Women in Law: Achieving Gender Equality

A former Senior Counsel, Negotiator for the New York City Law Department’s Tort Division, Jennifer Herscovici, Esq. has settled thousands of cases in actions involving claims of various types of negligence, labor law, defamation and civil rights violations. As a neutral for NAM, she draws from her significant experience handling complex negotiations and is recognized by her peers as an authority in negotiation and settlement. Prior to her role as Senior Counsel, Negotiator, Ms. Herscovici spent seven years serving as Assistant Borough Chief, where she supervised all aspects of pre-trial municipal tort litigation and negotiated pre-note cases referred for settlement, and post-note cases awaiting trial. She has assessed liability and damages in cases involving high exposure matters, and complex liability issues presented for settlement.

In addition, she was responsible for reviewing and editing dispositive motions, ensuring that the correct legal arguments were made and presented in an organized fashion. In 2001, she served as Trial Counsel for the Tort Division for seven years, representing the City of New York in actions involving municipal tort claims. Her trial practice resulted in extensive experience directing and cross-examining doctors and experts of numerous specialties and taking to verdict high exposure cases involving serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injury and paralysis.

Throughout her many years of experience negotiating cases and settling disputes in the New York City court system, Ms. Herscovici has gained a reputation for her extensive knowledge in numerous areas of the law including negligence, premises liability, tort and product liability and personal injury. Her ability to evaluate cases, astutely assess the issues at hand, and effectively guide parties and counsel to fair resolutions, has earned her the respect and confidence of both sides of the bar. An avid supporter of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Ms. Herscovici draws upon her deep experience in negotiation and conflict resolution as a full-time neutral for NAM.

In 2021, Ms. Herscovici was recognized by the legal community by being voted a Top Ten Mediator in the New York Law Journal Best of Survey for the second year in a row. She is a committed advocate for women’s rights, diversity and inclusion. As the Women’s Committee Chair for the New York City Law Department, she led numerous initiatives, including programs related to raising awareness of equality among attorneys, financial planning seminars, as well as workshops focused on professional development and career advancement for women in law.

Ms. Herscovici is available to arbitrate and mediate cases throughout the New York Metro area.

In 2020, the Honorable Elizabeth Bonina was voted the #1 Mediator and #1 Arbitrator in New York State by the New York Law Journal Best Of Survey. As a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, she facilitates the settlement of cases involving a range of areas of practice including personal injury, premises liability, labor law, sports and recreation, and employment law cases. More significantly, it is Judge Bonina’s skill as a mediator and arbitrator that makes her an effective neutral as she is known for her intelligence, determination, patience, and ability to get even the most complex, highly emotional and contentious cases resolved.

It is to her credit that she has been ranked #1 Arbitrator in the state four times in the last eight years and has been consistently voted a Top Ten Mediator by the New York legal community for the last 11 years.

Representative matters over which she presided while serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court include a complex multi-party commercial case involving the removal of the director of the board without cause, and the dissolution of the company including shareholder rights; a major class action law suit involving a class of employees who alleged unlawful deductions from their wages and a landlord tenant case involving an alleged invasion of privacy due to newly installed surveillance cameras.

Judge Bonina’s past judicial and administrative experience includes serving as a court examiner/referee pursuant to Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law in the Appellate Division, Second Department where she conducted hearings, received testimony and issued recommendations to the Supreme Court Justices presiding over IAS Part 76. In 1998, she was appointed to the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission as an Administrative Law Judge. During her tenure as an Administrative Law Judge, Judge Bonina went from conducting hearings and rendering decisions, to the Appeals Division where she conducted appellate review of ALJ decisions, to Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge in charge of supervising all Judges at the various agency tribunals, to Chief Administrative Law Judge. She served at the Taxi & Limousine Commission for over four years until she was appointed by Governor George Pataki as a Justice of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial District.

Additionally, as an adjunct professor for St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn, New York for the past 15 years, Judge Bonina teaches undergraduate courses in Business Law, Sports Law and Sports and Recreation Law.

Since joining our panel, Judge Bonina has both mediated and arbitrated a wide variety of cases including labor law, employment, and personal injury cases with complex coverage issues.