Alan Scheinkman Mediator

Hon. Alan D. Scheinkman’s remarkable legal career as both a judge and litigator includes his appointment as the Presiding Justice of the Second Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division. During his tenure on the Appellate bench, he heard appeals of a wide variety of complex litigation matters that included:

• Business disputes
• Labor & employment
• Landlord / tenant disputes
• Commercial foreclosure cases
• Business receiverships
• Business torts
• Matrimonial & family law,
• Trusts & estates
• Defamation
• Land use
• Construction
• Health law
• Wage and hour cases

As the Presiding Justice, Judge Scheinkman oversaw the largest and busiest appellate court in the country hearing matters from three counties in New York City and matters from Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties and four other counties in the lower Hudson Valley. He was responsible for the management of all operations of the court which is comprised of 21 judges and determines over 4,000 appeals and 12,000 motions annually. He oversaw the discipline and admission of attorneys and was a member of the Administrative Board of the Courts, setting state-wide court policy. He also served by designation on the Court of Appeals.

Justice Scheinkman presided over the Matrimonial Trial Assignment Part where he mediated hundreds of cases to settlement. Due to his extensive experience with matrimonial cases as a litigator, he was acutely aware of the enormous stress and emotional toll that the divorce process has on those involved and worked with both the clients and their attorneys in bringing parties to a mutually agreed upon resolution so that all can move forward emotionally, financially and legally. He has deep knowledge of the law, as reflected in his authorship of practice commentaries and a treatise, both of which have been widely cited
and relied upon by courts and attorneys. He advocates mediation as a means to resolution, rather than full-blown trial which may not achieve the result sought.

In the 2021, Justice Scheinkman was recognized by the legal community as the #1 Arbitrator in the state by the New York Law Journal Best of Survey. He served as an Associate Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law, authored and co-authored works on appellate practice and New York law and has been actively engaged in various Bar Association committees and Statewide Commissions, including the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions, the Commercial Division Advisory Council and the Judicial Task Force on the State Constitution.

In December 2021, he retired from judicial service and is now affiliated with NAM as a neutral arbitrator and mediator, and is available to arbitrate and mediate commercial cases throughout the United States

Education

• J.D., St. John’s University School of Law, 1975
• B.A., George Washington University, 1972

Admissions

• NYS Appellate Division, Second Department, 1976
• United States Supreme Court, 1990
• United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1992
• United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, 2002
• United States District Court, Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York, 1976, 1977

Honors & Awards

• Merit Award, New York State Bar Association Judicial Section 
Boris Kostelantez President’s Medal
• New York County Lawyers Association
 Constance Baker Motley Award
• Westchester County Black Bar Association 
Neil Shayne Award
• Jewish Lawyers Association of Nassau County 
William Goodstein Memorial Award
• Association of Law Secretaries to Justices of the Supreme and Surrogate’s Courts 
Honoree
• Westchester County Bar Foundation 
Honoree
• Westchester County Bar Association
 Honoree
• Suffolk County Bar Association 
Honoree
• Rockland County Bar Association 
Honoree Roosevelt Chapter
• American Inns of Court