O'Dwyer & Bernstien LLP

Profile

Tradition

The street on which the firm O’Dwyer & Bernstien, LLP is located bears tribute to one of its founders, the late Paul O’Dwyer, a lawyer, politician and civic leader known as much for his unrelenting struggle to advance civil rights as his hard-nosed representation of unions and working people. Throughout its lengthy history the firm has used its legal expertise to represent its clients in the fields of personal injury, construction site accidents, union-side labor relations and employee benefits.

One of New York’s pre-eminent litigation firms, the attorneys of O’Dwyer & Bernstien, many of whom have been with the firm for more than 15 years, continue its founders’ tradition of zealous and determined representation of each and every client, whether it arises out of a personal injury matter or as part of union representation. Senior partner Brian O’Dwyer is named in this edition of Super Lawyers®.

O’Dwyer & Bernstien has multilingual personnel who enable the firm to serve clients who come from diverse backgrounds. The firm’s collective experience and familiarity with New York City and the court system enables the attorneys to work with maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The firm has achieved numerous multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements.

“The most rewarding cases that I have handled in my career are those in which I have successfully confronted the establishment and power structures on behalf of working families to obtain significant judgments,” O’Dwyer says. The National Law Journal and the Legal Times cited O’Dwyer as earning the then-highest personal injury award for an individual plaintiff in the United States—$61 million.

Economic Insight

Throughout the last few years, the firm has taken on a number of high-profile cases seeking money judgments from companies and individuals that have defrauded union benefit funds. “Our experience in dealing with and understanding the economics of workplace compensation distinguishes us from other law firms,” notes O’Dwyer. “We are able to present difficult economic concepts to juries, judges and arbitrators in a readily understandable way. Using this knowledge we have won many significant victories for our clients.”

O’Dwyer serves as counsel to many employee benefit plans, including the Benefit Fund of the Newspaper Guild of New York-The New York Times, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, New York City District Council of Carpenters, United Service Workers Union Local 74, as well as other ERISA funds. He is a regular commentator on legal issues for FOX TV, truTV (formerly Court TV), CNBC and NY1.