FOUNDING PARTNER

Philip R. Schatz is an experienced trial and appellate attorney and litigator and the firm’s go-to person for federal court and appellate issues. He tried his first federal jury trial in October 1988, two months after leaving his federal district court clerkship.

His legal practice focuses on a broad range of commercial litigation in state and federal courts and arbitration forums including:

• contract and tort disputes
• intellectual property litigation
• management disputes between owners of privately held corporations and limited liability companies
• corporate litigation, representing banks and broker-dealers in various litigations and arbitrations

Phil is equally experienced in mediations, both as an advocate and as a successful mediator for the Appellate Division 1st Department, the New York Supreme Court Commercial Division, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York, and has considerable expertise in crafting legal strategies to avoid or resolve business disputes before they become active litigations.

His roster of clients includes small to medium-sized companies and individuals in industries that are intrinsic to Manhattan, such as finance, publishing, music, and television. He has represented rock groups, managers, and writers in royalty and contract disputes, designers in copyright infringement actions, and financial institutions in a variety of matters, including Madoff-related actions.

Phil is the firm’s in-house scholar and ethicist, his office crammed with dictionaries, biographies, and law treatises. He savors appellate argument for the intellectual exercise, writes regularly on legal topics, and rigorously follows the decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which he recently chronicled on a blog for a year. Phil is the president elect of the Southern District of New York chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and a member of the editorial board for The Federal Lawyer magazine. He is a regular faculty member in deposition and trial advocacy programs for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

Phil lives in Manhattan with his wife Kathleen Nester, Kathleen Nester, who plays flute and piccolo for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and is a faculty member at New York University. They have a daughter, Greta.