About the authors

• Pages: 7-7
• Author: Carl T. Grasso,Edward L. Birnbaum,Ariel E. Belen

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

CARL T. GRASSO is a former member of the rm of Herzfeld & Rubin, P.C. in

New York City, specializing in litigation and trial work in the areas of personal

injury, product liability and commercial litigation. For more than four decades,

he was intimately involved in trials all over the United States, as well as in New

York. He was an arbitrator in the Small Claims Division of the Civil Court of

the City of New York. He holds Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating. He is a

cum laude graduate of New York Law School.

Mr. Grasso also served in the United States Army, while in Vietnam in the

Corps of Engineers, and later in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He has

written for the Military Law Review and the Army Lawyer. He retired from the

U.S. Army Reserve as a full colonel in 1996. His awards include the Bronze

Star and the Legion of Merit. He was named one of the city’s top litigators in

AVENUE magazine and a New York Super Lawyer in 2012. He is President

of the Huntington Men’s Chorus, a male choral group.

EDWARD L. BIRNBAUM, former head of the litigation department of Herzfeld

and Rubin, passed away on April 23, 2022. He was a prolic author of litigation

articles and lectured frequently on litigation strategy and techniques for Bar

Associations and Continuing Legal Education Institutions. His practice areas

included personal injury, product liability, professional liability, commercial,

strategy and trials.

Mr. Birnbaum was Chairman of the New York State Bar Association Com-

mittee on the Supreme Court, Chairman of the New York State Bar Association

Action Unit No. 6; and a Member of the House of Delegates to The New York

State Bar Association. He served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration

Association, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New

York, and the Small Claims Division of the Civil Court of the City of New York.

His many accolades include selection as a New York Super Lawyer from 2006 through 2018, inclusion in the 2010

through 2018 editions of Best Lawyers in America, and nomination for Fellowship in the Litigation Counsel of America.

HON. ARIEL E. BELEN (Ret.) is an ADR neutral at JAMS in New York City.

He was an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department from

2008 to 2012 and a Justice of the New York Supreme Court trial and appellate

terms from 1995 to 2012. Justice Belen helped create the Kings County Commer-

cial Division and then presided as a Justice handling complex commercial cases.

During his many years of distinguished judicial service, he presided over countless

matters covering the gamut of civil litigation from administrative to zoning law.

Before his election to the bench, Justice Belen served as a Supervising

Attorney with the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society. He later

joined the New York City Law Department and served as the Bronx Borough

Chief of the Oce of the Corporation Counsel.

Justice Belen is the Chair of the Arbitration and ADR Committee of the

New York County Lawyers Association and a member of the International Institute for Conict Prevention &

Resolution. He is a founding member of the Cervantes Society. He was an instructor for many years at the New

York State Judicial Institute where he taught all newly appointed or elected New York judges in the art of judging.

He graduated from Brooklyn College and Cornell University School of Law, where he earned a Doctor of

Law degree with a Specialization in International Legal Aairs.

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