (Louisiana) is a certified mediator in Louisiana, with over 4,500 cases mediated in Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. Mr. McLaughlin specializes in insurance and personal injury, admiralty and maritime, 18-wheeler, railroad, premises liability, products liability, government liability, medical malpractice, architect and contractor liability, pharmaceutical and medical device, aviation, oilfield remediation, environmental, oil and gas, sexual harassment and discrimination, toxic exposure, health care and business/corporate mediation. He is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Louisiana, Federal Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas, Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal of the United States Courts of Appeals, all military trial courts, U.S. Court of Military Appeals, U.S. Court of Military Review, United States Court of Armed Forces Appeals, United States Court of Veterans Appeals, and United States Supreme Court. Member, The Association for Conflict Resolution; Fellow, American College of Civil Trial of Mediators; Fellow, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals; Fellow, International Academy of Mediators. Mr. McLaughlin is a certified EEOC mediator with an AV rating (Martindale-Hubbell). He was also rated by Best Lawyers in America 2011- 2019 in the fields of Mediation and Arbitration and Top Lawyers in Acadiana 2016-2019.
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